Again - height isn't limited to CBs. You want x number of tall people in the box, and you want a good corner taker. You don't designate corner taking by position, just as you cannot restrict player height to positions. There's a general truth that CBs are the sorts of people who would suck at corners, but that's because their job is usually to hoof the ball, not pass it. Similarly, CBs tend to be tall because their job includes clearing crosses. But the way Sofabloke predicated that CBs should not take corners is arse about face - it ignores whether or not they're any good at taking corners. It's like saying CR can't be a wide player because he's too tall, or that he can't take penalties because he's not a striker.
You are reading waayy to much into that short sentence, the quotes for "CB" were meant to be ironic in respect of DB. I think we all agree that we suck at corners (unless Phil Jones is taking them of course - we really miss him being injured for those, broke our season that did) In fact I think at corners not only are we at our least dangerous, we also seem to be at our most vulnerable to counters.
Smalling taken to the hospital http://www.skysports.com/football/n...is-smalling-taken-to-bali-hospital-after-fall
I thought I was the only one who was annoyed by that. What kind of person asks someone laying in a bed/gurney to sign a friggin' shirt?
The medical staff couldn't even have the decency to wait until he's released. He's still laying in bed with his head wrapped like a mummy.
some captain's performance from him today huh. he generally shows no desire or ability to drive the team forward or motivate. should never be considered captain. i hate when players are chosen as (C) just because of seniority/length of service. the guy is 27 in one month, he has to be doing better. if he hasn't learned by now then he simply won't. these abysmal performances are appearing with alarming frequency since January. if he can't sort it out then throw in Tuanzebe and at least get the enthusiasm of wanting to impress in there
A January CB buy is imperative. Bailly...very solid, but now injured and out for a while. Blind...has deputized well but is not a natural CB Smalling...squad man at best, best to sell him to a club like West Brom Jones...no hope Rojo...no hope Back in the summer we looked pretty deep at CB but one calamity after another has forced reconsideration of that assessment. There's too much at stake this season to risk being carved up again and again in the second half of the season. We can discuss the options on a transfer thread if that's more appropriate but I'd like to suggest we go in for Fonte in January. He's not the all-worlder we'd like to have but he knows this league and is very gettable. We'll have to dig deeper into the transfer market next summer but that's a long ways off from now.
"Deep" after we picked up Bailly, that is, who came to OT with a decent reputation. And he's proven himself to be up the challenge of playing for United. "Deep" should not be confused with "world class".
Until we can go all out for Laporte in the summer, he'd be the perfect guy in Jan for the remainder of the season at least (especially with Bailly gone for at least 2 weeks then). He was the right guy this past summer and nothing has really changed on that score. He wouldn't cost much at all because of his age and provide some much needed leadership at the back. Would be absolutely worth it.
I think so. We're in serious trouble all of a sudden and Fonte would be the perfect tonic in January. In the summer break the bank for Laporte. Continuing with the theme of further acquisitions, I'd go in for Lukaku in January. I don't see Everton sustaining a top four challenge and if we put up the 40m that it would take to get Lukaku in the summer we shouldn't wait and put it on the table in January. I'm not giving up on Ibra but we need to give Ibra a proper challenge for his supremacy in the starting XI. We keep reading about United going in for Bale this summer but I just don't see it. Real are apparently prepared to offer Bale 750k/week, which even by United standards is a staggering wage. But I've digressed too far: Buy Fonte in January and Laporte in the summer. Sell Jones and Rojo for sure. Probably sell Smalling. Keep Blind. Bring up Tuanzebe.
Tuanzebe should already be 4th choice. Jones can't stay healthy and has no future here. Rojo doesn't belong in a PL squad. This league is above his level. Tuanzebe should starting getting games now since he's potentially a future starter.
Tuanzebe would be a lock to start Wednesday vs City for me. Just a solid performance from him could be a great springboard in bringing him along more into the first team going forward. Based on his performances that has been nothing but consistent with the U23 team, it's time. Like Pereira last season, he's way beyond that level now.
The problem with Smalling is that he's simply not a natural footballer. He is shocking on the ball and a step slow in reading the game - that's not going to improve. We really need two CBs: a superstar to partner Bailly as well as a 3rd option (Fonte). Sell Smalling, Jones and Rojo ASAP. Envoyé de mon SM-N910F en utilisant Tapatalk
We better get our offense going, because we are going to start conceding goals early and often with Smalling basically a locked in starter since Bailly is out.
While I get perfectly understand that confidence in Smalling is at an all time low right now, we can't just dismiss his play (which admittedly has been up and down since January), completely out the window. He did well with Blind at times last season and there's nothing that suggests he can't do it again. Bad/horrible days happen to everyone (even for first class studs like us here...). Smalling has had bad days before and recovered. While his inconsistency is enough that we need to start looking at possible alternatives, I'd like to think he can be serviceable at least until new blood can be brought in...