Fabinho

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There is really no such thing as an outdated or predictable formation. It all depends on the players available and the schemes applied. Monaco and Atletico both play a narrow 4-4-2 with totally different schemes and outcomes
I think Mourinho's defensive 4231 is extremely outdated and predictable

The formation isn't outdated and predictable, Mourinho's system based on the formation is. It is very easy to nullify and relies on individual brilliance, not team play to produce goals.
 
There is really no such thing as an outdated or predictable formation. It all depends on the players available and the schemes applied. Monaco and Atletico both play a narrow 4-4-2 with totally different schemes and outcomes
It is, in attacking sense have gone too predictable and is easily being nulified in big games with top teams too.
 
The formation isn't outdated and predictable, Mourinho's system based on the formation is. It is very easy to nullify and relies on individual brilliance, not team play to produce goals.

It is, in attacking sense have gone too predictable and is easily being nulified in big games with top teams too.
So what is predictable or outdated about it?

Its like saying enrique system at Barcelona has become predictable or outdated simply cos they blunt against Juve and Zidane must be an attacking genius for having his team put 4 past the same Juve defence that had only concede 2 goals in the CL prior.

When Herrera was used to man mark Hazard out of the game and render Chelsea attack useless, did that also make Conte's approach outdated and predictable?

Guardiola has struggled in his first season in the PL and has already embarked on another massive spending spree for next season. Is he also outdated and predictable?

You can accuse Mourinho of not having a scheme/formation that is more accommodating, but saying it is outdated and predictable is just wrong. The success of a formation/scheme depends heavily on the players implementing it.
 
So what is predictable or outdated about it?

Its like saying enrique system at Barcelona has become predictable or outdated simply cos they blunt against Juve and Zidane must be an attacking genius for having his team put 4 past the same Juve defence that had only concede 2 goals in the CL prior.

When Herrera was used to man mark Hazard out of the game and render Chelsea attack useless, did that also make Conte's approach outdated and predictable?

Guardiola has struggled in his first season in the PL and has already embarked on another massive spending spree for next season. Is he also outdated and predictable?

You can accuse Mourinho of not having a scheme/formation that is more accommodating, but saying it is outdated and predictable is just wrong. The success of a formation/scheme depends heavily on the players implementing it.

It's the same old Mourinho Post Madrid style. We play with a defensive full back who does nothing to support his teammates so opposition teams know that our left winger will be fecked if they put a couple of men around him, the majority of our wide play comes from Valencia on the right and every team and their dog knows it and can see the cross coming and prepare about 20 seconds before it's made. Our midfield play relies on Pogba dribbling past 3 players or pumping up a long ball to Fellaini. Our service through the channels is abysmal and often renders the pace of Rashford and Martial useless. Our only freedom comes from our right wing position and teams with a DM can nullify us from there too. You can tell a lot about a team by the amount of team goals they score and we score next to none.

As i said, his single game management like Chelsea can be good at times but his system is unbalanced and broken and selling midfielders in January without replacing them left us in a dire position with very little room to experiment.

It's not like we have a squad full of shite players, we bought arguably the best player in the Serie a, Bundesliga, French league and an amazing defender and failed to put them in a system that played to their strengths.

Yeah i would say that Zidane got it tactically spot on throughout the Champions league, whats wrong with that? He has built a very balanced system for his players.

Guardiola has struggled but he has built an attacking unit that plays some of the best team football the premier league has had for a long long time. His old man defence, that have none of the qualities of typical Guardiola players have let him down. He has a much better foundation going into next season than we do and when they spend another 200 million to bring in fullbacks and a good keeper i fully expect them to mean business.
 
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This should be our number one priority..

I won't say number one. Attacker & winger are seem to be the no 1 & 2 priority IMO. It's better to have top class attacker and winger with Fellaini, Pogba and Herrera in midfield than having what we have right now in attack with Fabinho, Pogba and Herrera in midfield.
 
It's the same old Mourinho Post Madrid style. We play with a defensive full back who does nothing to support his teammates so opposition teams know that our left winger will be fecked if they put a couple of men around him, the majority of our wide play comes from Valencia on the right and every team and their dog knows it and can see the cross coming and prepare about 20 seconds before it's made. Our midfield play relies on Pogba dribbling past 3 players or pumping up a long ball to Fellaini. Our service through the channels is abysmal and often renders the pace of Rashford and Martial useless. Our only freedom comes from our right wing position and teams with a DM can nullify us from there too. You can tell a lot about a team by the amount of team goals they score and we score next to none.

