#mufc's squad has 2 primary issues that need solving
1. Midfield Balance 2. Depth vs Balance
Let's take a look at each:
Before I start — this is NOT an 'excuse'
1. Mufc ARE unbalanced 2. Mufc should STILL have won yday
BOTH of these can & is true
Now let's dive in:
1. Midfield Balance
A balanced midfield should:
- dictate play
- maintain tempo
- hold def shape
- press/counter press
- create
+ Lot more
Our options
Pogba, Bruno, VDB, Matic, Fred, McT
No 3 man combo from this can do all of that
Only a 4 man mid can but 💎 has flaws (FBs)
This is bc we've many mids who offer very similar or the same thing
The diff btwn Fred/Matic/McT are evident BUT for each of them to work, you need to start one of the other two at least. Exact same case with Pogba, Bruno, VDB.
They're different but not complimentary - issue
Mufc aren't the only teams to face this:
LFC & City both faced sim issues & they fixed it by handing one/more of the said duties to their fullbacks.
LFC FBs create, City's invert & help with shape & tempo.
But our fullbacks aren't well rounded enough to take up an extra role.
So a 3 man mid w McFred is solid but no creativity, other way around for PP/Bruno
4 man mid means our FBs are asked to provide all the width which they can't do
So our options are:
1. Pick a 3 man mid - sacrifice 1 role 2. Pick a 4 man mid - sacrifice width
None offer balance
This lack of balance - not having players who complement each other is our biggest issue
Now if we'd Sancho, instead of trying to shift an extra duty on to our full backs we couldve shifted the creative role to our wings & played a workman mid — balanced
But we dont have an RW
Now coming to the wings:
We have 0 out & out wingers. We have 2 inside forwards in Rashford & Martial & 1 CF being played as an RW in Mason who in practice basically plays as an RF
No balance thanks to no complimentary profiles on the wings either - why a creative RW was impt
That brings us to the 2nd point
2. Depth vs Balance
United've a lot of depth
- We can easily start 2 different XIs now and they can both look competitive on paper.
But w/o balance in profiles what we have is 2 copies of the same abv mentioned issue.
Depth doesn't mean Balance
vs PSG & Leipzig, we masked balance issues with:
back 5 vs PSG: solid mid, creative role helped by FBs
💎 Vs RBL: balanced 4 man mid
BUT:
- w/o Telles (like vs PSG), can't play a back 5 well
- w/o superb FBs 💎s only work vs certain teams
Balance will haunt us in other games
None of this means the XI put out yday should've lost — none of this is an excuse
We lost yday and to Arsenal bc we didn't apply ourselves — neither tactically nor in person
Fault is with Ole & with the players
But this squad is still unbalanced — don't let the results mask it
The solution isn't as far away as it seems:
- one solid RW could've covered it for the time being
- One solid RW + a complementary 8 who can play well in a pivot + a mobile DM who can progress play solves the issues for good
But unfortunately none of that happened.
Last season we had the same imbalance but we masked it & we went on an unbeaten 19 game run at the end to secure third with Pogba, Bruno & Matic in mid.
But towards the end teams figured out a tight press can expose our imbalance. Now all team press us tight - that's football
By the end of the season we knew the imbalance would need to be sorted as teams had figured out how to play against us
We went into the market with this idea, we got a 10 who's a complimentary profile to Bruno but failed to get a complimentary profile RW - now we pay the price
Again this is NOT an excuse, this is the reality
We WERE poor yday but no amt of coaching/tactics can mask this imbalance forever. It can be masked for some games but not all. The board hasnt helped
And thats the same reality a new manager will walk into just like the prev four
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Over the last few weeks, the constant chatter has been VDB's playing time.
United have played 8 games so far and Donny has featured in 7. Only Rashford has featured in more.
Either way let's dive in & tackle this non-issue👇
One of United's biggest issue last season was the lack of creativity on the bench. Ole was criticized for not making substitutions when the game wasn't going our way.
Against Seville in the EL Semi's we didn't make a sub until the 87th min - clear sign Ole didn't trust his bench
This season, the first thing he addressed was this issue
- Donny van de Beek for £35m
Donny has primarily played as an AM at Ajax but has also featured at CM and very rarely at DM too.
But Ole didn't sign him to be a CM/DM, Ole signed him to be a back up 10 as is clear below👇
So wait, it's ok to play VDB out of position just to start him but when Pogba has to drop a little deep Ole is a clown playing him out of position?
So you do know players need to play in their best position but only as long as you can use it to criticize the manager?
Got it.
Even funnier now that Pogba is getting to play further up no one is complaining. But why is he getting to play further up? Bcs he's used as an impact sub against tired legs meaning he has less defensive workload
Almost as if the manager knows how when & where to play his players
None of this 'VDB has to start' agenda is coming from a place where they think it's a valid criticism. These fans clearly know without dropping Bruno VDB has to play out of position to start - they're not dumb. But if it means they get to bash on the manager they'll act dumb.
Ole's been our manager for 1.5 seasons and 3 windows now. Ideally he should now be getting his 8-10th signing and the rebuild should be on its last stretch.
But the mess he took over was so huge that 3 windows in, he still has 7-8 unwanted players left to clear out.
Fans need to realise the sheer magnitude of the rebuild he took over. The solution was never going to be just buying players who he wants and likes.
Before he gets to do that, first he has to clear out the ones not needed and we had quite a few of them.
The wages of those players along with their absymal form means finding a buyer for most of them is difficult.
But even with those constraints, Ole is doing the best he can - loan them out with the hopes of getting a buyer later.