07 Mar 2016 12:43:40
Well it appears to have gone slightly pear shaped again. Shouldn't be surprised, are there any of us who still expect some kind of "click" moment in the tenure of LvG?

Now its expected that LvG will be replaced in the summer and many of us have our own ideas about who we would like ranging from Mark Hughes to a certain Portuguese manager. I won't start another manager debate as we all know who wants who and why, let's all agree to disagree. Ultimately our opinions are of no consequence as to who will get the job as our next manager.

But let's look at the squad and what kind of players we will need to bring in to make us competitive next season.

In goal we have DDG, with Romero the established second choice. We have some very talented young lads coming through with Sam Johnstone and Joel Pereira. If DDG gets his move to Real Madrid then we will need a new No.1, for me Yann Sommer, Jack Butland and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen would be my top picks. But our future manager may well have other targets in mind.

In defence we have some great young full backs and players able to play full back at the club, Darmian, Shaw with Varela and Brothwick-Jackson as backup should be sufficient. We also have players such as McNair, Rojo, Blind and Tosu-Mensah who can also cover the full back positions. We are well stocked, in fact there is little reason to keep Valencia for a position he has never made his own. It is the heart of defence where we are really struggling. Blind has done a sterling job covering at CB but its quite damning when a CM is one of our best two CB. Jones has stagnated and probably needs to leave to find some regular playing time if he is going to have a career playing football rather than keeping physio's busy and getting splinters in his arse. Rojo is a decent CB but has had his fair share of injuries and lacks the all round qualities to be first choice at a top club. Smalling has made massive progress over the last 18 months, but is he really a top level CB? Or merely the best of a poor bunch? I think he is still positionally naive, and a poor passer of the ball. All our great teams have been built on solid foundations, at the moment I don't think we have any CB fit to break into any of our previously great teams, if we want to reach the levels of our previous teams then we need players of equal ability to those in those previous teams. We need two top CB's in the summer, failure to get two in will leave us to continue to compete at the highest level. Stones, Laporte, Marquinhos, Mustafi, Varane, Gimenez, de Vrij, Manolas or van Dijk (who has been one of the best CB's in the league this year) . Any two of these lads would instantly give us a platform to build from.

In midfield we have seen several new players come in over the last few seasons after about 6-7 years of neglect. But how many of those players were the right ones. What our midfield really lacks is energy, drive and invention. Carrick is a shadow of his former self, we have seen this season why Bayern were prepared to let Schweinsteiger leave. Fellaini has never been of the sufficient quality to start for a club such as ours. All three lack energy, they appear to be running in treacle so often and it allows even average teams to win the midfield battle against us with nothing more then a bit of running and effort. Blind looks a good option for some games or if we set up in a certain way. Herrera plays exactly how you'd want a Manchester United midfielder to play, with effort, drive and ability to put tackles in and create, he struggles with consistency, but how much of that is down to how we set up. Until we change the way we set up and he gets a run in the team we will never know. Schneiderlin is the one midfielder we signed who should be a guaranteed starter. Fellaini and Carrick should move on, Schweinsteiger probably should as well but it may be prudent to keep him as cover for another year and for the experience he has to offer the younger players. We need to bring in another younger energetic option to come in and add a bit of dynamism into midfield. Marco Verratti would be top of my list but he is never likely to come. Granit Xhaka, Andre Gomes, Saul Niguez, Renato Sanches, Youri Tielemans or Marcelo Brozovic could all be good options.

People have talked about the lack of quality on the right wing, and I can see where people are coming from. We maybe could do with another wide player who would be a bit more prepared to commit people and stretch a defence. But how much of the way we set up at the moment has been what has held our current options back. We have Lingard, Januzaj and Pereira who can play wide right, along with Depay, Young and Martial who can play form the left. That's six options for the wide roles. Saido Mane and Bernardo Silva can offer us work rate and ability to beat a man out wide with end product if we were to look at this area of the pitch. A different option could be Sofiane Feghouli who is available on a free transfer and has more experience than our current right side options.

The striking department is the interesting one. Rooney should probably drop into a deeper role and no longer play as the leading striker, No.10 should be where he plays from now on. That leaves us with Martial, Wilson and Rashford as striker options. All are very exciting and excellent prospects, but they seem to be missing someone to learn from. we need a striker who can lead the line, offer us something different and have experience. You also don't want someone young who will get in the way of the younger lads coming through. In an ideal world you'd want someone in their late 20's early 30's to add experience but not be around too long and hold up the development of players such as Martial, Rashford and Wilson. With that in mind Edison Cavani, Karim Benzema or Mario Gomez.

