The United Midfield lacking Athleticism?

[Invincible]

Now it might be just me, but I see that our central midfield is seriously lacking athleticism. By this, I dont mean lacking pace that much, but I mean lacking height and size. It almost always seems to me that when we face opposition with bigger players, it's like boys against men, and our players get forced back with the ball alot.

Sure, they throw their weight along fine, but I can't help but think that it hinders us a bit in those physical battles. :o Keane and Scholes do fine, but for the future I'd like to see players like Essien come in, quick and strong and have good size so we could impose ourself in midfield.

[Dark Savante]

Not sure I can agree with that tbh. Maklele is 5'6 and yet he is one of the best DM's in the world. Barca's midfield is made up of player's averaging 5'7 or so and they have the best attacking midfield in the world. We do lack pace in the middle though, but Keane has never been particurlarly fast in his career nor has Scholes.

The most 'athletic' midfield in Europe is Lyon's..that is one fearsome bunch of Olympians right there, lol but each team has its own strengths and weaknesses. When our midfield plays to its strengths we are devastating.

[Mac_Howard]

The one player that always looks like a boy amongst men for me is Miller. I can never take him seriously :rolleyes:

[Acronym]

Bring in the wardrobe, and Essien. Pleaseeee sell fookin MILLER, & LEPERFOOT,

[billyireland]

Not sure I can agree with that tbh. Maklele is 5'6 and yet he is one of the best DM's in the world. Barca's midfield is made up of player's averaging 5'7 or so and they have the best attacking midfield in the world. We do lack pace in the middle though, but Keane has never been particurlarly fast in his career nor has Scholes.

The most 'athletic' midfield in Europe is Lyon's..that is one fearsome bunch of Olympians right there, lol but each team has its own strengths and weaknesses. When our midfield plays to its strengths we are devastating.
Actually, Keane was a bomber in his earlier days... not Henry-esque, but he could run up and down the field faster than almost any other centre-mid in the world all day, all night, and through the weekend.

I would love to see us get Essien in the summer though... love it!

[donovan_rules10]

How bout these four across the midfield:

Downing---Essien---Donovan---Ronaldo

I know it is just a dream (too much FIFA2005) but I woluld love it. Or maybe Lampard when Chelsea buy Gerrard in the summer.

[Omar23033]

How bout these four across the midfield:

Downing---Essien---Donovan---Ronaldo

I know it is just a dream (too much FIFA2005) but I woluld love it. Or maybe Lampard when Chelsea buy Gerrard in the summer.


About time i got some Essien support, i posted it on the Transfer post and got no comments on it. I like the boys anger..

[donovan_rules10]

I think Essien is the answer. He could play in any midfield in the world. I just hope Real doesn't realize this before SAF has a chance to sign him up.

[Omar23033]

I think Essien is the answer. He could play in any midfield in the world. I just hope Real doesn't realize this before SAF has a chance to sign him up.

Actually Essien has stated before that he would like to play in London, so kinda sucks for us a bit.. but why not play for MANU the best team in the league :D

[donovan_rules10]

Yeah, so he wants to play in London with all the frenchmen. He should come play real soccer with ManU. He will get over it when United beat arsenal year after year.

[Robert25]

If this post is in response to the Milan game i heartily agree we got pushed around out there. Seedorf, Pirlo, and Guttuso were excellent. Scholes Fortune, and keane on the other hand...? I think we do have muscle, namely P neville. I am not saying he is the best we have, but for toughness and force he is the man. He has played his part against Arsenal before, and should be considered for the 2nd leg of our CL match.

[Omar23033]

If this post is in response to the Milan game i heartily agree we got pushed around out there. Seedorf, Pirlo, and Guttuso were excellent. Scholes Fortune, and keane on the other hand...? I think we do have muscle, namely P neville. I am not saying he is the best we have, but for toughness and force he is the man. He has played his part against Arsenal before, and should be considered for the 2nd leg of our CL match.

We got pushed around, but i must say all of the Milan players like the ball at their feet and can pass the ball around very nicely. Essien like Kean would be the one running at pace challenging for everything.

We should also go to a 4-4-2 with Rudd and Rooney up front, forcing the milan players to defend against two class players up front.

[johno]

I don't think pace and athleticism would have done much against Milan in midfield... all it takes is bloody composure.. we rushed into attack every time we got the ball and played far too many long balls considering Rooney was up top alone. Assuming the pass was accuarate and he could take it down, he'd still have nesta and maldini and dida to deal with... unrealistic... we needed to knock the ball around some more... however, when we play 3 wingers that's impossible... Fortune is a winger at heart and Ronaldo and Giggs are as well, none of them are particularly good passers, although all of them use the 1-2 to good effect, its not good enough to sustain possession against a top class midfield... it works well against good to poor sides, but you need more patience on the ball against a side like Milan... this is where Scholes having a better game and us holding the ball long enough for Keane to get involved would have been key... another player on the team who helps this is Gary Neville, but due to Ronaldo and Giggs (when on the right) not having much space, he could not get into advanced positions and help to work the ball around.

Not saying I don't want mutants in the midfield for the future, cuz it would help a bit while chasing the ball, but if you play like Barca/Milan and a couple other teams, you never have to chase, you make others chase you...

[warmkjos]

If we get healthy we have a good team. I too don't want to see the Man Utd future midfield to be Fletcher and Miller. However, I think we may have an ample center midfield prospect in Alan Smith. When he has played there he looks like Keane. He flies in for challenges and plays smart balls.

[jec1]

If we get healthy we have a good team. I too don't want to see the Man Utd future midfield to be Fletcher and Miller. However, I think we may have an ample center midfield prospect in Alan Smith. When he has played there he looks like Keane. He flies in for challenges and plays smart balls.

alan smith has impressed me maybe they need to find someone in the transfer

[haven]

It annoys the hell out of me that we chose Djemba-Djemba over Essien. Rumors were flying linking us to Essien that summer for 5m. We ended up bying Djemba-Djemba for 3.5. Oops.

[Mac_Howard]

Not saying I don't want mutants in the midfield for the future, cuz it would help a bit

Explanation please. What DO you have in mind, johno? :D

[Mac_Howard]

But back to the original post:

Do you realise that Roy Keane is only 5'10 and 155 pounds?

[Soccerholic]

But back to the original post:

Do you realise that Roy Keane is only 5'10 and 155 pounds?
United's website has him listed at 5'11" and 169 lbs.

http://www.manutd.com/bio/bio.sps?iBiographyID=2539

[johno]

Explanation please. What DO you have in mind, johno? :D

I was thinking demeanor of Keane, height of Rio, stamina of Heinze, tackling of Keane too... workrate of Rooney and the positioning of Maldini along with the vision of Scholes... I'm thinking that might work... but of course like I was saying, you don't need a beast in midfield, well, u dont need 2 beasts in midfield if u hold the ball for most of the game... which is the direction I believe SAF wants to go.

the latter posting of Keane'e height/weight must be more accurate... i dunno bout the height, but I'm guessing he might have put on some weight since joining the team, which explains the discreprancy... it however, does not explain Keane telling Vieira to pick on someone his own size in relation to him, Keane :D but then again, we always knew he played 8ft tall.