What is the best way to line up our midfield with our current players?

[LoneStar]

It's looking like we won't sign anyone else this window, which is fair given our incoming players so far.

Assuming we need to make do with our current squad, what's the best tactics or formation to get the best of this team?

1. Continue with McFred - we have enough threat and creativity among the front 4 to sort of make this work. And they have been decent against most teams, and good against the top teams. This is the most likely scenario.
2. 433 with one of Fred or McTominay holding - this is likely to cause us to lose the midfield battle, and also makes it easy for opposition to run through it. But this would likely give DVB a better chance of playing along with one of Bruno or Pogba. And effectively rotating Fred and McTominay would ensure we don't collapse if one of them get injured.
3. Change of formation - If we play a back 3, we might be able to play Pogba and one of McFred as the midfield 2. We have enough CBs to make this happen. Major concern is AWB not being good offensively would hindee this a lot.

What do you guys this is the most balanced starting 11 against a) top teams b) rest of the matches?

 

[Ajr]

It's looking like we won't sign anyone else this window, which is fair given our incoming players so far.

Assuming we need to make do with our current squad, what's the best tactics or formation to get the best of this team?

1. Continue with McFred - we have enough threat and creativity among the front 4 to sort of make this work. And they have been decent against most teams, and good against the top teams. This is the most likely scenario.
2. 433 with one of Fred or McTominay holding - this is likely to cause us to lose the midfield battle, and also makes it easy for opposition to run through it. But this would likely give DVB a better chance of playing along with one of Bruno or Pogba. And effectively rotating Fred and McTominay would ensure we don't collapse if one of them get injured.
3. Change of formation - If we play a back 3, we might be able to play Pogba and one of McFred as the midfield 2. We have enough CBs to make this happen. Major concern is AWB not being good offensively would hindee this a lot.

What do you guys this is the most balanced starting 11 against a) top teams b) rest of the matches?

Option number 3 with Dalot instead of AWB

 

[LoneStar]

Option number 3 with Dalot instead of AWB

I think that would work against most opposition. But I don't think Ole has ever played with a back 3? Be curious if we are considering that.

 

[The Irish Connection]

Continue with Fred and Mctominay but get Bruno to drop deeper?

 

[M Bison]

Back 3 isnt an option imo. We've got too much attacking talent, I'd like to see DvB in a 2 with Fred while McT is injured. Unfortunately, that means either Pogba or Sancho would be dropped, with Ronnie and Greenwood both sure to start.

 

[Diabovermelho]

Easily option 1. Right now 4-2-3-1 with McFred is our best option by far. They bring balance, toughness, stamina to our midfield, there's no way Ole will stop playing them.

Option 2 is suicide.

Option 3 could be an option, but we have 6 forwards and would have to leave 4 on the bench. Waste of talent.

 

[Deery]

I’d still expect to see 4-2-3-1 when McTominay is fit but it will mean dropping one of Pogba, Sancho or Greenwood..

 

[Paul778]

I know its probably madness but how about:

Cavani at 9
Ronaldo at 10
Bruno dropping back as box to box CM

Bruno has played there before and has the heart for it

 

[marktan]

Option 1. We always get dominated in midfield when only 1 players with Pogba.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

A formation change wouldn't do the trick. It has to be a change in our structure. A full back tucks in or something like that. If we also played more calm dominant possession football it will help but we always seem in a rush

 

[RedRonaldo]

Option 1 is our only option

 

[Borys]

We play back 3 whenever Matic plays and I'm not sure how it's any better both defensively and offensively.
With McTominay injured I can only suggest loaning any half decent DM for a season. If we can't pull that out, we can just try any random setup. It doesn't get any wors than Pogba Fred midfield.

McFred is the best we can get, especially now with Ronaldo joining the midfield will have an awful lot to do. I have an observation our game generally looks better with them in the team, because the forwards will drop deeper for the ball and they generally move the ball quicker. With Pogba the buildup is slower and the game plan seems to be for him to Hollywood pass it to forwards.

