What is our best XI this season ?

[Fer]

Potential title-winning side. Agree with other posters to give Lukaku a try on the right with Sanchez moving up top. Would improve intricate play around the box and give Lukaku more space to maul defenders.

Martial Lukaku Sanchez
Pogba Fred
Matic
Shaw Lindelöf Bailly Dalot
De Gea​

Just curious. Why Dalot as starter when he even wasn't in Porto's first team?

 

[Fer]

DDG
Valencia - Bailly - Lindelöf - Shaw/Young
Pereira - Matic - Pogba
Sanchez - Lukaku - Martial

​

It's interesting that you chose Pereira instead of Fred. Do you think Andreas is a better player?

 

[JMack1234]

De Gea​

Valencia--Lindelof---Bailly--Shaw

Matic​

Fred------------Pogba​

Alexis------Lukaku-----Rashford​

 

[Nou_Camp99]

So many people included Sanchez and that can only be on reputation alone because Martial is far better than him for us on the left. It's not even close either.

 

[Dante]

De Gea​

Valencia--Lindelof---Bailly--Shaw

Matic​

Fred------------Pogba​

Alexis------Lukaku-----Rashford​

That's one way to solve the problem of not having a right winger.

 

[JMack1234]

That's one way to solve the problem of not having a right winger.

Yeah I know, but at least it keeps him out of Pogba's way.

 

[Fergies Formula]

This is what I want to see:

442 diamond

————-De Gea———-
Dalot-baily-Lindelof-shaw
—————Matic—————
—Fred—————Pogba—-
————-Sanchez————-
—-—Lukaku—-martial——

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

Lukaku
Martial ---------------------------------- Alexis

Pogba -------------- Fred
Matic

Shaw -- Lindeloff -- Bailley -- Valencia

DDG

​

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

To me, our best XI can't have Sanchez as a winger. He's not really a winger. Was much better in pre season through the middle and I feel that's where he needs to play if we're going to get the best out of him. For that reason, I would play a 442/433 hybrid in the same format France did in the world cup, with Sanchez in the 'Griezmann role'.

Lukaku
Sanchez
Fred Herrera Pogba Rashford
Shaw Lindelof Bailly Valencia
De Gea
​

It would also allow Mourinho to play his natural game and set up to counter teams.

​

Back four

Two attacking full backs, creating overloads out wide.

Centre midfielders

Two holding midfielders. Someone to distribute and someone to break up play.

Reason behind Herrera is because of the energy he would give us. To me, he is our hardest working and most dynamic midfielder. Not only that, but he's great at recovering the ball. He then has the ability to play at a quick tempo.

Next to him you have Pogba, who, whilst not as dynamic as Herrera, would provide the creativity from deep, which would make for a balanced duo.


Wide midfielders

A defensive winger and an attacking winger.

In Fred, like Matuidi, you'd have someone who is more defensive than the opposite winger. Someone who can break forward, but also have the energy and tactical nous to drop back and tuck in when out of possession.

You then have Rashford who would be our outlet. He'd have more attacking freedom than Fred and wouldn't have to track back as much. This is what Sir Alex did with Ronaldo in 2008, when he used Hargreaves on the opposite wing. A defensive winger, with an attacking winger. Similarly, Deschamps did this with Matuidi and Mbappe.

Here are a few graphics below, showing Mbappe's average positon higher than Matudi's.

The reason I'd choose Rashford is because of his directness and willingness to run off the ball.

Forwards

Target man and second striker.

In Lukaku, we have a player who, as well as being able to make runs in behind, has the ability to hold the ball and bring others into play. Then you'd have Sanchez would be given a free role. Freedom to drop off and get on the ball, but also run in behind Lukaku when the space is there.

We saw how good Sanchez was with a partner. Not only in pre season, but we saw glimpses against Chelsea when we moved him up top with Lukaku.

It would be your typical big man, small man partnership. One who holds it up, whilst the other runs off it and also links play. Lingard would also be perfect for this role.

Going forward, I'd really love to see this formation and personnel. Sitting deep and compact, and hitting teams on the counter, with Sanchez, Rashford and Lukaku. Jose would love it!

 

[starman]

...............................DDG.......................
..............Bailly.......Smalling.......Lindelof.........
.....Young...........Matic......Pogba...............Shaw
..............................Lingard.............................
.....................Lukaku..........Alexis...............

