Ignore the blah, blah, blah - the Paul Pogba thread

Completed passes in the #UEL 🎯

🥇 Pogba - 770 (88%)

🥈 Höwedes - 553 (92%)

🥉 Paredes - 530 (94%) pic.twitter.com/gXNjnDHCAu

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) April 25, 2017

 

Lets get Paredes.

 

Been paying close attention to him lately as I'm watching Roma and he's very much a like for like replacement for Carrick. Same type of player: looks excellent on the offensive side of things (with excellent passing and even long distance shooting), but not so much defensively from what I've seen just yet. Fabinho is a lot more polished in that department and would still be my first choice at this time. Paredes definitely has potential, lots of it.
More and more impressed by Manolas though in that team, as a very viable candidate to partner Bailly long term. Not sure if he's still on the market, with rumors of him going to Inter however...

 

Paredes would struggle in a double pivot in the Premier League and I do not trust Mourinho to not play that.

 

Would be fine in a 3 man midfield imo, even as the deepest mid.

 

Strootman provides him a lot of support defensively. Where would he get that from at United?

 

Herrera is better defensively than Strootman imo.

Edit
Actually Herrera is outdoing Kante in defensive stats.

 

He would be but I was thinking of the situations when Mourinho goes for a double-pivot which would make a Fabinho more valuable due to his flexibility.

 

Not a fan of specialized DMs.

 

Herrera is better than him in certain defensive facets. For instance he's probably a better harasser and man marker because of his mobility, but that's about as far as it goes. If it wasn't for his injury history, right now I'd still take Strootman for our midfield.
But man for man, Paredes may end up being better than Fabinho, but he isn't now as far as I'm concerned (as far as what we need most at least). We need defensive solidity in midfield. Suspect that Jose will as well.

 

Why?

 

What do you guys think of naingolan as a cdm in a double pivot or 3 man midfield?

 

He does not have the positional discipline required and it would kill his natural game.

 

We don't need Nainggolan. Better in a more advanced role, which we have covered.

 

Do we know how long pogba will be out for?

 

It hasn't been confirmed yet that he'll be out of the City game...

 

Easy to bottleneck with high pressing in the games you need them, useless against 70% of the teams in the league.

 

The second part of your argument is very true, but for top teams, that small percentage of games (think it's even less than 30%), where you're facing top attacks or midfields, that recognized DCM or true regista types are badly needed.
Those players can be vital against quality sides.

 

I would be ok with this but he would cost more than Kampl and Keita combined. I'd rather have Kampl than Paredes even if they cost the same anyway.

I want three all round talents in midfield and I want high energy as well. I'm tired of teams besting us on effort.

Ashur, Regista/=DM. Pretty sure Syed would take a regista.

 

Was thinking the same purely with their abilities on the ball. Traditional DCMs may not be as glamorous and are more limited, but I like those types of players and wouldn't mind having that type on our team tbh. They're so important as outlined above, especially against the good sides.
That's why I was all about bringing in Lass Diarra last summer, when he was having his renaissance, before he got hurt again. I just have big appreciation for any type of more defensive minded mids really.

 

I rather have Kessie than Keita.

 

Kessie is one my top targets for a midfield player. Think England would suit him like a glove. He's going to be big time down the line.

 

There are reports surfacing that FIFA are investigating Pogba's transfer to United...

 

Apparently it is focused on Raiola who received 40m+ from Juve for the transfer.

 

Still can not wrap my head around that figure. It's obscene, but with a greedy guy like Raiola, it really wouldn't be surprising.
A guy like Mendes is probably just as greedy as Raiola, but there is an air of "sleeziness" in him (and bully tendencies as well) that really rub me the wrong way.