Our weak attack

People will jump on this thread and try to feel vandicated about this when this one result could just be a blip. After all why bother broader look at our attack and consider the past 8 games or so since Ole took over to just this 1 game in isolation.

Our attack is fine and still amongst the stronest in the league. One bad result doesn't change that.
 
Santoryo said:
People will jump on this thread and try to feel vandicated about this when this one result could just be a blip. After all why bother broader look at our attack and consider the past 8 games or so since Ole took over to just this 1 game in isolation.

Our attack is fine and still amongst the stronest in the league. One bad result doesn't change that.
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Yep. The situation hasn't changed with one match. We didn't field our strongest line up for starters.
 
Lukaku just isnt on it. If he would score his usual 25 goals a season or whatever he had at Everton
 
Out of our attacking 3 of Martial, Marcus and Lingard there's not much quality. I advocated Lukaku and Alexis staying but we should maybe shop some more. Especially for a full blooded, all out RW.
Of course primarily we should get a CB, RB and maybe a midfielder too.

Ugh.
 
Ban said:
Out of our attacking 3 of Martial, Marcus and Lingard there's not much quality. I advocated Lukaku and Alexis staying but we should maybe shop some more. Especially for a full blooded, all out RW.
Of course primarily we should get a CB, RB and maybe a midfielder too.

Ugh.
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The good news is the side doesnt require major surgery this summer... a RW, CB & RB and we'll be flying next year and there are attainable players out there we can get.

If we sell Sanchez and Lukaku alone we can free up the wage bill to bring in world class players for all 3 positions we require.
 
I insist our attack is not weak, however, one player who makes the wrong pass, the wrong flick can make the whole team look weak. I notice Mata as the weak link. Sit him and you will not have many complaints. How Ole can sub Lukaku and leave Mata for the whole game makes me question him a bit.
 
ravi2 said:
The good news is the side doesnt require major surgery this summer... a RW, CB & RB and we'll be flying next year and there are attainable players out there we can get.

If we sell Sanchez and Lukaku alone we can free up the wage bill to bring in world class players for all 3 positions we require.
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Yes, no need for big changes, just need to fill up the gaps in the squad and we're good to go. Hopefully we can get an attacking game changer.
It all depends if we'll get a DoF and of course who'll be our manager.
 
Ban said:
Yes, no need for big changes, just need to fill up the gaps in the squad and we're good to go. Hopefully we can get an attacking game changer.
It all depends if we'll get a DoF and of course who'll be our manager.
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Koulibaly and Sancho would cost 100m each but there are players out there who would instantly make us so much difficult to play against. The board needs to back Ole (hopefully he will get the job full time) in a big way this summer. We have to show serious ambition in the transfer market
 
ravi2 said:
Koulibaly and Sancho would cost 100m each but there are players out there who would instantly make us so much difficult to play against. The board needs to back Ole (hopefully he will get the job full time) in a big way this summer. We have to show serious ambition in the transfer market
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Big summer for the club and Ed. I hope he wont chase some dream purchases and players we cant get or who would reject us. Go for the players manager want and who are attainable. No Hollywood stuff anymore please.
 
Ban said:
Big summer for the club and Ed. I hope he wont chase some dream purchases and players we cant get or who would reject us. Go for the players manager want and who are attainable. No Hollywood stuff anymore please.
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The is one of our most critical transfer windows ever. The only bright side about Liverpool possibly winning the league is that it will give the board the kick up the ass and the wake up call it seems they require to get their head out of their asses and pay the market rate for the world class players that we need to make it back to where we should be...winning titles.
 
Sancho would transform this team. Easier said than done. Along with a Right back, centre back and midfielder.
 
championo said:
I insist our attack is not weak, however, one player who makes the wrong pass, the wrong flick can make the whole team look weak. I notice Mata as the weak link. Sit him and you will not have many complaints. How Ole can sub Lukaku and leave Mata for the whole game makes me question him a bit.
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If it's up to me, I'd only keep Rashford and Martial, and get rid of others: Lukaku, Mata, Sanchez, and Lingard. Those four are just average in United shirt, and cost us premium wage: 200+k, xx, 350-500k, 100k per week for such average performance. Those combined wages are equals to Messi/Ronaldo's.
 