 

[PvsNP]

DDG
Valencia - Bailly - Lindelöf - Shaw
Fred - Matic - Pogba
Martial - Lukaku - Alexis
​

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

I would like to see:

Lukaku
Alexis - Pogba
Shaw - Matic - Fred - Dalot
Lindelof - Smalling - Bailly
DDG
​

I mean, it's not perfect. Questions about if our fullback can provide the attacking penetration that it requires. Lack of ball-playing defenders also is not ideal. I do like the idea of getting the front three close to each other and around the box. These are our 3 "stars", so we should try build around them all. Alexis doesn't really try to beat his man anyways, so it's better we try to get him close to the box. I don't think we are suited to using wingers right now.

​

 

[SWE-Chucky]

DDG
Bailly Matic Lindelöf
Valencia Fred Andreas Shaw
Pogba
Lukaku Alexis​

 

[Seven Seas Sardines]

Just curious. Why Dalot as starter when he even wasn't in Porto's first team?

Read the first word of my post again. With potential I mean if all the players live up to their promise. More likely to compete better next year without Mourinho, if we haven't lost all our star players by then.

 

[sam147]

4-3-1-2
DDG
Dalot-Bailly-Lindelof-Shaw
Fred-Matic-Pereira
Pogba
Lukaku-Sanchez

The way I see it is we play narrow anyway and one of our weaknesses is struggling to control the midfield. Having Fred and Pereira providing energy, passing ability as well as crossing early (especially pereira) is a great positive. Deep runs from midfield are always hard to attack. Also Pogba gets a free role to go to the right left or into the box. Having Sanchez upfront means he will be in his best position but can also drift wide while Pogba can come forward. Lukaku is also great at drifting wide. I do think we need Matic in midfield for experience. So this would be a great way to fit him in.

 

[the_irish123]

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Jones Young
Fred Matic
Pogba
Martial Lukaku

I don't remember us having a bad game using a back five last season.

 

[MuranoLover]

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Lingard Fred Pogba
Lukaku Martial Alexis

 

[ErranMorad]

De Gea
Smalling..........Bailly
Matic
Young Fred.........Pogba Shaw
Sanchez
Lukaku.......Martial
​

I am unable to depict it correctly on paper: the preference is Matic drops deep just ahead of Smalling and Bailly to form a back three, almost; Young and Shaw as the two wingbacks; Fred and Pogba the two box to box mids; Sanchez in the role Rooney played for us back in the day; Lukaku and Martial both drifting wide as and when needed.

Back 5 is a terribly defensive formation for a team that doesn't have good ball playing center backs. On top of that it limits the number of attackers we can have in the team. Three of Marital, Lingard, Rashford, Lukaku, Sanchez & Mata should almost always be on the field.

 

[Murray3007]

De Gea
Young Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Fred Matic Pogba
Sanchez Lukkaku Martial

went for young ahead of Valencia because I think he is a better crosser of the ball, although hopefully Dalot takes over this during the season.
CB prob the toughest ask due to no real stand outs. Bailly would prob be my 1st choice and think Lindelof potential style would match him best.
Matic when away from home and against the better teams, was impressed with Pereira on Friday night thought his passing range was superb so would hopefully get a lot game time at home v the weaker teams
went for Sanchez on the right because want as much players capable of a bit magic as possible and Martial has that as well and he has done more for us on the left then Sanchez has so far.

 

[Red_Ramirez]

3-5-2

-----------------De Gea----------------

-------Lindelof---Smalling----Bailly-----
Valencia-------Matic---Fred-------Young
-------------------Pogba-----------------
-------------Lukaku---Sanchez-----------

 

[11101]

Martial - Lukaku - Sanchez
Pogba - Matic - Fred
Young - Lindelof - Bailly - Valencia

However I would love to see us try something like:

- - - - - Sanchez - Lukaku
- - - - Pogba - Fred - Pereira
Shaw - - - - Matic - - - - Valencia
- - - - Lindelof - - Bailly
- - - - - - - - - - DDG

Matic sitting as a sweeper style CB/DM.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Never going to happen but I actually think we would be a real threat if we stopped trying to shoe horn someone into the RW and revert to a narrower structure.