As i said, his single game management like Chelsea can be good at times but his system is unbalanced and broken and selling midfielders in January without replacing them left us in a dire position with very little room to experiment.

It's not like we have a squad full of shite players, we bought arguably the best player in the Serie a, Bundesliga, French league and an amazing defender and failed to put them in a system that played to their strengths.

Yeah i would say that Zidane got it tactically spot on throughout the Champions league, whats wrong with that? He has built a very balanced system for his players.

Guardiola has struggled but he has built an attacking unit that plays some of the best team football the premier league has had for a long long time. His old man defence, that have none of the qualities of typical Guardiola players have let him down. He has a much better foundation going into next season than we do and when they spend another 200 million to bring in fullbacks and a good keeper i fully expect them to mean business.
The left back issue at Chelsea, like with United is not by choice for Mourinho. At Chelsea, he inherited a 36yr old Cole and had to swicth Azi to LB. He brought in Filipe Luis and Rahman but neither worked out. At United, he has tried Shaw, Rojo, Blind but had to settle for Darmian. When Shaw played, he was allowed to go up the field quite often (probably cos he has the pace to recover). That Darmian is poor offensively and lacks pace is not Mourinho's choice

The system is not unbalanced but that getting players of needed quality is difficult. For all the offensive prowess of Marcelo and Carvajal, both struggle defensively. It is rare to come across a player like Lahm who is solid on both ends. If Juve will sell, I wont be surprised if Mourinho is interested in Sandro. Semedo and Mendy for all their attacking abilities are quite suspect on the defensive end. Mourinho is simply limited by the players available to him.

All the problems you listed are primarily due to the lack of quality in the squad. Like I said earlier, you can fault him for not being able to adapt his system well enough to the players available to him, but if you give him the players that suit his system, it would be a different ball game. Apart from Pogba, all the other outfield players are only good or below when compared to the other top teams. They are also a mismatch of manager selections with most not suiting the system that Mourinho likes to implement. A lot of those players would not have been bought by Mourinho.

Zidane is no tactical genius and has a starting XI that basically picks itseelf, and a deepest quality bench in europe that allows him to rest his key players like CR and Modric for the key games.City were playing good attacking football even under Pellegrini, but Guardiola still brought in 3-4 attacking players. It is by choice that he bought only Stones in defence and would rather buy a new GK than a full back. This summer he has brought in another attacker and potentially another GK. Guardiola inherited a better and more consistent squad than Mourinho, but you are willing to afford him more time and money, but have already written Mourinho off.

Mourinho likes to build a balanced team that is solid defensively and potent offensively, which is why he has been successful so often in his career. His four additions have all been solid contributors this season and have been some of our best performers. The team will only get better with further additions.

What I expect to at least be added this summer: #9 (Morata?), #10(James?), LB(?), CB(?) and DM(Fabinho?). With those we would be coming closer to seeing what a Mourinho team/system would look like. Mourinho's system was enough for him to win the PL in a stroll just 2 seasons ago. Give Mourinho the quality players that suits his system and we are very likely to win the PL and go deep in the CL.
 
I won't say number one. Attacker & winger are seem to be the no 1 & 2 priority IMO. It's better to have top class attacker and winger with Fellaini, Pogba and Herrera in midfield than having what we have right now in attack with Fabinho, Pogba and Herrera in midfield.
Actually it should be. A solid DM is very essential to the system that Mourinho plays which is why he got Matic midway through his first season at Chelsea.

There are rumors that we tried to get fabinho last summer but possibly for an RB role.
 
The formation isn't outdated and predictable, Mourinho's system based on the formation is. It is very easy to nullify and relies on individual brilliance, not team play to produce goals.
Love this, complete and utter bullshit but sounds good though, right?
 
This is true, but Costa is not our top priority, just one of the options. Considering we're bringing in Schick and possibly Keita Balde (on a free transfer next year or for 10/15 million this summer) I can easily see us going all in for Fabinho.

We really need another top midfielder, and it seems we've dropped Tolisso as he became too costly.
But no worries, we don't participate into auctions and bid wars, we'll get Fabinho only if he really wants us and rejects other offers.

Why are Juventus interested in random french midfielders ? Lemina (who was just above average) and now Tolisso (who is still a good player but there are much better players out there).
 
Actually it should be. A solid DM is very essential to the system that Mourinho plays which is why he got Matic midway through his first season at Chelsea.

