Why didn't we sign a right-winger?

[altodevil]

It seemed like an obvious position to improve to most folk. I can understand not bringing in a big name, if the value wasn't there etc. But surely we could have signed someone in the £20M or under bracket to at least add some depth, take a flyer on someone etc.

Is it money reasons?

It doesn't seem Mourinho is happy with our transfer dealings, but maybe that's over the CB fiasco, and he's fine with Mata and Lingard on the right?

Just seems bizarre to me. We weren't even linked with someone at the very end. Nothing.

 

[el3mel]

Because it's the new "midfielder" position for us, remember these good old days ? We're repeating the same mistakes now.

 

[Bastian]

I can't imagine there is any other answer to this bar finances.

 

[BluesJr]

Who was out there that absolutely would have lit it up out there? That was reasonably available and wasn't Willian? Mahrez? Malcom?

I wanted a RW, but to be honest the options weren't really there this year. What we should have done is revamped our fullback situation.

 

[Damien]

Mourinho said we wouldn't in February. If Martial or Mata was sold we probably would have tried to go for someone but with those it was felt we had the numbers in attack.

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[Massive Spanner]

Because the only ones that seemed to be available were good but not great near 30 year old's who were at clubs that were demanding enormous fees for them that didn't really match up to their ability and longevity.

Still, I've no idea why we weren't in for Mahrez (assuming we weren't). I'm hoping it's cause he was set on City and it was a non-starter because otherwise it's a braindead decision.

 

[settembrini]

Because Mourinho is bad at identifying weak areas in our team. As was shown last summer, and again in January, and again this summer.

 

[vangagal]

Even i believe Jose wants a new RW but he cant. Its a glaring weakness in our team but its like we just want to put it on hold untill the right answers come. Either Jose naively believe in Mata or Lingard or he's been told to work with what he have.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Shaqiri was available and he’s actually a decent player especially for 13 fecking million.

Just having him there as a stop gap this season would’ve been better than nothing.

 

[Greck]

This one is the real headscratcher. At least LB has functional squad options. The RW has none of that. Mata doesn't even stay on the right side when we play him there. He's more a second number 10. Did we only have Willian on our list or something? After Matic they clearly weren't going to give us anything for cheap. Should have moved on

 

[AndyJ1985]

Our club is run by clowns and our squad is managed by a has-been

 

[Schmiznurf]

Because ed woodward and the glazers are cnuts.

 

[Thiagoal]

I can only assume Jose is serious about playing 3-5-2. If that's our formation Valencia and Dalot will battle it out on the right hand side and a RW would become redundant! Young and Shaw similarly on the left! If Dalot is as as talented as Jose thinks we have the potential for a very balanced side! Let's see!

 

[Adisa]

Could it just be Mourinho didn't want one?
He said so himself.

 

[USREDEVIL]

I say put Alexis on the right, dedicated to that side, Martial on left and let's get this feccer started.

 

[SAred]

We did sign one he arrived in January.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Shaqiri was available and he’s actually a decent player especially for 13 fecking million.

Just having him there as a stop gap this season would’ve been better than nothing.

Mourinho doesn't do midgets.

 

[Jacob]

Because you don't have 5% of the information to answer the question. Can't believe ve how fickle some people are. Signing a player depend on many factors. Here's a few to get you understanding;

Our willingness to buy
Their willingness to sell
The players willingness to come
The players wage demands
Our budget
The agent's opinion
The selling teams squad balance
The selling team's time plan
PR issues
Squad harmony issues
The Board and shareholders interest
Our current and historic performance
Track record of previous signings
Confidence in the manager
Relations between the dealing clubs
The players family and their wishes
The players injury record
...
...
Etc.

 

[altodevil]

Mourinho said we wouldn't in February. If Martial or Mata was sold we probably would have tried to go for someone but with those it was felt we had the numbers in attack.

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That's interesting. Yet to see Rashford or Martial be particularly effective there though. Would be perfect if one of them could be.

 

[WR10]

Mourinho has already explained why not. Why try to blame anyone else?

 

[RedNed77]

Because Lingard is fecking amazing.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Because you don't have 5% of the information to answer the question. Can't belive how fickle some people are. Signing a player depend on many factors. Here's a few to get you understanding;

Our willingness to buy
Their willingness to sell
The players willingness to come
The players wage demands
Our budget
The agent's opinion
The selling teams squad balance
The selling team's time plan
PR issues
Squad harmony issues
The Board and shareholders interest
Our current and historic performance
Track record of previous signings
Condifence in the manager
Relations between the dealing clubs
The players family and their wishes
...
...
Etc.

But then so many people on here act like children throwing their toys out of their pram. Sack Woodward, this season’s a write off already.

To be honest, we are better off without those types of people supporting the club.

 

[MrBest]

Agreed we needed one but Jose wanted to sort out defence. His team's are built from the back.

 

[Minimalist]

No obvious target that was worth the money to secure them. Boring but most likely answer. Also don’t think it would have been a priority - Lingard/Mata and a few others can do a job there.

