With Ronaldo, how do we line up?

siw2007

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DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Pogba Fred
Greenwood Bruno Sancho
Ronaldo​

Pogba too move back to CM, the purpose being that there will be far more long passes over the top for Ronaldo to run onto. Rashford and Cavani to rotate in and out of that team, maybe Martial too.
 

IncyWincySpider

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DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Pogba Fred
Greenwood Bruno Sancho
Ronaldo​

Pogba too move back to CM, the purpose being that there will be far more long passes over the top for Ronaldo to run onto. Rashford and Cavani to rotate in and out of that team, maybe Martial too.
Yup, this is the team for me as well, it looks absolutely terrifying.
 

NinjaZombie

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Nah. Rashford needs to earn back his place. I think I'm more comfortable with Pogba on the left tbh. We'd need some serious defensive cover for our left side in that case though, in the big games anyway.
 

Tony247

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Cannot play with double pivot all the time. Going to be a big issue if we can't have a DM to hold the fort.
 

Jev

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The key to Pogba's good performances lately has been to release him of the shackles of the double pivot and giving him a free role. So moving him back in the rear midfield in order to make room for Sancho/Rashford on the wing doesn't seem ideal.

I honestly have no clue what Solskjær is planning. Sancho to get the VDB treatment? Rashford, Sancho, Cavani, Martial all on the bench? It'll be interesting to see how we make it work. Surely some sales coming up, though. James, Martial, Lingard, VDB are all very far away from playing when everyone is fit.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Jeff Sterling on Soccer Saturday with the rest of the pundits and they all seem to be in unanimous agreement that they don’t see the point of this signing in terms of how do we get Cavani, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood, Bruno, Pogba all playing in the same starting lineup with Ronaldo in there. I mean do they not know the definition of rotation and having squad depth?

If Ronaldo had joined City, would they be in unanimous agreement and saying the signing is pointless because how do they now get Sterling, Mahrez, B.Silva, Foden, G.Jesus, De Bruyne all playing together with Ronaldo in the same lineup? I doubt it.

The seething across the media that Ronaldo is coming home is something else. Pure jealousy.
 

Kazi

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Jeff Sterling on Soccer Saturday with the rest of the pundits and they all seem to be in unanimous agreement that they don’t see the point of this signing in terms of how do we get Cavani, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood, Bruno, Pogba all playing in the same starting lineup with Ronaldo in there. I mean do they not know the definition of rotation and having squad depth?

If Ronaldo had joined City, would they be in unanimous agreement and saying the signing is pointless because how do they now get Sterling, Mahrez, B.Silva, Foden, G.Jesus, De Bruyne all playing together with Ronaldo in the same lineup? I doubt it.

The seething across the media that Ronaldo is coming home is something else. Pure jealousy.
We literally had to deal with Martial starting up front last match and they don’t see the point of it

Since when was quality of depth a bad thing.. plenty of matches for everyone
 

laughtersassassin

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DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Pogba Fred
Greenwood Bruno Sancho
Ronaldo​

Pogba too move back to CM, the purpose being that there will be far more long passes over the top for Ronaldo to run onto. Rashford and Cavani to rotate in and out of that team, maybe Martial too.
Yeah this is the team now. Possibly McTinstead of Fred and then a bit of a mix around against Chelsea City and Liverpool.

Maybe Rashford over Sancho when he is back if Sancho doesn't get off to a good start.

Safe to say we won't see Matic and Fred really. Abysmal Midfield
 

siw2007

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Yeah this is the team now. Possibly McTinstead of Fred and then a bit of a mix around against Chelsea City and Liverpool.

Maybe Rashford over Sancho when he is back if Sancho doesn't get off to a good start.

Safe to say we won't see Matic and Fred really. Abysmal Midfield
Not really fussed whether it’s Fred or McTominay, horses for courses as to whether we want the Fred’s energy or McTominays strength and height. Matic to be only used sparingly to see out games or against weak opposition where it’s easy for us to dominate the ball. I also want to see more of DVB too, who I think could play that position.

Yeah, we can re-think the lineup for tougher games but would be vary wary about playing Pogba on the left against teams with strong raiding full backs like TAA who will enjoy running off him. We’d have to be able to get Fred to shuffle across or we play Rashford here to pin them back or exploit on the counter. Exiting options in forward positions now anyway.
 

Ahmer Baig

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When is Rashford coming back? Cavani may not be available for few games if he goes and plays for Uruguay. So if we leave out these two, what would be the best lineup?
 