 

[UpWithRivers]

Considering the options we have the the fact a)Ole wont change from 4-2-3-1 b) he will never drop Bruno or move him to midfield

Matic + DVB with Pogba on LW against sides that we need to unlock
McFred against the others
Other option is Pogba + Matic in some games. Its worked before.
Anything but Fred/McTominay + Pogba

Wont happen though. He will continue to play McFred most games and maybe 5 at the back once or twice, the rest will be Pogba in a 2 with one of the McFreds

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

Option 1, otherwise we'll get run through constantly. With McT out for a while I'd like to try DvB next to Fred, can't be any worse than either of Matic or Pogba.

We need the balance, some big names will have to sit on the bench but hey ho, whoever is playing best gets the shirt, as it always should be.

 

[sullydnl]

Our best 11 currently would involve McFred with Pogba at LW.

What I would note though is that it's possible to change things without changing the on-paper formation (which doesn't mean much anyway).

For example as many people have noted Bruno plays more like a second striker than other AMs do. Which to a degree has made sense up to now as he has been our primary source of goals. However with a 25ish-PL goal Ronaldo installed at CF it may be that we require less direct goal threat from Bruno now and can alter his role to one that provides more support to midfield. In which case a midfield set-up like the one we saw against Wolves might at least work better against weaker teams than it currently does.

The other factor is VDB. He's clearly out of favour, so there's not much point having massive hopes for him. But if we imagine a world where he convinces Solskjaer to start him in the double pivot, it might be that he can move the ball quicker in our build up play than our other midfielders and can also be an option against weaker sides.

But basically in any big game it's McFred.

 

[Ash_G]

I don't think it's really about formation but how we play. I think the issue is that Bruno and the wingers are pushing up so high when we're trying to build attacks from deep that 1. It's difficult to progress the ball and so we have to try longer passes 2. If the pass isn't successful we're exposed to a counter and the front 4 players can't really do much as they're so far behind the ball now. 3. Due to 1+2 it's hard to control the game.

If we can resolve that then I'm sure that in a lot of games we could get away with Fred/Pogba in the middle, particularly if we don't need AWB to push fwd as much given the attacking strength we now have. Some games we'll need to be be more solid and so it will be a Fred/McT job but I don't think there's a fundamental issue with Fred/Pogba that can't be addressed by being a bit more patient in how we look to build the attack.

 

[LoneStar]

A formation change wouldn't do the trick. It has to be a change in our structure. A full back tucks in or something like that. If we also played more calm dominant possession football it will help but we always seem in a rush

This is also interesting. We can have Shaw come into the midfield with one of McFred covering for him. He's a good passer and can play this role. I doubt we can do the same with AWB though.

 

[LoneStar]

Option 1, otherwise we'll get run through constantly. With McT out for a while I'd like to try DvB next to Fred, can't be any worse than either of Matic or Pogba.

We need the balance, some big names will have to sit on the bench but hey ho, whoever is playing best gets the shirt, as it always should be.

I don't think DvB is suited to that role. It would just be like putting Fred with Pogba all over again.

 

[telstar96]

It's looking like we won't sign anyone else this window, which is fair given our incoming players so far.

Assuming we need to make do with our current squad, what's the best tactics or formation to get the best of this team?

1. Continue with McFred - we have enough threat and creativity among the front 4 to sort of make this work. And they have been decent against most teams, and good against the top teams. This is the most likely scenario.
2. 433 with one of Fred or McTominay holding - this is likely to cause us to lose the midfield battle, and also makes it easy for opposition to run through it. But this would likely give DVB a better chance of playing along with one of Bruno or Pogba. And effectively rotating Fred and McTominay would ensure we don't collapse if one of them get injured.
3. Change of formation - If we play a back 3, we might be able to play Pogba and one of McFred as the midfield 2. We have enough CBs to make this happen. Major concern is AWB not being good offensively would hindee this a lot.

