And so it came to pass... Hey newbie. I hope you're still around.
Welcome newbie. You're going to be a blast.
Top 10 best squads in Europe on paper
- Thread starter Theonas
- Start date
He’s not wrong though, the squad is excellent, almost no team in Europe has the offensive depth we do. Don’t let Solskjær convince you otherwise.And so it came to pass... Hey newbie. I hope you're still around.
You reckon your squad would look equally as good if Klopp is replaced with Dalglish?And so it came to pass... Hey newbie. I hope you're still around.
Think about it. No need to actually reply, the question is rhetorical.
You mean Phil Thompson?
I'm still around and my opinion hasn't changed. Only thing holding this United squad back is coaching.And so it came to pass... Hey newbie. I hope you're still around.
Talking about being a "newbie", i've been here for a long time, how long does it take for one to no longer be a newbie? I'm still reduced to only 5 posts per day...
Yep, shows there's no consistency in regards to leagues and player performances. Fernando Torres came to Liverpool and wrecked the Premier League.
After you spent all that cash on players and brought in Ronaldo my opinion was that on paper anyway united had one of the best squads and the only way you wouldn’t challenge for honors was your mgr. After watching you play lately (at home mind you )that opinion has changed. You’re in desperate need for midfielders. Yes I think Klopp would improve you immensely, but players would be brought in since he is more ruthless than people think and he would ship out deadwood. So it’s a combination of having a weak midfield and a coach who is living on his past status as a legend with the club. Not a good place to be in for united supporters since I think Ole stays if he does just enough and with the talent united have that’s a certainty. I believe united would have to implode for the team to move forward.
Same goes for PSG. You can't rate PSG's squad, even on paper, higher than City's or bayern's knowing how crucial midfielders are for a top team. Liverpool lacked sheer technical abilities in the midfield compared to most CL winners but TAA and Robertson were so good at that time that they could be used as wide midfielders. Gueye, Herrera, McFred, it's just not enough.
Verratti is one of the best players in the world though. Wijnaldum, Gueye and Herrera are all good enough to won big leagues if they have a very good squad around them. All three would easily start for us too.
Keep posting. Productive posts get rewarded with likes - once you hit 10 likes you become a full member and can post freely.
When fit he is, but he misses far too many games to be considered reliable. Wijnaldum is terrible since he arrived (his last season at Liverpool wasn't great either). Gueye can have nights of absolute brilliance (against Real Madrid 2 years ago, this week against City) or be bang average. Herrera is a decent player but we just lack creativity in the midfield and at one point, you need to take the ball forward. Kimmich/Goretzka/Muller, KdB/Gundogan/Rodri/ and whoever else among Grealish, Foden or Bernardo, it's far more balanced.
Well argumented, I actually agree now that I see your point. PSG is potentially great, even their midfield, but there are too many ifs. I would even add that Chelsea squad is more balanced and they have some serious depth.
They are, and balance is everything. We have no use for 4 top attacking players like Neymar/Mbappé/Messi/Di Maria (i'm not even mentionning Icardi), there's only 3 spots. Thanks lord we got Hakimi and Nuno Mendes this summer because it was ridiculous to see games with Neymar/Mbappé/Di Maria up front and Bakker/Florenzi on the sides.
We were stupid enough to buy a lot of average midfielders but no top one. At the moment we have :
- Verratti
- Gueye
- Herrera
- Wijnaldum
- Paredes
- Danilo
- Rafinha
- Draxler
- a couple of youngsters
What team are you supposed to build with such a collection of average players? We should have saved a bit longer, sold a couple of them to get ONE good player instead of 3 meh players.
Top 3 would be some combination of Bayern PSG and City but I'm not sure of the proper order
Unless City buys a striker, I'd go
1) Bayern
2) City
3) PSG
Because balance.
There's no limit in the newbie forums. To be blunt it's going to be hard to get promoted from them if you don't post in them.
I had my head checked. The doctor said I was fine.
I think it's becoming more and more obvious you are going through the 9th/10th year of corner turning. For comparison we were with Houllier thinking Hyppia/Henchoz were one of the best central defences in Europe. Owen/Heskey were a better partnership than Cole/Yorke, etc.
In reality Utd and Arsenal players were so far ahead of us we couldn't even see their dust trails. But that didn't stop us thinking otherwise. This is where you are.
Henderson is so much more a reliable PL player than the overrated (can't play without Kante) thug Pogba. More hindsighting to come.
Fecking hell
You don't think most midfielder in the list are not up to the standards of a CL contending team?Fecking hell
You made the final and semifinal in the last two seasons
1. PSG
2. Man City
3. Liverpool
4. Bayern Munich
5. Chelsea
6. Real Madrid
7. Atletico Madrid
8. Man Utd
9. Inter
10. Barcelona
2. Man City
3. Liverpool
4. Bayern Munich
5. Chelsea
6. Real Madrid
7. Atletico Madrid
8. Man Utd
9. Inter
10. Barcelona
That's not the point. How do Herrera/Gueye/Paredes compare to Mueller, Kimmich, Goretzka, Kante, Jorginho, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, i could go on forever.
