Manchester United Teamtalk/Transfer/Gossip 23/24 - [New Thread Available]

piplip87

Fred another woeful performance. It would be nice to get a DM who can actually defend and pass the ball. As for the formation this 4231 does not suit the players we have. But again we don't have the holding Midfielder to allow pogba to play centrally and have some more freedom.

Massive investment needed

Liam O

piplip87 wrote: »

Fred another woeful performance. It would be nice to get a DM who can actually defend and pass the ball. As for the formation this 4231 does not suit the players we have. But again we don't have the holding Midfielder to allow pogba to play centrally and have some more freedom.

Massive investment needed

In fairness he's played a lot of games the last 2 seasons. He's put in some monster performances at times but has always struggled with consistency I guess...

fatherted1969

I rest my case on Fred, honestly its the most crucial piece of business this summer in getting in a proper CDM. It absolutely changes this team. He doesn't have a single facet of his game that keeps him in a team challenging for a title, not 1

y0ssar1an22

thank god i had a few people over to watch that with, would have been banned.

shambolic.

henderson...spilled one, lead to a goal. spilled another a few mins later. standard takes as well. dont know where that leaves the goalkeeper scenario for next year, but it looks like DDG has been ostracized (see lukaku and martial).

bailly...awful. just sell him
AWB...zero positional sense
shaw...bad game, coming inside on your bad foot into your own box?
victor...not sure if good/bad/needs a leader. it should have been you today
fred/mctominay...useless today. buy 1 competent DM to replace the 2 in CM
rashford...good when moved to the left. his best position
pogba... ineffectual. don't bother trying to use your strength to shield the ball, just move it.
bruno..quiet but got a goal (maybe)
cavani...did alright with what was on offer


decent from mins 5-10, and for about 10mins after greenwood came on.

ole's interview afterwards was shocking. i said it to the lads that he looked shell shocked during the interview and keane echoed my sentiments.


there are zero positives to take out of that game. so bad all over the pitch. that could be doing liverpool a disservice though. maybe they are a better team, and simply played.

y0ssar1an22

Whatsisname wrote: »

Shocking.

https://twitter.com/samuelluckhurst/status/1392936019327082507?s=20

that problem has been highlighted here for about 2 years.

last year for example...least goals conceded from open play in the league. sounds good.

but no, a **** ton conceded from set plays. and nothing done to address it.

Liam O

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

that problem has been highlighted here for about 2 years.

last year for example...least goals conceded from open play in the league. sounds good.

but no, a **** ton conceded from set plays. and nothing done to address it.

Well in fairness playing Henderson over De Gea is a proactive step to working on this and Maguire was a big miss tonight. Hopefully work is going on behind the scenes and we see improvement as it is a problem.

y0ssar1an22

Liam O wrote: »

Well in fairness playing Henderson over De Gea is a proactive step to working on this and Maguire was a big miss tonight. Hopefully work is going on behind the scenes and we see improvement as it is a problem.

you can call this the eye ball test cos i have zero data to back it up.

henderson/DDG/lev yashin are responsible for less than 5% of goals stopped from set pieces.
its really down to the defense around the keeper, keepers are the last line of defense.

and that has not improved in the slightest under ole. prob getting worse in fact.

harry was a loss, i grant you. liverpool had 2 massively inexperienced CB players.
how is it that liverpool could exploit that but utd, vs a worse defense, couldn't?

and for that one goal, i was just hoping henderson would come out and close down the angle. but no, rooted to his spot.

i suppose if i focus on the progress.

pjohnson

Still cant believe some want to see Pogba in a 2 man midfield.

That musta been tried and failed miserably at least a hundred times already.

We may aswell stick our hopes on Lingard and Jones while we are at it.

GSPfan

Not gonna lie, I take a bit of satisfaction from last night in terms of the frailties of the team being put on show for all to see. This should solidify the 3 priority positions we need this Summer.

1. CDM to replace McFred and move Pogba to play alongside Bruno in a 4123 type scenario.

2. CB to partner Maguire and not have us subjected to the Bailly Lindelof disasterclass anymore.

3. RW to prevent a scenario where Rashford needs to play on the right. Rashford needs to play on the left or sit on the bench.