1. We play defensively so let's adopt a pragmatic system that's more compact - Leicester worked out our RW is super slow and easy to attack on Friday. I'd like to see this addressed before we come up against a team with a top LW.
2. We don't actually have much pace out wide, Sanchez is relatively fast but Mata is a treacle runner. It used to be just Martial (although he's clearly out of favor) and then he was so easy to mark because you knew he was the only wide option.
3. Both City and Liverpool have better attacking wide players than us - if we are to challenge for something, we should play to our strengths and not just setup up in a similar way. Which, boring as it is, is sitting deep and being hell to play through. Then being clinical and direct when we have opportunities. This isn't jhow I'd like us to play but I think it's our best bet to win things.

---------------------DDG-----------------
Valencia---- Bailly -- Lindeloff --- Shaw
---------- Fred ---Matic-- Pog -----------
-------------------Sanchez---------------
------------Lukaku ----- Martial----------

Once fit I'd be tempted to swap Lingard with Sanchez given the ground he covers/ability to play in the 'hole' and Sanchez has been really poor since we signed him. Also Pereira would have a genuine shot of getting game time given Matic is getting a bit older and Mou likes ot try and preserve his energy when and where he can. Good cover across all other positions as well.

 

[Ballache]

Personally I'd go with this:

--------------------DDG---------------------
Valencia-Smalling-Bailly-Young
--------------------Matic--------------------
--------Fred----------------Pogba--------
Sanchez-----------------------Martial
------------------Lukaku-------------------

Maybe Shaw instead of Young if he keeps it up but we really need to try Sanchez on the right.

 

[Skåre Willoch]

 

[MUFC OK]

DDG​

Valencia Bailly Smalling Shaw

Matic​

Fred Pogba​

Sanchez-------------- Martial

Lukaku
​

Would like to see the front 3 interchanging more and linking up. Mata is still a useful squad option for creating chances.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Read the first word of my post again. With potential I mean if all the players live up to their promise. More likely to compete better next year without Mourinho, if we haven't lost all our star players by then.

Didn't ask for potential, though, did it? The title says 'What is our best XI this season'.

 

[Todd]

De Gea

Young
Rojo
Bailly
Valencia

Matic
Fred
Pogba

Martial
Lukaku
Alexis

 

[Colombian Mancunian]

DDG
VALENCIA/DALOT-BAILEY-LINDELOF-SHAW
MATIC
FRED - POGBA
SANCHEZ - LUKAKU - MARTIAL​

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

4-3-3 (not a 4-2-3-1)

..Sanchez.......Lukaku........Lingard..
....................Pogba......................
..............Matic........Fred.................
Young.....Bailly....Smalling....Valencia
..................De Gea........................

or

4-4-2 diamond

........Rashford..........Lukaku...........
...................Sanchez....................
....Pogba..........................Fred..........
......................Matic.........................
Young.....Bailly....Smalling....Valencia
..................De Gea........................

 

[Fer]

Read the first word of my post again. With potential I mean if all the players live up to their promise. More likely to compete better next year without Mourinho, if we haven't lost all our star players by then.

Totally agree. I also have high hopes in Dalot. I would add Pereira, he can be an important player for us if he fulfill his potential (same with Martial).

I have no idea why we haven't use Sanchez on the right wing, he could solve a lot of problems paying there. Maybe in a different system we can bring the best of our current players.

 

[Fer]

IMO that's the best formation with the players we have. Also, we have quality players to rotate in midfield and attack. If our fullbacks play at their best, we would have a great first eleven, even our transfer windows was not that good.

 

[bosnian_red]

Hard to say. Sanchez and Lukaku I think would work best as a strike partnership. Pogba would still be best in a more controlling system where he can get on the ball a lot more, so that's more manager reliant, but he could individually improve in a 2 anyway. Pogba and our attackers need more width throughout the team to give them space to play and runners to give the ball to or receive it from. So you dont want to play without width. I personally never liked 3 at the back formations, and theres a reason why all the top teams in the world tend to avoid it or transition away from it, with very few exceptions. So I'm always very against wingerless/narrow formations, or 3 at the back formations.

