Zuciliini was horrible at the u20 SA championships for Argentina, he looked nothing more than a hack. I know he;s still young, but hardly impressive outing. Zyeda, Mavuba plays in france for Lille.
I don´t disagree with you at all, I´m merly trying to argue for different alternatives should be not be able to find a proper warrior. But the above quote is definitely the strongest argument. Do we trust Hargreaves to do this job alone in our midfield? He has been out for a year and will probably need time to get his game back on. Also we cannot be sure that his knees are fixed for good. As I say, I don´t disagree if we can find a proper warrior, but what is our alternative if we cannot find one? I agree with your point again, but isn´t this just as much down to our passing being off in midfield this year? Last year we did the double over Liverpool. Carrick, Scholes and Anderson played circles around Mascherano until he got sent off. The same arguments that are made in this thread was also made when we bought Carrick and put him next to Scholes. However, they did just fine by making sure we played our own game. The oppo tire from chasing the ball and whoever warrior the oppo has, has to be used on doubling up on Ronaldo. That was Gattuso´s main job against us and he did the job well. But that was two years ago. Ronaldo and Rooney was not as mature as they are now, we did play makeshift defence and our squad was so thin that everybody was very tired. Could it be argued that with a stronger defence, and a more mature versions of Ronaldo and Rooney, that a playing midfield could do just fine without a warrior? I think it could be argued that the oppo is just as much in our face for the reason that our passing is off. When Carrick and Scholes ran our midfield we didn´t really have this problem of the oppo being in our face. Our shortcoming were from other parts of the field. Or is these arguments only applicable to a side playing 4231?
Quite some matches but not alot, La Liga has been boring this season personally. Even if he do, you have to understand the concept of being DM in Spain as to in England, for ex Etoo is a pretty decent header in La Liga, he would be almost ineffective in one on one in EPL unless he steals a position from his defender like Owen used to, he would be useless in holding the ball up in the prem. Toure isnt a DM by any imagination, not to me atleast. Mavuba went to Spain, failed at Villarreal and went back to France.
inler has lost form. he wasnt even trying, against werder, and it was left to poor d'agostino, a regista, to do the dirty work. the midfield automatically looked better when obodo FINALLY came on. toure reminds me of barry. a neat and tidy player but not much bite for a player of his size. this is why i think, along with alot of barca supporters, busquets will eventually take over his spot.
Last year we also had to go to rather extreme measures to get past Barcelona and were under the cosh in the 2nd half of regulation in the final. As I say, it will work some of the time, but when it doesn't, we've got to just hold on with things being almost completely outside of our control. Do you like that feeling? Me personally, I hate it. I find it to be very un-Manchester United. For as long as I can remember we've been a force through the middle against anyone win, lose or draw they they knew they'd have to fight to get through the midfield. It hasn't felt like that since Keane left, tbf/ No, I'm not pining for Roy, but I'm saying that having no choice but to cater for the oppo's game is very strange for a club and manager who have made a name for themselves via the core at the middle of the team. Scholes was a huge, in fact, the most vital, cog in us playing a great passing game for the last two seasons, but that's not happening anymore, so what do we have to fall back on? Survival instinct, is about it, I'd say. We can't fight our way out because we don't have the players for that, so we just have to wait and hopefully get through this. My point would also be that surely we can have both grit and quality passing, the two can easily co-exist.. look at the pass % of the top players in those roles, they're no hinderance to how the team around them play. Well, you're never going to get the best out of Scholes and Carrick (especially alongside eachother) in anything but a 4-2-3-1. Our system was perfect for both of them and we went and changed it..
This factor in combination with that there is little chance we can replace Scholes with an equal quality passer of the ball, and that we don´t know where we stand with Hargreaves regarding next season, should make it obvious that we need the warrior type like the opener of this thread asks for. It is hard to argue otherwise, and such a player should be our primary target this summer. I guess such a transfer is going to put a lot of pressure on Gibson. Where does he stand compared to Fletcher, the serbian, Anderson, Scholes, Hargreaves, potential new warrior and Carrick? There has to be a limit on how many central midfielders we can have? I guess it depends on what kind of future SAF sees for our midfield.
Palombo would be a good signing, me thinks. Could probably be had for cheap and i'm sure he wouldn't turn down a move to OT.
I would probably take this opportunity and ask older football fans here that how good was Greame Souness or Bryan Robson, because I didnt have the pleasure of watching them week in week out with full conciousness. 2ndly, what about the midfield potentials we have, I fear for the future of Gibson and Possebon, DS already said that he aint too hot on Matty James, I am perhaps a miniority in think Possebon is talent wise a better player than Gibson but he doesnt seem to make it, what do you predict of Gibson ?
Anthony Annan is a player that I think could do a job for us. He's been in great form for Rosenborg in the beginning of the season (the Norwegian season started just 3 weeks ago), but the level of opposition teams haven't been very good. I guess the real test for him will be in the Europa League this fall, as Rosenborg should qualify based on the fair play rankings. Annan is fairly short, and could well be likened to Mascherano in both physical attributes as well as in style of play. There isn't much footage available, but he is playing regularly alongside Essien in Ghana's midfield. Offensively he's not given much freedom for his club, and he defers to the creative players in the team. He could probably do a job for at least half of the PL if he was given the holding role right now, but his offensive qualities are hard to judge at the moment. Could be worth a gamble, him being rated at £4-5m in the Norwegian press.
