Chambers has been doing better at Fulham. Wonder if we recall him from his loan and give him a run if Holding is out.
That physio room website says Mavropanos should be back in training by "December." Another site says December 16th. If he and Kos can get some matches the last two weeks of the year maybe that will give us an idea of whether we need to be looking for a CB in January.
Last I saw he was played in MF and was popping up in the oppenents box a ton. I don't think that's what we need him for. Or at least we don't need that as badly as we need a good CB. So I'm still of the mind that Chambers doesn't have much future with us.
I'd offer him a one-year at a modest wage. Didn't we give Santi a charitable extra year when he was going through achilles hell? (Yes I know that was probably Wenger's doing)
Well they paid us a loan fee so that is out. Pleguezuelo was fine and can be used for early cup games and Europa...heck even in EPL if need be.
We know what we have with him. An injury prone runner with limited technical ability and intelligence. The only thing having him will do is hold up Reiss Nelson or Eddie Nketiah's development. I am happy to see him go and join West Ham or Everton...frankly that's his level.
Someone said holding has done his knee ligaments and will be done for the year We have that Italian kid whose name I fighter and mav and kos to come back but we are short there atm It’s a position we need to upgrade anyway so we will have to buy either in jan or the summer I think a lb is a more pressing need if kos and mav are ok I forgot Monreal is a good cb and he’s not far off Ian he?
Monreal is a solid CB in a 3 man line or in a pinch but I'd rather not expect to rely on him there. Plus that also kills our LB depth.
Yup, I've been figuring that either Kos or Nacho is required at CB if we want to try a back-3 anytime soon. And that assumes Mustafi isn't carrying something that rules him out. Oh, and as Romfordray(?) pointed out, Elneny has been used in a 3 before (I had forgotten that!) If there's been official word on Holding's injury (I'm not surprised at all at the severity), has there been any peeps about Ramsey's??
This is unfair: Welbeck’s movement off the ball is intelligent. Very intelligent. He’s just uncoordinated as hell when he’s on the ball.
I hate to keep saying this, Ramsey isn't going anywhere in January. If he does agree to a transfer he gives up his salary leverage. United threw a whole lot of money at Alexis to get him to agree to a transfer 6 months before he was available for free and could negotiate with anyone.
I wouldn't put money on Ramsey leaving in January. But a lot of folks are speculating about it, since January deals are known to happen occasionally in situations like his. And doesn't your post above basically admit this, by citing the Alexis move? Doesn't it come down to how much demand there is for the player? If that's high enough then there's some incentive for a buying club to do a deal now, so as not to have to compete in a probably crazier market in summer? All that said, I still don't really feel he's likely to go. Especially if his injury proves to keep him sidelined over the next month or so. (waiting with baited breath)
He plays like someone who started playing as a teen. There is a rigidness about the way that he handles the ball that makes him look worse than he is. With that said, there are a million players who can do what Welback does.
United paid Alexis crazy money to get him to agree to a transfer. The demand for a player may be incentive for the buying club to step up, but it's also incentive for the player to wait for the crazy market.
It’s funny that we are panicking about missing a player for the season that most didn’t think would start many league games. How quickly things change. As for chambers. He’s done at CB. He’s showed enough at CM that he should tempt an offer in the summer. He actually ranks 6th on Fulham for xG/90 and 5th on shots. We don’t need that, but some team will. I think we can get by with what we have. Mustafi for his flaws is very resilient. Monreal can play a decent CB. Kos coming back should be at least good enough for cup games. Elneny has played emergency CB as well. I would love it if we signed a beast of a CB, but I’m okay with waiting until the summer. If 4th seems a stretch after the Xmas period, then we just prioritize the EL and the cups.
Yeah this. I really don't have much of an idea of who I want in January. It changes every week given our performances or injury situation. I do know that I don't want anybody over 24 or costing more than 25MM GBP unless they help the first team right away. For that reason, we should be looking for a creative/attacking player. Sometimes you draft the best athlete available and sometimes you draft for need. In the January window it's more likely that you draft for need. Iwobi, Miki and Ozil have all been disappointing this year, and Welbeck is gone for the year. Ozil's shit is especially weak. The usual arguments about hipster statsmasters versus English grit and passion have become irrelevant. If nothing else, we need someone to eat some quality minutes and at least Miki is available for selection. In any event, we need a player there. For CBs after the Southampton game we should have Larry K, Socratis, and Mustafi healthy and available, plus Mavropanos, Monreal and Moe available in reserve. If we buy a player, it's got to be a player who goes into the lineup right away and pushes the rest of the pile down, a la VVD. But what's more likely is we'd just have one more guy added to the logjam. Not this. In fact, I'd say our goal in the League isn't the top four, it's the top one. Realistically I don't expect us to achieve that, but I don't want us to give up on it until it's clearly out of the picture, and right now it's not.