Let's not beat about the bush: how good are our midfielders ? Lots of speculation and argument about our so called weakness. Our midfielders include: Carrick, cleverley, Kagawa, zaha, Giggs (bit player now), Nani , young, Valencia,Fellaini and sporadically jones (). Can Moyes build a successful team from these or is he still well short? My view is that he has enough quality for the premiership but may fall short for the CL. And who should be in your first team? Valencia Carrick Kagawa Fellaini Rooney RVP ?
Fletcher, a player we miss because he does the graft that the other midfielders can't/won't. Hopefully Fellaini will fill that void. I've always rated him, mainly because he always seemed to cause us major problems when he was at Everton, and think he will be a good addition. Anderson and Nani will always be the major frustrations for me. Both are supremely talented but neither seems to have the drive/brains to maximise their potential. Maybe Moyes can get them more focussed than Fergie did as I think the great man had all but given up on them which the players must have been aware of. Kagawa could well prove to be a frustration as well. I made a point of taking my lad to RVP and Kagawa's first home game at OT as I wanted him to see one and possibly two great players make their Old Trafford debut. Obviously RVP was superb and he scored a great goal but Kagawa was also hugely promising. His one touch passing and the way he knitted together play was superb. I'm just not sure there is a place for him in this United team as he doesn't seem to cope well with the physical stuff and Rooney will always be the preferred number 10, although that may change when Rooney leaves next summer. If Kagawa ends up leaving United he will eventually land at one of the major European clubs and be a top player. Young is bang average. Zaha is raw, bags of talent but needs a lot of work. Cleverley is a squad player for United. Valencia seems to have the yips. He looks very tentative on the ball. Someone needs to get hold of him and remind him that what he's good at is running very fast down the line and whipping a cross in. Just do it. Giggs should retire. All in all, as you said, a good enough midfield for the PL but we are a top player short to trouble the CL hence Eddy Three Planks running round Europe making low, last minute offers for any midfielder who can string a pass together. If Carrick gets injured then one of the other lot is going to have to seriously step up to replace him alongside Fellaini.
I think we will need a Carrick replacement within the next 2 years, I cant see fletcher getting back to his best, Anderson is a joke and Nani can frustrate everyone
Agree with most of the points you make. It seems that the players we have can hold their own in hustle and bustle of the premiership. Our results will depend a lot on RVP/Rooney putting the chances away. As long as these MF supply the ammunition even sporadically, our strike force is good enough to deliver. It is in the CL which I see the main problems. Against quality sides (like 2 years ago) the midfield was overrun by pacy opposition. You need top quality to open up defences....I can see Fellaini giving us something different with his physical presence but not sure about creativity. Kagawa has not fulfilled his potential I agree but he needs matches. What price a young "Scholes" and a young "Giggs" ?
This. The PL is about strength in depth, which is the one thing we have in spades in CM. If any of our CMs are missing or off form then we can easily fill the gap from the squad and still pick up three points against most teams. That's a much better situation to be in than City, where if Yaya's off form or out then they risk dropping points against just about anyone. Problem comes in the CL knock out rounds where you need to be at the top of your game every time you play or you can be ****ed. Think Fellaini and Carrick will be a good CM pairing in Europe, possibly with Kagawa just in front of them to make the extra man away from home. Cleverley needs a bit of a kick up the arse at the moment. He's typical for our midfield at the moment - does the job against smaller sides but not in tougher games, and yet still gets picked for the big games. Shouldn't play against bigger sides unless he ups his game, but still useful to cover for Carrick or Fellaini in games we expect to win. On the wings Nani and Young show some pace and skill at times, but play poorly too often. Like NoF says, Valencia needs to get back to doing what he did so well in his first few seasons. Zaha should get some game time, but needs to be developed carefully.
Also agree in the main. I actually think Anderson should be written off and given a free transfer, forget he even exists. Simply not worth being given a shirt. Cleverly is just about squad quality but can be used if desperate, which we will be if Carrick or Fellaini get injured. So I would hope they are in the process of identifying a January window signing as the priority from now. If it's back in for Hererra then at least we get the opportunity to see if he's worth it. I'm not bothered by how we do in the champions league this season anyway, we should accept that winning or even challenging for that in Moyes's first season is an unreasonable ask. He needs to make sure we're in it next year! Next season though we'll need that one extra cm to being to think about going for it again. I'll be pissed off if they don't buy in January because they're suggesting we will. Or at the very least have a definite one lined up for summer if it's someone playing for a champions league side.
Reckon we could use him as a makeweight in Jan - might make it easier to prise someone like Herrera away from their club if they get a replacement who would probably cope better in the Spanish league. Definitely needs to go now tho', however we get shot of him.
You've got to be Basque to play for Bilbao though so non starter in exchange for Hererra. Some mug might take him though, yeah!
There will be one or two Real Madrid players angling for a move come January. Ancelotti HAS to play Ronaldo, Bale and Isco. Ronaldo because he's so freaking good and Bale and Isco because they are El Presidente's new toys. That's going to leave a few players kicking their heels for much of the season. Modric may well have been kept on just to help Bale settle in Madrid. Ozil knew that players would be selected on star status and transfer value so did the right thing and jumped ship.
True, although I think they've relaxed that a wee bit in recent years. I'll go get Anderson a fake Basque passport, gotta be worth a shot Failing that, let's just tell Liverpool he's the next Jamie Redknapp and bag £15m for him...
Giggs has been awful so far only player who can and should start regularly are : Fellaini and carrick the rest should rotate my fav formation is still ................Carrcik Valencia....Fellaini ....Welbeck/Young .........Rooney ...RVP....................
Would solve 0 of our problems if we lined up like that. Needs to be something along the lines of Valencia Carrick Fellaini Nani Rooney RVP Or Carrick Fellaini Valencia Rooney Nani RVP Obviously the wingers would be subject to change, but forcing Carrick to sit and cover the back four, with no freedom to move forward i to space is exactly what we don't want.
Anderson, Kagawa and Ozil all have a game based on speed of thought, flicks, backheels and forward passing. If you watch games they played for previous teams they relied on the players around them to read and react to this. Either something is going wrong in our training or the other players in the team are not good enough to see the possabilities. I mention Ozil because i am interested to see if the Arsenal players will be able to read/predict his game as well as the Real players did. My main problems with Anderson are his injuries (not really sure i can hold them against him) and the fact that when he plays a great ball forward through the eye of a needle he usually plays it so hard the receiving player cannot control it. Nani frustrates me more than any player i can remember, he is by far the most skillful player we have yet has the mentality of a 19 year old, thinking he has to beat each player twice and more often than nt picking the wrong pass at the end of it. Rant over
so you think 5 in mid is what we need? possibly you are right but let us put carrick as DM, and Fellaini as CM, we need Fellaini more in the box not sure about Nani at the left though, he always do better at right side .. we never had a proper LM/LW since Giggs got old
Our midfield was good enough to play in a certain way, mainly through counter attacking and through width. We always lost to City or any decent team in the middle of the pitch but Fellaini gives us that option now. 4-2-3-1 seems to be the trend now, and with both Fellaini and Carrick fond of deeper roles, that should be it for us, with one of them joining attack in turns. We will be a formidable force in Europe if the wingers turn up. Kagawa could play anywhere in front of those two, but if Nani and Valencia find their form, Kagawa won't get much time.