A good old 4-4-2, with the right manager, would possibly be best to be honest, considering Sanchez looks shit on the wing but you want both him and Lukaku on the pitch. Or an off-set 442 type thing. A lot of it is also expecting players to stay fit, get consistency, improve to expectations, etc... something even like what Sir Alex used to do. Teach Rashford to play the right wing, have Fred as a false wide player/part center mid, Sanchez roaming off Lukaku, and then 2 fullbacks overlapping. Requires better fullbacks of course. But also a much more front footed approach, which Mourinho is unwilling to do.

De Gea
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Rashford Pogba Matic Fred
Lukaku Sanchez
​

 

[sincher]

Rashford and Fred on the wings in a 442. Wtf?!

 

[sincher]

DDG
VALENCIA/DALOT-BAILEY-LINDELOF-SHAW
MATIC
FRED - POGBA
SANCHEZ - LUKAKU - MARTIAL​

Yeah would go along with this, except Smalling over Lindelof.

 

[westmeath]

I would like to see:

Lukaku
Alexis - Pogba
Shaw - Matic - Fred - Dalot
Lindelof - Smalling - Bailly
DDG
​

I mean, it's not perfect. Questions about if our fullback can provide the attacking penetration that it requires. Lack of ball-playing defenders also is not ideal. I do like the idea of getting the front three close to each other and around the box. These are our 3 "stars", so we should try build around them all. Alexis doesn't really try to beat his man anyways, so it's better we try to get him close to the box. I don't think we are suited to using wingers right now.

​

This is the formation I want to see. Sanchez is a striker, not a winger. It requires Matic to control midfield however. We don’t have anyone else who can provide this. So for now, we stick with 4-3-3 I think.

 

[99withaflake]

Read the first word of my post again. With potential I mean if all the players live up to their promise. More likely to compete better next year without Mourinho, if we haven't lost all our star players by then.

Didn't ask for potential, though, did it? The title says 'What is our best XI this season'.

We know that Valencia is average and we're unlikely to win the league again with him playing right back every week.

We also know that Dalot is inexperienced and that we don't know much else about him.

So technically, yes, an average Valencia is better than an unknown Dalot.

The whole point of buying players though, even if they're inexperienced, is to give them a run in the team and see if they sink or swim.

As long as Dalot doesn't become another Bebe, and he hits 6 or 7 out of 10 when he plays, he's definitely getting in the side before Valencia for me. We just need to find out.

 

[P-Nut]

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Fred Matic Pogba
Lingard Lukaku Sanchez

Valencia is still better than a kid with 6 senior appearances.

Lindelof will hopefully build on his world cup performances.

Shaw to finally realise he needs to work hard.

Matic over Pereira for big games, Pereira to take over at home.

Lingard performing the same role as Mata, but with much more movement.

Sanchez to hopefully go back to looking as sharp as he did in preseason.

 

[99withaflake]

Valencia is still better than a kid with 6 senior appearances.

How do you know?

I personally don't know if he'll be better, no-one knows if he'll be better, so how do you know?

Before Gary Neville was given a chance in the team, would you have said that more experienced players were better than this kid with no appearances?

We'll find out when Dalot is given a run, which he should be because Valencia is bang average.

 

[P-Nut]

How do you know?

I personally don't know if he'll be better, no-one knows if he'll be better, so how do you know?

Before Gary Neville was given a chance in the team, would you have said that more experienced players were better than this kid with no appearances?

We'll find out when Dalot is given a run, which he should be because Valencia is bang average.

Dalot would have been starting for Porto more often last season.

I'm not saying he can't be as good, but at the moment he's unproven and inexperienced competing against a fully fledged international and captain of the club.

 

[99withaflake]

Dalot would have been starting for Porto more often last season.

I'm not saying he can't be as good, but at the moment he's unproven and inexperienced competing against a fully fledged international and captain of the club.

I'm not too sure who the right back at Porto is but Dalot would have been 18 at the time and that was his first season in a full team squad? So he got a handful of appearances in his first season in professional football.

Valencia may be captain and an international, but so was Wayne Rooney. So were a lot of past players. It doesn't mean he needs to stay in the team. His performances on the pitch have been average at best for a long time now and he is one of the weakest players in our team.

As you can probably tell I can't wait for Dalot to get his chance, not because I have any idea how good he'll be, but because there is no way forward with Valencia playing there.