What do you guys this is the most balanced starting 11 against a) top teams b) rest of the matches?

Option 1 is the most feasible. McFred can 'do a job', not sure if it's good enough for us to win the league though. Maybe we could try Matic and McTominay, would be a lot more balanced, and Varane's pace could compensate for Matic's lack of mobility.

If not, I reckon we need to change formation, maybe to a 442 diamond. Fred holding, Mctominay and pogba either side with Bruno at 10. We have a lot of strikers, so there's different combinations that we can try but it does mean the signing of Sancho and Rashford would be wasted on the bench. I couldn't see them playing up top with Ronaldo, especially Rashford.

 

[Lynty]

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

AWB ----------------- Varane ----------------- Maguire ---------------- Shaw

---------------------- McTominay --------------- Fred ---------------------------

Sancho ------------------------------- Bruno ------------------------------- Pogba

------------------------------------------ Ronaldo -----------------------------------------

Rashford will take Pogba's place if he doesn't sign a new contract.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

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

AWB ----------------- Varane ----------------- Maguire ---------------- Shaw

---------------------- McTominay --------------- Fred ---------------------------

Sancho ------------------------------- Bruno ------------------------------- Pogba

------------------------------------------ Ronaldo -----------------------------------------

Rashford will take Pogba's place if he doesn't sign a new contract.

Greenwood for Sancho and that's our starting 11 for now.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

3 at the back?

Ronaldo Greenwood
Bruno
Shaw Pogba Fred AwB
Maguire Varane Lindelöf
deGea
​

Either a center back pushes up with the ball, depending on who can escape pressure or one of AwB or Shaw tuck in and make it a midfield 3.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

De Gea
Bissaka Varane Maguire Shaw
Sancho McTominay Pogba Rashford
Bruno
Ronaldo

Just go for it.

 

[Abraxas]

I would say a combination of 1 and 2.

There are a few games where I think we could afford to go a little more offensive with our combination. Particularly home fixtures against teams that will play fairly negatively. We should have enough with Varane to compensate.

I don't think 3-5-2 is a good idea in the long run. Of course it can have specific applications but we don't have enough wing back options, it brings in Lindelof who is not one of our best 11 players, and we can only pick a couple of our many forwards. It clearly doesn't make sense for our squad.

 

[Dante]

McFred is the only combination that works.

 

[VinzentFTW]

Mcfred-Bruno is best vs the high press/tempo teams.
I hope we will see Matic-VDB/Pogba-Bruno vs some weaker ones
I want to see Pogba mostly on the LW closer to the goal though. Him and Bruno doesnt work together with the options we have for DM in most games, and i hate seeing him in the deeper role.

Overall i think we will see Mcfred-Bruno for the most part with slow tempo and build up. It wont be sexy, but we avoid getting overrun and we will win most amount of games this way. Will it be enough for the title ? Probably not.

 

[#07]

4231 with McFred as the double pivot.

Somehow, someway, Scott McTominay has become the most irreplaceable centre midfielder at the club (excluding Bruno because I don't feel like #10 is really centre midfield).

 

[Teja]

Just posted this in another thread, but Option #3 for me. Even though it doesn't include all of our best players on the pitch at the same time, I'm convinced it's a better team. It's what will get the best out of Pogba and Bruno and unfortunately, an on form, effective Pogba is more important to have on the pitch than Sancho.

------------------------- GK ---------------------------
------ Varane -- Lindelof -- Maguire ------
---- AwB ---------------------------------- Shaw --
---------------- Pogba -- McT ---------------------
--------------------- Bruno ----------------------------
--------- Greenwood ------ Ronaldo ----------

Downsides: Sancho left out, AwB isn't a wing back.

 

[LoneStar]

Easily option 1. Right now 4-2-3-1 with McFred is our best option by far. They bring balance, toughness, stamina to our midfield, there's no way Ole will stop playing them.

