Our midfield

Not even sure Joneseh could’ve managed that masterclass

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

He’s not the best, but he was spectacularly shit yesterday. Even he’s better than that.

He was terrible yesterday but you can’t help feel he was thrown in the deep end a bit. For most of the first half he was the only midfielder and the space he had to cover between the defense and any other united player was laughable. Terrible tactics all round from Ole.

Faith in Pogba is the mistake. Put McT where Pogba was yesterday and it would’ve been fine, the issues of ball retention and blind panic would’ve remained, but we’d at least have had 2 players grafting and actually doing their jobs.

Jem is right about Pogba; forward line or nowhere. Probably need to consider that Bruno is a forward too, so essentially we played 4-1-5 yesterday

Originally Posted by believe

He was terrible yesterday but you can’t help feel he was thrown in the deep end a bit. For most of the first half he was the only midfielder and the space he had to cover between the defense and any other united player was laughable. Terrible tactics all round from Ole.

Spot on. He had Traore running at him at speed whilst he was having to deal with it often alone. He was poor but no help from others. Looked like a rabbit in headlights at times. both full backs were often far too high. Shaw back to his usual shitness again yesterday as well.

Originally Posted by dunk

Faith in Pogba is the mistake. Put McT where Pogba was yesterday and it would’ve been fine, the issues of ball retention and blind panic would’ve remained, but we’d at least have had 2 players grafting and actually doing their jobs.

Jem is right about Pogba; forward line or nowhere. Probably need to consider that Bruno is a forward too, so essentially we played 4-1-5 yesterday

We did but often Shaw was far to high as well making it a 3-1-6

Originally Posted by The Stella Fella

Spot on. He had Traore running at him at speed whilst he was having to deal with it often alone. He was poor but no help from others. Looked like a rabbit in headlights at times. both full backs were often far too high. Shaw back to his usual shitness again yesterday as well.



We did but often Shaw was far to high as well making it a 3-1-6

That’s because the midfield was understaffed and no one dropped to cover Shaw. All comes from Pogba being shite.

The last 12 months have actually killed you as Shaw has proven you horribly, horribly wrong

Originally Posted by dunk

That’s because the midfield was understaffed and no one dropped to cover Shaw. All comes from Pogba being shite.

The last 12 months have actually killed you as Shaw has proven you horribly, horribly wrong

It hasn’t pal at all. I have been pleased to see it. Don’t hate the guy he was just nowhere near good enough or fit enough. In fact it shows I was right all along and most on here were talking %@#$&!s. He was playing nowhere near where he should have been before his upturn in form.

Still don’t think he was quite as good defensively as he should have been last season but much better going forward. Still can’t help thinking if he lost 14lb he would be even better. Still struggles to get back as quick as he should and seems very “top heavy” to me.

And you can’t blame Pogba for Shaw yesterday as much as you want to. Ole got that wrong playing Pogba in that position. But Shaw should see what’s ahead and what’s behind and the problems and perhaps decide no to push as high. Kamikaze at times from Shaw.

Worried though that Shaw hasn’t started the season well after doing well for England!

Originally Posted by dunk

Faith in Pogba is the mistake. Put McT where Pogba was yesterday and it would’ve been fine, the issues of ball retention and blind panic would’ve remained, but we’d at least have had 2 players grafting and actually doing their jobs.

Jem is right about Pogba; forward line or nowhere. Probably need to consider that Bruno is a forward too, so essentially we played 4-1-5 yesterday

Dunno if you saw match of the day, but Dion Dublin pointed out how all our forwards basically stood in a line across the last line of defence.

Nobody dropped deep into the space between the lines and Pogba had the Option of the ball over the top and nothing else. We were too rigid.

In short, Bruno was too high up and needed to drop deep to make an option for Pogba.

Fred was horribly exposed. He £#%&!ed up and he was shit, but his £#%&! ups in midfield shouldn’t mean someone is clean through on goal and £#%&! ups 30 yards from goal shouldn’t be result in 3 on 2 situations.

Shaw had a much better second half, which is why Traore didn’t.

He’s not been quite at his best these first three games.