There are rumors that we tried to get fabinho last summer but possibly for an RB role.

We can still start and finish our season with Herrera as a DM and Pogba next to him but we can't if we only have Rashford as our only striker and no pure winger in the team. That's why getting attacker and winger should be above DM.
 
We can still start and finish our season with Herrera as a DM and Pogba next to him but we can't if we only have Rashford as our only striker and no pure winger in the team. That's why getting attacker and winger should be above DM.
we wouldnt fare much better than last season. Herrera as DM means 3 man midfield with fellaini likely being the 3rd. We will not have the luxury of Zlatan's hold up play for much of next season. Having better attacking players wont do much good if they dont see enough of the ball.

With a solid DM, we wouldnt have to play 3 in midfield, sit back to defend and the attacking players including pogba and full backs would have more license to go forward.

The obsession with pure wingers is quite nauseating. There are very few of the top teams that play with pure wingers, and the notion that we need one is silly.
 
I suspect their relationship isn't the same since the Madrid disaster, with Mendes' players having a go at Mourinho, like Pepe and Ronaldo, of course. The fact that we didn't sign any of his players in the first season is a sign. Let's see what happens now. But several of Mendes' players which we might want are passing right through us.
Mendes is also Mourinho's agent.
 
we wouldnt fare much better than last season. Herrera as DM means 3 man midfield with fellaini likely being the 3rd. We will not have the luxury of Zlatan's hold up play for much of next season. Having better attacking players wont do much good if they dont see enough of the ball.

With a solid DM, we wouldnt have to play 3 in midfield, sit back to defend and the attacking players including pogba and full backs would have more license to go forward.

The obsession with pure wingers is quite nauseating. There are very few of the top teams that play with pure wingers, and the notion that we need one is silly.

We all know that the reason why we finished 6th because we got a lot of draw results since we couldn't score goals even though we conceded less goals with controlling the midfield in majority of our league games and yet you are still thinking that DM should be no 1 priority above attackers.
 
I suspect their relationship isn't the same since the Madrid disaster, with Mendes' players having a go at Mourinho, like Pepe and Ronaldo, of course. The fact that we didn't sign any of his players in the first season is a sign. Let's see what happens now. But several of Mendes' players which we might want are passing right through us.

He signed Falcao at Chelsea.
 
We can still start and finish our season with Herrera as a DM and Pogba next to him but we can't if we only have Rashford as our only striker and no pure winger in the team. That's why getting attacker and winger should be above DM.

I agree with this but the need for a midfielder is as important to our overall play (quality not numbers) so I can understand why posters are saying any these positions (attacker and midfielder) as a priority.
 
We all know that the reason why we finished 6th because we got a lot of draw results since we couldn't score goals even though we conceded less goals with controlling the midfield in majority of our league games and yet you are still thinking that DM should be no 1 priority above attackers.
we got a lot of draws earlier in the season cos we could not score enough goals, but once we lost Zlatan, we couldnt hold on to the ball up front and had to be more defensive.

Zlatan is out injured, and there is no one in the market that can provide the needed quality of hold up play. Even against weaker oppositions, we were not seeing and holding on to enough of the ball. That necessitated playing Pogba deeper and fellaini as an outlet. The fullbacks were pegged back with even the strikers having to help out.

Getting better attackers can get more goals only if they see enough of the ball. Playing a midfield trio of Herrera+Pogba+Fellaini leave us wit only 3 attackers and we would still have the same hold up play issues that force us to be unnecessarily conservative.

For better or worse, Mourinho builds his team based on a solid defence and until the defensive end is covered, the attack will remain conservative. Adding a quality DM makes it easier to push forward as we are no longer as exposed defensively. Players like Mkhi and Martial will not have to spend most of the game in their own half and can focus on the business end of things. We will essentially be able to commit 4-7 players forward as opposed to the 3 or less we see with the current setup.

This does not mean we should improve the attack, but that without a solid DM, the true potential of the attack cannot be realized. The DM is what determines how much liberty you can take in attack.

Now, if you still dont get it, I advise you be on your merry way as I have no intention to proselytize anyone.
 
Why are Juventus interested in random french midfielders ? Lemina (who was just above average) and now Tolisso (who is still a good player but there are much better players out there).

Who's much better than Tolisso and affordable for Juventus?
 
Didnt someone say City didnt want him? The City chap said they wont get him a week ago and the MEN were saying yesterday they dont want him, which surprised me. They need a DM and he is the best around who is gettable.
 

