01 Feb 2021 18:47:09
The one word that comes to mind about the loss would be "unlucky". Cavani won't miss those sitters very often.

Here's some of my random thoughts.

1. You can't be called a counter attacking team if the you pass the ball sidewides and back as often as you do forward.

2. Martial just comes across as someone who couldn't care less about the crest on the front of the shirt. He also doesn't really have a position.

3. Wan Bisaka is terrible at crossing the ball. Has Ole looked at playing him inside alongside Harry. I would, is an excellent defender and has pace.

4. Fred needs to get checked for being color blind because he passes more to the other side the he does the lads in red.

5. DVB needs more playing time, he would play ahead of Fred in my world. My theory is he was brought in as a replacement for Pogba ( but he never left) and has been told Pogba is gone this summer and he will play regular soccer in that position.

6. I would also give some youngsters game action but then that would put Ole out of his comfort zone.

Just the thoughts os a rambling ex-coach.

1.) 01 Feb 2021
01 Feb 2021 19:22:06
Sorry what's soccer?

2.) 01 Feb 2021
01 Feb 2021 19:27:36
Agree on some fronts, but Fred has easily been in our top 5 performers this season.

3.) 01 Feb 2021
01 Feb 2021 19:37:34
Fred is a poor passer of the ball and too lightweight to be at the hub of our midfield. In addition, he looks like he will never score. We need someone in that position who can deliver a range of passes consistently and also has the ability, authority and presence to drive the team on.

4.) 01 Feb 2021
01 Feb 2021 21:51:12
Interesting post and some good observations:

Martial - too tired of debating that he is just not good enough. He is cover for LW at best. The Boy Wonder has had 1 good season in 5 and that's just good enough return. He is Nani Mark 2 - clearly a quality player but woefully inconsistent.

Wan Bissaka at CB is a good shout. Very pacy, fantastic tackler. I would still worry about some of his positional sense though but there are worse options. We should be targeting the world class CB we and indeed all good teams need to move to becoming title winning. Liverpool invested in Van Dijk and got an instant return. City's purchase of the excellent Dias (whom we were linked with under Mourinho) looks as though it will help secure them the league too. Pau Torres is the CB I'd most like to join.

Fred v Van de Beek:
Fred has a lot of energy and can drive forward the midfield. He puts a lot of challenges in and saving tackles but agree his distribution is just awful. Its almost as though we just need him there for breaking up opposition play then be limited to 10 yard maximum passes only to the next player - preferably a United one!

Van de Beek will get his game time once Pogba goes but I agree he needs much more game time now and is clearly a much better technical player than Fred. Seems a crying shame we can't find a role for someone of such obvious quality and from what the Eds have said previously there looks a real risk he won't be here too long.

5.) 02 Feb 2021
02 Feb 2021 11:05:57
Halesini, good shout on Martial being Nani 2.0. Hadn't thought about it like that but your bang on.

I'm not sure AWB would make a good CB, he is poor in the air and positionally poor That sounds like a recipe for disaster at CB. His best attribute is making last ditch tackles in 1v1 situations. Again, you don't really want a CB making last minute tackles, being in a central position it means that those tackles are always happening in the box, meaning every time you lose or get it wrong then its a penalty.

AWB, just needs coaching for positioning and offensive play. When to overlap, to look up before crossing, practicing his crossing technique etc. While not to tuck in so narrowly in defence, although that might be a tactical ploy, getting teams to go wide and cross knowing that Maguire will likely clear any cross, thus negating the treat.