Isotope said:
If it's up to me, I'd only keep Rashford and Martial, and get rid of others: Lukaku, Mata, Sanchez, and Lingard. Those four are just average in United shirt, and cost us premium wage: 200+k, xx, 350-500k, 100k per week for such average performance. Those combined wages are equals to Messi/Ronaldo's.
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No reason to sell Lingard. Happy to sit on the bench, shows up to most big games, works both ways, can play multiple positions, home grown quota. Ideal squad player imo.
The other 3 players does not fit in for various reasons. Should be sold/released.
 
A new RB and RW are a must, the right side of the team has been dire for a long time. A shame we didn't go for Mahrez, he was available but the clown at the helm thought the mediocre Willian was the answer.
 
Backup CM's are a must. Unless we want to look like Arsenal in there again when players are tired.

Full back for Right Back is needed.

A top class RW is needed, Burnley left the right wing empty and it helped them pack the box to the rafters.

A striker is needed unless Rom loses 10 kilo and pulls his Everton form back.

As well as all the dead wood that need replaced.

The attack is weak through a combination of factors. I doubt we can just play Lingard, Martial and Rashford every game. Even Liverpool have Shaqiri as a backup.
 
Another time, another game, I'd say it again and again, our attack is weak. But heyho.. keep prioritizing those defenders.
 
Isotope said:
Another time, another game, I'd say it again and again, our attack is weak. But heyho.. keep prioritizing those defenders.
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Yeah, I've been saying this for years too. We've had no one put any sort of consistently in our front 3 over like the last 6 years, pretty much ever since SAF left.

Rashford up front I like, but Martial is wildly inconsistent and Lingard doesn't have technical ability. So it essentially just goes to Pogba to create and we become easy to defend against.

Which is why spending £100m on Sancho would be the smartest thing we've done in a long long time. The ball sticks to Sancho's feet, and he'd stretch defences way way more then we do currently.
 
marktan said:
Yeah, I've been saying this for years too. We've had no one put any sort of consistently in our front 3 over like the last 6 years, pretty much ever since SAF left.

Rashford up front I like, but Martial is wildly inconsistent and Lingard doesn't have technical ability. So it essentially just goes to Pogba to create and we become easy to defend against.

Which is why spending £100m on Sancho would be the smartest thing we've done in a long long time. The ball sticks to Sancho's feet, and he'd stretch defences way way more then we do currently.
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That's the thing. We have attackers who are still young and inconsistent. People keep banging on Rooney and Ronaldo when they were young, but we had Sir Alex who could do with Tom Cleverly in midfield, and still won the League. Are we in position to gamble like that?
 
We need at least two more to cover those three front positions. Ideally, we need some experienced heads up there that we know we can rely on.

Exactly what we needed from Sanchez unfortunately.
 
Martial and Rashford remind me on Ronaldo-Rooney when they were young. When Milan kicked us out 2007(i think). They were trash in that game also. But next 2 seasons they were great. Lets hope that this will end up like that( without kicking in groins and selling to Real of course)
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Martial and Rashford remind me on Ronaldo-Rooney when they were young. When Milan kicked us out 2007(i think). They were trash in that game also. But next 2 seasons they were great. Lets hope that this will end up like that( without kicking in groins and selling to Real of course)
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Good comparison, and I think Martial and Rashford would benefit massively from having insurance behind them. It must be playing on the back of their minds knowing if they lose the ball our weak defence is wide open. Need a solid DM asap too.

Although, a young Rooney was more clinical than both and a young Ronaldo more direct and decisive. Have very high hopes still.
 
LennonNL said:
Good comparison, and I think Martial and Rashford would benefit massively from having insurance behind them. It must be playing on the back of their minds knowing if they lose the ball our weak defence is wide open. Need a solid DM asap too.

Although, a young Rooney was more clinical than both and a young Ronaldo more direct and decisive. Have very high hopes still.
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I think both will be good players for us but that's too high a bar imo, both Rooney and Ronaldo were better at that age, Ronaldo was world class at 21 and had won the CL at Martial's age, whereas Rooney was a year old than Rashford when we won the CL. Both just technically better, but they're anomolies since they did both go on to be top goal scores for both their club and countries.

I think Sancho is one that could reach that level. Just doubt it'll be with us sadly.
 
It's worrying how many players we need to bring in.