In auction for fabinho between city,juve and united . Psg also enters with 50 million euros.
 
Forget Fabinho. Let's aim higher and get Verratti instead and play Herrera at DM in a 4-3-3. Then add Dybala and Lindelof and let both Ibra and Rooney go, as well as Smalling. Line-up like this next season:

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Herrera
Verratti Pogba
Dybala Rashford Martial

Is this unrealistic/muppetastic/cringe? I was just thinking about Real Madrid's great team and what it would take to compete with them. People were talking about one star signing this summer (Griezmann) but why not two and then one smaller signing, instead of the 4 being talked about? We might be a bit understocked at CF next season (though Rashford could easily hit 20 goals) but in the longterm we would be in much better shape. And how exciting would Lukaku/Belotti/Morata be anyway? It might be better to see how Rashford progress and see who there is to buy next summer.
 
Forget Fabinho. Let's aim higher and get Verratti instead and play Herrera at DM in a 4-3-3. Then add Dybala and Lindelof and let both Ibra and Rooney go, as well as Smalling. Line-up like this next season:

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Herrera
Verratti Pogba
Dybala Rashford Martial

Is this unrealistic/muppetastic/cringe? I was just thinking about Real Madrid's great team and what it would take to compete with them. People were talking about one star signing this summer (Griezmann) but why not two and then one smaller signing, instead of the 4 being talked about? We might be a bit understocked at CF next season (though Rashford could easily hit 20 goals) but in the longterm we would be in much better shape. And how exciting would Lukaku/Belotti/Morata be anyway? It might be better to see how Rashford progress and see who there is to buy next summer.

What we need in the side is balance, not playing player's out of position for the sake of big names.
 
Forget Fabinho. Let's aim higher and get Verratti instead and play Herrera at DM in a 4-3-3. Then add Dybala and Lindelof and let both Ibra and Rooney go, as well as Smalling. Line-up like this next season:

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Herrera
Verratti Pogba
Dybala Rashford Martial

Is this unrealistic/muppetastic/cringe? I was just thinking about Real Madrid's great team and what it would take to compete with them. People were talking about one star signing this summer (Griezmann) but why not two and then one smaller signing, instead of the 4 being talked about? We might be a bit understocked at CF next season (though Rashford could easily hit 20 goals) but in the longterm we would be in much better shape. And how exciting would Lukaku/Belotti/Morata be anyway? It might be better to see how Rashford progress and see who there is to buy next summer.

Oh yeah I'm sure PSG and veratti are waiting by the phone for our bid
 
Didnt someone say City didnt want him? The City chap said they wont get him a week ago and the MEN were saying yesterday they dont want him, which surprised me. They need a DM and he is the best around who is gettable.
Wonder if Peps thinking about getting another CB in and moving Stones further forward for DM. I'd like to see him there. But you're right our links to him have rapidly faded. I still would rather see him at Juve than United.
 
Forget Fabinho. Let's aim higher and get Verratti instead and play Herrera at DM in a 4-3-3. Then add Dybala and Lindelof and let both Ibra and Rooney go, as well as Smalling. Line-up like this next season:

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Herrera
Verratti Pogba
Dybala Rashford Martial

Is this unrealistic/muppetastic/cringe? I was just thinking about Real Madrid's great team and what it would take to compete with them. People were talking about one star signing this summer (Griezmann) but why not two and then one smaller signing, instead of the 4 being talked about? We might be a bit understocked at CF next season (though Rashford could easily hit 20 goals) but in the longterm we would be in much better shape. And how exciting would Lukaku/Belotti/Morata be anyway? It might be better to see how Rashford progress and see who there is to buy next summer.

PSG have made it pretty clear that they will not sell Veratti for any price.
 
Forget Fabinho. Let's aim higher and get Verratti instead and play Herrera at DM in a 4-3-3. Then add Dybala and Lindelof and let both Ibra and Rooney go, as well as Smalling. Line-up like this next season:

DDG
Valencia Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Herrera
Verratti Pogba
Dybala Rashford Martial

Is this unrealistic/muppetastic/cringe? I was just thinking about Real Madrid's great team and what it would take to compete with them. People were talking about one star signing this summer (Griezmann) but why not two and then one smaller signing, instead of the 4 being talked about? We might be a bit understocked at CF next season (though Rashford could easily hit 20 goals) but in the longterm we would be in much better shape. And how exciting would Lukaku/Belotti/Morata be anyway? It might be better to see how Rashford progress and see who there is to buy next summer.
Then you shut down the playstation and go to sleep.
 