Originally Posted by Dr Stranger

Dunno if you saw match of the day, but Dion Dublin pointed out how all our forwards basically stood in a line across the last line of defence.

Nobody dropped deep into the space between the lines and Pogba had the Option of the ball over the top and nothing else. We were too rigid.

In short, Bruno was too high up and needed to drop deep to make an option for Pogba.

Fred was horribly exposed. He f***ed up and he was shit, but his f*** ups in midfield shouldn’t mean someone is clean through on goal and f*** ups 30 yards from goal shouldn’t be result in 3 on 2 situations.

Shaw had a much better second half, which is why Traore didn’t.

He’s not been quite at his best these first three games.

Makes you wonder what they do in training all week.

Originally Posted by The Stella Fella

Wouldn’t work. AWB distribution is not good enough

I don't want him to distribute, just cover the defence. he can pass five yards well enough, which is all he would need to do. does kante "distribute"?

anyway, the point was that he's a shit wing-back.

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

Makes you wonder what they do in training all week.

same as every week, then.

Originally Posted by jem

I don't want him to distribute, just cover the defence. he can pass five yards well enough, which is all he would need to do. does kante "distribute"?

anyway, the point was that he's a shit wing-back.


same as every week, then.

Our midfield is only going to be solved with new signings. It's just the way it is.

If we want to play exciting football on the front foot, then we need good dynamic midfielders. Players that can get stuck in, find space, beat a man and find consistently find forward passes. The closest we have to that consistently is The Scottish Player, and I like the guy and think he's a good player, but he should not be the best centre midfielder we have at the club. 3rd best at most. Pogba can do that job on one of this good days, but they are few and far between and he's a liability when he's off it.

I can see why the club may have thought Fred was that player we needed for his performances for Shakhtar, but he's not cut out to be a top midfielder at the top level. It's a transfer that has turned out to be daylight robbery. Although fair play to him, he will always try and give it his best.

Donny. £#%&! knows. Is it his position, is it not? It doesn't even matter at this point. He didn't look anywhere near good enough when he played last season to make any centre midfield spot his own, maybe he will this season when he gets his chance.

Until we sign at least one midfielder that is good enough to give the rest of the team confidence to pass them the ball, then we're always going to have games where our midfield looks as out of it's depth as did yesterday. Because it is out of it's depth.

I think the only way to counter that would be to set up so we're hard to break down. So it's a catch 22, either set up as a team that's hard to break down to compensate for your rank midfield, or try to play on the front foot with a midfield that isn't good enough.

Or do something radical like buy someone.

VdB isn't "shit", but he is lightweight. Would have been bullied at least as badly as Fred yesterday, seriously.

So no new midfielder. Ole will need to find a pairing or a different system from what we already had. Lots of talk (amongst nobody from the club) about using Lindelof or Telles in midfield, wonder if its possible to trial either of those and quickly revert to a back 5 if clearly not working? I think with our current squad we may have to go to a 5 in certain games anyway.

Originally Posted by Marvel7

So no new midfielder. Ole will need to find a pairing or a different system from what we already had. Lots of talk (amongst nobody from the club) about using Lindelof or Telles in midfield, wonder if its possible to trial either of those and quickly revert to a back 5 if clearly not working? I think with our current squad we may have to go to a 5 in certain games anyway.

Rio Ferdinand looked bang average in midfield. Those 2 have no chance

Lindelof in midfield?

The man is a @#%&! - he would get eaten alive in the middle of the park.

Why do people think midfield is a position where you can just shove any old player and expect them to control a game?

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Why do people think midfield is a position where you can just shove any old player and expect them to control a game?

Because they're idiots?

McT to rise to the challenge imo.

Lindelof in midfield


That makes Jem's Valencia obsession look reasonable. That's how bad an idea it is.

Originally Posted by dunk

McT to rise to the challenge imo.

The concern is that Fred is the first midfielder on the team sheet, not The Scottish Player.

I like The Scottish Player and the plus side with him is that he will get better. He’s better on the ball than Fred, he’s just inconsistent with his passing. This is just what Fred is.