Thats all we need from here on in for me...further bloating with squad players like Vermaelen I just don't understand. If Moyes did that he would have been....hmm
Van Gaal wants new defender
- Thread starter red_7
- Start date
Possibly yes indeed.
Yeah, it was him. De Sciglio didn't play against England.
Hummels seems to be the number one choice but I think he will be really hard to get so Vermaelen it is.
We shouldn't go for Verm, we need someone who is very likely to have an injury free season. Can Vermaelen have one?
Hummels is not realistic imo. So who does that leave? Blind? I reckon we need a top quality cb, can Blind be considered a first team starter at cb for us?
Hummels is not realistic imo. So who does that leave? Blind? I reckon we need a top quality cb, can Blind be considered a first team starter at cb for us?
I know it is. I actually rate Shaw and I think he's worth the money we paid, not that it matters. I was just trying to point out the absurdity that goes on, on here. We pay 27 million for Shaw and he's overpriced because he's English. We're apparently in for a Spanish kid who's buyout is 32 million, no one bats an eye lid.
For a club who finished 7th and are not in Europe...probably.
Again sorry for being a pedant but I think this is a bit of unfair generalization. I seem to recall certain people calling Herrera a no go initially because of the near 30 million price-tag despite him being Spanish. I don't think being foreign has much to do with. People were more concerned with Shaw's footballing abilities rather than nationality. Or atleast that's the impression I got, might be wrong. A bad investment is bad, regardless of the player being French (like Laporte), English, Spanish etc..I'd rather play Blackett
An injury free Vermaelen would be actually a very good addition.
Is Rojo even a good CB right now?
We were linked with Sead Kolasinac as well whose bit of a LB/CB/DM cross type player too. He seems a good prospect as well if we are looking at that sort of profile.
Really liked Rojo in the world cup, wouldnt cost a fortune either and hes at a good age where he can still improve. terrific athlete.
Rojo is just the kind who looks good at the World Cup, would come here and be utter, utter shambles.
i'd rather have basanta then rojo.
Rojo is a mediocre passer, though, which sort of defeats the purpose of getting a left-footed CB.
I wonder if it would have been worth bringing in Abidal for this season on a free. He was basically the perfect 3-man LCB in his prime and he did play for the runner up team in Ligue 1 last year.
I wonder if it would have been worth bringing in Abidal for this season on a free. He was basically the perfect 3-man LCB in his prime and he did play for the runner up team in Ligue 1 last year.
Come on Abidal
His time is overWe're needing quality or i would rather give Blackett and Keane a chance at the back
I'm really hoping we're only play 3-5-2 for one season and after that, in games against 2 out and out strikers or specific matchups where the other team's style or obvious superiority makes having a 3rd CB on the pitch useful. I think there's a reason no team that's competed for one of the top leagues has played it for years, with the exception of Juventus. So, a short-term signing like Abidal or Medel on a loan from Cardiff (has experience in a 3 man D) would have been fine with me, although the latter still leaves us with no real backup left-sided option for when Evans gets hurt, apart from Blackett.Come on Abidal
We're needing quality or i would rather give Blackett and Keane a chance at the back
Or we could just bring back Larry White.
If the plan is to get us playing 4-3-3 as quickly as possible then I think we'll only buy one CB and use Carrick and Fletcher in there if need be. At this point I'm just going to assume it will be Vermaelen as Hummels isn't happening and I don't see us paying a huge fee for any CB but him.
I honestly don't know if he's any good. I just know he's supposed to be better than at left back, where his performances suggest he wouldnt be good enough
Rojo is terrible!!! God no...just no.
Wasn't he dropped a few times for Bosnia in the World Cup? Or was it due to injury?
He was dropped for one game strangely for some tactical reasons by the Bosnia coach vs Nigeria. All Bosnia fans seemed pretty angry and rightly so as it turned out.
Nigeria pretty much hurt Bosnia from that area of the pitch with a makeshift LB who went missing totally and CB getting pulled out.
He really was toss for Utd
Yeah, bringing in players in their mid-30's, whether Blanc or Abidal, is not the answer.
I remember the headline on the back page well
Blackburn
Liverpool
Arsenal
Newcastle
Chelsea
All the teams that beat us with him in the team.
Why can't we play 4-4-2 like Van Gaal's AZ or Atletico Madrid, where the wingers are just basically wide central midfielders? Or at the very most, attacking midfielders who start from the wing and drift centrally.
Bosnian lad against Argentina that started at lb and then switched?
LVG has implied that if we had the personnel he'd play 4-3-3, perhaps he's looking to build a 4-3-3 for next season. If that's the case then bringing through the likes of michael keane and blackett might be a good plan this season, let us have 5 players for 2 positions next season, and 3 of them youth products of the clubs own.
For the record I thought Rojo looked really solid, in a kind of dangerous 'rafael' esque way
Solid glass?
This implication is overstated, I think. We do have the personnel to play a 433, quite clearly. But getting our best players on the pitch requires a different system - so as long as Rooney, Mata and RVP are our best players, we'll be looking to play something with 2 strikers and a player in the hole. We've all got good reasons to be concerned about the state of our defensive options, of course; but it's really refreshing to have someone at the helm who is determined to play to our strengths, rather than marginalise weakness. Go LVG! Whoop!
So with Vermaelen Seemingly looking likely to go to Barca, we surely need another target.
And it seems we want a left footer who can play from the back.
And it seems we want a left footer who can play from the back.
No question, we need another body to go with Evans, Jones, Smalling and Blackett solely because of the past history of injuries for 3 of the 4. Who that body is remains difficult.
We established on this forum the lack of top defenders in world football right now. The likelihood of us signing someone like Hummels is incredibly slim, so wouldn't it make more sense to develop our own players rather than looking to buy a top one that we probably can't get anyway? It's not like Jones, Smalling and Evans don't have experience against the top teams we will face this season in the league. As for Blackett, I'd venture to say that Liverpool in a friendly will give us a tougher game than alot of teams in the League this season.
I think we can go cheap on this option and buy a Vermaelen or Vlaar to use for cover. It would be in our best interests long term to try to use this season to establish Jones and Smalling as top centerbacks.
We established on this forum the lack of top defenders in world football right now. The likelihood of us signing someone like Hummels is incredibly slim, so wouldn't it make more sense to develop our own players rather than looking to buy a top one that we probably can't get anyway? It's not like Jones, Smalling and Evans don't have experience against the top teams we will face this season in the league. As for Blackett, I'd venture to say that Liverpool in a friendly will give us a tougher game than alot of teams in the League this season.
I think we can go cheap on this option and buy a Vermaelen or Vlaar to use for cover. It would be in our best interests long term to try to use this season to establish Jones and Smalling as top centerbacks.
If Vermaelen was our number one target for that left CB spot, I would rather we settle with Blackett.
Not really a problem if we turn a profit, right? Seems like a viable transfer strategy to me.
I see you play a lot of Football Manager too.
I'd definitely go with Inigo Martinez of the leftfooted CB options. Purely because Laporte would cost more and Bilbao are awful to deal with. Maybe we could get him in the future, but for right now Martinez is a good young CB comfortable on the ball and he hasn't been playing so well that he'd cost a fortune.
That's a Football Manager players list if I've ever seen one. Vertonghen is the best choice on there but with our history of buying players from Spurs we may as well not bother.