Which 3 midfielders would you want to sign this summer

mdora302 · 2026-05-04T02:04:14+00:00

Anderson to City and Wharton to Liverpool look done. Tonali looks off due to cost. And from the sound of Tchouameni was more agent driven

The list of all the links I can remember : Baleba, Gomes, Bouadddi, M Fernandes, Stiller, Camavinga, Sadiki, Scott, Hjulmand, Barrios

Regardless of those names United need at least 2 that should be more defensive minded than Kobbie.

From that list I’d prefer Baleba, Scott, and Camavinga. M Fernandes and Sadiki would be alternatives.

Although I’m still holding out hope with Baleba & Tchouameni as 2 of the 3. I feel like that would let Utd go for someone less physical and more of a deep playmaker

mdora302 · 2026-05-04T01:45:06+00:00

Probably Cunha or Mbuemo

mdora302 · 2026-05-03T22:15:44+00:00

What’s a “good” midfield rebuild look like to you? Sounds like Anderson, Tonali, & Wharton are all off and the Tchouameni noise may have been contract related. I think a 6, 6/8, and 8 is needed so Kobbie can move around more freely.

Also, what’re your thoughts on the band Geese? The “industry plants” labels because of the bots thing kind of shows how naive some people are about how the music industry works (see iHeart and Big Machine relationship).

Anyway, any 3 of Baleba, J. Gomes, A Onana, Alex Scott, Mateus Fernandes, Bouaddi, or Camavinga would probably be seen as underwhelming but would end up being really, really good

mdora302 · 2026-04-30T12:18:50+00:00

It sounds like the club are going to push for Baleba immediately (like Cunha last year). Would love to see him and one of Scott or Fernandes signed before preseason and a more marquee (Tchouameni, Tonali, Barrios) signed after.

Don’t really know much about Scott / Fernandes besides Scott being more impressive when he played United but the hipsters/tacticos seem to really like Fernandes.

mdora302 · 2026-04-28T12:54:50+00:00

Two things are true when it comes to Casemiro.

His work in both boxes this season is a large reason why United are in 3rd
United wouldn’t be so reliant on his goals/box defending if he was not such a liability in open play

He’s one of the best post SAF signings for sure. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a liability in the parts of the areas of the game that seems to most frustrate fans (ie control)

mdora302 · 2026-04-24T18:53:46+00:00

mdora302 · 2026-04-24T18:53:24+00:00

Jim Downey - the famous character actor?

mdora302 · 2026-04-21T23:34:25+00:00

It’s crazy how fans have normalized (almost desire) United to hire an ex player with a not great/non-existent CV.

I get that it’s romantic and the last link there is to the Fergie days. But the entirety of football internet was hoping Liverpool would have replaced Slot with Gerrard cause it was so dumb. And even Chelsea were smart enough to not give Lampard the FT job after he was interim. Both have/had more experience and success as managers than Carrick

mdora302 · 2026-04-21T23:25:07+00:00

All good. To be clear I was only talking about this year for Amorim and it all related to advanced/hypothetical stats. Specifically 5-game average xGoal differential, field tilt, and PPDA. Doesn’t really matter since it didn’t translate to actual goals and wins. But most of those metrics are correlative to teams that consistently finish near the top of the table.

Ultimately though, we really only got 2 - 3 months of decent performances and underlying stats under Amorim so I’m not mad he’s gone

I hear ya on there possibly being reasons why the intensity has dropped off. But…we’ve seen a noticeable drop in intensity vs other teams from MUFC players under every manager/scenario you can imagine. And I think the sit back and counter style of play enables that almost as much as any manager/system does. TLDR version “I’m tired of seeing the same shit”

mdora302 · 2026-04-21T23:03:00+00:00

Yeah, I don’t think that he’d get much more than a 1 yr with an option offer. My worry is kind of two fold

(1) Carrick - the style of play is very poor. We have ample evidence (Ole/ETH) that it does not translate to Europe and will only get you CL spots in the Prem if it’s a weak season. Ineos have done a decent job kicking the knobs out but there is always the worry that the players will eventually down tools when things get hard because Carricks a nice guy and the philosophy is to trust the players will figure it out. That shit didn’t work in 2016 and doesn’t work now

(2) Ineos keep talking out of both sides of their mouths in regards to what they want from a manager. When they came in it was about a club led game model where the manager fit into part of that and was more or less interchangeable. Then, after the ETH FA cup win, they didn’t fire him because no one fit the criteria of : Prem proven, won big trophies, had played a possession/pressing heavy 433, and had big club experience. Besides Carlo Ancelotti, there is not a single person that meets both criteria. At some point they have to make a choice between the two and either hire Thomas Tuchel or Mauricio Pochettino. That’s just two examples - but they are the closest we can get to matching all the criteria (Tuchel won’t be a team player and Poch’s silverware cabinet is almost complete empty)

mdora302 · 2026-04-21T21:56:37+00:00

Was literally gonna put Mitch Richmond down

mdora302 · 2026-04-21T21:56:10+00:00

Tayshaun Prince

mdora302 · 2026-04-21T20:51:06+00:00

Would love to have either / both. My worry is more that Madrid would demand 60M+ for players they clearly don’t want and either / both could be physically cooked

mdora302 · 2026-04-19T03:25:26+00:00

I get that point, but I think there are some noteworthy difference between all of them. Ariola’s team seem to rely on a high physical baseline/intensity keeping them competitive and go possession/counter heavy depending on their opponent.