S.M.B.

I think the "how do you play Pogba and Bruno together?" conundrum that first raised itself 14 months ago has yet to be actually resolved.

Fred continues to show that his only real contribution to the team is without the ball. Don't think we can carry such a limited player in such a key area of the pitch unfortunately. I think he's regressed in terms of the other side of his game unfortunately.

Backstreet Moyes

Ole has turned me around but he has to take a lot of blame last night

My dog could tell you playing Rashford on the right is like lining up with 10 men and I don't have a dog

Fred couldn't string a pass together and was kept on way too long

Also whoever is involved in set pieces should be sacked

Lord TSC

We had the RW hole in the squad last summer. CB too, really.

Didn’t plug them, and now we have a CDM hole and possibly a striker one too.

Have said before. We aren’t plugging the holes quick enough. We will probably address one or two this summer, leave the other two for another season, only for more holes to form.

pjohnson

I'd have Tuanzebe & Greenwood just ahead of Bailly & Rashford atm for starting the EL final.

beakerjoe

I think the Henderson flack is unfair.

He had a bad game. He chose the wrong option for the Salah goal, but its one game. Hopefully he will learn from the mistakes.

Made a fantastic intervention one on one with Mane that he had no right to win. So its swings and roundabouts.

The team in general didnt play well.

loyatemu

Pogba was dreadful last night, back to his worst, strolling about, misplacing passes, contributing very little.

He's been better this season, but he's just not consistently good enough, and he's pushing Rashford out of position.
Has he (Pog) signed a new contract? If we got a half decent offer for him, we should let him go.

beakerjoe

pjohnson wrote: »

I'd have Tuanzebe & Greenwood just ahead of Bailly & Rashford atm for starting the EL final.

Axel did very well against PSG with Harry, would like to see more of them as a pair. Dont think Axel has had a fair run in the team.

El Gato De Negocios

It beggars belief how consistently awful we are at set pieces.

Not just defending them, but attacking them too. Every time there is a free kick within 50 yards of our goal or a corner against is, I genuinely feel like we are going to concede. This has been going on for 12 months or more. It has to be down to coaching / lack thereof. Its a very obvious week spot, every team knows it and try to exploit it. I also never feel like we have a good chance of a goal when we are on the other end.

I saw a stat last night, dont know how true it is but it said over the last 3 years, we have won the same number of home games against big 6 teams as Sheffield United, and they were in the championship for one of those seasons.

Mantis Toboggan

beakerjoe wrote: »

Axel did very well against PSG with Harry, would like to see more of them as a pair. Dont think Axel has had a fair run in the team.

He's been banished after that horror show in Turkey, same with Mata, Matic, de beek and martial, if we won that game we had a good chance in the champions league.

Mitch Connor

El Gato De Negocios wrote: »

It beggars belief how consistently awful we are at set pieces.

Not just defending them, but attacking them too. Every time there is a free kick within 50 yards of our goal or a corner against is, I genuinely feel like we are going to concede. This has been going on for 12 months or more. It has to be down to coaching / lack thereof. Its a very obvious week spot, every team knows it and try to exploit it. I also never feel like we have a good chance of a goal when we are on the other end.

I saw a stat last night, dont know how true it is but it said over the last 3 years, we have won the same number of home games against big 6 teams as Sheffield United, and they were in the championship for one of those seasons.

about 30% of the goals we have conceded this season are set pieces. I think it is the highest proportion in the league.

IBrows89

If anything the last two games have shown is that United's strength not only in depth but in starting line up isn't good enough. It could be a good thing in the long run that we lose these games and everyone can see the obvious lacking in talent in games that won't impact the season but against other big clubs.

If we had won both games people in the club may have thought there's not that much need of investment but the media around the last two games will have to make people notice.

I genuinely don't think we should sell anyone that played this year, get rid of Jones and the rest that haven't played, but we need a squad and people fighting for positions. Make three big signings, cb, cdm & RW and then that breeds internal squad competition and people fighting for positions.