Even if we were to say Martial Rashford and Lingard are our first choice, we still have terrible backups in Mata Lukaku and Sanchez. That's three players who need replacing. And I don't even think Lingard is good enough for the first team. That leaves us needing a first choice RW.

If I were being brutally honest, i'm not even sure Rashford and Martial are good enough to be first choice if we have ambitions of winning the CL. I mean they don't come close to the attacking firepower of the very best teams. I guess we'll just have to hope they continue to improve significantly over the next couple of seasons.
 
marktan said:
I think both will be good players for us but that's too high a bar imo, both Rooney and Ronaldo were better at that age, Ronaldo was world class at 21 and had won the CL at Martial's age, whereas Rooney was a year old than Rashford when we won the CL. Both just technically better, but they're anomolies since they did both go on to be top goal scores for both their club and countries.

I think Sancho is one that could reach that level. Just doubt it'll be with us sadly.
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No yeah there’s no comparison in terms of footballing ability but I think in terms of how the game panned out and considering their recent form, that specific example of Milan ‘07 was a pretty accurate one.
 
Sanchez was supposed to be a ready made world class player to add into the mix. Sadly and through no fault of his or the club it just hasn’t worked out.

But I’m glad Ole has managed to settle on a starting eleven! Now that is in place it is easier to see what needs improving.

Pros and cons
 
It's a problem, none of the 3 options outside of the main starting 3 are good enough to play the type of football Ole is trying to implement, it actually looks more of an issue than CB right now to me as while none of them are top of the food chain we've steadiied the ship back there under the new management team and the back-ups aren't as big of a drop-off as the forward changes are.
 
Well with martial and lingard out now we'll know if the rest can do anything or not.
 
Depth is sorely lacking. When Martial isn’t in the game and Pogba is man-marked we really struggle. We’re very one dimensional, which is fine when you’re playing teams that can’t handle that. But when you do you tend to see what we saw tonight.
 
We have no attacking depth (or at least, the ones we have should be sold). But also Lingard shouldnt be more than a squad player. Especially with Martial and Rashford being young, we need a more established player to go with them in the front 3 to play on the right, Lingard becomes a squad player, Greenwood getting chances, and then bringing in depth of course. Martial and Lingard getting injured and us needing to bring on Sanchez and Mata is awful, given how far theyve fallen.
 
Our front three consist of two young players who can have bright spots from time to time but are inconsistent at this point and a player who’s coming toward his peak and is realistically good enough to be a starter in some games (not all) and definitely as a rotation player who regularly gets games.
 
They all have there fair of over running, one too many touches, lost control of touch, over dribbling, too much in it for passes so only time will tell but their all capable of finishing. Martial Rashford up top and Lingard/Lukaku right and backup
 
RuudTom83 said:
Sanchez was supposed to be a ready made world class player to add into the mix. Sadly and through no fault of his or the club it just hasn’t worked out.

But I’m glad Ole has managed to settle on a starting eleven! Now that is in place it is easier to see what needs improving.

Pros and cons
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He wasn't though. He was having a bad season for his standards and then we bought him.
 
I have watched all of the games under Ole, our attack doesn't look so normal, not smooth and not technical as City, PSG, Bayern, etc. I am curious about how many have Young ruined any build up in attacking and even in possession and shit in linking up with other players in attacking as Shaw does with Martial and Pogba. Rashford needs to be stronger, really strong to hold defence off if he wants to be No.9. United should get technical RW, good in tight space, new proper RB and DM who is on the same level as Pogba's passing and control tempo of games (Matic alway slow tempo) our attack would look more smoother, technical and sharper.
 
Isotope said:
Another time, another game, I'd say it again and again, our attack is weak. But heyho.. keep prioritizing those defenders.
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Agree with this completely. We need to go the way liverpool did imo. Get a strong attacking setup and then add some top quality at the back later.

I feel a RW, RB and a CM are absolutely essentially. Then we can try to get a LB who can actually attack unlike Shaw who's average imo. CBs are doing fine in majority of the games as we can see with a more settled and attack focused side and we can probably ride it out for a season or two while we build a world class attack.

Also someone needs to look at the scouting structure at the club. We don't need to spend 100m on every player to get quality. I'm sure there are a lot of potential players out there who are ready to make a step up and can be reliable squad players.
 
We need to bring at least two attackers, if we’re competing for the League next season.

Or just one, if top 4 trophy is our ultimate goal.
 
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