Summer Transfer Window 2017

[Lanolin]

People are laughing at you mate because you think Iheanacho, a player widely known as costing £25m, should be signed for £40m.

To be fair he's talking about offering more to negate City's need for a buyback clause. If they were offered £40m with no buyback they may see it as acceptable for a player who they think is only 'worth' £25m now but may be worth more in future.

Not saying I'd do it, but I understand why he thinks it might be a goer.

 

[The Rhino]

Pace undoubtedly is essential if you want to be successful though. Your whole team doesn't need to be rapid, but if you lack pace in attack then your options become very limited.

United have got players who move the ball quickly, but they often struggled to break teams down last year because they lacked pace. Nobody can doubt the speed of thought of players like Mata, Zlatan, Carrick and Rooney, but they were often just moving the ball round in circles as they lacked the pace to penetrate. They looked a better unit when Rashford came in up front - he's not as good technically but gave a different dimension to their play.

Any defender will tell you that the thing they fear most is real pace. A pacey outlet often means teams drop deeper, creating space in the midfield, allowing more freedom for creative players to flourish and relieving pressure on the defence. When a team knows that they're not facing pace they can push up as high as they like, congesting midfield and harrying defenders, knowing you have no chance of making them pay for it.

There's really no point in having a great target man to hold the ball up if the rest of your players aren't quick enough to get up and support him, he's basically just doing a defensive shift in that case rather than being an attacking focal point.

Spot on, assuming our front 4 would be:

Klaassan

Sandro Giroud Siggurdsson

Only Sandro has any pace

 

[Zatara]

Would anyone have Sakho from the RS? Singlehandedly kept Palace up...

He did well in a defensive setup.

We want to play a high line with Keane and another pacy player needed...

I think that's why the RS don't want him either as they don't want to play deep

 

[NilesRossly]

Pace undoubtedly is essential if you want to be successful though. Your whole team doesn't need to be rapid, but if you lack pace in attack then your options become very limited.

United have got players who move the ball quickly, but they often struggled to break teams down last year because they lacked pace. Nobody can doubt the speed of thought of players like Mata, Zlatan, Carrick and Rooney, but they were often just moving the ball round in circles as they lacked the pace to penetrate. They looked a better unit when Rashford came in up front - he's not as good technically but gave a different dimension to their play.

Any defender will tell you that the thing they fear most is real pace. A pacey outlet often means teams drop deeper, creating space in the midfield, allowing more freedom for creative players to flourish and relieving pressure on the defence. When a team knows that they're not facing pace they can push up as high as they like, congesting midfield and harrying defenders, knowing you have no chance of making them pay for it.

There's really no point in having a great target man to hold the ball up if the rest of your players aren't quick enough to get up and support him, he's basically just doing a defensive shift in that case rather than being an attacking focal point.

Where was the pace in the 85 team? Steven was the only one who wasn't actually slow.

 

[Barnfred 55]

I did and he's probably worried that Dolberg will join Klassen.
Just putting his mind at rest.

Take Dolberg personally.

 

[blueblue]

I expect that we will sign a striker , but I think it may be one in the mould of Shane Long... a willing workhorse of a player that will score some goals, probably not too many, but will run for the team all day.
We have DCL as a tall ball winning centreforward, Sandro as a clever versatile speedy goalscoring forward(hopefully) , Rooney , at his best an exceptional cenreforward and I think that leave us looking for a hardworking type and we already know that RK likes this type of player.

 

[Goat]

Can't wait to vault my Iheanacho and Lanzini shouts in abar 3 years. Then you'll all be sorry.

Edit: oh and Tammy Abraham

Edit2: actually probably at the end of this season. So there. Ner.

Tammy Tampax is utter toilet, Lanzini is so bad its unreal and Nacho is available for 25m, yet you wanna pay 40m.

 

[bluekangaroo]

I expect that we will sign a striker , but I think it may be one in the mould of Shane Long... a willing workhorse of a player that will score some goals, probably not too many, but will run for the team all day.
We have DCL as a tall ball winning centreforward, Sandro as a clever versatile speedy goalscoring forward(hopefully) , Rooney , at his best an exceptional cenreforward and I think that leave us looking for a hardworking type and we already know that RK likes this type of player.

I do wish people would stop referring to DCL as some sort of monster striker who'll hold up the ball, dominate defenders, etc. He's a scrawny youngster who may or may not yet make it, but nobody has any idea yet.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Pace undoubtedly is essential if you want to be successful though. Your whole team doesn't need to be rapid, but if you lack pace in attack then your options become very limited.