Last night Fred had another howler, will he play in the final, almost definitely because there isn't alternatives. The lack of genuine competition for places at United is a disgrace. Telles and Shaw being a prime example (although it been brought up a million times at Sky), at the start of the year I thought Telles would walk into the starting team, the crosses he has been putting in are immense, but they pushed each other and not only did Shaw improve he's now the best left back in the league. No other positions are like that currently, due to injuries, lay offs (De Gea) and serious lack of talent.

At least we can try and remain positive with a top 2 position and a Europa cup trophy and then try and improve next year. Could be better, could be a hell of a lot worse, summer transfers will really tell us the vision of the club.

Mitch Connor

beakerjoe wrote: »

I think the Henderson flack is unfair.

He had a bad game. He chose the wrong option for the Salah goal, but its one game. Hopefully he will learn from the mistakes.

Made a fantastic intervention one on one with Mane that he had no right to win. So its swings and roundabouts.

The team in general didnt play well.

I can somewhat forgive the 3rd goal - but I just can't get my head around what he was doing for the 4th. Stayed in one spot, not narrowing the angle or engaging the striker at all, while being about a foot too far to his left in the first place. He may as well have stuck his hand in the air asking for Off-side Barthez style cause he essentially made zero effort to save it.

billyhead

Just aswell there was no fans present last night. The team might have had to put up with a hostile atmosphere i.e a chorus of boos from the Stretford end after the whistle blew for full time.

Klopp

Fred for me has always been a big concern, it is one of the reasons why Ole plays him in a two. I don't see a player in him, two left feet, he loses the ball too much, too many sloppy passes and always needs about 3 touches to control a pass into him. Is it any wonder why we concede so many goals when the defence has zero protection? The gaping holes in midfield and defence have been there all season.

The CB issue, everyone has said all season that Maguire needs a top CB partner yet Lindelof plays every game with Bailly and Axel on the bench. Bailly signed his new contract and it obvious Axel will be the one to move in the summer which I would disagree with, there's a player there and i don't think he has got a fair run of games.


As for Rashford and Henderson, they both need to be binned for the Europa Final. I have major concerns over Rashford, how many times he loses the ball, our attacks break down and he either looks for the Hollywood pass or he loses and does nothing to win it back.

Whatsisname

beakerjoe wrote: »

Axel did very well against PSG with Harry, would like to see more of them as a pair. Dont think Axel has had a fair run in the team.

He played alongside Lindelof and Shaw in a back 3 that night, Maguire was suspended I think. But I agree, I would trust Axel more than Bailly and think he was potential to improve with more game time whereas I don’t think Bailly will ever eradicate his poor decision making.

IncognitoMan

Lord TSC wrote: »

We had the RW hole in the squad last summer. CB too, really.

Didn’t plug them, and now we have a CDM hole and possibly a striker one too.

Have said before. We aren’t plugging the holes quick enough. We will probably address one or two this summer, leave the other two for another season, only for more holes to form.

This x1000 times, this

It's the same every summer under the Glazers. We have 3/4 maybe 5 positions that are needed to push for the title. But the title is never their aim.

We'll plug 1 position this summer (and I think it will be a big enough name because of the super league stuff - trying to appease fans) and maybe buy a younger player as they will hold their value for longer. That would be my guess.

We spent all last summer trying to plug the rw gap and failed. But we needed a CB, DM, RW and ST last summer to challenge. First team player levels.

My guess is we'll get someone like Rice - try to play him as a single holding midfielder despite his best performances coming as part of a 2 man piviot for West Ham this season.

That will take us until October/November to figure out - we'll switch to 4231 and play OK and probably qualify for CL in 4th in the last couple of weeks. And we will all be back here saying, we need a CB, ST etc... the following summer

Chelsea and Liverpool will both over take us next season - Liverpool will surely not have the injury issues and Chelsea will have a full season under Tuchel.

Cookiemunster

beakerjoe wrote: »

I think the Henderson flack is unfair.

He had a bad game. He chose the wrong option for the Salah goal, but its one game. Hopefully he will learn from the mistakes.

