Are we in better shape for this season?

At the beginning of last season we had an almost arrogant LVG who believed he could bulldoze over the EPL with his style of football. He implemented the 3-5-2 system and bought players in total disregard of the physicality and pace of the EPL game. That cost us not only points but lead us to play Rooney in CM and utilize Fellaini more as LVG quickly realised that the EPL is a different beast to what he was used to.

We've learnt alot from last year and the transfer strategy is a clear testament to that. Romero is a 6.4ft GK who shouldn't struggle with crosses. Darmian was the RB we needed, a player whose solid both when defending and attacking. Schneiderlin and Bastian will bring physicality and leadership to our game and Memphis provides pace and technique upfront. Its evident that we need more players though. A leader at the back, another goalscoring winger and a quality striker as Rooney competitor/cover. However we're better of than last season.

My only concern is DDG. If he leaves that it would be extremely difficult to replace him especially in short term. The defense will suffer because of it.
 
So far this summer has been great in terms of addressing all of our problems, we've added quality players exactly where they were needed, the results with and without carrick last season tells you how important having morgan and bastian next season. Darmian will address another area of weakness and memphis is clearly a star in the making, happy days.

It's fairly obvious that we aren't done yet, van gaal is clearly after an experienced quality CB and a forward, he also made it clear that he'd love to add another world class creative player like hazard to the team.

As for last season signings, i think blind and rojo have have done great as far as our expectations are concerned, they've added needed depth to the squad, herrera was an excellent signing, shaw will prove to be an excellent signing in time, di maria and falcao failed to make it and both won't be here for next season.
 
Our midfield is probably the strongest it's been for a while but we still have concerns about our central defenders and our goal scoring abilities.
 
There is a lack of goals. There is a lack of pace. And I don't see who we are going to buy to change either. This season to me looks to be more about consolidation that challenging at this juncture.
 
We are much better off, mainly because of the continuity of LvG being in his 2nd year and the new midfield additions, as well as Memphis.
 
Much better off. We'll sign a CB, our midfield can rival any in the league and memphis will tear teams apart. No more of this 3-5-2 nonsense either.
 
We're about where we should've been before the transfer window in terms of quality, with improvements still to make. That's my opinion.
 
I would say that our midfield looks the way it should have looked last year, bearing that in mind, we are.
But the departure of RVP, and possible departures of ADM and DDG, mean that we still need couple of players.
 
Best bit of business was P*ssing RM off with DDG.

Based on what we have seen in the pre-season Darmian, Depay, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger (in that order) have impressed so far.

Still have worries about the CBs (though I am comfortable with Smalling and Rojo, any other formation scares the shit out of me), striker (Rooney doesn't scare defenses enough for me), and how Herrera is going to fit in (I would prefer him, Schneiderlin and Carrick as the main midfield).

If ADM leaves, will be a bit of a downer, as he more that anyone we have or have bought, can create things.

Those that have left so far this year will not have the same impact on the first 11 as last season, so overall, I think we are in a better position than last year.
 
Name Changed said:
There is a lack of goals. There is a lack of pace. And I don't see who we are going to buy to change either. This season to me looks to be more about consolidation that challenging at this juncture.
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Tend to agree, unless with get that super star player I think we shall struggle in attack. We need the pace and creativity of a Reus, Bale or Mueller type signing. More so if we lose Di Maria.
 
We are but Chelsea are still ahead of us, City and Arsenal have improved as well so with the squad as it stands (without ADM, with DDG) it will be really hard to challenge for the title.
 
Of course we are.

Good enough shape to win the title? I don't think so. But I think we'd be hard pressed to ever have reached that stage this summer.
 
We still have some obvious weaknesses but in general, we're much better off now. We should challenge for the title and let's see what we can do in the CL
 
I'm not sure how anyone can argue otherwise. We've addressed the Carrick issue by signing arguably two better players that can perform his role, a very promising RB and a versatile winger who looks destined for great things.
 
I am a bit worried that we are doing a bit of a Liverpool. It is wholly possibly that we could sell our only players (DDG and ADM) who have a claim to being world class, whilst we have strengthened with solid team players, though of course much better than Milner, lallana, etc.
 
On the surface you would probably say YES, But there is no hiding the fact that the lack of goals and creativity in the squad is frightening.

Add to the fact we still have the De Gea dark cloud having over us and the 3 injury amigos as our CB's means there is still work to be done if we are to realistically challenge for the title, a target LVG was set for this coming season.
 
Shark said:
I'm not sure how anyone can argue otherwise. We've addressed the Carrick issue by signing arguably two better players that can perform his role, a very promising RB and a versatile winger who looks destined for great things.
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I agree with this, I think we have done the best business so far.

