The way forward

[eskton]

Reina in goal

carra and agger in centre of defence

Alonso and Gerrard in centre of midfield

Torres up top

 

We don't need to spend £17m on a defensive midfielder who will never score for us. We used to call Ray Wilkins "The crab" for doing the same job. We need to have Gerrard and Alonso in centre mid as often as possible

 

If we have money, and we can spend big, then we need a partner for Torres. Crouch, Kuyt, and Voronin are average at best. We need Anelka, Owen, Berbatov, Villa or someone like that

 

someone to help torres

[Gunga Din]

i agree with all this. for me its either Alonso or Masherano. we dont need both

[Cobs]

i'd rather keep Mascherano than Alonso

 

 

 

 

there, i said it.

[Gunga Din]

i'd rather keep Mascherano than Alonso

 

 

 

 

there, i said it.

 

Alonso improved tenfold in the time he spent injured. got better by the week in the eyes of some of our fans. never before has a player improved so much without kicking a ball

[BG]

i'd rather keep Mascherano than Alonso

there, i said it.

 

So would I, as I've said in other threads. I'm becoming less convinced by Xabi as time goes on (in the Premier League anyway). Mascherano IMO is a mile better defensively, gets further forward (becuase he is much quicker) and his distribution is improving fast.

[Guest Si]

In total agreement. Masch over Alonso any day.

[Guest Taxman]

Get rid of both and bump Lucas

[Lanus]

Mascherano isn't in the team to score goals... why mention that at all? as for whether we need both himself and Alonso.. Im not sure we can fit them both in either.

[The Hitman]

If it's a toss up between the two,I'd choose Masch.

 

However,ideally I'd prefer to see a Champ Man team something like this:

 

Reina

 

Arbeloa Carra Agger Aurelio

 

Masch Gerrard Alonso

 

Winger Winger

Torres

[alias75]

That theory just doesnt stand up when you look at a team like Man Utd that have played virtually all season with 2 central midfielders that don't score any goals or get any assists (2 from Hargreaves, Anderson, Carrick) of course the difference is they have Ronaldo getting all those goals and assists from midfield.

 

Mascherano has been one of our top 3 players all season, i dont think financially we have to sacrafice him (or Alonso) to get the attacking players we need. Lets sell Sissoko, Carson, Crouch, Kuyt, Riise, Veronin, Guthrie before we write of one of the few truly great players we have.

 

if it means the squad is a couple of players less than it currently is or we use players from the ressies to fill squad spots so be it.

[Guest JV]

Alonso improved tenfold in the time he spent injured. got better by the week in the eyes of some of our fans. never before has a player improved so much without kicking a ball

He's not the first and won't be the last player to do so.

[The Hitman]

He's not the first and won't be the last player to do so.

See Dean Ashton as the best example.

Out injured and all of a sudden he was England's only hope!

[Guest RedLegend]

Have to admit I'd take Mascherano too.

 

Xabi started brilliantly for us but his performance levels have been gradually diminishing season after season.

[Stevie H]

f*** me has it come to this?

 

alonso is one of the most under-rated players in f***ing history.

[Gunga Din]

f*** me has it come to this?

 

alonso is one of the most under-rated players in f***ing history.

 

 

he has had a poor 12 months Steve.

[Magic8Ball]

Reina in goal

carra and agger in centre of defence

Alonso and Gerrard in centre of midfield

Torres up top

 

We don't need to spend £17m on a defensive midfielder who will never score for us. We used to call Ray Wilkins "The crab" for doing the same job. We need to have Gerrard and Alonso in centre mid as often as possible

 

If we have money, and we can spend big, then we need a partner for Torres. Crouch, Kuyt, and Voronin are average at best. We need Anelka, Owen, Berbatov, Villa or someone like that

 

someone to help torres

There are several attributes of the way forward

your assumption is the way forward is 442, it may not be

your assumption that we will pay 17m direct and not fund that with say 10m from the sale of Sissoko - meaning we spend 7m net.

 

 

The way forward imho is to learn to attack, buy attacking players whose main duty is to attack and not defend, and reduce the squad

 

1- buying 2 world class wingers allows us to play 433 with Mash holding, Alonso passing and Gerrard breaking into attack - the wingers and Torres should be keeping the opposition busy

 

2 - reducing the squad, why have so many average players in the squad ? - we should look at selling the "average " players and using youth team players

 

3 - we cannot treat each game by trying to nullify the opposition, its clearly too much for the players to cope with - especially on a busy schedule- we should make the opposition fear us - 2 free scoring wingers would stretch the play leaving holes for alonso pass through and gerrard to break through

 

4 - the best defense is not being compact and drilling the team in how to defend ( sure this has value) the best defense is in KEEPING THE BALL

 

5 - you dont win as many games by not conceeding as you do by scoring freely (NUFC excepted)

 

and so on

[MFletcher]

We don't need to spend £17m on a defensive midfielder who will never score for us.