Made a fantastic intervention one on one with Mane that he had no right to win. So its swings and roundabouts.

The team in general didnt play well.

The thing is it's not his first time making big mistakes. He just got away with them previously. He got lucky against Burnley when Woods goal was ruled offside and when he dropped an easy ball from a cross in the same game, that there were no Burnley players there. His howler against Sheff Utd away comes to mind too. There were others too. And I remember a few bad mistakes when he was at Sheff Utd too.

I personally don't think he's the answer and think that goalkeeper is now on the list of needed signings along with CB, DM, RW and striker.

pjohnson

I wouldn't be the least suprised to see Matic get the nod over Fred for the EL final.

Klopp

pjohnson wrote: »

I wouldn't be the least suprised to see Matic get the nod over Fred for the EL final.

I expect Matic to play 30mins on Tuesday and an hour or so against Wolves if he's in Ole thinking. Ole will need the experience with Maguire doubtful.

mamax

pjohnson wrote: »

I wouldn't be the least suprised to see Matic get the nod over Fred for the EL final.

That would be a good call, but does Ole have the balls to do it ?
When fred is under pressure he gives the ball away too much, would like to see Rice brought in and fred kept as a squad player.

adox

Rashford is easily a first team player for me and one of our best attacking options.

He can play from the left or through the centre. He cant play on the right. Whether it doesnt suit him or he doesnt put the same effort in, it doesnt matter the reason at this stage. If he is played there he may as well not be on the pitch and it also takes away from our threat on the left. I mean the difference when Mason came on and Rshford was switched to the left was instant.

Its Pogbas natural position as well but in a different role and he has played it quite well for the most part over the last few games but, Rashford suits Oles game plan much more than Pogba in that position.

Lord TSC

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The thing is it's not his first time making big mistakes. He just got away with them previously. He got lucky against Burnley when Woods goal was ruled offside and when he dropped an easy ball from a cross in the same game, that there were no Burnley players there. His howler against Sheff Utd away comes to mind too. There were others too. And I remember a few bad mistakes when he was at Sheff Utd too.

I personally don't think he's the answer and think that goalkeeper is now on the list of needed signings along with CB, DM, RW and striker.

I’m not saying I agree or disagree about Henderson’s quality or how he preformed last night.

I just think that we simply cannot afford to start worrying about a goalkeeper right now. There’s simply too many holes in the squad to start worrying about upgrading on DDG and Henderson, with an Oblak level signing. It’s a position that’s strong enough for now, whereas the other four absolutely aren’t.

billyhead

The best case likelihood this Summer is we get 2 quality first team players when in fact we need 4 at a minimum to compete for the title i.e DM, RW, CB and ST. We need to keep DeGea because I'm still not convinced by Henderson.

Klopp

mamax wrote: »

That would be a good call, but does Ole have the balls to do it ?
When fred is under pressure he gives the ball away too much, would like to see Rice brought in and fred kept as a squad player.

Bissouma would be much value and cheaper than Rice leaving Ole with more budget.

Caegan

Klopp wrote: »

Bissouma would be much value and cheaper than Rice leaving Ole with more budget.

But Rice would offer cover at CB if needed.

Whatsisname

Henderson was poor last night. Palming the ball back into the 6 yard box was awful and his positioning for Salah's goal was horrendous, proper amateur. But I think some are forgetting how poor DDG has been for 2 and a half years or so. If DDG was playing to the best of his abilities, Henderson wouldn't be starting ahead of him now.

DDG was at fault for Leipzig's third goal when he cowardly jibbed 5ft 7 Justin Kluivert. He palmed the ball straight back into the 6 yard box against Everton after making a meal out of a weak shot. He then jibbed Calvert Lewin for their equaliser. I'm sure theres more this season that I can't remember. But even going back a few months more he was terrible in the FA Cup Semi Final too.

Henderson seems too eager to show he's better at DDG's weaknesses which causes him to be erratic sometimes. He's definitely not as good a shot stopper as DDG but he's generally braver and quicker off his line. Whether he's the answer or not to succeeding DDG I don't know. But DDG too started his United career with howlers so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

Ultimately I think Henderson is the type of keeper Ole wants, but whether it's actually him to cement the no.1 spot for the foreseeable is up for debate.

