It's refreshing to see more of the squad utilised in Amorim's first three matches. It concerned many of us that ETH was reluctant to rotate. The load it put on the favoured players may well have contributed to the terrible injury record we had last season. It also meant that for all the chemistry this was purported to build, whenever someone was injured (which was a lot - see above) suddenly you were relying on players who had few minutes under their belts.
I assume we'll see a more settled first XI in time. Amorim has wanted to experiment with different line-ups and assess different players in particular roles / seen players deployed different roles. There has also been an element of juggling fitness with players coming back from international duty and injuries. But I hope we do continue to see Amorim regularly utilising a larger number of players. For the sake of physical freshness, for good morale across the squad and healthy competition, so more players build experience of playing in his system, and so he's able to make tactical tweaks - game to game (like spotting Zirkzee would be a good fit vs Everton) and within matches (Bodø/Glimt).
Rotation
posted on 2/12/24
comment by RRRU-ben a-moo-REENG (U17054)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tyranny of the majority (SE85) (U21241)
posted 25 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Tyranny of the majority (SE85) (U21241)
posted 2 minutes ago
Be great if we can get a player as good as Amad is performing for the LWB role. I think they will probably need to be more of a defender though to balance out the team. Can't have two flying wingbacks I don't think.
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I think it's likely that we often play with a more winger-like wing back on one flank and a more full back-like wing back on the other. However, given that we have a lot of full backs in the squad at the moment and only one attack-minded player who Amorim sees as a credible WB, I'd guess a classic, marauding (left-footed) wing back is higher priority as a profile. We can't expect Amad to play every minute of every game and never get injured. And lots of us are curious to see what he could do behind the striker - crazy to think he's been our best player under Amorim and it's not totally clear he's in his best position.
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Think about the RWB role is I think we have a number of players who can do okay there.
Amad has the position to lose currently but I think Mazraoui would be excellent there too and Dalot is far more suited to the right hand side. It's actually unfortunate for him that he's having to be used on the left as he's struggling.
We definitely need to address the LWB role in the summer if there's no money in January which I don't expect there will be. It's the main issue with this team right now.
A really good LWB, another CM and another out and out striker and our squad would look a lot healthier. How we finding this though I have no clue as we don't really have any sellable assets left.
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I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of Rashford, Garnacho, Zirkzee and Dalot sold to raise funds.
Those are the only players I think we could afford to let go who might command half decent fees.
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We would be mad to sell Garnacho at this moment.
He's raw and frustrating at times but he's a a kid.
8 goals already this season ,18 since the start of last season, all from play. That's impressive for a 19-20 year old winger.
ETH was over reliant on him due to Sancho going AWOL and Antony & Rashford being rubbish which hasn't helped but hopefully Ruben uses him more sparingly for a while now.
posted on 2/12/24
Rashford doesn't have any options. He's staying.
Garnacho won't be sold and nor should be.
Dalot won't leave I don't think. He will prove a decent squad player for us. We have to remember he's filling in on the left really right now. He can get a few games on the right when Amad is rested or moved into AM role.
Zirkzee is the only one who might move on if the manager thinks we can do better which I think he probably will do. Don't see us getting loads of cash for him though even if he does leave.
As I said.....we don't have a lot of sellable assets. Rashford and Casemiro are on big contracts which clubs can't afford him match which makes it hard to see exits for either player.
posted on 2/12/24
Things are going to be very, very tight
---------------------------------------------
That might actually be a positive thing. It just means we have to be even more careful in the transfer market and hopefully it'll mean we see more players from the youth sides coming through.
posted on 2/12/24
comment by The Red Side™ (U11275)
posted 7 minutes ago
Things are going to be very, very tight
---------------------------------------------
That might actually be a positive thing. It just means we have to be even more careful in the transfer market and hopefully it'll mean we see more players from the youth sides coming through.
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Over the last few years I've often thought it must be more satisfying following a team like Brighton than being a United fan during the same period: witnessing smart recruitment, development of young talent and tactical innovation that make the team pack a bigger punch than its spending power. If we do that for a couple of seasons and grow better and better over that time while finishing outside the CL places, that will be fine by me. And hopefully we're then in a position of strength to start adding players who raise the ceiling to the squad - a bit like how Arsenal started adding the likes of Rice and Havertz to the side after 2-3 seasons of investing in players with untapped potential and/or competent players who were a good profile fit.
posted on 2/12/24
comment by Tyranny of the majority (SE85) (U21241)
posted 1 minute ago
Rashford doesn't have any options. He's staying.
