Who else is excited about next season's defence?

Inigo Montoya

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I'd advise you to not go to Sunny Beach at all, it doesn't do our country justice. :lol:

On topic, super excited to see how we do in defense now. AWB, Lindelof, Maguire and Shaw has huge potential to be an amazing quartet of defenders.
You have great dentists:)
 

jesperjaap

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I'm excited about RB. Thats it
Kind of my feelings too. I actually wanted us to sign a right back and two centre backs as I think our defence has been so awful for a long time. I hve seen youtube pundits etc saying its now one of the best defences in Europe etc etc, get a grip.

Bissaka I have wanted ever since he broke through, genuine world class potential for me, absolutely superb signing and I thought people questioning the fee, though high are mad.

Maguire I think is a good defender, not a great one though, can see reasons the fee was so high but its not due to his footballig ability. Certainly thinks he improves us as lets face it, he is our best centre back..

Rather than an average defence to one of the best around, I think we have moved from an awful defence to a good one now. I disagree on replacing Shaw, improved last season and hopefully can kick on further fro that this season. I am not a big fan of Lindelof, think he being way over rated for being average amongst awfulness even though of coruse he improved and y concern is he will be the starting centre back with Maguire and not sure it will work. OUr best defences have all been about centre back partnerships and here is hoping I am wrong and they do gel.

WIth our improvement I am more confident of us finishing in the top four this season though . We should be better at defending corners/crosses and more fluid and quicker bringing the ball out from the back, two things we have been awful with for quite some time. I think we needed a minimum of 6 top signings and 2 more promising ones and many outs to actually challenge. A couple more signings and Lukaku out and we have at least done enough to be confident of top four and progress....if we make no more signings, I still only feel 55/45 towards that top four spot though
 

youmeletsfly

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I don't know in what possible scenario I could be excited by a fecking defense, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
 

ManchesterYoda

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7 CB’s is a massive overkill. What are we going to do with Rojo and Baily?
Smalling and Jones are certain to stay, do we loan out Axel again?
True but Bailly is injured, Jones might get injured and Tuanzebe will play for under 23s.
So we end up with the 4 CBs of Maguire, Smalling, Lindelof and Rojo.
 

ManchesterYoda

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There’s no reason to play Tuanzebe in the U23’s after he’s had a whole season of playing regularly in the Championship.
There is if he isn't good enough to play in the Premier League. I don't automatically assume every single academy player is amazing, just because they're from the academy.
 

Jezpeza

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McTomminay has to basically replace 2 players.
Yeah, but im hoping he can be the starter in holding midfield. Him pogba and either fernandes or dybala might be a good starting 3.

Then we have mata, fred, lingard, matic garner, gomes.

Its worrying how many players we have accumulated, at cb too, who just aren't good enough to be starters. If mctominay doesnt step up would need to invest there too. I think the issue is with longstaff is that I dont see what he offers other than potential atm. McTominay is worth a shot if we are going down that route.
 
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There is if he isn't good enough to play in the Premier League. I don't automatically assume every single academy player is amazing, just because they're from the academy.
Then he’ll go on loan again, he won’t go back to the under 23.
 

Sandikan

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Excited, Jury still out on Lindelof and Shaw though.
I understand people's rating of lindelof as least crap option of the centre backs pre maguire (although i prefer smalling) but i can't understand anyone getting too excited about him
 

Inigo Montoya

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There is if he isn't good enough to play in the Premier League. I don't automatically assume every single academy player is amazing, just because they're from the academy.
He'd walk into Villa's starting line up, and was a standout CB for them last season.

So no way he's going into U23s this season
 

Jezpeza

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He'd walk into Villa's starting line up, and was a standout CB for them last season.

So no way he's going into U23s this season
I think he's probably ahead of jones bailly and rojo in the pecking order now
 

Bastian

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We're seeing it now, against a not amazing AC Milan, that we still lack dynamism (intensity, energy and mobility) and technical capability in midfield. Until that's addressed, we still won't enjoy the full benefit of having more competency in the backline.
 

Fer

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As I mentioned before, Lindelof-Maguire sounds a bit slow. We could have bought a young talented CB and a DM instead for those 80m.

A top DM would help our defense a lot.

I'm excited for Wan Bissaka, he will strengthen our defense and he is a great addition to the team.
 

bond19821982

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Manchester United have the same amount of clean sheets this season at Old Trafford (2 in 3 games) as we did for the whole of last season (2 in 19 games).
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Progress made. Ole seems to be laying down the foundations. Our defence is as good as sorted. At least for now. Now we need to focus on midfield and attack.
 

Cee90

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Manchester United have the same amount of clean sheets this season at Old Trafford (2 in 3 games) as we did for the whole of last season (2 in 19 games).
Mental really.

Can't believe we only kept 2 clean sheets at home last year.
 

Mylock

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As I mentioned before, Lindelof-Maguire sounds a bit slow. We could have bought a young talented CB and a DM instead for those 80m.

A top DM would help our defense a lot.

I'm excited for Wan Bissaka, he will strengthen our defense and he is a great addition to the team.
Agree we need a top young DM, we already have young talented CH in Tuanzebe.
 

Ikon

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Can't believe we only kept 2 clean sheets at home last year.
That statistic speaks volumes.
I still think Shaw can go up a notch or two, and I've never really been fully convinced by Lindelof, but we are definitely looking much stronger already.
 

Raw

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Manchester United have the same amount of clean sheets this season at Old Trafford (2 in 3 games) as we did for the whole of last season (2 in 19 games).
They were both 0-0 draws too. Funnily enough one of them was against Liverpool of all teams (the other being Palace, feckin' Palace).

Overall we had 7 clean sheets in the league last season (5 of those under Ole). I expect that to be beaten quite easily.
 

Ekeke

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That statistic speaks volumes.
I still think Shaw can go up a notch or two, and I've never really been fully convinced by Lindelof, but we are definitely looking much stronger already.
We were always going to.

Jose destroyed our defense by saying we needed new players in the summer, starting with Lindelof and Bailly who were a calamity together and then kept adding a 3rd CB who isnt a CB whether it be Ander against Spurs, McTominay or Fellaini being an extra CB defending balls in the air.

The exact same players would have had a better record this season without Jose interfering, as we had a good defensive record the season before Jose messed with it.
 

langster

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That statistic speaks volumes.
I still think Shaw can go up a notch or two, and I've never really been fully convinced by Lindelof, but we are definitely looking much stronger already.
The beauty of a good team and selecting players who help and improve those around them combined with team unity, determination and spirit is that it will encourage and push players to improve and become far better, to reach their potential. You don't need a team full of Galacticos. If Maguire and AWB bring the best out of Lindelof and Shaw and each other then they will truly be with their inflated transfer fees.
 

Bilbo

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Defence is clearly a level stronger than it was last season. Added to that Maguire already looks like a leader in this group. Some will feel that Shaw that can be improved upon - that is of course true but for me he is good enough for the next season or two when we should be focusing on other areas of the team