01 Feb 2024 17:42:05
Ed 01 just for a matter of interest and your football knowledge being a lot higher than mine,
If you were the man in charge of recruitment and the manager needed 3 experienced players,
Cm, Cb, Striker, of what's out there and achievable for us to sign who would recomend, this is of course only a bit of fun and just a general interest in to who would be good fits in terms of what we lack massively, leadership and experience in the squad,
What 3/ 4 would you sacrafice to fund the 3 incomings
This is open to all posters just to maybe take away from the grim night and posts last nite.
{Ed001's Note - tough one this. You do need experienced players to work with the youngsters. People forget that team of so-called kids that United won things with was built around a bunch of experienced players like Ince, Schmeichel, Irwin, Cantona etc. Usually they had 7 or 8 experienced players, with 3 or 4 youngsters. It was not really a team of kids like people think.
Central midfield I would suggest McGinn from Villa. Offers versatility, work rate and is a very good player who has improved massively in recent years. I would never have considered him a few years ago, but he really is a much better player now than he used to be.
Centre-back is the most difficult, there are not many good, experienced centre-back options out there. A lot of the decent ones, such as Laporte, have suffered badly with injuries and so would be a big risk. Maybe Romagnoli could be useful though?
For a striker I think Schick looks the best option for the way you are playing and could allow Nkunku (who just needs to stay fit) to play off him.
As for who I would get rid of, there is a long list of those! You can easily afford to trim the fat off the squad so to think. Sanchez would be first of the outs, nowhere near good enough and not as good as Petrovic is proving to be. In defence I am not convinced by Disasi, Fofana is injury prone and not good enough anyway, Sarr has not managed to fit in and there is no point keeping James when he can't stay fit. The midfield has far too many players who play the same way, the Caicedo/Ugochukwu/Lavia and Santos quartet. One needs to go to allow the development of the other 3. I have to be honest, I don't think there is any chance of Mudryk or Madueke making it. Mudryk is just not learning and has the football brain of a cabbage. A rotten cabbage at that. Madueke is pure attitude issues. Ability is there, but there are far too many periods in a match where he is akin to playing with ten men.}
01 Feb 2024 21:35:06
Madueke is another barkley.
01 Feb 2024 21:52:28
Ed001, unfortunately I agree with your analysis of players who should go and I would add a few more. Your response about coaches was interesting. Carlo and Jose have been elite coaches but neither would be the answer for the future for the reasons you stated. As for Poch, I don’t see him as the coach to take us forward either. He is not an up and coming coach; he should be at the height of his powers. His tactics ( or lack of them), formations and selections are confusing. I accept we have had injuries to key players but that shouldn’t prevent a coach from stamping some identity on a team. Perhaps, I am being unfair but that is how I feel.
As for coaches what about the bloke from Girona or is he a one season wonder?
{Ed001's Note - hard to say. You have to remember Michel has the riches of the City Group to pick players from. It is not like he has been given two bob and told to make do, just because the club hasn't technically spent much. The City Group itself is doing what the Pozzos do and moves players around in shady deals that show only what they want them to show with no real idea of how much money is really being spent.
Is Michel doing a good job? Yes. But is it simply a case of being in the right place at the right time with Barca and Madrid at low ebbs with one manager who is done and one who is not good enough? La Liga is a mess at the moment, so it is unclear just how good he is. Certainly worth consideration though I would say.}
01 Feb 2024 22:00:24
Playing well at Luton.
01 Feb 2024 22:22:43
Ed001, thanks for the info. I didn’t know that Girona were part of the City empire: that explains a lot- I thought it was a rags to riches scenario.
{Ed001's Note - well it is a rags bought out by riches scenario I guess.}
01 Feb 2024 23:44:09
really enjoyed the post ed, thanks got responding for me my 3 would be ins, Oshimen/ Toney, Douglas luiz/ Paulinha and for cb maybe try and snatch stones/ Ake off city, just my picks obviously won't happen?
Outs, Madueke, mudryk, sanchez, Galagher and broja maybe ugochuchkwo or wat ever d hell his name is give caicedo santos the fighting chace for a spot.