I would love us to add a ultra strong CB (looking unlikely) and if we did manage to get one in, replace Di Maria with Pedro and add a forward - I think we would look very strong indeed.

Could still go against us though, losing DDG would be a huge blow this close to the start of the season, not being able to find a forward would also leave us short, if Rooney gets injured we are in all sorts of trouble - can't bank on Wilson, Chico or Adnan IMO.
 
We're better off but so are almost all our rivals.

Midfield finally looks like it won't be a problem, but we still have considerable holes in defence and up front.
 
Just by looking at the personnel, I can see we will annoyingly draw too many games this season. If we get lucky, and Depay has a huge impact and is one of the best players in the league, we could really surprise a few.

We are more solid, but will have several frustrating games where we fail to break teams down, and either draw or are sucker punched and lose. The team is too slow going forward, and a front-three of Young, Rooney and Mata is not even nearly good enough to win the CL or PL.

Overall, I still wouldn't say we are better equipped than last season. Given how good a player we signed in both Falcao and Di Maria, I still have to say we were better off before we saw how things unfolded. The fact is, if we could sign both of those players again now, we would say our squad and team was complete. We could take out Darmian, Memphis and Schmidfield - and I think we would easily say we were worse off in the centre of the park, but would have had no issues with Rafael at RB, Herrera/Blind/Carrick in midfield and Di Maria on the wing.

Despite how it turned out, we need to get back to the type of position we were in September last year I'd say.
 
Bastian is a great addition but the players Im expecting to see the most from are Schneiderlin and Depay. If the squad can stay fit we have a good chance of consolidating top 4, might even challenge, but results have to improve. Too many defeats to lower teams last term.
 
I think we certainly are better than when last season ended, let's put it that way. LVG has talked a lot about balance and the signings we've made have gone a long way to achieving that.

Having said this, we still look 2 or 3 signings off from making a realistic title challenge. I think we will press the top of the table for a few weeks but not long enough to have a realistic chance. There are some areas where a couple of key players really need to be brought in.

Midfield, first off, looks sorted. Schweinsteiger and Schniederlin will take the burden off Carrick and Herrera will be allowed to play more of an attacking game.

Up front, we need a reliable goalscorer who can back up Rooney. Hernandez IMO does not fit into LVG's system and is not that man. Wilson is also inexperienced and is nowhere close to being a #2 at this point. As things stand, any loss of Rooney for an extended period would be a disaster.

In addition, I think we need a winger to play on the right. Mata has done a fair job in that position considering he's used to playing centrally but he really slows our attack down when he's the ball carrier. Someone of the Bale/Robben mould would be a huge upgrade.

I think the two fullback positions are well-stocked. Shaw, so long as he stays healthy, looks like he'll be excellent and Darmian will bring a lot to the right side.

My biggest concern outside of GK are the CB spots. If there are any injuries to Smalling and Jones, our other options are Rojo (who I think will improve), Evans, Blind, Carrick, McNair, and Blackett. For a club with title aspirations, this is an incredibly thin group of CBs to be fielding. A top-level CB to at least play with Smalling will be a must if De Gea leaves before the season.
 
Our midfield is looking great but I can't help but feel disappointed that we will have a massive issue if De Gea leaves. All this talk of galacticos well for me he is one. He's kept us in so many games over the past few years it's just disappointing that in his peak years we have been a club in transition and way below the required standard.
 
I'm really confident for the season.

I think De Gea is staying.

I think Smalling and Jones are better than given credit for and I think we'll sign a CB anyway. The defence will also have far more protection this season.

Midfield, what can you say? It's solid in depth and quality.

Attack is where I see our biggest issue. You could flip a coin with Rooney and have as much chance as guessing what sort of season he will have. If he gets 40 games as a striker I wouldn't be surprised to see him knock in 25 goals or more. Equally I wouldn't be surprised if he spends a portion of the season playing away from goal or injured.

Pedro would be a very nice addition and I'd love to see him and Depay flanking Rooney with a solid midfield 3 behind them. I'd be much happier if we sign another proven goalscorer although I don't see an available.
 
I don't think our CB is this nightmare most are speaking about.

I think we got a very good defense, that was marred by injuries and a weak and also hampered midfield. The CM situation was fixed and much improved, RB was also bettered significantly and hopefully we won't have the slaughter we had with our center backs. De Gea will be here for one more season at least, Di Maria (as it is) is our player and capable of great things like he was for Argentina last year in the WC, and playing Rooney upfront solely as a striker (not as a CAM, CM or DM) can surely make us challenge for the PL title in the lowest of expectations.

I think will win at least one cup, serious challenge for the PL title (considering injuries to other sides like Chelsea who depend so much in their monumental CMs, Fabregas and Matic or even Arsenal with Sanchez or Ramsey, I think we can win it) and do well on the CL (expect semis).

