yes we need more than just Ibra who can play in the middle.

Dave,

Indeed. Our defence has only conceded 23 goals in the prem, only one defence betters that.

Sadly for us we have only scored 42, which has been bettered by six teams.

Just to put into perspective how poor our attackers have been we have only scored the same amount of goals in the prem as Bournemouth.

comment by Brightdave: (U11711)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by I'll be The Judge of that! (U21434)
posted 23 seconds ago
Our attacking players cant score for toffee atm. Except Ibra.

That's why our defence has to be sound at all times. Look on Saturday we nearly lost it when Dave fell asleep. Cant afford to make any mistakes at the back when you cant score goals yourself.

Most PL strikers just need 1 or 2 chances to score.. even those who play for the smaller clubs (ours need up to 30 chances to score it seems)
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Sure, so we need better forwards then right.

No good with a perfect defence, never being scored against and finishing unbeaten in 38 points.
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Not sure he gets the correlation between not scoring goals and the strikers, hell maybe it's the defenders fault for not scoring any at corners

But this doesn't equate to you naming five defenders as "deadwood"
+++

are you suggesting that they are not dead wood.?

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

hell maybe it's the defenders fault for not scoring any at corners
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yes that's true too.

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 2 minutes ago
Dave,

Indeed. Our defence has only conceded 23 goals in the prem, only one defence betters that.

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7 of those goals came in 2 disastrous team performances at Watford and Chelsea... I know you cant really take those games out but 16 goals from the other 26 games is very decent.

Our priorities are or should be replacing Carrick/Morgan/Bastian with a couple of midfielders, and looking at forwards and wingers

comment by I'll be The Judge of that! (U21434)
posted 8 minutes ago
But this doesn't equate to you naming five defenders as "deadwood"
+++

are you suggesting that they are not dead wood.?
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Yes I am given that we have the second leanest defence in the Premier League.

I'm going to suggest that letting in goals isn't the issue.

comment by Brightdave: (U11711)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by puffinthebushkangaroo (U1950)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Brightdave: (U11711)
posted 7 minutes ago
Despite all the Young bashing, I actually think he'd be a decent option at LB against these lower teams that we can't seem to score against. He's far better offensivly than any other we have and wouldn't be required to do much defending when we have most of the possession that we usually do. Add some versatility to our attack against these lower tier sides.
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Think it's Jose's cautious setup that stops you beating lesser teams. If Young played LB he'd probaby be ordered to stay in own half
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I honestly don't think we've been so cautious as many make out. We've been far more adventurous for most of the season compared with the previous years.

There was a period around November where we were having 20+ shots at goal (granted not all good) every game and had so many draws. We dominated possession AND attacked. Just failed to score enough. Good performances in all ways except one of the most important and that is failing to score. I thought we'd luck on and get over this but we haven't.
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Feels like that Liverpool season where Suarez had just joined and they couldn't score for toffee. They all moaned it was bad luck and had stats for how many times they hit the woodwork...

TBH we all called it bad play and laughed, seems we have the same problem this year. The next year they should have won it though so if we can follow suit that would be ok.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

We too were leading the woodwork trophy for a while this season. Haven't checked recently. Pogba has 6-7 before Xmas!
+++

is there a trophy for that, as well?

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 3 hours, 49 minutes ago
Don't really know enough about the lad but weren't most in the know massively surprised that LVG ignored him in favour of Blackett and McNair?
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Rio mentioned him as one of the likelier players to make it and rated him as the second best centre half at the club after his retirement.

comment by The Red Side™ (U11275)
posted 3 hours, 26 minutes ago
He's always looked a great talent, and those who follow United's Academy and Reserve setups will tell you we've probably only seen two other players that have looked close to his level at centreback in the last ten years or so.

Those two are Tim Fosu-Mensah and Axel Tuanzebe.

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I would include Tom Thorpe in that, in fact I would maybe go as far as saying that Thorpe is top of my list in terms of CBs I've seen at reserve level because of his consistency and class. Like Tuanzebe now, everything looked far too easy for Thorpe at that level.

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So whilst people are (possibly rightly) suggesting that it was a mistake letting Keane go rather than continuing to develop him, can they also explain to me the logic in spending what would now likely be upwards of £25m to bring back yet another graduate we should have retained as 3rd/4th choice centreback, when doing so would mean reduced opportunities for TFM and/or Tuanzebe.

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Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe haven't been given any opportunity to play at CB so even if we lost one or both of Jones or Smalling which I'd be fine with if it meant Keane coming back to the club, it probably wouldn't have much of an impact on them anyway because I don't think they'll get much of a look in and I don't see Fosu-Mensah as a CB anyway as you know.
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Thorpe just oozed class - you are right.

I honestly have no idea what happened to him. Seemed to be over the niggly injuries he got when he stepped up to the Reserves, but then never looks as good in midfield and just didn't kick on quite as expected. I think he's on loan at Bolton from Rotherham now.

We know that in terms of their physicality and ability TFM and Tuanzebe are ready. We can only speculate about their mentalities and how they are performing in training, but if both disappear off elsewhere on a permanent basis without being given a run of games, I think it'll very likely be déjà vu all over again, as they say.

*looked as good in midfield

I always liked Michael Keane and was very surprised to see him allowed to leave.

I haven't really seen him since leaving though, so I'll have to take other's word on his progression.

If he's becoming as good as it seems he is, I'd welcome his return. A young english player who graduated through the academy is obviously appealing.

Additionally, with Rooney in decline, Carrick on his last legs, and players like Rio, Scholes, Giggs, Neville etc... long since retired, our first team lacks a core of British & Irish players, which I do miss from our teams.

My biggest concern at the moment is that TFM & CBJ are looking like game-time will be hard to come by. They both need really good loan moves to progress and develop.

Back to Keane... If we were to sign him, presumable he would partner Bailly at the back. They could compliment each other well, but we lack a bit of experience and leadership in that back line which would need to be compensated elsewhere. With Rooney, Carrick and Zlatan maybe only a another season away from departing, we could badly do with some experience, quality and leadership in the first team.

comment by BO$$™ (U6401)
posted 4 hours, 47 minutes ago
I think selling him was the right choice, would he have developed to this level sitting on the bench playing once a month if that?
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I think that is a fair question.

Not only that but his success elsewhere does not necessarily mean that he would have attained that level even if he had played every week at United.

Every club has a few that slip away (Pogba!), but the truth is there is no guarantee that potential will turn into talent (Morrsion!).