Option 2 is suicide.

Option 3 could be an option, but we have 6 forwards and would have to leave 4 on the bench. Waste of talent.

With option 3, Pogba can definitely play in the midfield with that protection. So he would be playing CM instead of LW. So that would still leave us with 4 'attackers'.

 

[Jericholyte2]

I'd give 3-4-3 a try:

---------------------DDG--------------------
---Varane---Lindelof---Maguire--
AWB----Pogba----Bruno----Shaw
Sancho------Ronaldo-----Rashford

 

[Bobski]

Pogba in a midfield 2 is the only way to get as many of our best players in as possible, but we don't need to go over the balance problems that causes again or state that outside of Matic there is no natural holding player in the squad.

I fear we will end up heavily rotating dropping Greenwood to accommodate others.

 

[adexkola]

Our buildup play is trash.

I don't think McTominay and Fred are technically inept to the point that they cannot aid our buildup. Shaw can tuck in when needed.

We are not good at coaching this.

 

[Abraxas]

Just posted this in another thread, but Option #3 for me. Even though it doesn't include all of our best players on the pitch at the same time, I'm convinced it's a better team. It's what will get the best out of Pogba and Bruno and unfortunately, an on form, effective Pogba is more important to have on the pitch than Sancho.

------------------------- GK ---------------------------
------ Varane -- Lindelof -- Maguire ------
---- AwB ---------------------------------- Shaw --
---------------- Pogba -- McT ---------------------
--------------------- Bruno ----------------------------
--------- Greenwood ------ Ronaldo ----------

Downsides: Sancho left out, AwB isn't a wing back.

AWB not being a wing back is far too much of a downside. Over a period of games I think that is fundamentally unworkable, those positions are absolutely vital in that formation.

If we're unsure about his attacking contributions right now I would hate to see him as the only source of width.

 

[Rojofiam]

4231 with McFred as the double pivot.

Somehow, someway, Scott McTominay has become the most irreplaceable centre midfielder at the club (excluding Bruno because I don't feel like #10 is really centre midfield).

Everything you said is 100% spot on. Fred will obviously need upgrading, but people need to accept that it will only happen next summer.

 

[Deery]

I can’t understand why people want to play back 5 when the back 4 was great on Sunday and one of the reasons we bought Varane to sure up defence.

And there’s no way we spent £75m on Sancho to not start him..

 

[Teja]

AWB not being a wing back is far too much of a downside. Over a period of games I think that is fundamentally unworkable, those positions are absolutely vital in that formation.

If we're unsure about his attacking contributions right now I would hate to see him as the only source of width.

Yeah I agree esp. seeing how much of Chelsea's attacking play goes through Alonso / James. I still would like to see us give it a shot because I think Pogba + Bruno being their best is really important.

Would've been a great option to have if we got Trippier this window.

I can’t understand why people want to play back 5 when the back 4 was great on Sunday and one of the reasons we bought Varane to sure up defence.

And there’s no way we spent £75m on Sancho to not start him..

Because our CM situation is shit and playing Pogba there makes him a worse player. Depends if you believe getting the best out of Pogba is worth it.

Signing Sancho was fine because we'd have Rashford on one side, Sancho on another side and Greenwood rotating between CF / RW. Signing Ronaldo threw a spanner in the works now because we have to play him.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Mcfred have done the best of all the options in most types of game

 

[Ace of Spades]

Probably will be a mixture of 1 and 2, depending on who we play and who is available for us.

 

[el3mel]

Against parked buses :

Scott- Pogba
Greenwood - Bruno - Sancho
Ronaldo

Against high pressing teams :

Scott - Fred
Bruno
Sancho/Greenwood - Ronaldo - Pogba

 

[Born2Lose]

We finished 2nd last season and had 6 losses. Only 2 of those 6 losses had McFred both starting.

McFred isn't great but it's the best option of a bad bunch, the real problem is when one of them gets suspended or injured.