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When is Rashford coming back? Cavani may not be available for few games if he goes and plays for Uruguay. So if we leave out these two, what would be the best lineup?
Well he’s started light training which is good because the early rumours were October so maybe a bit sooner.

With Uruguay being in the red list, Cavani should have to fully quarantine every time he goes so with three lots of games this year, he’d miss a lot of league matches (as things stand, quarantine rules).

Sancho Ronaldo and Greenwood as the front three?
 

Volumiza

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DDG
(Henderson)
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
(?) (Lindelof) (Baily) (Telles)
Fred Pogba
(McT) (Matic)
Sancho Bruno Rashford
(Mason, Lingard) (VDB, Mata) (Martial, James)
Ronaldo
(Cavani, Greenwood)​

Anyone thinking we shouldn’t be challenging for the league with this team / squad needs their head wobbling.
 
Last edited:

Artimities

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We line up with sheer confidence. Our front line attack is pure nasty and we should have a killer mentality on the pitch…
We should line up how we want and let other clubs figure it out.
 

Kill 'em all

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Ronnie in for James playing on the left with Sancho on the right and Greenwood playing through the middle would work really well.
 

RedRonaldo

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Change my mind after watching today's game:

De Gea
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McFred
Greenwood Bruno Pogba
Ronaldo
- We must start Greenwood for as many game as possible, he has been our best attacker, so clinical finisher, and his overall game keeps improving
- Sancho is clearly not ready for PL yet, he probably need a couple more months to adapt to the pace of the league, then we'll see
- Pogba should never play as DM in this formation, he has been amazing as left side attacking midfielder when he focus on creating, but not quite so on DM role for us as he is liability in defence
- Rashford to rotate with Pogba or Greenwood after he is back, but I won't start him much as he has been inconsistent, unless he start to hit form...
- unless we bought a new DM, we have to persist with McFred in midfield, they are our only viable option
 

::sonny::

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Ronaldo

Rashford Bruno Greenwood

Fred Pogba

Shaw Maguire Varane Bissaka

De gea

/thread​
 

UnitedFire

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DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Pogba Fred
Greenwood Bruno Sancho
Ronaldo​

Pogba too move back to CM, the purpose being that there will be far more long passes over the top for Ronaldo to run onto. Rashford and Cavani to rotate in and out of that team, maybe Martial too.
I'd love this to work, but based on today and other times with Fred and Pogba, I just think that midfield is way too weak sadly.

Pogba just doesn't do the hard graft and Fred isn't good enough.

I think you can get by with McTominay and Fred as their combined hard work plugs the gap, but then you are lacking someone to distribute from deep.

One option might be 3-2-3-1, but then you lose width from Shaw and Bisaka.
 

MrSingh2002

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Change my mind after watching today's game:

De Gea
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McFred
Greenwood Bruno Pogba
Ronaldo
- We must start Greenwood for as many game as possible, he has been our best attacker, so clinical finisher, and his overall game keeps improving
- Sancho is clearly not ready for PL yet, he probably need a couple more months to adapt to the pace of the league, then we'll see
- Pogba should never play as DM in this formation, he has been amazing as left side attacking midfielder when he focus on creating, but not quite so on DM role for us as he is liability in defence
- Rashford to rotate with Pogba or Greenwood after he is back, but I won't start him much as he has been inconsistent, unless he start to hit form...
- unless we bought a new DM, we have to persist with McFred in midfield, they are our only viable option
Why play with 10?
 

siw2007

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I'd love this to work, but based on today and other times with Fred and Pogba, I just think that midfield is way too weak sadly.

Pogba just doesn't do the hard graft and Fred isn't good enough.

I think you can get by with McTominay and Fred as their combined hard work plugs the gap, but then you are lacking someone to distribute from deep.

One option might be 3-2-3-1, but then you lose width from Shaw and Bisaka.
I’ve always understood why we play Fred and McTominay together, as you say their hard work plugs the gaps, they give us the defensive solidity we need to build on. Pogba can play that position on the basis that the opposition gives him the space to pick his passes, so it’s a horses for courses thing. It is clear we need another play to play that position though.
 

rron10

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Change my mind after watching today's game:

De Gea
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McFred
Greenwood Bruno Pogba
Ronaldo
- We must start Greenwood for as many game as possible, he has been our best attacker, so clinical finisher, and his overall game keeps improving
- Sancho is clearly not ready for PL yet, he probably need a couple more months to adapt to the pace of the league, then we'll see
- Pogba should never play as DM in this formation, he has been amazing as left side attacking midfielder when he focus on creating, but not quite so on DM role for us as he is liability in defence
- Rashford to rotate with Pogba or Greenwood after he is back, but I won't start him much as he has been inconsistent, unless he start to hit form...
- unless we bought a new DM, we have to persist with McFred in midfield, they are our only viable option
I fully agree.
That’s the most balanced non-Football Manager line up
And having Cavani Martial and Sancho as subs is very solid
 