Personally I feel the money should be spent first on the CB, then midfield, striker and right wing should be an afterthought if we still have cash to spare.
Who ever comes in will find a decent squad with a few holes in it, if they can fill those holes and get the most out of what we have then a title challenge isn't beyond us next season.


1.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 13:17:02
Shappy
agree with a lot of your post :)
I personally think that we will change manager but still maintain that having an accountant (woodward) behind / involved so much with the playing side is something we MUST address. His football knowledge appears to be lacking as opposed to his ability to gather sponsors and funds.
De Gea will go and we need a top stopper as No.1 Llorris?
Back 4- most will agree we need to get at least 1 possibly 2 cb but we have a couple of players we could let go out of your list that will not get the game time.
Midfield is my personal frustrating area with lack of pace, guts and creativity . We have been spoilt over the years with keane, robson, scholes and . on etc but apart from the 2nd yellow of Mata yesterday (and watching 90% of other games this season) we haven't got a player who puts their foot in when it could hurt, or create regularly under pressure. Schniederlin would possibly if not shackled by the system, but carrick passes back more than ever, herrera is game but light in the tackle and auld fat arse Schweinsteiger isa shadow of his former self. Felaini is simply not good enough and Mata has all the necessary attributes as a 10 but gets played all over the place.
Up front, Martial isn't as free as he was a mix of been watched more closely, but fundamentally not getting the service/ balls to him and then not getting the support. Rashford again is not getting the balls to run on to and similar can be said re memphis and linguard.
It might read as though we need a major overhaul but the main points I think are that we need to replace De Gea, 2 cb and a world class ball winning/ playing midfield player as a bonus a pacey winger would be great as well. We could get rid of at least 5 of the current squad and still keep a good percentage of younguns.
Totally agree with the last bit that "Who ever comes in will find a decent squad with a few holes in it, if they can fill those holes and get the most out of what we have then a title challenge isn't beyond us next season. "


2.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 13:40:40
Top post shappy, I agree on areas of improvement, if DDG leaves Butland or Lloris for me.
2 CB is right if stones is one then an experienced leader would be next, Mustafi I like but maybe Hummels will be looked at again.
The Morgan/ Herrera partnership should be allowed to grow, Bastian as cover tho if Jose comes in then I expect a Carvalho type DM to be signed.
Right wing is interesting, the options you list are great, I'd like greizmann to be the one though.
Up top I've always wanted Lewandowski, perfect fit for me, I feel it's time Rooney was phased out to allow mata or Herrera or whomever the chance to grow in the number 10 role. Harry Kane is another option perhaps.
So all in all this team is still 6 players short for me.


3.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 13:42:21
Excellent post shappy.


4.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 16:16:23
Great post shappy. If we can shore up defence and add a bit more dynamic to cm, it will give our forward players a bit more license to for want of a better phrase 'go for it'.


5.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 16:45:54
Great post.
The moment we have 2 proper centre backs, our midfielders don't need to drop as much. And the overall play would improve massively.
If we are to sign 2 centre backs, I'd take Van Dijk and another from a foreign league.
Van Dijk has a season under his belt and CBs can find it really difficult to adjust in such a league.
Laporte would be overpriced. Same for stones.
mustafi would be a good choice and manolos too.
We'd can do without a RW at the momeny, as we have players who can do a job there and focus on an elite striker.
2CBs and a striker are the top most priority.


6.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 17:27:14
Most CB with big reputations tend to be big flops in the PL. Easy to dismiss Smalling which is unwarranted. Our fans seem to think we need to keep buying and buying to fix a disappointing season, some should take a look at Leicester i recommend.

Not too long ago people were screaming for the 2 that went to city for huge fees. Both have been average to poor at best and they still only click when Company is fit and playing.

The pace of the league makes it a big gamble to pay for unproven CB from outside the league big fees. Stones and smelling will do us fine for many years. BTW vidic never had great pace or passing but we pretty good with him i would say.

Need a striker, right winger, and a CB and new a new manager and no need for buying a whole new team.