So? Teams aren't made of midfields
Oh ok, so midfielders aren't a significant element in football, that's news. Coming from a Real Madrid fan who saw Modric/Kross bossing games for years, that's pretty rich. PSG's goal is the champion's league, and CL winners have more than 1 (always injured) good midfielder.
Explain to me how a team that made a CL final and SF in consecutive seasons, losing both times on fine margins, has a crippingly poor midfield
It's simple : we had to hijack our midfield by playing counter attack every time we played a top team because possession football is out of reach for us. And we had to rely on individual performances. Do you really have to ask why having Herrera and Gueye in the starting XI isn't up to CL winner standards? They'll have a good game occasionnally but overall they're just too poor on the ball. 1 is fine, teams can used a waterboy, 2 is a liability.
And yet you made a CL final and SF and lost on very fine margins both times
Football is 11vs11, not midfield vs midfield
And Gueye, Herrera, Paredes, etc, may be limited and not world class players, but they are far from average anyways.
And in case you forgot, chelsea are the current european champions. Please tell me about all these amazing technical midfielders they have who allow them to play possession football against the best sides...
That Paredes fella is very good. I've seen some good stuff from Gueye recently. Verrati is second only to Kante. Wijnaldum and Herrera in form are solid. You're basically crying you only have one world class player in midfield. All the players I mentioned are light years ahead of McFred.
You're massively underrating your midfield because of how disjointed and top heavy your team is.
I think one have to agree that at first glance PSG‘s midfield is their only area where they could improve, but when you take a closer look it doesn‘t actually look to bad.
We don‘t have to talk about Verratti and Wijnaldum actually won a CL being a key player. So you have only one weak spot in midfield and
for this third midfield spot you have to chose between Gueye, Paredes, Herrera. Not elite but also not too bad. Complaining at a high level i would say
I think most Dutch pundits are now trying to put Ajax near the top of this list. Poor Rafael van der Vaart was made to defend his point that Kevin de Bruyne is in fact a lot better than Steven Berghuis.
I mean, I'm a huge Berghuis fan, but really, he's no Kevin de Bruyne and Ajax is no Man City.
I mean, I'm a huge Berghuis fan, but really, he's no Kevin de Bruyne and Ajax is no Man City.
Only reason "journalists" like Arno Vermeulen and Valentijn Driessen hype up Ajax is so they can be overly critical when they lose
Last edited:
I dislike Arno Vermeulen as much as the next guy, but putting him on the level of Valentijn Driessen is harsh
Simple
Bayern
PSG
City
Liverpool
United
Chelsea
Bayern
PSG
City
Liverpool
United
Chelsea
Paredes isn't "very good", he had a couple of good performance but is very disapointing overall since we bought him for a ridiculous fee of 45M.
And i'm sorry to tell you that but when i'm comparing our midfield to top teams, Man United is not the reference i have in mind.
Wijnaldum looked good on paper but his last season with Liverpool wasn't good at all (some of their fans call him a backpass merchant) and he's not doing better for PSG, he's not a starting player at the moment. RIght now, Gueye and Herrera would be starting along with Verratti and it's true that they can sometimes have good games (Gueye even had a couple of great performances) but most of the time you can't trust them to take care of the ball in high pressure situations and that's a huge liability. Trust is a very important part of a team's alchemy and it's just not possible with those guy because they can mess up at any moment, they just don't know how to take care of the ball.
Wijnaldum has always mostly been a workhorse who gets the ball and passes it back or sideways. That's also his problem for our national team. Just because he plays for a big club everyone expects him to create stuff. That's not his thing. Sure he has goals in him, but he's not a creative player. You've also clearly bought him a bit too late, he's past it imo.
So you have Verrati and 4 players you say that are capable of good performances. Wow incredibly troubling midfield
Mate you're midfield looks shit because you have 4 dudes that don't do anything off the ball in front of them (well Mbappe makes the odd run). The spaces they have to cover are just too large.
This is fair imo. Prolly Bayern ahead of liverpool.
OCCASIONNAL good performances, that's a big difference. If they're in an average day they won't be able to compete against top midfielders.So you have Verrati and 4 players you say that are capable of good performances. Wow incredibly troubling midfield
Mate you're midfield looks shit because you have 4 dudes that don't do anything off the ball in front of them (well Mbappe makes the odd run). The spaces they have to cover are just too large.
And the space they have to cover is a very separate issue. I'm talking about the way they deal with the ball while under pressure, which is a HUGE factor at the highest level. And the answer is : they suck at it and do everything to give it to Verratti so they're off the hook. That's not the way you play high level football, not with players scared of having the ball in their feet.
I don't really know why people here, most of them watching 5 PSG games a year top, are trying to prove our midfielders aren't that bad. I think I know how good or bad they are.
We are definitely in the top 10. Not sure where but we are in it.