Garnacho won't be sold and nor should be.
Dalot won't leave I don't think. He will prove a decent squad player for us. We have to remember he's filling in on the left really right now. He can get a few games on the right when Amad is rested or moved into AM role.
Zirkzee is the only one who might move on if the manager thinks we can do better which I think he probably will do. Don't see us getting loads of cash for him though even if he does leave.
As I said.....we don't have a lot of sellable assets. Rashford and Casemiro are on big contracts which clubs can't afford him match which makes it hard to see exits for either player.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Selling Rashford could serve us a lot. Give us money for 3 positions we need a lot more than his position
posted on 2/12/24
comment by Tyranny of the majority (SE85) (U21241)
posted 3 hours, 50 minutes ago
Tbf weren't specific on your first post. You just said they were similar. I knew what you meant though in terms of playing style but I think that's a stretch at this point.
I think you're on a high from seeing us win 4-0 which is hardly surprising given it's been 5 years I think since we did that in the league. Other teams aren't going to give
Zirkzee that time on the ball and space sadly. Be great if they did but it won't happen.
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On a high? I've merely likened one players style to another's. Have a day off
posted on 2/12/24
comment by The Process (U20671)
posted 2 hours, 15 minutes ago
comment by RRRU-ben a-moo-REENG (U17054)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Tyranny of the majority (SE85) (U21241)
posted 25 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Tyranny of the majority (SE85) (U21241)
posted 2 minutes ago
Be great if we can get a player as good as Amad is performing for the LWB role. I think they will probably need to be more of a defender though to balance out the team. Can't have two flying wingbacks I don't think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think it's likely that we often play with a more winger-like wing back on one flank and a more full back-like wing back on the other. However, given that we have a lot of full backs in the squad at the moment and only one attack-minded player who Amorim sees as a credible WB, I'd guess a classic, marauding (left-footed) wing back is higher priority as a profile. We can't expect Amad to play every minute of every game and never get injured. And lots of us are curious to see what he could do behind the striker - crazy to think he's been our best player under Amorim and it's not totally clear he's in his best position.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Think about the RWB role is I think we have a number of players who can do okay there.
Amad has the position to lose currently but I think Mazraoui would be excellent there too and Dalot is far more suited to the right hand side. It's actually unfortunate for him that he's having to be used on the left as he's struggling.
We definitely need to address the LWB role in the summer if there's no money in January which I don't expect there will be. It's the main issue with this team right now.
A really good LWB, another CM and another out and out striker and our squad would look a lot healthier. How we finding this though I have no clue as we don't really have any sellable assets left.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of Rashford, Garnacho, Zirkzee and Dalot sold to raise funds.
Those are the only players I think we could afford to let go who might command half decent fees.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We would be mad to sell Garnacho at this moment.
He's raw and frustrating at times but he's a a kid.
8 goals already this season ,18 since the start of last season, all from play. That's impressive for a 19-20 year old winger.
ETH was over reliant on him due to Sancho going AWOL and Antony & Rashford being rubbish which hasn't helped but hopefully Ruben uses him more sparingly for a while now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We might not have that much choice.
As I said above, we effectively added £200m of debt last summer buying £213m of players. And we made a loss of over £100m despite selling £100m of players. And then we have additional exceptional costs this season.
I’m assuming there’s some kind of plan, but without one, we’re looking pretty damn broke.
posted on 2/12/24
Back on Zirkzee, there's a nice tactical breakdown on his performance (focusing on his ability to drop deep and use the ball or create space for others with intelligent movement, rather than the goals) on the Athletic:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5962311/2024/12/02/joshua-zirkzee-manchester-united-analysis?source=user-shared-article
posted on 3/12/24
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 9 hours, 25 minutes ago
Back on Zirkzee, there's a nice tactical breakdown on his performance (focusing on his ability to drop deep and use the ball or create space for others with intelligent movement, rather than the goals) on the Athletic:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5962311/2024/12/02/joshua-zirkzee-manchester-united-analysis?source=user-shared-article
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Has always been his strength. He's also deceptively fast
posted on 3/12/24
He's also deceptively fast
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Is he? Maybe once he gets going, but I haven't seen any signs of good acceleration from him