Your midfield 3?

SteveW

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Yes, but in isolation he is extremely vulnerable defensively --> IF we are able to play/press/spacing as a unit then Gomes should be played as a midfielder.
Most of our problems from a defensive standpoint are caused by our midfielders passing the ball to the other team or being cheaply dispossessed. Angel does neither.

He's also very mobile, tackles aggressively and presses well. Hes better than Pereira at all this stuff imo. Hopefully he gets a chance to show this soon and end these debates once and for all
 

SteveW

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We've only seen Gomes play youth football, preseason and the odd token sub appearances late in a game. He has obvious quality but if anything I think he's getting over-hyped. He's yet to start a game for the first team and already people think he's the new messiah. I'm backing him to become a great player for us (if he stays..) but you talk about him like he's already an accomplished player when he's an 18 year old prospect.
He can only beat the players he comes up against. His skillset should easily adapt to first team football.

Not doing it in the first team can't really be used against him because he hasn't played.
 

Alemar

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I'd say Pogba, Fred and McTominay, but Solskjaer is obviously looking at 4231, so I'd go with Pogba, McTominay and Lingard or Gomes until we can bring in a DM.
The only thing Lingard does is running/pressing. If Alexis is fit, why not to play him instead? If anything, Sanchez always could run around and press, but at the same time he has better shot and better pass.
 

Random Task

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The midfield is the one remaining issue preventing this team from progressing. Periera doesn't have enough quality to play for United, right now, and I don't think he ever will if we're honest about it. Fred, Gomes, Mata or even the past-it Matic (not necessarily in that order) offer considerably more to the team.

In the tougher games that we tend to struggle with, against teams who keep it tight at the back and congest/flood the midfield, we're going to need a CAM with enough quality and guile to provide those intricate passes and through-balls, someone with the ability to read the defence and offers smart movement. Besides Pogba, Mata is the only player in the squad capable of providing any of those things consistently.

So for the tougher games, I'd go with something like this:

DDG​
AWB - Lindelof - Maguire - Shaw
Pogba -------- Mctominay

Mata
James ------------------- Martial

Rash
A high backline with the fullbacks bombing forward at every opportunity, Pogba in the deep playmaker role, Mctominay acting as the defensive screen with license to make the occasional run into the box (he did this a lot in pre-season) and finally Mata lurking in the hole looking for that killer pass.
 

Raven96__

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Too early to tell.

Try different combinations, give Matic another go. Then decide
 

Raven

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I like the idea of McTerminator, Pogba, Gomes. I think we'd control possession much more with Gomes either playing as the 8 or 10, he always finds the right pass and then moves to receive a return pass, whilst never giving away possession.
 

SilentWitness

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Pogba - McTominay - Fred

The way football works now is due to filling your midfield with athleticism/runners.

Pogba/McTominay as a two is far too light and not good enough in terms of their defensive contribution and protection of the back 4 to be able to afford spending a midfield spot to play someone like Lingard/Gomes/Mata or whoever as a CAM. Someone like Lingard or Pereira works at times like on Sunday but against bigger and better sides I don't think it will. Having someone like Fred as an engine alongside these two will elevate the whole midfield in terms of their contribution.
 

cyril C

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Depends on the team.
Against low block Id give Sanchez a go in the number 10 role. Might even try Mata on the right. That would give us 3 players who can thread a pass.
With more pressing teams Id stick as we are. Give Periera a run of games.
Against the likes of City, liverpool, Spurs I would sit Matic in front of the back four and tell him not to move. Not that he can anyway.
That's right. A team needs more than 3 MF. What I have seen is we lack creativity completely when Pogba is missing, whether mentally or physically. We lack intensity when Matic is playing but again need his experience against top teams. Mata is as static as Matic but Periera simply not good enough for the job. Fred is assumed to have everything except he produce nothing.
 

SteveW

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I like the idea of McTerminator, Pogba, Gomes. I think we'd control possession much more with Gomes either playing as the 8 or 10, he always finds the right pass and then moves to receive a return pass, whilst never giving away possession.
Absolutely. It would make is more solid and give us way more control imo.
 

Roboc7

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There isn’t a first choice for me, it’s just Pogba and two others. Will have to find right players for right games to cover up the lack of quality much like SAF did.

Pogba aside our other midfielders wouldn’t be regular starters for at least half the teams in the league.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Pereira was very narrow, but it was more a three of McTominay, Pogba and Lingard, which i'd probably continue with for now.

However, the more important issue for me is making sure we play with width on both sides, as teams with low blocks tend to be very compact.

Previously, we have tried to play through the middle and have failed to break teams down.

If you look at Man City, yes they have creative midfielders but their wingers stretch play, thus making it easier to open teams up.

Going forward, against teams that will defend deep and compact, i'd like to see Rashford and James/Greenwood on the wings. Create overloads in wide positions and get crosses in. That's often how you beat a low block.
 

Irwin99

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No one picking Matic :lol: I've never been a big fan of his time here and i'm not advocating him starting but i'm just pointing out that he's the only proper defensive midfielder we have. The downside is his lack of athleticism and conservative passing but he has a better awareness of the gaps in midfield than any of the other options. Mctominay was all over the place in that first half against Chelsea.

