What do we need more this transfer window: A new defensive midfielder or a new centre-back?

What do we need more this transfer window?


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Cabin Clown

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I'm one of Smalling's biggest fans, but I'd take another CB. I can't bring myself to trust Lindelof. He's simply not top quality IMO. I think Fred can be more than adequate cover for Matic (who unlike the odd few folk thinks in here is not over the hill).

What we need is another thread about what we need.
Laughed so much at this :lol:
 

Web of Bissaka

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Fully agree with this. Think this is a disaster waiting to happen. There have been times during the season where no backup CB were available. They all got injured during training, warmups etc.
It's similar to having only Pogba to provide our creativity start of this season. Window closed, he gets injured, and we suffer. Emergency situation to bring in Bruno at the last minute.

Just why didn't we prepare early? Huge risks.

Shall we repeat with our CB?
 

Web of Bissaka

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This. Fred and McT arent the perfect answer for DM, but they are better backups than what we have at CB. We can't count on Maguire and Lindeloff to play every game next year, and we can't count on Bailly to be healthy as a backup either. If you're just looking at the starting 11, then yeah, I think Matic is a bigger weakness then Maguire and Lindeloff, but if either of the 2 CBs go down, we are in some deep shit defensively, whereas if Matic goes down, I have faith that Fred or McT can hang in there and do a decent job.
This explained it well.
Obviously new DM is also important, but if we have to choose and prioritize one, CB is more risky to be ignored. For both our CBs and DMs departments, obviously there's a huge drop of quality if Mag, Lind and Matic are not playing the respective roles, so once we consider fitness wise as does reliability, CB is more important. Fred/McT are more dependable (they did just enough this season) and even if they fecked up, doesn't matter, our good defense and maybe De Gea can bail them out. If the CBs fecked up, then we have to rely only on De Gea.

Cool username by the way.
 

Web of Bissaka

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You have 1 DM there and 2 clear box-to-box central midfielders. If we go into a new season expecting either of them to offer what Matic does, we cannot complain about our midfield getting ran through time and time and time again.
True the duo are better as B2B CM. They can still do the job as DM with our good defense (stats proved it) but clearly not as good as Matic. When Matic is out of favour, both McT and Fred did just enough didn't they, we survived and still lingers in top 6. We need a creative enforcer to break into top 4, not DM, that's not the problem.

Still not seeing why DM should be prioritize more than CB.. since we only have to choose one in this thread which is basically asking which position has higher risks.
 

lex talionis

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Fred and Scott are just not DM material. Closing out a 3-0 match, sure, they can do the job. But if Matic is out for a long spell we have no cover for him whatsoever.
 

Foxbatt

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A good DM helps the CBs a lot. The CBs won't be under so much pressure with a top class DM.
 

Mark Pawelek

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Both, both, both, and both again. CB is easier to find. DCM like Matic is harder to find.

CB: Jones, Bailly, Rojo should leave. I always feel Bailly is an accident waiting to happen. Smalling can stay and we can promote Mengi. Smalling may not want to stay. Tuanzebe will begin the season injured so I'll ignore him. At best that leaves us with 3 CBs plus a rookie, plus an injured CB. It's judicious add another one. Luca Kilian; 20 year old. Played 1 season at Paderborn (just relegated). Promising player with no weaknesses in his game. Probably come very cheap.

DCM: We need cover for Matic & someone to to give Matic a rest. Whenever Matic plays more than 2 matches per week his form nosedives. Finding a player like Matic is hard. Garner is a bit like Matic but doesn't look physically ready yet and needs a loan. What about Teun Koopmeiners at AZ Alkmaar? He didn't look great against us but Matic or Carrick rarely looked great to me. They just do the right job.

€35m the pair. OK so they have risky pedigrees. But United don't have funds to buy 5 × €50m + 1 × €120m players right now.
 

eire-red

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I won't vote because I feel both are equally important. Look at Liverpool. Allison, van Dijk and Fabinho were the three signings that took them to the next level.

Now we're not gonna replace De Gea this window, and as patchy as De Gea has been, I wouldn't put him anywhere near Karius level. But I do feel we need signings of the calibre of van Dijk and Fabinho to win the league.

If I absolutely was forced to choose, I would choose a defensive midfielder. I have more faith in Maguire, Bailly and Lindelof providing an adequate defensive 'trio' for the season, with Tuanzebe as backup, as compared to just Matic as our sole CDM. He can't do it for an entire season, playing 2 games a week. The difference in the team when Matic plays, vs McTominay in that role is night and day. Not bashing Scott, but his strengths are more box to box, his aggression and athleticism is wasted in a holding role. Fred similarly isn't physical or tactically aware enough to play that position I think.