Klopp

Caegan wrote: »

But Rice would offer cover at CB if needed.

I am not sure Rice has played CB for WH this season or before? I think we have plenty of cover in the CB and if we signed someone like Bissouma he would offer a lot more cover to our defence.

Klopp

Whatsisname wrote: »

Ultimately I think Henderson is the type of keeper Ole wants, but whether it's actually him to cement the no.1 spot for the foreseeable is up for debate.

I agree, one of the big differences between the two is De Gea stays on his line and rarely leaves the six yard box whereas Henderson players higher and comes out, pushing the defence the forward to play a higher line. Henderson reminds me of Pickford, has made some really poor decisions and last night was no surprise. Look at the first goal we conceded, he was flapping.

piplip87

I'd like to see two up top with Greenwood and Cavani. Bruno behind and a good DM against teams we should be beating 4231 is too negative and has cost us against weaker teams.

Liam O

loyatemu wrote: »

Pogba was dreadful last night, back to his worst, strolling about, misplacing passes, contributing very little.

He's been better this season, but he's just not consistently good enough, and he's pushing Rashford out of position.
Has he (Pog) signed a new contract? If we got a half decent offer for him, we should let him go.

This is it. Rashford gets blamed for Pogba's need to be shoehorned into the team. He's nowhere near the best 11 and unless his attitude completely does a 180 which hasn't happened in the last 4 years then it's going to remain as such.

Play him in the 2, doesn't run or track back.

Play him in a midfield 3, doesn't run or track back.

Play him on the left, doesn't run or track back.

I mean when is everyone going to wake up?! United spent 100m on a complete did who's game hasn't evolved and McTominay has been better than him since coming into the team.

Everything has been tried and he's still the glaring issue.

Bleating Lamb

So it more or less looks like Maguire is out for game v Villareal.
It looks as if it will be Bailly beside Lindelof for the final even though neither of them played well last night.Moving across to the left handed CB position means Lindelof struggles coming out with the ball as he is right footed.
Bailly can be both brilliant and brutal in the same passage of play.....and gave the ball away an awful lot last night.
Tuanzebe hasn't played enough to be trusted to start the final in place of Bailly imo.

I'm wondering is there something to be said for starting either Mc Tominay or Matic CB instead of Bailly in the Final?

A lack of pace could be dangerous for Matic but if Villareal don't have real speedster forwards his positional sense and heading ability could be invaluable when defending corners and set pieces. Could slot MC T and Fred in front of the defence to protect Matic being caught on the break.
Likewise you could start Mc Tominay there as he reads the game well...stays on his feet and is great in the air. If doing so I would have Matic and Fred in front of him.
Personally I would start Greenwood on the right,Pogba on the left and Bruno behind Cavani in the final ....and have the pace and trickery of Rashford to come in on left hand side after 60 mins....depending on how the game is going.

To try and see who would work best together I think Ole should give Tuanzebe and Lindelof a start together v Fulham....and maybe bring on Matic then in CB for half an hour beside Lindelof to see how it looks.

And then in Wolves game he could start Bailly and lindelof together, and bring on Tuanzebe,Matic or Mc T for last half hour to play in CB role.

That way he has a clearer idea of his possible starting defence for the final.

My Starting Team (IF Bailly plays well in next few games) v Villareal would be


De Gea
AWB Bailly Lindelof Shaw
Mc T Fred
Greenwood Pogba
Bruno
Cavani

Anyone else care to name their preferred 11 for Final?
Presuming Harry is out of course.

Liam O

Monserrat Rotten Parrot wrote: »

this just isnt remotely true

Great rebuttal.

Look at PSG in the CL when Ole took over, leg 1 where Pogba did everything to get the team knocked out and wound up getting sent off. The team managed their best performance in years in the 2nd leg not having to carry him.

