Definitely makes them more resilient to injuries. They were hopeless when Grealish was injured.
Transfer Tweets - 2021/22 | Check the OP for blacklisted sources before posting
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Sorry, I meant to say 'Mainly because all the players mentioned are NOT the same mould of midfielders as Pogba. They are pure DCMs.
I'm having the feeling that Ole would be happy to play Pogba in the middle since the arrival of Varane. I also think ideally Ole would like to bring in a #6 and play in a 4-3-3 (Stephen Howson reported that Mike Phelan confirmed as true, when asked if we are looking at a 4-3-3).
I also believe that Ole would rather keep Pogba and Pogba will play a lot more in the middle rather than LW. We all know the reason why Paul played at LW - he's not good at defending and having Lindelof in the back, who often gets outrun, outjumped, pushed around and unable to win the ball back, Ole prefers to have 2 players good at defending rather than just one.
With Varane in the back, Paul will get a lot more minutes in the middle and I'd put my head on the guillotine and say that he'll barely play at LW. The LW minutes will be shared mainly between Sancho, Martial, Rashford and maybe Dan James.
Back when they brought Jesus I was thinking that he's the real deal. Not so much anymore.
260m is a lot of money, but if they manage to raise 100m in sales, then that leaves them with 160m net spend, which is totally acceptable.
None of the midfielders we are linked to can cover for Pogba and Bruno as #8's, it doesn't matter who the CB's are.
None of those three is good enough/pure enough to be the lone DCM in a 4-3-3 in my opinion - Camavinga is too young , Neves to immobile and Saul is too much tilting towards an box to box.
Ofcourse you might either of those with Fred or McT together with Pogba, but if we are talking a pure DM then only Rice/Ndidi could do that.
Brilliant deal/business for Villa. Anyone who wouldn’t take Buendia/Bailey/Ward-Prowse for one Jack Grealish is a mad man.
Any mid-table club you mean
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True. I don't think I said that they could cover for one of them. Fred and VDB are the covers for Paul and Bruno.
I can't argue with that as I haven't watched enough of them playing, but why would we want to switch to 4-3-3 and still want one of them instead of being linked with Rice/Ndidi? Which both would cost a fortune. I think Camavinga is the main target and the coaches believe that he could slot in that position with the right guidance.
What I was saying was that none of Saul/Neves/Camavinga are capable of allowing both Pogba and Bruno to play, we'll get ran through.
Yeah, that can absolutely happen - but it will minimum take a couple of years to get him to be a top side DM in PL. It requires alot of positional intelligence and experience.
And they wont switch to 4-3-3 until they have an absolute top class DM.
Just saw Bailey has better stats in the Bundesliga than Sancho this season....wonder why Man Utd weren't interested ? Maybe already set on Sancho.
city must be bonkers then?
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I don’t think anyone in the world could do that.
Bar about 4-5 clubs in world football! And even then, it could be a bad decision.
Bailey/Buendia could be in contention to play at any of the top clubs. They could well be sought after in a few years by even the likes of City.
Ward Prowse could well step up in a better team too. Even for the value alone, it’s a fantastic deal.
I think they are, yeah! If I’m being honest.
I guess the coaching staff and scouts see something in them. Let's see.
You're probably right to be fair
Agreed, they will be a better team than last season.
Agreed, even if we could time travel and get someone like prime Rijkaard or Davidz, it wouldn't be enough.
I dont think Bailey is anything special
Like Nick said, there's no holding midfielder that can make it work, the make-up up of the 3 man midfield requires at least one of the #8's to be a proper box to box, neither Pogba or Bruno are that.
I'd actually rank him as a 100m player to be fair.
But I don't think City really needed to spend 100m on a position they aren't short in. So this transfer is a bit weird. He's an outstanding player and to anyone thinking hel rotate with others like Mahrez did - do you really think City will make a club record transfer of 100m just for a player to rotate?!
He's coming in as the D Silva to KDB I think. And when he's not that, hel be out on the left opposite to Foden.
The only positive is that they lack an explosive player outside of Sterling to really use pace and run on behind. They lack a top striker for the time being too.
Let's just hope they don't get Kane
But I don't think City really needed to spend 100m on a position they aren't short in. So this transfer is a bit weird. He's an outstanding player and to anyone thinking hel rotate with others like Mahrez did - do you really think City will make a club record transfer of 100m just for a player to rotate?!
He's coming in as the D Silva to KDB I think. And when he's not that, hel be out on the left opposite to Foden.
The only positive is that they lack an explosive player outside of Sterling to really use pace and run on behind. They lack a top striker for the time being too.
Let's just hope they don't get Kane
I'd take Grealish at United over all three.
It's not madness at all. Ward-prowse is not an elite player. Buendia could be a top player one day and I don't know enough about the other bloke but it's not a safe bet by any means.
Yeah I agree. He's coming in for the Silva role as they've never adequately replaced him. They're fairly stacked on the wings and I think he'll be rarely used out there.
If we hadn’t signed Sancho for the right hand side, I would have easily taken the three. Bailey brings real pace and a player who wants to play as a natural right winger.
Buendia could well match Grealish goal contributions even if you lose his ball carrying (which sometimes doesn’t really go anywhere). He can make the step up. I am pretty confident.
Ward Prowse gives you a good CM with world class set piece delivery on top. Not to mention the English tax to his value too!
Far more sensible to take the three in terms of squad strength, player potential and the value that it brings. It’s a no brainer for me, especially in Villa’s case. It absolutely would be madness for them, in their situation, not to take that trade off.
Exactly Pogba and Bruno should not be playing together. It's like Gerrard and Lampard for England.
If you want to challenge for titles you don't have the luxury of bringing in two maybes and mid-table midfielder just because his set pieces are amazing when the alternative is one proven first teamer.
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Sad part they probably dont even need any owner funding for buying these two with all the PL and CL money
What? This will take spending to 1.1bn since 2016…of course it’s their owners.
game over for all
Yes, but I mean this transfer window
All of them are proven first teamers. Their output has the potential to massively make up for the loss of Grealish. It’s a great deal for Villa and makes them a lot better.
Only about 5 teams/squads in the world that it doesn’t make better, so we will agree to disagree.
It’s a fantastic deal for Villa that they would be mad not to take, and that’s all that really matters in this context anyway.
At least they wont go for Haaland
Who else is spending 250m on 2 players after a year without crowd revenue? How much prize money do you think they get?
Think City got around 200 m from PL+CL , and probably some more from domestic cups. Might not be all the way there but at least quite close
No argument that it's a great deal for Villa. I just think you're over-blowing it.
I’ve been contemplating this, trying to make sense of it all. Whilst i agree we’d need an even defensively better DMC for the 4-3-3 to work properly against the best teams, Camavinga for example might be enough for us to field Pogba-Camavinga-Bruno against low block defenses. Just an idea.
We’ll still have McFred, CamaFred, McVinga against better teams in a 4-2-3-1.
Another thought, what about one the DC’s as DMC? Both Maguire/Lindelof might be too immobile, but maybe Varane? I don’t know enough about his passing ability to fully assess that option i think. Anyway, i digress…
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