 

[Roboc7]

I think failure to strengthen on the RW is Mourinho’s fault. He is only interested in a ready made solution like Willian, without that he is happy to make do with hard workers like Mata and Lingard.

If he thought it was a problem he either wouldn’t have bought Sanchez or would have bought him to play on the RW.

Talk of switching to 3-5-2 as an excuse makes absolutely no sense as he doesn’t have the wingbacks to play that formation so that will be a disaster and abandoned if he does.

It’s clear from the last week of the window that a CB was prioritised above every other position.

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

Realistically if Martial pulls his finger out and puts in the necessary effort/shows his LVG form and Alexis can play on the right (where it feels he's perhaps more creative and excellent at crossing) we do have an excellent front three, excellent midfield three, great goalie, competent central defenders (with room for improvement). It's the lack of proper attacking quality from our full-back areas which is my biggest gripe this summer. Dalot is in a new league, a new country and very young and Jose seems to talk like he won't feature much this season.

 

[Irish Jet]

Because Mourinho’s a communist.

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

I think failure to strengthen on the RW is Mourinho’s fault. He is only interested in a ready made solution like Willian, without that he is happy to make do with hard workers like Mata and Lingard.

If he thought it was a problem he either wouldn’t have bought Sanchez or would have bought him to play on the RW.

Talk of switching to 3-5-2 as an excuse makes absolutely no sense as he doesn’t have the wingbacks to play that formation so that will be a disaster and abandoned if he does.

It’s clear from the last week of the window that a CB was prioritised above every other position.

Yeah, 3-5-2 would be awful. Push our full-backs (who offer nothing going forward) further forward and put another central defender in when it was already deemed that whatever combination of the two currently at our disposal aren't up to snuff.

 

[Judas]

So glad I get to be the first person to mention Chong being the second coming of Messi meaning any RW purchase was completely unneeded!

 

[Kostur]

Because lib-cafe would explode if we had.

 

[AltiUn]

I feel like we threw all our eggs in the Bale basket with Willian as back up, when Bale said he was staying we turned to Willian but they wanted Martial in return which would leave us short in attack. We needed a right winger though, that's been clear for years now. I'm guessing we're going to play Lingard there for the foreseeable future, Mata looked way off the pace physically this pre-season.

 

[Timdbro]

The full backs are the bizarre bit for me - they've been neglected for several years now, and whoever we've played there has been terrible (especially going forwards).

 

[MadMike]

Mourinho doesn't do midgets.

Fred and Shaqiri are exactly the same height. Just sayin’

 

[Roboc7]

Realistically if Martial pulls his finger out and puts in the necessary effort/shows his LVG form and Alexis can play on the right (where it feels he's perhaps more creative and excellent at crossing) we do have an excellent front three, excellent midfield three, great goalie, competent central defenders (with room for improvement). It's the lack of proper attacking quality from our full-back areas which is my biggest gripe this summer. Dalot is in a new league, a new country and very young and Jose seems to talk like he won't feature much this season.

Mata basically abandons the RW and we attack almost exclusively down the left or through the middle. Maybe the best solution is Sanchez on the right wing playing that role and Martial or Rashford on the left. Fred or Pereeira could also play on the right of he 3 in midfield to create at least some width on that side.

As you say the biggest issue is still the lack of quality in the full back positions but again that doesn’t seem to have been prioritised.

 

[Devil may care]

If we were going to really give 3-5-2 a shot it would half make sense as a triangle of Lukaku, Sanchez and Lingard in attack is about out best option right now given the Martial/Mourrinho issues, but if we are going to continue on with 4-3-3 then it makes no sense at all as neither Lingard or Mata are any good at RW and basically just drift in anyway, they barely even start out wide. I think it mainly comes down to the profile of player wanted by Mourinho vs the profile of player the board are willing to pay big money for, and no compromise was found.

 

[Josep Dowling]

There is no excuse for this in my mind when we don’t even have a RW in the first place.

Jose will mess about shifting Mata, Martial and Rashford there and realise none of them can play on the right side. Same rubbish as last season where we continually attack from the left hand side.

It’s embarrassing that the second best manager in the world at one of the biggest clubs in the world can’t spot this glaring weakness.

If money was an issue we could have got Gelson Martins on a free. Even if we didn’t deem him good enough we could have sold him for over £20m next season.

 

[Chicharo]

Ok let's believe him on that, but why the hell didn't we sign that mythical CB then?

 

[goin4glory]

The Glazers absolutely must go. This can't continue.

 

[MrSingh2002]

I say put Alexis on the right, dedicated to that side, Martial on left and let's get this feccer started.

Yes. Shame Jose doesn't accept that this would be our best attack.

Martial Lukaku Sanchez

 

[Josep Dowling]

Yes. Shame Jose doesn't accept that this would be our best attack.

Martial Lukaku Sanchez

It’s such an obvious thing to do for everyone except the man that makes the decision.