{Ed001's Note - thank you Poch. I never thought of Toney, good thinking there. Osimhen I have not seen enough to be sure of. The times I have watched him have been very mixed, some brilliant performances, some terrible and some forgettable. I do need to watch more of him.}
02 Feb 2024 08:57:34
Ed001, thanks for your extensive replies to this post and others from yesterday. I agree with so much of what you have written - especially your point about the midfield quartet. What on Earth was the thinking there? Ego taking over from the muddle of sporting directors?
I am also completely aligned with you on Mudryk and Madueke. Neither look good enough and they also haven't progressed at all since joining a year ago. I have also said previously that they are getting in each other's way in terms of minutes, so it's even harder to see what they could offer.
{Ed001's Note - that is a big thing, when you have youngsters to develop, the priority is getting them runs of games to learn. When you have so many, it ends up with none of them getting enough as it gets split between them. You have to be ruthless and make hard decisions over which to get behind and which to move on. The midfield quartet should be easy imo to sort out. Lavia is a different type from the rest, the only issue is the injury situation, if that is not a long term problem then it has to be him plus one from the other 3. I would say Caicedo personally, but others might have different opinions on that. Maybe sell one and loan one, but 4 is far too many.}
02 Feb 2024 09:24:07
Ed, you're on fire mate. I would say it even goes beyond the fact we can't develop all these youngsters at the same time, as you have rightly pointed out. I said after the Boro game that you could live with Mudryk being a headless chicken if you had 10 other seasoned pros out on the pitch with him, but when you have a squad of U23s you can't afford to have someone offering absolutely nothing. Further to this, it surely stunts the development of everyone else if they are all trying to develop in a team where they can hardly rely on each other? Perhaps I'm going to far there, as they have all been playing football since they were toddlers.
Yes - Caicedo and Lavia should be the two with Ugochukwu out on loan. I felt at the time that we only signed him as a contingency for failing with Caicedo and then we left that so late we couldn't figure out a loan. That's pure conjecture on my part.
It's a similar situation with the wide players. Mudryk, Madueke, Sterling, Nkunku and Palmer is too much. On football manager I'd sell the first 3 and sign Olise. Can Chukwuemeka play wide do you think? He has something special about him in my eyes.
{Ed001's Note - I think Chuk is the one you put in the middle because he is the better player. For me Cole Palmer is the one that gets shunted wide as he is not the same level imo. Did well when the team was playing poorly but as soon as he is under any pressure from opponents he is anonymous.}
02 Feb 2024 09:31:55
Thanks Ed any fellow posters for contributing to what has been an interesting and constructive thread/ read. Most enjoyable.
02 Feb 2024 09:46:42
I do see potential in mudryk but he's way too raw and I don't exactly see why we spent 80m on him. Mudryk and madueke were not better than Callum Hudson odoi so to me it's another wasteful allocation of 100 m pounds.
02 Feb 2024 13:35:18
Speaking of improving the team Ed, obviously the GK position has been a matter of contention in recent seasons. I fully agree that Sanchez is simply not good enough, and I genuinely struggle to see why he is reportedly seen as having the potential to become one of the best in the world. However, although it is early days I have been very impressed with Petrovic so far, and I would love to hear your opinion on him. Likewise, if you had to recommend a GK signing, who should, in your opinion, be the long-term target? Obviously that's keeping Slonina in mind, as he does seem like a very exciting you goalie.
{Ed001's Note - I have been impressed with Petrovic. He seems a good, solid goalkeeper. I haven't seen enough of Slonina yet to judge him, which makes picking a long-term target difficult, as he is supposed to be the future. Personally though, I would think sorting out the rest of the team as a higher priority right now and stick with Petrovic. As he develops he might become the right man. At worst he will be an excellent back up for a long term first choice.
As for Sanchez, maybe it is the same people who judged Onana as top class before he signed for Man Utd. In comparison to him, Sanchez does look excellent. But in no way, shape or form is he ever going to end up as one of the best in the world. Like Onana his basic goalkeeping is not good enough to provide a platform to get to the top level.}