Trophy Room

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Change my mind after watching today's game:

De Gea
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McFred
Greenwood Bruno Pogba
Ronaldo
- We must start Greenwood for as many game as possible, he has been our best attacker, so clinical finisher, and his overall game keeps improving
- Sancho is clearly not ready for PL yet, he probably need a couple more months to adapt to the pace of the league, then we'll see
- Pogba should never play as DM in this formation, he has been amazing as left side attacking midfielder when he focus on creating, but not quite so on DM role for us as he is liability in defence
- Rashford to rotate with Pogba or Greenwood after he is back, but I won't start him much as he has been inconsistent, unless he start to hit form...
- unless we bought a new DM, we have to persist with McFred in midfield, they are our only viable option
Our best 11 without a shadow of a doubt.
 

UnitedFire

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I’ve always understood why we play Fred and McTominay together, as you say their hard work plugs the gaps, they give us the defensive solidity we need to build on. Pogba can play that position on the basis that the opposition gives him the space to pick his passes, so it’s a horses for courses thing. It is clear we need another play to play that position though.
I've never quite understood what it is about Pogba that doesn't work and I think I finally get it. He is an LCM and that is it.

That means in a 3 CM setup with him on the left he'll be great as long as other 2 are doing the hard work.

He also works well in a LWF position as effectively the same thing, but with no real expectation to do defensive work even if it can be helpful at times.

He is the kind of player you wouldn't buy on Football/ Championship Manager as so few formations and other players suit Pogba. I think its ultimately why we always struggle to find the best for him.

I think Fred and McTominay will be fine with a hard working DM who can pass and you won't need to change your team to suit them.

I think Pogba would still continue to look poor as the other midfielder even if we got Ndidi or Kante types. He just doesn't have the work rate.
 

siw2007

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I've never quite understood what it is about Pogba that doesn't work and I think I finally get it. He is an LCM and that is it.

That means in a 3 CM setup with him on the left he'll be great as long as other 2 are doing the hard work.

He also works well in a LWF position as effectively the same thing, but with no real expectation to do defensive work even if it can be helpful at times.

He is the kind of player you wouldn't buy on Football/ Championship Manager as so few formations and other players suit Pogba. I think its ultimately why we always struggle to find the best for him.

I think Fred and McTominay will be fine with a hard working DM who can pass and you won't need to change your team to suit them.

I think Pogba would still continue to look poor as the other midfielder even if we got Ndidi or Kante types. He just doesn't have the work rate.
Pogba is far more suited to international football where the tempo of the game isn’t so high. He has that languid style on the ball and finds it difficult to play when being pressed and hurried. Once he gets that extra second then he can shine by beating his man or playing a great pass. The style also makes it hard for him off the ball if he is caught despite being quite a powerful runner, he struggles to get back into position so is passive without the ball but is also quite cumbersome when trying to win it back which leads to stupid fouls.

I like him high up the pitch when he has a bit more freedom to use his creative brain and skills, just got to be careful other teams don’t exploit that with raiding full backs. For this season though, I can see him being moved around team depending on who is fit and who we are playing.
 

FreddieTheReddie

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Someone less tactically clueless than I could explain why we can't play 4-4-2 with Ronnie and Greenwood as strikers?
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Probably like these:

DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McT Fred
Greenwood Bruno Pogba
Ronaldo

AND

DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McT Pogba
Greenwood Bruno Sancho
Ronaldo

I prefer Pogba plays on the left, the further forward he is, the closer he gets to Ronaldo and the higher the chance of him to create assist & chances for Ronaldo. 5 assists already when playing on the left without Ronaldo.
 
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Probably like these:

DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McT Fred
Greenwood Bruno Pogba
Ronaldo

AND

DDG
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
McT Pogba
Greenwood Bruno Sancho
Ronaldo

I prefer Pogba plays on the left, the further forward he is, the closer he gets to Ronaldo and the higher the chance of him to create assist & chances for Ronaldo. 5 assists already when playing on the left without Ronaldo.
Balancing defence and offence, I could see that first lineup happening.

If the defence settles and the team (coaching) can stop Shaw, AWB and a midfielder all pushing up at the same time and leaving ourselves open (like Wolves first half) AND depending on opposition, we can start to go more adventurous