7.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 16:29:56
Butland or Leno, 2 of varane marquinhos, stones or laporte, and either Kane or lewandowski for me. I agree we need a solid centre back pairing, that is the main priority. I'd let Rooney go, if mata has players with good most cement around him he's one of the best number 10s around.

way ahead of what Rooney offers in that role. Front 3 of martial cutting in from the left Depay or Januzaj on the right and Kane or lewandowski thru the middle has pace, skill, finishing and aerial threat. Herrera and schneiderlin at centre mid have plenty of energy and passing ablilty, they should at least get a run of 10 games together to see what they can do. Would love to see verratti and tielemans come in as well to replace carrick, fellaini, young, Valencia etc.


8.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 18:34:26
Shappy I agree with most of that, and defiantly feel we need two CB's. I'd love to see a top CB with a bit of pace like Verane for instance. As for the other is like a CB with premier league experience. Someone who already knows the league and doesn't need a bedding in period so to speak. For this reason personally I think Ashely Williams of Swansea would be a great signing to partner Verane/ Stones etc. I may be biased being a Welshman, but he always gives a solid 7 or 8 out of 10 for me. Good in the air, dominant, a leader, good on the ball. I think he's be an excellent addition. Thoughts?


9.) 07 Mar 2016
07 Mar 2016 22:55:38
I'd be inclined to agree with the positions, but not necessarily the players you suggested. Some yes, some no. Goalkeepers I totally agree with as well as the defenders and midfielders like Saúl.

However I think you are setting the bar really low on the wings. I think Martial on the left is a given for now, as much as I like Memphis he is going to struggle to be a permanent starter. On the right Lingard should be backup, we need a real class right winger who scares the opposition. Neither Silva or Mane are of that level. I'd put loads of money Dortmunds way for a player like Reus.

And upfront, it has to be Kane.


10.) 08 Mar 2016
08 Mar 2016 09:12:13
No.7, I don't think right wing is that important. If we have the money after signing 2 CB's, a CM and a ST then sure spend a large amount on a RW. But it is bottom of our priorities.

We have Martial, Young, Lingard, Memphis, Januzaj and Pereira. Maybe even Rashford who can all play wide. All of them bar Young are kids, if one or two of them step up next year then we won't have a dire need for a RW.

The biggest problem with our attack atm isn't personel, but the system we are playing which is very restrictive to our players.

But a big reason for the system we are playing is to cover for our weak defence. Which is why fixing that is far more important.

A change of management and mentality and our forward players will play much better.

But all great teams have a solid defence. Improve that and we will have the foundations to build our next great team on.


11.) 08 Mar 2016
08 Mar 2016 09:23:06
Completely agree about the two CB's, I think a strong pairing will give the midfield more freedom to push forward. We desperately need a right winger, the lack of balance is painful. Having a Quick, tricky goal scorer on the right will really change the way the front line moves and give the 10 a fraction more time. At the moment we attack a lot down the left.

Priority in my opinion 2x CB's and a RW/ RF.

Succession planning for Carrick and Schweinseiger should be the second priority, get their replacement in to the squad ASAP either internal or external. I would love to see Alli AND Berkley come in (never going to happen though) .


12.) 08 Mar 2016
08 Mar 2016 11:56:25
Rewz, Right wing isn't the issue, it's about not allowing people to move forward and attack teams.

Atm we have either Martial or Depay on the left both run and drive at teams and stretch them. But doing so leaves their flank open to counter attack. LvG doesn't want to attack down both flanks at the same time, doing so would expose the team down both flanks. Very few teams play with a direct running threat down both flanks. Normally you'll balance it out with a slightly more defensively conscious player on the opposite flank.

If pace is all we need down the right then we could play Memphis there.

I feel two CB's are top priority, followed by midfield and a main striker due to us having limited quality options in midfield with only Herrera, Schneiderlin and Blind long term options. Then our striker force is very young and an experienced head is needed to lead the line. Then it's right wing. But if DDG leaves then a new goalkeeper all obviously be more important. I don't see us signing more than 5 players, and it's not sensible to sign more than 5 players at a time as it takes months for them to settle in.

So if you could only sign 5 players and DDG does leave which 5 players would you sign?

For me a GK is a no brainer, all great teams are built from the back so two CB's is obvious. With Rooney not being consistently effective leading the line and out other options being Martial, Wilson and Rashford a striker is also a must. Which means we have a choice between CM or RW for the last signing. Considering the the options for me I feel a CM'er is more important than a RW this summer. If none of your younger players have stepped up by the end of next season then we can look for a wide player then.