 

Do you understand the role that Masch plays in the team or are you just pretending to be clueless?

[Guest RedLegend]

he has had a poor 12 months Steve.

 

And I remember many were saying the same thing a year ago.

 

Just not imposing himself on games as much as he should IMO. Oppposition players get much closer to him now and don't give him time to spray the ball about and Xabi doesn't have the pace to get away from them.

[Chewie]

That theory just doesnt stand up when you look at a team like Man Utd that have played virtually all season with 2 central midfielders that don't score any goals or get any assists (2 from Hargreaves, Anderson, Carrick) of course the difference is they have Ronaldo getting all those goals and assists from midfield.

 

Mascherano has been one of our top 3 players all season, i dont think financially we have to sacrafice him (or Alonso) to get the attacking players we need. Lets sell Sissoko, Carson, Crouch, Kuyt, Riise, Veronin, Guthrie before we write of one of the few truly great players we have.

 

if it means the squad is a couple of players less than it currently is or we use players from the ressies to fill squad spots so be it.

 

agree with this...was listening to some stuff on the radio about how Rafa has spent more than Fergie since he's been here (don't worry about the net figure - basic point stands...Rafa has spent more £s than Fergie in the same period to bring in the players he feels he needed). The point though is this - Rafa needed to spend more money on a greater number of players than Fergis had to. Fergie spent less money on less players with greater quality. Rafa has had to spend more money on more players with less quality...

 

If its a choice between a smaller squad with greater quality or a larger squad with lesser first team quality then I'm all for the former...

 

the point though is this...when Rafa inherited the base on which to build was this - Gerrard and Carra...

 

now the base on which to build is Reina, Agger, Carra, Gerrard, Masch, Alonso, Babel, Torres...

 

there's a core of lesser lights that add to what we have ...Lucas, Arbeleo, Benayoun, Finnan, Aurelio

 

everyone else is up for grabs to be replaced by fewer players but with genuine quality...the lack of strength in depth can be mitigated against by doing a Wenger and starting to play all these foreign kids we've been bringing in in the two cups...

 

Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin - replace with one truly great forward

 

Sissoko, Pennant, Kewell - replace with one really gifted midfielder

 

Riise, Hyypia - time's up for a genuine classy defender...

 

keep the core quality and let our reserves and youth team players believe they have a chance of pushing for something...

 

what's the point of playing in our reservces if you look at the first team squad and see over 30 professional players...

 

I hate to say this but Fergie has known for a long time that the combination of hunger and quality is the key...

 

Chewie

[eskton]

Alonso is a better player than Mascherano

 

can go forward and score goals

 

our defense is sound, second best in league i think, 7th best goal scorers in the league says it all

[Guest JV]

See Dean Ashton as the best example.

Out injured and all of a sudden he was England's only hope!

Aye. Add player name here ___________

[Guest RedLegend]

Alonso is a better player than Mascherano

 

can go forward and score goals

 

Only 12 goals over 3 seasons in all competitions. Average of 4 a season. That is not that good for a central midfielder.

Edited January 3, 2008 by RedLegend

[Guest JV]

Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin - replace with one truly great forward

 

Sissoko, Pennant, Kewell - replace with one really gifted midfielder

 

Riise, Hyypia - time's up for a genuine classy defender...

 

I know hes getting on but he's outperformed Carra as far as I am concerned this season.

[alias75]

Alonso is a better player than Mascherano

 

can go forward and score goals

 

our defense is sound, second best in league i think, 7th best goal scorers in the league says it all

 

Part of the reason our defense is sound is because we have Mascherano, having a midfield of Gerrard / Alonso wont solve our lack of goals problem, Gerrard already gets more than enough, thats not the problem and he'll score if he plays in the middle or not. The problem is we dont get enough goals from our wingers and 3 of our 4 strikers aren't contributing enough.

 

I think the back 5 and a midfield 2 of Mascherano / Alonso is a very strong base to start from, we have Torres and Gerrard as effective attacking players, we need 2 more.

[MFletcher]

I know hes getting on but he's outperformed Carra as far as I am concerned this season.

 

I would agree with that as well.