This year he succeeded in getting United knocked out by basically taking himself out of the team with his agent's comments on the eve of the last game. With the injuries and set up of Leipzig he would have been useful, but no, let's make it all about PP in the build up.

The fact anyone has any good will to him is honestly baffling. I'm sure he'll do a few tricks for France in the summer where they play a DM on the wing to cover for him and fool everyone again though!

beakerjoe

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

He's been banished after that horror show in Turkey, same with Mata, Matic, de beek and martial, if we won that game we had a good chance in the champions league.

It wasnt purely down to him though. Mata and Matic are over the hill and DVB has been underwhelming, while Martial is highly inconsistent.

beakerjoe

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I can somewhat forgive the 3rd goal - but I just can't get my head around what he was doing for the 4th. Stayed in one spot, not narrowing the angle or engaging the striker at all, while being about a foot too far to his left in the first place. He may as well have stuck his hand in the air asking for Off-side Barthez style cause he essentially made zero effort to save it.

I agree, i dunno what he was thinking.

I think hes most likely beaten either way, Salahs first touch gets him on his bike, and his next touch is so controled, it makes it highly likley that he will score regarless of what our GK does.

But yeah, if he rushes off his line he at least makes it more difficult for Salah, staying on his line made it too easy.

But on the flip side, he looked like he had no chance of stopping mane, yet he somehow did.

DM_7

Klopp wrote: »

I agree, one of the big differences between the two is De Gea stays on his line and rarely leaves the six yard box whereas Henderson players higher and comes out, pushing the defence the forward to play a higher line. Henderson reminds me of Pickford, has made some really poor decisions and last night was no surprise. Look at the first goal we conceded, he was flapping.

I like Henderson's instinct to be active rather than a reactive keeper. It is the main thing he has above DDG when comparing them.

However I don't think Henderson is ready to be United's no 1 based on his performances in the team at this time of his career.

He has some limitations that I think make him unsuitable right now, he is not assured enough and United can't afford to wait for him to get there. He reminds me a lot of a younger Kasper Schmeichel in his intent and desire and he is clearly a keeper that will be very good once he has more time.

I actually don't think United would be actively looking to buy him today if they needed a keeper.

Compare him to Mendy at Chelsea and he would be well behind imo. Mendy has many good technical qualities but he also has great maturity and is very assured. Even though he is older and not particularity experienced in terms of games played in his career he is a player that others would feel secure around, there is an aura of calmness about his play. This is something DDG always brought and it was only when he started to make technical errors that his more passive play became a real concern, it was always there but the rest of his play meant it was not significant.

Chelsea brought in Mendy as Kepa was not working out, United pushed ahead with Henderson as they had reservations over DDG but Mendy has taken ownership of his position from day one while Henderson still looks like a player not ready to take on the spot.

IBrows89

DM_7 wrote: »

I like Henderson's instinct to be active rather than a reactive keeper. It is the main thing he has above DDG when comparing them.

However I don't think Henderson is ready to be United's no 1 based on his performances in the team at this time of his career.

He has some limitations that I think make him unsuitable right now, he is not assured enough and United can't afford to wait for him to get there. He reminds me a lot of a younger Kasper Schmeichel in his intent and desire and he is clearly a keeper that will be very good once he has more time.

I actually don't think United would be actively looking to buy him today if they needed a keeper.

Compare him to Mendy at Chelsea and he would be well behind imo. Mendy has many good technical qualities but he also has great maturity and is very assured. Even though he is older and not particularity experienced in terms of games played in his career he is a player that others would feel secure around, there is an aura of calmness about his play. This is something DDG always brought and it was only when he started to make technical errors that his more passive play became a real concern, it was always there but the rest of his play meant it was not significant.

Chelsea brought in Mendy as Kepa was not working out, United pushed ahead with Henderson as they had reservations over DDG but Mendy has taken ownership of his position from day one while Henderson still looks like a player not ready to take on the spot.

I wouldn't be holding Mendy up that high, yes he has been good but he's also made mistakes as well. In Dec there were questioned about his starting position too.

I do prefer Henderson to De Gea currently as De Gea just invites pressure with his starting position and Henderson is on the way up whereas De Gea is in serious decline. United should be setting up with a keeper that puts us on the front foot rather than a reactive one.

