20 Apr 2016 08:07:42
We have a lot of young players who can play well at full back positions as in the recent games.
We have Darmian, Rojo and Shaw as first teamers.
Then Fosu-Mensah, CBJ, Love, McNair, Varela and Riley; and all of them have given some very decent performances in the full back positions.
Riley gave 2 absolutely superb energetic performance at left back.
Love wasn't bad at RB.
CBJ has been sensation for us and is far better than Rojo is.
Varela has been good for us apart from his last 1-2 games, and given his rawness at the top level. You can expect bad performances.
Does it make any sense though, to keep Young and Valencia in the squad, when we have a so many young full backs waiting.
Also, I'd really like Rojo to be moved on and a CB be brought in.
I think we only need 1 more CB, to complete our centre back pairing, we would have Smalling, Blind, new CB, Fosu-Mensah, Jones, Shaun Williams and McNair. Which is ample backup for the season.
Do you think we should move on the likes of Rojo, Valencia and Young and promote Riley, Varela, Love and CBJ in their positions.
I feel our full back position is the least but of worry.
We desperately need a CF, RW, CB and a CM if Carrick leaves. Full-back should be the least of our worries.
20 Apr 2016 08:34:08
I agree to an extent, Rojo, Young and Valencia should not have long term futures at the club, I'd add Jones to that list as well. The guy has talent, but must have a thing for our physio as he can't keep away from them.
I'd be careful not to remove too much experience though. With that in mind I'd probably keep Young around for another season or two. He's versitle, and counts toward our homegrown quota.
Of the youngsters who have been given a chance in defence TFM and CBJ have the best chance of becoming first teamers, with Varela and Riley close behind. I don't think Love will make it at the club unfortunately. I also think McNair will be moved on. He isn't good enough in either CB, RB or CDM to be a starter at our club, TFM is several years younger and has already shown himself to be better in all those positions at our club. So McNair will probably be sold at some point.
I think we need two first choice CB's if I'm honest. Jones and Rojo are unreliable, Blind has done well but shouldn't be first choice. Smalling has done very well, and could kick on. But he has had injury concerns himself, so I feel we need two CB's to come in to compete along with Smalling, Blind and TFM (who I think will end up in midfield) .
20 Apr 2016 08:37:21
I think in Darmian and Shaw we've first teamers for years then CBJ I think is an able deputy, jury prob still out on varela a bit but he's the right attributes of a United full back. We've blind also whose very versatile. IMO Rojo, Valencia and Young are being kept, particularly the latter two due to the squad being very inexperienced, I'd expect them to be moved on in the summer tho.
20 Apr 2016 09:19:05
Blind needs to be available for midfield.
20 Apr 2016 10:54:10
I'd let Rojo, Valencia, Young, Jones, McNair, Carrick and Fellaini go.
That would leave us Darmian, Varela, Shaw and CBJ for the fullback positions.
I'd sign 2 Centre backs and 1 centre midfielder to join Smalling at centre back and Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Herrera in midfield with Blind and Fosu-Mensah available for both positions.
20 Apr 2016 11:59:09
Even I agree that we adequately need 2 centre-backs.
And I actually want to boot Jones out of the club, but like Smalling prviously has had problems with his injuries, and he's 24 and he may never be a world-class centre half but he can still do a very decent job if he's in decent shape.
Out of all Rojo, Valencia, Young, McNair, Jones has the highest quality.
Keeping Young won't be a bad option, but if we kept on keeping mediocre players like him in the squad, I'd rather play Andreas Pereira or Depay in his position.
But we might just keep Young.
I think McNair is decent in midfield and he looks calm over the ball, and we could keep him another year maybe, either way doesn't matter much. Squad player at best though.
What really troubles me is the lack of chances for Andreas Pereira. Januzaj and Lingard are ahead of him, but I could Pereria is as much quality as Rashford and TFM are.
Another player, Will Keane, unlucky guy, he reminds me of a certain Berbatov guy. I wish him well, but sadly he'll be sold.
20 Apr 2016 12:29:40
Jones is always injured and if anyone comes for him then get rid. I think we. need two quality cbs.
Riley for me is the pick of the lot. He's superb and should be playing ahead of rojo.
Blind needs to. move back to midfield where his range of. passing and. clever positioning is most required.
20 Apr 2016 13:11:10
A case can certainly be made to sell all of them, we still have several players within our squad who aren't good enough to be first choice. But who we keep as squad players is up for debate.