Sancho, and a CDM would be a good summer in my book. A CB would be fantastic too, but I don't see any CB that fits the bill for what we need right now. Maybe Koulibaly, but he doesn't fit the age profile Ole clearly targets, and I doubt we'd sign him and Sancho in the same window. Therefore, I would say we should get our no.1 targets this summer for RW and CDM, and maybe wait another year where the likes of Upamecano or someone might be available.

We should be targeting summer 2021 as the summer to get the final pieces in order for a real title push. Next season is too soon, and I'd rather wait and sign two top players this window, rather than Sancho and two 'lesser' players using the excuse that we need squad depth or numbers.
 

CG1010

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CB. In case of injury to Matic or resting him, we have the option of playing Fred + Mctominay in midfield 2 who did relatively well in the previous season or Pogba + Fred/Mctominay.

A CB, either a good rotational option or a competitor to Lindelof/Maguire would either ways boost our team well.
 

sp_107

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A new DM, no question.

Matic can still do a fantastic job for us, but his workload needs to be managed do that his successor going into 21/22 — by which time a expect us to make serious run the the LL and CL trophies — will have gained the required experience in 21/22.
Total sense.


A DM is a top priority than anything else for coming season.


If we are going for both, Upamecano looks like a very good option..He is fast, ball playing CB.
 

Bastian

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Unless that DM is world class and good enough to make up for the lack of pace in the centre back pairing, and can also help out aerially when Lindelof is being bullied, this question is easily answered.

Of course we need both, but having Maguire playing next to a top class defender will be huge.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Unless that DM is world class and good enough to make up for the lack of pace in the centre back pairing, and can also help out aerially when Lindelof is being bullied, this question is easily answered.

Of course we need both, but having Maguire playing next to a top class defender will be huge.
There is no top class defender available in the market. Either CB or DM, one of them will make improvement into our squad. May be a left footed CB will provide better additional to our squad than DM this year since we don't need to worry too much if Maguire gets injured and offer more flexibility if we want to play 3 at the back against certain opposition.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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I hope after this game, people now can see why centre back should be above defensive midfield. Apart from no reliable centre back if Maguire gets injured for the obvious reason, we already have enough reliable player that can be used for DM role (Matic, Fred, McT). This is not rocket science where people see the weakest link in our starting XI, we conceded such easy goals especially from defenders unable to fully concentrate in 90 minutes, lose concentration and being ball watching in the last 10 minutes. Not the first time this happened this season.
 

GenZRed

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Here is what we need:

Decent competition for RB

A new CB, or perhaps two.

A defensive midfielder who can also play out from the back. Matic is good but we need competition.

A new RW

A good number 9. Martial isn't good enough to play 30 plus games a season in that role. He is alright on his day though.
 

Phil

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Yes.

Good luck prioritising and sorting this one out Ole.
 

Dan_F

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Don’t think we’ll sign a centre back or defensive midfielder. The worst thing we could do is go out and waste £30-40 million on another decent centre back.
 

Woodzy

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Don’t think we’ll sign a centre back or defensive midfielder. The worst thing we could do is go out and waste £30-40 million on another decent centre back.
That's my worry with a CB signing. Don't think we can gamble on a prospect. Maguire was overpriced but decent, but not the one that transforms our defence unfortuantely.
 

Crashoutcassius

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I think we need an option in the front three more, and a left back that can continue to the attack. cb and cm could wait for a season I reckon. obviously if we want to get 100pts and win the league next year we need a cm and a centre back, but we need even more, we need our young players to get better on top of spending amounts of money only really city and psg can spend
 

Rightnr

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If we get the right defensive mid, he can compensate for the weaknesses of our CBs.

However, I do like Fred for his dynamism, so if the right profile of CB is available, I'd go for that.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Don’t think we’ll sign a centre back or defensive midfielder. The worst thing we could do is go out and waste £30-40 million on another decent centre back.
Don't need to be top class in order to stay focus and fully concentrate for 90 minutes.
 

oz insomniac

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What is needed is finding the ability for the merchant bankers that run the clubs transfers to have the ability to probably handle more than one deal at a time, and then amazingly get targets to the club in a timely fashion. it’s obvious we are at a significant crossroads where astute signings would propel the club to challenge to top 2 clubs and also Chelsea after their off season additions.