I think people are in for a rude awakening with their faith in some of our other options. Like last year when people were clamouring for the likes of Periera and Dalot to get a chance over Matic and Young and when they came in they were always worse than the players they replaced.

For tougher games i'd go Matic, Pogba and Fred which is similar I guess to the midfield 3 we had during our best period of form last season. I still think we're really going to struggle to find the right balance in this area of the pitch. When you replace one player with another in this position it seems a new positive comes with a new negative.
 

charlenefan

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We're not playing with a midfield 3 so I'm not sure what the point of this thread is?
 

Noc-Z

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I'd like to see Fred and McTominay with Pogba ahead of them. I'm not ready to completely write off Fred - we paid £52M for him I think we need to try and make it work. Not saying it will, but need to give it a better go.
 

SteveW

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No one picking Matic :lol: I've never been a big fan of his time here and i'm not advocating him starting but i'm just pointing out that he's the only proper defensive midfielder we have. The downside is his lack of athleticism and conservative passing but he has a better awareness of the gaps in midfield than any of the other options. Mctominay was all over the place in that first half against Chelsea.

I think people are in for a rude awakening with their faith in some of our other options. Like last year when people were clamouring for the likes of Periera and Dalot to get a chance over Matic and Young and when they came in they were always worse than the players they replaced.

For tougher games i'd go Matic, Pogba and Fred which is similar I guess to the midfield 3 we had during our best period of form last season. I still think we're really going to struggle to find the right balance in this area of the pitch. When you replace one player with another in this position it seems a new positive comes with a new negative.
Our options are terrible. Anyone with eyes can see that so I doubt if there will be many rude awakening.
 

Irwin99

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Our options are terrible. Anyone with eyes can see that so I doubt if there will be many rude awakening.
There was a thread on here saying we'd be fine in the midfield this season and lots of posts saying we're overreacting to suggestions that it's pretty poor. You never know there might be a player that really steps up this season (Fred, Periera) but that's more in hope than expectation.
 

Amerifan

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Having to pick a top 3 after one match is one of the many reasons no one would hire me to manage their club. I don’t know yet. I’d have to try different combinations the first several outings first.
 

sincher

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It doesn't look good enough. Pogba is the only class act. But McTominay has earnt his run and seems to be improving quite rapidly, let's hope he can keep that going. If he does all we really need is one of Fred, Pereira, Garner or Gomes to come good. Fred seems like the best bet for this season. Pereira I quite like as an attacking player but he has not shown enough defensively. The others are a bit unknown at the top level obviously but eager to see how they could do.
Matic is still a class player but his drop off in form has been quite dra-matic so he has some work to do to get back in.
 

Inter Yer Nan

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Pogba and McT for sure. Then perhaps give Fred a run of games and see if he can be any good and if that fails then we can go back to Matic for some games and perhaps Gomes for some of the "easier" home games where we'll have most of the ball.
 

Volumiza

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I would take Fred next to McT as deep lying MF's in front of our back 4 and Pogba in a more advanced role. I would have thought that was our best option but Ole see's more than myself.
 

Nep77

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Mctominay, Fred and Pogba for Premier League. Matic, Pereria and Gomes for Europa. Garner can and should play some part over the course of season too.
 

AneRu

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I'd go with Mctominay, Fred and Pogba because I think Pogba is our most creative player so he can play with freedom and he is not dependable off the ball. Garner has to be given serious minutes in the EL group stages to see how close he is to first team football and get him ready to replace Fred if the latter continues last season's dicey form.

We should use the EL group stages to blood in the youth with players like Garner, Gomes, Greenwood and Tuanzebe being given particular emphasis. This would allow us the chance to build up players for first team roles in the PL and give us the chance to keep the squad fresh.
 

Reddevil1978

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For me i would like to see the tougher games as so -

--------Fred--------
Mctom Pogba

Or the so called easier games like this -

Mctom Pogba
------Gomes ------
 

TheRedHearted

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Fred Mctominay
Pogba


But to he completely honest we need to play with four midfielders against really good teams. Lingard could be the fourth but Matic night also have something left in him. Also Gomes can be the attacking threat while Pogba plays a little deeper and Fred and Mctominay shield on top of the defense. If Ole didnt learn from last season that we can’t play a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 against top teams I’ll be very disappointed. Martial and Rashford would be enough for us to break on the counter with whichever midfielder it falls to. The good thing is I have faith in whichever 4 of Pogba, Lingard, Fred, Mctominay or Gomes we choose (unless one game Ole does go 4-5-1) to be able to bring the fall forward and feed our two strikers for a counter.
 

Artorias

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Fred Mctominay
Pogba


But to he completely honest we need to play with four midfielders against really good teams. Lingard could be the fourth but Matic night also have something left in him. Also Gomes can be the attacking threat while Pogba plays a little deeper and Fred and Mctominay shield on top of the defense. If Ole didnt learn from last season that we can’t play a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 against top teams I’ll be very disappointed. Martial and Rashford would be enough for us to break on the counter with whichever midfielder it falls to. The good thing is I have faith in whichever 4 of Pogba, Lingard, Fred, Mctominay or Gomes we choose (unless one game Ole does go 4-5-1) to be able to bring the fall forward and feed our two strikers for a counter.
Great lineup. I hope that Ole give them a run that builds up confidence. Also Lingard, Gomes and Mata could get late subs.
 
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