Mount

Mctominay might start over Eriksen. If the goal is for our midfield to stop being run though then he's the better choice for now as depressing as that is.

Eriksen can't handle the pace of the PL at all. Ever since he came back from that injury last season he's looked way off the pace.

Mount has been our best player off the ball and OK with it. Eriksen looks like he's running through honey at the moment, which is particularly dangerous when Casemiro is miles off his sharpness.

comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 15 minutes ago
Mctominay might start over Eriksen. If the goal is for our midfield to stop being run though then he's the better choice
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Eriksen it is then.

comment by Clockwork Red: With or Wout You (U4892)
posted 18 minutes ago
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 15 minutes ago
Mctominay might start over Eriksen. If the goal is for our midfield to stop being run though then he's the better choice
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Eriksen it is then.

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Not a great choice is it?

I think Bruno needs to be added to this conversation too. Whilst he is clearly our biggest creator and yes he also loses possession a lot but I’ll take that for his offensive output but maybe he needs to get involved more whilst we have a midfield three of either

Casemiro Mount Bruno
Casemiro Eriksen Bruno
Casemiro McT Bruno

Mount is a very good presser and great at attacking second balls but we’re yet to see anything else. Our midfield is regularly getting overrun and that means that Bruno needs to come deeper. He’s not lazy I don’t think but they all need to chip in for it to work.

Having two Casemiro’s say would solve one problem but create another in terms of creativity. So for the time being, we need both midfielders to chip in to help Casemiro.

If we’re on top or on-song then Casemiro can dominate and even spread the balls a bit but when we’re under the kosh, he needs help from both midfielders.

I also think a lot of our troubles is that we’re reliant on breaking fast on the counter (as is the United way lighting lethal attacks) but we’re severely lacking that lethal finisher: Rashford isn’t that guy, neither is any of our forwards. Optimistic as it may be but we need Hojlund to hit the ground running like Ruud did. If that happens, we could very easily see a huge change in our performances and results.

We had enough chances against spurs, none against wolves granted but those games happen. Deserved or not if we had a striker and had put our chances away against spurs we would have been leading, which avoids having to rely on character to come back from behind.

I still trust in ETH- Antony may flop, fine. But most of his signings from last season delivered.

It won’t happen but I think I would have gone for Martinez as captain ahead of Bruno. He’s not perfect but I just love Lisandro; he’s a warrior, a very good defender, passionate, driven, determined and dedicated. Not saying Bruno isn’t but he’s got that Portuguese moaning quality about him which can inspire but equally can be uninspiring.

If memory serves our best run of form last season was with Eriksen, Casemiro & Bruno in the team (I really could be wrong) - well, they all had very good runs of form. So it can work but players need to learn to adjust their game to suit the teammates around them. I remember Henry talking about this as a striker saying: ‘Pires loved a one-two so you do that, Dennis could do everything so that was ok, Ljunberg you had to be in his line of sight for him to find you so you made sure you ran in his channels’

This is what our players need to do; play to the strengths of their teammates on the field. Mount is excellent at pressing / winking second balls - so join him attacking the second balls and win back possession. Bruno is very good at spotting a difficult pass, so make those runs / diagonal runs across the back line.

Same goes for the midfielders, only difference is that other than Rashy & Garnacho, our other forwards don’t have anything that they’re currently exceptional at. Garnacho is probably the easiest forward for a midfielder, play it wide and in front of him early and he’s off. Antony, I have no idea what I’d do to supply him. Hojlund I think will be similar to Garnacho in this regard, Bruno (or an Eriksen maybe even Mount) can thread a quick early pass for him to chase down and latch onto. Currently we don’t have anyone central that can do that.

We cannot expect good performances & results whilst not having a single striker. We did what we did last season as several other teams really dropped off and we did well to get results but you cannot do well consistently (let alone progress) without a striker. Take any position within the spine out of a team and it will likely fail, we are no different.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 24 minutes ago
Mount has been our best player off the ball and OK with it. Eriksen looks like he's running through honey at the moment, which is particularly dangerous when Casemiro is miles off his sharpness.
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Yeah I can’t remember him being like that for all of last season, certainly before his injury. So I hope that he can regain his pre-injury form from last season.

Running through honey is a very good analogy, it’s like his age, health and injuries are there for all to see despite his form for a large part of last season

Grate news.

I think taking Mount out of the frame for a bit would allow us to see the bigger picture, in terms of where he fits in at the club.

comment by Bãleš left boot-e-cog-lou (U22081)
posted 14 hours, 29 minutes ago
He bulked up with all that muscle but doesn't have the skillset of a Premier League number 8. No doubt he's got talent, but what's he great at?
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its a really bizarre fall from grace for mount. When he first came on the scene and the year we won the cl (he got poty that season) he was creative, had great feet in tight situations, pressed better than any number 8 i've seen for a while, but just needed to work on his finishing.

Now it's like he's lost all of that and his finishing still isn't there.

Out for 6 weeks