Maybe I'm too satisfied with our signings, but I think it's not so much about the CB we got or didn't, but how we strengthened as a whole.
 
Better than last season: yes
Best shape we could be: no

We're a few signings off winning anything major in my opinion but we're getting there.
 
We've fixed the midfield and traded Memphis for Di Maria. There were always question marks over RvP and Falcao last season, personally I didn't see the need for three strikers anyway considering we'd ideally only play with one which would have been Rooney anyway. If you factor in the form of last season I think our striker options are very similar, Falcao provided nothing and Chicharito can be expected to offer a similar amount of goals as RvP did.

We also added a right back so the defense should be slightly better, though I think we definitely need at least one new center back. Basically we've improved or maintained every department, so yes we're better off now than we were last season.
 
I think if we can get a stable back 4 (huge if) then there isn't too much wrong as things stand. We need a good start to get the confidence flowing and if that happens I think we'll be challengers.

My biggest concern is the teams ability to score goals. Irrespective of personnel the entire approach in the final third looked laboured and ineffective for large parts of last season. If this doesn't change we'll end up drawing far too often.
 
We're much better off. First of all, even if we signed nobody, it'd be highly unlikely to go through the season with as many injuries as we did last year. Then also Van Gaal has had a full season in charge and the players have adapted to the style, so there wouldn't be the inconsistent bedding in period that we saw in the first half of the season, particularly the first 10 games where we only picked up 13 points. All the signings from last season would be bedded in and have a year in the premier league to adjust, and since most of our squad is filled with younger and relatively inexperienced players, the extra year would only help. So I think even if we didn't buy or sell anyone, that we would be better off this season then last season.

Now we've also strengthened the squad and have much better depth all around now, and aren't overstocked with past it strikers so we can actually play our best one up front consistently. Memphis gives us a big boost of pace and a type of winger we needed but didn't have, with him being a tricky, creative and goalscoring wide player with pace and strength.
 
I'm not sure which squad was better last seasons or this but I do know going into last season with the centre backs we had available was negligent this season it's just bloody ridiculous. There's not one of them that is top 4 quality plus there's not one that will be available for more than 70% of the games.

We need to sign one or preferably two centre backs. It's not a position you can rotate, have injury prone players or trust in youth.
 
All 3 United said:
I'm not sure which squad was better last seasons or this but I do know going into last season with the centre backs we had available was negligent this season it's just bloody ridiculous. There's not one of them that is top 4 quality plus there's not one that will be available for more than 70% of the games.

We need to sign one or preferably two centre backs. It's not a position you can rotate, have injury prone players or trust in youth.
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Smalling, Jones and Rojo are all "top 4 quality". And, 3 CBs available 70% of the time gives you 2 CBs 100% of the time. Of course they aren't going to time their absences so kindly - which is why you have the 4th, 5th and 6th options. Our CB situation is as good as anyone else's - except perhaps Chelsea (and they have problems if Terry or Cahill are injured).
 
At this stage, I'm not confident. I was confident was I thought we were keeping Di Maria and buying a defender and a striker. Now it's almost certain that Di Maria is off and it doesn't look like we'll be buying a proper defender or striker (at this stage). There's time to go but my hope is dwindling because I can't really see who is available.
 
I think the squad's better, but right now I'm not sure if the first 11 is better. Of course that might just be because my idea about the formation and the teamsheet doesn't coincide with LvG's.
 
Thing about goals is, if everyone shows up, we've got plenty in the side. Memphis hit 28 in all comps last season, Rooney is obviously aiming for 20-25, Mata always gets into double figures, Hernandez has also always hit double figures (apart from under Moyes...), and people like Herrera also has an eye for goal... so yeah, we have the potential for goals in the side, but whether or not it's realised is a different story.
 
Yes because LVG has gained 1 year's experience of the PL. Most of our problems last season were of his making. Currently the big issue is how LVG will handle the extra CL fixtures; how many players will get rotated ?
 
if i was a manager and i could pick one area of the pitch to be strongest in, it would be midfield. a great midfield can shore up a shaky defence and is capable of scoring goals. we have that now, and for that reason alone i'm more than happy to go into this season as we are.

as for adm, the sooner the bastard is off our books the better. he's not a united player.
 
Twigginater said:
Yes. We've got rid of the two worst regular first teamers from last season (Di Maria and Falcao.) weak positions have gotten improved.
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smh comparing di maria's season to falcao...smh

so losing di maria makes us stronger now :lol:
 
Stronger in midfield, Marginally stronger in defence if we can say that with just 1 addition in Darmian, weaker in attack IMO.
 
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