I can see the point that players such as Carrick, Fellaini and Young are either no longer good enough to be first choice, or are approaching the twilight of their careers. And I can see why people may want to move them on, but if we get rid of every player like that then all we will be left with is a youth team.
We need to strike a balance, I don't think we should get rid of Carrick and Young in the same window. One or maybe even both should stay another season. They don't have to play ahead of the youngsters, but they should be part of the squad to help guide them and pass on their experience.
For me the players leaving the club this summer should be:
Johnstone, potentially great keeper, but need to be more than third choice if he is to progress.
Valencia, wonderful servant to the club. But no longer good enough to be first choice and is just becoming a road block for potentially more talented young players such as TFM, Varela or Riley.
Rojo, has had injury concerns his entire career and has hardly been convincing when he has been fit. Not good enough going forward to be a full back, not consistent enough defensively to nail down a centre back spot. CBJ is better in both departments and has room for further growth.
Jones, sadly the guy just can't stay fit. He had such potential, but at 24 he is unlikely to fullfil that now. An arguement could certainly be made to keep him, but personally I'd pick Smalling, Blind and TFM ahead of him if they were all fit, and given we could look to sign at least one if not two more CB's then he'd be 5th or 6th choice. He deserves more than that and should probably be allowed to try and build his career somewhere else.
McNair, he would be even further down the pecking order than Jones at CB. And in midfield he would be behind Carrick, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Blind, Schweinsteiger, Fosu-Mensah and potentially another CM will be signed this summer making McNair 8th choice in midfield. At RB he would be behind Darmian, Varela, TFM and possibly Riley making him 4/ 5th choice. Is there any need to keep a player who at best is 7th choice in midfield, 6th choice at CB and 4th choice at RB? Like Richardson, Cleverly and Welbeck before him he will go on to have a good top flight career, but that will have to be somewhere else.
Scweinsteiger or Carrick, I can see one but not both leaving. Both have underwhelmed this season, but both have great experience. Both have also struggled with injuries this season. One should go and one should stay. But there really is no need for both, especially if as expected we sign another midfielder. Keeping both just creates another road block for players such as TFM, who long term I feel will be a midfielder.
Fellaini, I feel sorry for this lad. He has tried and work hard for us every time he has gone out on to the pitch. His lack of impact certainly isn't from a lack of trying. I think he needs to move to a side where he'll be first choice again.
Mata or Young, depending on who our manager is I can see one of these guys leaving. Neither have totally convinced even though both have the talent. Consistency is the issue with both these guys. And with players such as Depay, Lingard, Pereira, Martial, Herrera, Rooney and a potential new signing all competing for the same roles I can see one of them leaving. If Mourinho comes in as expected then Mata could be heading for the door.
Will Keane is another who I feel his time has come. He will have Rooney, Martial, Rashford and probably a new striker a head of him, and that's not to mention Wilson. He needs to find a club to build his career at.
Januzaj? For me he is 50/ 50 whether we keep him or move him on. Several people have questioned his attitude which means it may well be a problem. If he bucks his ideas up and gets his head down he can become a wonderful player.
20 Apr 2016 13:56:19
Agreed with almost all points mentioned by Shappy.
Fellaini leaving, would mean Blind/ TFM could play in midfield a lot more.
Carrick and Schweni, I personally couldn't actually decide which one I want to stay or which I want to go, but they have limited the amount of appearances to an extent of Herrera and Schneiderlin as well.
Carrick is a wonderful player and has proven himself here and has a better injury record than Schweni.
Schweni is a former world class midfielder, who hasn't had the sort of impact expected with his name.
I personally would let Schweni go, given his massive wages and constant injuries, but that would depend on the incoming manager and what system he intends to play.
And there's also Goss and Redmond who may get some gametime next season.
Januzaj's case has been curious and he's had mixed fortunes and even reports of bad attitude. He scored a goal against Villa, and was beginning to get his confidence back, before he's hauled off to a loan to Dortmund, I have no idea who facilitated that loan, but it was extremely stupid.
If only Adnan and Depay improve their performances, we may not have to invest in a winger after all. But they have failed yet.
Rashford, if he continues like this, and fingers crossed remains injury-free, has actually saved us about 35-40m in cash, that we may have thrown at some guy like Jackson Martinez etc.
I also have high hopes for RoShaun Williams, and if, I hope not, we get adrift of the top 4, I'd really like for him to get a game in the premier league.
Cheers.