He's barely played the position
We are short in midfield, doesn't mean we wont muddle through, doesn't mean we should go into the season planning to though
Wesley Sneijder
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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We are short in midfield, doesn't mean we wont muddle through, doesn't mean we should go into the season planning to though
Have you seen Jones in midfield? Is he really that good to cover for Carrick or Fletcher and add quality?
All this is based on assumptions and too much of a gamble.
In the unlikely event of having Rio, Vidic, Smalling, Carrick, Fletcher all injured at the same time, we will struggle whatever midfielder we bring in.
Jones is not the answer to anything, just an option.
And I reckong our so-called midfield problems are overstated.
Yes but then we did pull through surprisingly well with Giggs-O'Shea so...
1. He has little experience and isn't a natural midfielder.
2. With our recent injury record in defence. We will definitely need him to cover the center backs above all else.
1. Hargreaves missing was significant that is why we kept trying to bring him back. We got away with it however by having also Gibson and Scholes around. Just last season alone we used O'shea in midfield vs the likes of Everton. We no longer have those options if only Jones is the only one around as cover.
2. We now have 2 injury prone fullbacks and Rio. When Vidic picks up his usual suspension too we could so easily end up like this at the back (Smalling, Evans, Jones, Evra)
That would leave us zero cover in holding midfield if Flecther remained sick and something happened to Carrick.
The fact is our options in midfield have reduced significantly. It makes sense to replenish them with at least one player.
Yes, I've seen him in midfield. Totally different to Fletcher and Carrick. Jones won't add anything attacking-wise, purely there to stop the opposition play.
Too much of a gamble to take to hoep it can happen again.
The only way to give a player experience is to play the player.
We have 5 centrehalves, no probs there.
Scholes and Gibson out, Jones and Cleverly in.
If we are short in a game or two, play a youngster.
We have 5 centrehalves, no probs there.
Scholes and Gibson out, Jones and Cleverly in.
If we are short in a game or two, play a youngster.
What are you scared of?
The question is whether he is good enough there and be a match to Barcelona
There is no role or position we are short in terms of numbers.
We are lacking an outstanding centre midfielder. But, not many of them around, and even fewer that could be bought for a realistic fee.
We are lacking an outstanding centre midfielder. But, not many of them around, and even fewer that could be bought for a realistic fee.
We do lack central midfielders. We have three of them, four if you count Giggs. Not nearly enough.
Jones, Park etc. are not central midfielders. Yeah, with wingers and centre-backs we're likely to be able to name an 18-man squad for every game but quality is kind of important for a club like Manchester United. People seem to forget that.
Going into the season with the midfield we have now basically means we'll rely on the rivals being shite again. Worked last time but not a comforting thought.
That's rubbish, to be fair.
No, it isn't.
Lets just use Pogba Morrison and Cleverly !
We won the league and finished second in Europe because we were good, not because the opposition was crap.
Dangerous, like aids.
what is it that is rubbish that we lack central midfielder, surely we can't start the season with just carrick anderson and a 37 year old giggs with fletcher being a sicknote. its too huge of a gamble to take. I don't believe all this no value bollocks, its crazy to think we can't afford to buy someone to strengthen our midfield.
Park is not and never has been a central midfielder, he'll do a job chasing the ball further up the pitch but you only have to look at his 12 second cluster-feck of a performance against Arsenal where he didn't bother tracking back at all and allowed Ramsey to score from a chance he wouldn't have gotten if Scholes had been marking him, never mind Keane.
We did signed another defender (5th choice?) and another winger though.
What's Giggs' age got to do with it? People have used that as an argument for 5 years now!
We are NOT going into the new season with just Anderson, Carrick and Giggs.
We are NOT going into the new season with just Anderson, Carrick and Giggs.
feck Sneijder i don't wan't him, rather spend the money on someone younger with more to prove or promote from within.
We were OK, sometimes good. We amassed 80 points in the league - the last time that was enough for anything better than third place was in 2004.
As for Europe: Bayern, Inter, Milan etc. were all crap last season - I know Milan won their league but failing to score TWICE against Spurs? Really? -, we avoided the Spanish giants so the only really good team we had to beat was an out-of-sorts Chelsea. It was a good run, no doubt, and based on the quality of the entire European season we deserved to be there but other sides might improve for next season - Bayern definitely did, Inter have a new coach, Real Madrid look even stronger, Chelsea have a new manager and look to spend, there's City to worry about in the CL now - so we cannot risk being left behind. We've been steadily getting worse since Moscow and it's high time to buck that trend.
Bloody hell - doom monger.
At least we improved from that crappy season in 99 when we got even less points and had to put up with scraping past Bayern in the CL final.....
At least we improved from that crappy season in 99 when we got even less points and had to put up with scraping past Bayern in the CL final.....
Oh God. That was with a much smaller squad, in a different era. Football has changed tremendously since 1999.
Then again, I know it's a heinous crime to suggest that United are not actually perfect. So let me repent: we are perfect, the Jones-Park midfield will take the Premier League by storm and nobody will stand a chance against us.
Park and Jones will probably eat Iniesta-Xavi for breakfast. Believe!
Where's this €45M figure coming from? Last time I checked Inter's demands were around the €35M mark?
There's no such a thing as the perfect football team.
If it is the Jones-Park partnership you are scared of, I doubt you will see that often, if at all.
It was supposed to be Inter wanted £35M, so around €40M. Heard €45M mentioned yesterday, but I think that was just a new figure randomly thrown out there by someone in the press.
I don't think anyone knows exactly what Inter want, it's all speculation.
My opinion is that they want a shedload of money which we have no intention of paying, thus the deal died before it had a chance to really live.
Good
I think it probably has more to do with his wage demands than the transfer fee.
Yeah but we have to keep striving for perfection. Meek acceptance of mediocrity isn't what Manchester United are about. And right now our central midfield is mediocre at best and we're planning to rely on wingers and centre-backs to pull us through if our virus-hit or injury-prone and inconsistent midfielders fail to do their job.
That's the solution! Let's concentrate on buying defenders and wingers and let's convert them into CM! It surely works just as well as it did with Giggs
Fergie on the prospect of Rooney playing the Scholes role:
Pretty much puts that one to bed then.
And anyway, if we move Rooney back to midfield then the problem of replacing a fantastic player will still be there, just in a different position...
Sounds like he wants a CM rather than an AM then, but we've been linked to all these attacking midfielders.
Now that I read it I'm even more worried.
If we don't sign a midfielder, it seems like Fergie will call Pogba up.
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