United have got players who move the ball quickly, but they often struggled to break teams down last year because they lacked pace. Nobody can doubt the speed of thought of players like Mata, Zlatan, Carrick and Rooney, but they were often just moving the ball round in circles as they lacked the pace to penetrate. They looked a better unit when Rashford came in up front - he's not as good technically but gave a different dimension to their play.

Any defender will tell you that the thing they fear most is real pace. A pacey outlet often means teams drop deeper, creating space in the midfield, allowing more freedom for creative players to flourish and relieving pressure on the defence. When a team knows that they're not facing pace they can push up as high as they like, congesting midfield and harrying defenders, knowing you have no chance of making them pay for it.

There's really no point in having a great target man to hold the ball up if the rest of your players aren't quick enough to get up and support him, he's basically just doing a defensive shift in that case rather than being an attacking focal point.

That's all great but then Liverpool are probably the fastest team and they couldn't break down bottom half teams either. Meanwhile Spurs who are much slower scored tons more

 

[Lanolin]

Where was the pace in the 85 team? Steven was the only one who wasn't actually slow.

But would we have won the league if he wasn't quick? He gave us a dimension we didn't otherwise have, which is exactly what I was talking about. Not everybody has to be quick, but you need some real pace in the side to give you that option.

Anyway, it was a different world then.

Rightly or wrongly football is now a game where athleticism is as important as ball control. You think Bale would be playing for Real Madrid if he ran like Mark Pembridge? He's there because he's strong and quick, and those qualities are very important in modern football.

 

[BlueToff]

Pace undoubtedly is essential if you want to be successful though. Your whole team doesn't need to be rapid, but if you lack pace in attack then your options become very limited.

United have got players who move the ball quickly, but they often struggled to break teams down last year because they lacked pace. Nobody can doubt the speed of thought of players like Mata, Zlatan, Carrick and Rooney, but they were often just moving the ball round in circles as they lacked the pace to penetrate. They looked a better unit when Rashford came in up front - he's not as good technically but gave a different dimension to their play.

Any defender will tell you that the thing they fear most is real pace. A pacey outlet often means teams drop deeper, creating space in the midfield, allowing more freedom for creative players to flourish and relieving pressure on the defence. When a team knows that they're not facing pace they can push up as high as they like, congesting midfield and harrying defenders, knowing you have no chance of making them pay for it.

There's really no point in having a great target man to hold the ball up if the rest of your players aren't quick enough to get up and support him, he's basically just doing a defensive shift in that case rather than being an attacking focal point.

But we have got quick players. People are just ignoring that fact is my point.

Sandro, Lookman, Kev, Bolasie - all quick.

Could we do with one more? Probably.

But should they be the priority over that target man? That's what I'm not sure on.

I suppose the best of both worlds would be someone like Josh King. PL experience, he often drops deep to hold the ball up, and then has the pace to get in behind as well.

I reckon Sandro will be able to do that, though, so the 'target man' has to be the main priority for me.

 

[toffeejack]

But would we have won the league if he wasn't quick? He gave us a dimension we didn't otherwise have, which is exactly what I was talking about. Not everybody has to be quick, but you need some real pace in the side to give you that option.

Anyway, it was a different world then.

Rightly or wrongly football is now a game where athleticism is as important as ball control. You think Bale would be playing for Real Madrid if he ran like Mark Pembridge? He's there because he's strong and quick, and those qualities are very important in modern football.

If it was so important then why are wingers a dying breed? There's a genuine lack of top class wingers in world football atm

 

[Lanolin]

That's all great but then Liverpool are probably the fastest team and they couldn't break down bottom half teams either. Meanwhile Spurs who are much slower scored tons more

You're mangling the point.

I'm not saying the fastest team wins, simply that pace is important overall. Kane and Alli may not give Usain Bolt many nightmares, but they're quick enough to make defenders think twice about pushing up too far. Giroud and Sigurdsson are not. Again though, nothing wrong with those 2, it's all about options and horses for courses.

 

[blueblue]

I do wish people would stop referring to DCL as some sort of monster striker who'll hold up the ball, dominate defenders, etc. He's a scrawny youngster who may or may not yet make it, but nobody has any idea yet.

DCL is 21 next birthday , is 6 foot 2 inches tall and for different clubs has 54 senior games under his belt, 11 in the premiership.

There is no reason, if good enough and RK seems to think he is, why he should not play a substantial part in our season.

 

[bluekangaroo]

DCL is 21 next birthday , is 6 foot 2 inches tall and for different clubs has 54 senior games under his belt, 11 in the premiership.

There is no reason, if good enough and RK seems to think he is, why he should not play a substantial part in our season.

Crikey, so now he's the replacement for Lukaku ?!