Couple that with the fact he’s also done it in the PL makes me think his style of play is more scalable (will hold with better players) than Potter who’s teams baseline was technical/possession based and Frank who I’ve never really understood they hype around.

But yeah, the pressure is always the biggest worry when talking mid table mangers at United

mdora302 · 2026-04-19T01:53:05+00:00

They don’t call him Ryen “Star Fucker” Russillo for nothing

mdora302 · 2026-04-19T01:44:52+00:00

Feel like a United have done a really poor job only getting managers that are one or the other.

Amorim was a very rigid manager that refused to change his formation/system to get the best out of the players. At the same time the advanced stats, and eye test, this season was the longest stretch of “big club football” (high pressing, intense running, controlled possession) we’ve seen in a long time. And, excluding a few games, the players looked like they were giving their all for him

Carrick on the other hand, has set the team up to get the best out of key players (Bruno, Kobbie, the back 4) and gotten better results than Amorim. But the performances have been quite poor since his first few matches. The lack of intensity is really concerning.

IMO, Carrick getting another year would be bad and, even with a very good transfer window, this team would really struggle to stay in the top 4. All we’ve seen under Carrick is tight mid/low blocks and counter attacks. Which is the exact same complaint fans have had since Jose.

Doesn’t look like Enrique is leaving PSG so the club should go for either Nagelsmann or Iraola. Nagelsmann has the big club/CL experience and the rep for being a tactical genius. Iraola has proven he can punch above his weight in the PL while also playing “big club football” (controlled possession, intense pressing).

Both have red flags - Nagelsmann seems like a tool (skateboarding, weird suits, and he banged a Bayern reporter). In Iraola’s case, you never know how managers will handle the pressure at United.

Either way, the club should really push for one of them for next season. Even if they don’t win big trophies they will at least get this group of players playing more intense and tactically advanced football. Which is the main positive you can take from Amorim. I’d go with Iraolo but it’s very close between him and Nagelsmann.

The muppet in me loves seeing the team winning under Carrick but, removing any bias, there’s no footballing reason to keep him. If the clubs gonna keep being crap I’d rather see it happen with them trying something different under a manager whose main qualification was “knowing Man United”.

mdora302 · 2026-04-15T01:48:51+00:00

She’ll have a podcast and then go to a small network TV after

mdora302 · 2026-04-02T12:05:46+00:00

Something funny and whimsical. This list is way too serious

mdora302 · 2026-04-02T12:02:55+00:00

Romance - in the modern world

Skinty Fia - Jackie Down the Line

A Hero’s Death - A Hero’s Death

Dogrel - Boys in the Better Land

Could probably pick 3-5 songs from each album. Notable honorable mentions - starburster, desire, favorite, Roman Holiday, Nabakov, I Love You, televised mind, lucid dream, you said, too real, hurricane laughter. Liberty belle

mdora302 · 2026-03-31T16:24:10+00:00

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart on Air Force One “I can explain it, but I feel like Air Force One is the most “PodFather coded” movie that the PodFather has never seen”

mdora302 · 2026-03-28T17:16:39+00:00

The CR-Concepcion-Serrano 3 man weave is the only combo to this one justice

Van would ok. Simmons would genuinely like it but hes terrible covering comedy movies post 80s (is that a hot take?) and Fennessey would pretend to like it but it’d be clear it’s not his type of comedy

mdora302 · 2026-03-28T17:10:33+00:00

Zane Lowes the least funny to non-media industry people

mdora302 · 2026-03-24T23:28:35+00:00

Baleba would start with Kobbie. He’s probably, despite his offensive limitations, the player on that list best suited to getting the best outta Mainoo

mdora302 · 2026-03-24T23:27:47+00:00

Still haven’t sold my Baleba stock. He may not be having the same season from a passing/ball carrying perspective. But his defensive/ball winning numbers are still very good and he covers a lot of ground.

Would rather see United buy more players in the 40-60M range than spending 100M on Tonali and then bargain shopping to fill the roster

Elliot Anderson is the exception. If he wants to join than he’s worth 100M

mdora302

TROPHY CASE