If we could get rid of De Gea during the summer I'd be be happy to keep Henderson in a team with a new top class CB and CDM and see how we fare.

fatherted1969

GSPfan wrote: »

Not gonna lie, I take a bit of satisfaction from last night in terms of the frailties of the team being put on show for all to see. This should solidify the 3 priority positions we need this Summer.

1. CDM to replace McFred and move Pogba to play alongside Bruno in a 4123 type scenario.

2. CB to partner Maguire and not have us subjected to the Bailly Lindelof disasterclass anymore.

3. RW to prevent a scenario where Rashford needs to play on the right. Rashford needs to play on the left or sit on the bench.

This 100% while we weren't massively better last night it was a marked improvement when Pogba dropped into a central midfield position and Rashford switched to the left. Haven't a clue who could sit behind Bruno and Pogba but it can't be Fred. Priority is a CDM a proper one. Agree with points 2 and 3 also. I can live without a striker coming in but those 3 positions at the moment are far more important

Klopp

DM_7 wrote: »

I like Henderson's instinct to be active rather than a reactive keeper. It is the main thing he has above DDG when comparing them.

However I don't think Henderson is ready to be United's no 1 based on his performances in the team at this time of his career.

He has some limitations that I think make him unsuitable right now, he is not assured enough and United can't afford to wait for him to get there. He reminds me a lot of a younger Kasper Schmeichel in his intent and desire and he is clearly a keeper that will be very good once he has more time.

I actually don't think United would be actively looking to buy him today if they needed a keeper.

Compare him to Mendy at Chelsea and he would be well behind imo. Mendy has many good technical qualities but he also has great maturity and is very assured. Even though he is older and not particularity experienced in terms of games played in his career he is a player that others would feel secure around, there is an aura of calmness about his play. This is something DDG always brought and it was only when he started to make technical errors that his more passive play became a real concern, it was always there but the rest of his play meant it was not significant.

Chelsea brought in Mendy as Kepa was not working out, United pushed ahead with Henderson as they had reservations over DDG but Mendy has taken ownership of his position from day one while Henderson still looks like a player not ready to take on the spot.

I like Henderson, he has the potential to be our no1 but I am not sure him coming back this season was the right decision, I think another season away on loan would have served him better. Henderson is young, inexperienced and when starting is often too keen to impress causing him to make bad decisions. I agree he is more reactive, De Gea is happy to stay in and around his six-yard line and that invites pressure.

I like Mendy, he does show maturity and composure, if you look at Chelsea CM and the defence they offer more protection than our center midfield which is a big weak point and it doesn’t help our central defenders and goalkeepers in terms of protection. De Gea will be interesting this summer, i think Ole would be happy to let him go if they get a good offer and more so if you believe rumors about Tom Heaton.

The_Kew_Tour

That 4th goal last night gets worse and worse for Henderson everytime I see it.

The 3rd was a shocker too.

I would have scored that 4th goal myself

fatherted1969

billyhead wrote: »

Just aswell there was no fans present last night. The team might have had to put up with a hostile atmosphere i.e a chorus of boos from the Stretford end after the whistle blew for full time.

Ah here, hopefully the fans unlike you will realise the team has improved year on year since Ole took over. A bad performance doesn't change that. A crowd in Old Trafford might have reduced the amount of defeats there to be fair. Can't wait for crowds to return

Mitch Connor

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

That 4th goal last night gets worse and worse for Henderson everytime I see it.

The 3rd was a shocker too.

I would have scored that 4th goal myself

I think he should have been a little further to his right, and maybe a little further forward - but for the life of me I can't understand why there is no movement/reaction from him as soon as Salah takes the touch into the box. The moment he touches it Henderson should have been on the move and closing him.

I just don't get it - I can't work out any scenario that Henderson's lack of action is the correct thing to do. The positioning was bad, but (and this isn't an excuse) maybe he lost his bearings a little and thought he was that little be further right. So while I can put the position down to a mistake, the lack of action is just baffling.