First thing I want to say is that, as you already know, apart from the big names, there is no one available to snap up immediately to be thrown straight in. Some of the players I mentioned are young players, [not too young] that have attributes of the type of player we are looking for. Its always hard to judge wether a player will fit into the league and the club. They may be physically ready, but not mentally. So having said that, I'd say Felipe Melo is probably the best option that I named. I think he would have no problems fitting into England. Very strong, and in good shape. He is a lot better than Hargreaves with the ball at his feet, so he wouldn't be a liability in that sense. He has plenty of bottle imo. Its hard to say what would happen in direct competition with Esssien and Mascherano. To be honest, I wouldn't favour anyone but Diarra vs. Essien simple because no one is strong enough or fast enough. Toure himself is definately capable of player more than defensive mid, he's good going forward as well. But at Barca, he is their first choice d mid when fit. Eto'o is definately average at best at heading, and even that looks too gracious.
He's been in very good form and there is a big demand from fans for a National call up. His time in Spain helped him a great deal to understand the attacking game and he could be an option, but I still like the qualities someone like Weiss brings instead. I'm not confident should Polanski go up against a Mascherano or Essien.
10 minutes? Standards are slipping. I lost track of him when he moved to Getafe. I have not seen any of their matches this season. EDIT: I've just found the discussion on the German board.
Ljajic for me is a Gerrard type of player, attacking midfielder that can easily play behind the striker or on the wing. Axel Witsel is probably the best among the upcoming Belgian mids for me, including Defour who is the captain of Standard Liege and Fellaini. We are reported to be interested in him.
Imagine a player who tackled like Roy Keane, scored goals like Gerrard with the heading ability of Ronaldo and you have Bryan Robson. Seriously, the guy was that good. If not for a lot of injuries he'd have had more outfield caps for England than anyone. Could have gone to Juve to play with Platini but chose to stay at United. Was called Captain Fantastic for a very good reason. One of United's immortal number sevens. As for Matty James I think he's got a chance. Started the year in the U18s and moved into the reserves around Christmas time so is finding his feet there but ilooking more impressive as each week goes by. Not as prolific yet as he was in the U18s but has that in his locker as well as being a good passer and after periods palying in defense for the youth teams also has defensive abilities. Build wise he could play in the premiership right now.
This thread has got me thinking. After Scholes retires --- and he is beginning to show his age ---- what formation do you think SAF would favor. 442 in EPL and 451 in Europe? Scholes inevitable retirement plus the team's formation would factory heavily into what type of mids SAF would like to have at the club. I think SAF would keep Carrick, Anderson and FLetcher from the group we currently have. Any new signing in CM has got to be loads better than Gibson, Possebon and must offer something different from the first three I mentioned. It's sad to say but there aren't a lot of players that fit that bill. Maybe we can just hope and pray that Abramovich tires of Chelsea and start selling off their players. =)+
Well, for my money, Essien is the best player in the world, and I don't think there's anyone out there that can seriously challenge him when he's at his best. Not going after him with everything we had is the biggest regret in terms of our transfers in recent years. Next best thing in terms of potential was (imo, again) his former teammate Diarra. I think he'd be very good at England. But again, with Essien - he's the best now, and he's getting even better. Diarra's work in progress. Nowdays, I'm looking and don't really see anyone standing out. I've heard some good things about Axel Witsel, but haven't seen him to know if the talk is warranted. Tymoschuk is very good, but he's 30, so he maybe has 2 years at the high level at best. Oh, well, maybe Hargreaves will resurrect next year and...
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=620223 Lots of Robbo talk in there. Gibson needs to pull his finger out and keep it there if he is going to make it. He has the talent and the size, but his application and hunger for the gig isn't what I'd hope it would be, but then I'd like every youngster to have the drive and ambition to succeed that the likes of Gary Neville, Roy Keane, & Giuseppe Rossi showed. Chelsea aren't our concern and things aren't particularly bad for us, it's just that they could be massively better with a world-class player of the sort mentioned in the opener. We don't have a WC midfielder once Scholes is confirmed as done, and that's pretty strange given our stature. That needs to change (imo). I don't know much about Witsel, many of the names in this thread are new to me, but I hope one of them is picked up by us if good enough. I'd take Tymoschuk in a heartbeat. I reckon he'll be good to go for 3-4 yrs, he is class. Shame he's going to Munich. I don't think besting Essien is the issue, matching what he offers is a big deal, though. Power vs Power etc, we just have no player here for the job over a full game, that's.. wrong given Fergie's history with aggresive midfielders.
We have to do something, there's no doubt about that. When Fletcher is the closest thing you have the "hard guy" - when he's not really - that's a sign. Carrick, Giggs (as a CM), Ljajic in the future are all lightweights. Anderson has the engine when fit, but he was an AM. Gibson has shown more balls this year, but still isn't a starter here. And Hargreaves, while adding some steel, is never around. We need someone. I think it's clearly the most glaring need at this club.