Do We Need Youth or Experience?

This topic contains 51 replies, has 17 voices, and was last updated by  TheLegend 5 years ago.

Viewing 12 posts - 41 through 52 (of 52 total)
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  • #1732712
    MacGuffin
    MacGuffin
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    happyhurling – That’s what I’ve always argued. And 2 doesn’t mean 3. So in Lindelof case, the decision on whether he can fill Rio’s boots must be made this summer and for Bailley, Smalling, Jones, Rojo should have been already made.

    #1732730

    happyhurling
    Participant
    • :

    Mac – The problem with Smalling is that he can be a very good defender. He can string together a consistent run where he looks like a defender worthy of the top 4 teams. He can score goals as well.

    But there always seems to be a mistake and an injury around the corner…

    #1733026
    redblood
    redblood
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    Overmars just confirmed: De Ligt is leaving Ajax @ the end of the season.

    #1733061

    homerjay540
    Participant
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    Pique is still only 32 and Barca also have Lenglet and Umtiti. They don’t need de Ligt but will probably sign him anwyay. My guess is that Umtiti will make way rather than Pique

    #1733092

    Homerjay that’s a good point – if Barcelona sign De ligt then at least one of Umtiti or Lenglet won’t be playing regularly and may look for a move.

    Would love it if we could nab Umtiti – still only 25 but bags of experience with Barcelona and France and the physical centre back we need. Will probably be cheaper than Koulibaly too.

    RB and RW need to looked at also as our right side has been our weak side for many years – Shaw and Martial have come on leaps and bounds but we only have Dalot with some potential on the other side and he’s still developing.

    Umtiti, Sancho and perhaps Bellerin if he wants to leave Arsenal and we’ve got ourselves a good and realistic transfer window

    #1733155
    redblood
    redblood
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    Pique said recently that he is calling it a day in 2020,if I m not mistaken? So unless Umtiti is having health issues I cannot see him leaving,being only 25 yrs old.So I can very much see De Ligt as Piques long-term replacement,unless Real Madrid grab him 1st as a replacement for either Ramos or the injury-plagued Varane…

    #1733207
    killyboye
    killyboye
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    If it’s a choice of letting Lenglet or Umtiti leave it’s a no brainer. Lenglet will be shown the door without hesitation. Realistically I don’t think we’ll get de Ligt if Barca come in for him, we might stand a chance against Real as Real are all over the shop. If we want de Ligt then we’ll have to move now and try and get the deal done before Real and Barca have a chance to free up funds to do the deal. Barca made no real secret of the fact they struggled to get the finances for de Jong’s deal in place. They’ll definitely need to sell to free big funds for de Ligt. If we move in the next few weeks we could get him but after that it’ll be a lost cause I think.

    #1733233
    redblood
    redblood
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    I agree completely @killyboye m8,and much rather spend big for De Ligt than K2.Ferland Mendy too has been exceptional the last couple of years,can play in a few different position.

    #1734378

    united_we_win
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    Going back on my words ronaldo over Sanchez would have given us 2-3 years of quality guys a beast!

    #1734500

    TheLegend
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    • :

    We need to stop this new method and just go for the best players of the teams below us like before. 2008 Cl winning squad is VDS (Fulham),
    Evra (Monaco), Rio (Leeds), Vidic (Spartak), Wes Brown (Academy), Carrick (Spurs), Scholes (Academy), Hargreaves (Bayern), Ronaldo (Sporting), Tevez (West Ham), and Rooney (Everton). Even our bench follows a similar model.

    So we need to forget the Caravajals and Kimmichs and go for the Van Bissaka types instead. I liked what Ole said in his last pressy, “We are looking ffor a couple of new signings that fit the profile/characteristics of what we are trying to do”. It’s exactly whst I want, More RVN/Cantona/Solskjaer/Stam type signings with some youth added in and not the Verons/Di Marias/Falcaos of this world.

    #1734550
    MacGuffin
    MacGuffin
    Participant
    • :

    The critical difference between before and now is before when we promoted youth or made signings we already had a competent player who could do the job. It was therefore not critical the new player be a success because we had the existing player to fall back on. Examples …

    Neville-Parker, Evra-Heinze, Rooney-RvP, Vidic-Brown, Ronaldo-Ole, Rio-Blanc, RvP-Cole, Veron-Scholes. The same goes for almost every signing or promotion.

    But since SAF retirement (and his latter years) signings and promotions are expected to do a job from day 1 and if they don’t we have problems because there is not an acceptable fall-back alternative.

    This factor means we cannot afford to take the risk on a player not making it as much as we could before, hence the feeling we need older players who (in theory) should be less risk and instant successes.

    Add to that the age balance got all out of whack. We had a young Rio when we had an old Blanc. Neville pushed Parker out. Rooney (in part) pushed RvP out. Shaw should have already pushed out Young but has failed to do so. Valencia is leaving so if Dalot fails we have problems at LB. Bailley and Lindelof have to push out Jones Smalling in their prime.

    The problem is we do not have any positions sorted (by that I mean for the next 3+ seasons) with any certainty. If we did we could say, OK no need to worry about that position we can focus elsewhere,.

    I understand JM thinking in getting an old CB but the problem is(was) they are not cheap (eg Sanchez) and no guarantee will be up to Scratch (eg Schweinsteiger)

    But yes, I agree we should be looking at players on their way up not down, and players who can give us a reasonable lifespan.

    #1734576

    TheLegend
    Participant
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    I agree, The fault lies with the managers because they have all had enough money to maybe not assemble a world XI but atleast have a balanced squad and a plan which we have been lacking sorely from. Now I expect Ole to dm these things but what remains to be seen is if Ole is going to do it well or not. He’s humble enough to use others and that’s a good start.

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