This is just the player that makes the most sense right now. Even more so than Griezmann did.
If we get him, it's clear we play a 433 which suits Pogba and Herrera so much in their way of playing.
If we got Griezmann, we'd either have to play 352 to fit everybody in their preferred way of playing, or play 4231 which leaves a midfield two of Pogba and Herrera which isn't ideal.
 
What we need in the side is balance, not playing player's out of position for the sake of big names.
Who is out of position?

PSG have made it pretty clear that they will not sell Veratti for any price.
Still, does Fabinho, Herrera, Pogba allow us to compete with Real Madrid? Does it allow us to win the CL?

Oh yeah I'm sure PSG and veratti are waiting by the phone for our bid
Just making a point about our standards.
 
He has personally name dropped us, so I'm hoping he has a soft spot for us, this guy would be an immense signing.
The thing is, i am not sure if we are interested in him. He is on holiday right now and will make his decision when he comes back so we will have to wait.
 
He's the only player from those we are linked with that is anywhere near exciting. Hopefully we can bring him in, our midfield should be very strong with him allowing Pogba and Herrera more freedom.
 
Much better but probably not more affordable (SERI, Cyprien). Tolisso is plain average when I think about it, don't understand the interest in him.

That's just wrong on so many levels. He's been Lyon's most consistent player next to Lacazette and Umtiti over the last 3 years. With the amount of talent France have, they wouldn't call up an average 22 year old. Cyprien has been better this season, but he's not much better. Also, he's out injured with a ruptured ACL, he'll do well to recover from that. Seri has been better than Tolisso this season, but not in 2015/16.
 
we got a lot of draws earlier in the season cos we could not score enough goals, but once we lost Zlatan, we couldnt hold on to the ball up front and had to be more defensive.

Zlatan is out injured, and there is no one in the market that can provide the needed quality of hold up play. Even against weaker oppositions, we were not seeing and holding on to enough of the ball. That necessitated playing Pogba deeper and fellaini as an outlet. The fullbacks were pegged back with even the strikers having to help out.

Getting better attackers can get more goals only if they see enough of the ball. Playing a midfield trio of Herrera+Pogba+Fellaini leave us wit only 3 attackers and we would still have the same hold up play issues that force us to be unnecessarily conservative.

For better or worse, Mourinho builds his team based on a solid defence and until the defensive end is covered, the attack will remain conservative. Adding a quality DM makes it easier to push forward as we are no longer as exposed defensively. Players like Mkhi and Martial will not have to spend most of the game in their own half and can focus on the business end of things. We will essentially be able to commit 4-7 players forward as opposed to the 3 or less we see with the current setup.

This does not mean we should improve the attack, but that without a solid DM, the true potential of the attack cannot be realized. The DM is what determines how much liberty you can take in attack.

Now, if you still dont get it, I advise you be on your merry way as I have no intention to proselytize anyone.

First of all, did Jose say that we are going to play 3 midfield? I can also see us playing different formation in every games 3 man midfield or 2 deeper midfield in 4231. You are just mentioning something that you think is correct which is contrast with mine, because I said something that has been proven correct. And this is why I said that we can go next season with Herrera as DM but we can't go next season with what we have in our attackers.

Second, we couldn't score enough goals because the players can't finish their chances. It has nothing to do with DM.
And the reason is because Jose's attacking playing style this season has nothing to do with his DM (the proof is that he tends to take off Carrick and put more attackers when we need to goals).

Third, are you trying to tell me that we won't finish 6 if we have a DM or Fabinho this season?? Sorry mate, if we have the same midfield but if we have at least one more attacker like Sanchez or Griezmann this season we would have finished in top 4 this season.
I hate to said this again but you already know that we create chances in the game but what we can't do is finishing our chances. And yet you are still thinking that DM should be no 1 priority above attackers??
 
If we aren't interested in Fabinho I will be really disappointed.

He's a player that suits every need we have (CM/RB) and fits Mourinho's style of player. I know we usually don't shout out who our targets are, but it's a bit worrying how Juve/City keep getting mentioned and nothing to do with us. I hope we sign him.
 
Another great player but again not one that I think will be coming. Whilst the more obscure signings you can never predict, the higher profiles ones seem to never go away. This doesn't feel like one of them....
 
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