That would assist the value of the club for the Glazers, but hope we are not looking at what we have seen previously, rumours, lowballing offers, delays and then giving the media friendly leaks to suggest how hard they are going, then the window of opportunity is gone.

Seeing so many Woodward acolytes is strange when the club needs action not delays, living on the other side of the world out of the Manchester bubble tends to make the obvious even Clearer. The Woody/Judge show needs to show some cojones and strengthen the club and who knows, maybe tell the Glazers to act like interested owners not savvy investors.
 

ali8karimi

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CB. Garner will be Matic successor; counting him we got 5 players able to play as CM in a 4231. Buying a DM would be more important if we were looking forward playing in a 433. We got one reliable CB in Maguire, easy answer
 

Dan_F

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Don't need to be top class in order to stay focus and fully concentrate for 90 minutes.
Depends if you think that the problem is concentration. I’d argue that being caught out in the same way all the time is just competence.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Depends if you think that the problem is concentration. I’d argue that being caught out in the same way all the time is just competence.
And being competence doesn't need to be top class.
 

Dan_F

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And being competence doesn't need to be top class.
No 95% of the time Lindelof is fine. He will make errors because he’s not elite level. It’s not concentration. All the ex players yesterday were complaining about his body shape and positioning. That’s not concentration.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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No 95% of the time Lindelof is fine. He will make errors because he’s not elite level. It’s not concentration. All the ex players yesterday were complaining about his body shape and positioning. That’s not concentration.
We can agree and disagree on that but one thing you can't disagree about is that there are a competent centre back who are not labelled as top class out there.
 

cyril C

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Depends if you think that the problem is concentration. I’d argue that being caught out in the same way all the time is just competence.
In any semi-final, it is hard to blame lacking concentration, unless you need to pick up the kids from school and queue up for toilet paper, after game. If it is more than once, hard to blame the wife neither.
 

Dan_F

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We can agree and disagree on that but one thing you can't disagree about is that there are a competent centre back who are not labelled as top class out there.
Yeah and their names are Lindelof and Bailly. They are competent centre backs. Unfortunately when you come to United, all of your mistakes are going to be crucified ten fold. We also had a hugely successful season defensively, despite the keeper making a huge amount of mistakes. Only top class will improve us.
 

LawCharltonBest

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CB. Get a top class CB and Matic or Fred ahead of the defence will look much more comfortable. Each is forced to drop into the back 4 because Lindelof decides to take a random trip to Sainsbury's in every match.

But i absolutely guarantee you now, dollars to donuts, we won't even seriously try to sign one.Same story every Summer.

The brief next month will be "United have decided against adding another centre back to the squad, with Tuanzebe expected to be fit to start the new season" - Cue Tuanzebe getting a season ending injury on October 6th, and Bailly turning up on crutches again for no apparent reason.
 

EwanI Ted

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Previously I thought it was about 50:50 between those two positions, but last night slightly tipped my thinking to us needing a CB more. I think Fred showed last night that the need for another specialist DM in our squad is overrated. Half the teams you face in a season are no better than Sevilla, and Fred didn't come up short against them. He's definitely good enough for lots of our routine league and cup games, meaning we can use Matic sparingly to get the best out of him.

Centre back on the other hand, there's just a lack of quality there. We can swap around our CBs all day long, whoever goes alongside Maguire just brings different flaws to the table. If we can nail this spot along with RW this summer, it would be a good window.
 

cyril C

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No 95% of the time Lindelof is fine. He will make errors because he’s not elite level. It’s not concentration. All the ex players yesterday were complaining about his body shape and positioning. That’s not concentration.
Tell me what is it.

Lindelof looked back, let the ball passed, and looked SURPRISE when someone sneaked behind him.

So it was obvious that he intentionally not blocking the pass, because he assumed it was a better option to let it pass into the box.

Was it situational awareness that he was not aware of any opponent sneaking behind him?

or was it a mental thing to avoid a corner?

What do you expect from an average CB? a competent CB? a world-class CB?
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Yeah and their names are Lindelof and Bailly. They are competent centre backs. Unfortunately when you come to United, all of your mistakes are going to be crucified ten fold. We also had a hugely successful season defensively, despite the keeper making a huge amount of mistakes. Only top class will improve us.
Pallister & Bruce aren't top class but they would improve us. They are competent! If Lindelof & Bailly are competent, we wouldn't need to play Maguire even against league one team in FA Cup or LASK in Europa League.