Nemanja Matic

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Oblak!

f*ckin' yes

Feels as good as goal for you, huh?

[The only place to be 11,313]

No but with the amount we have already spent, we should be able to field midfielders that are comfortable on the ball and can do the basics like controlling the ball, passing and intelligent use of space and possession to a certain standard. is that too much to ask for because I'm fed up of watching teams like Benfica,Man city et al dominate our midfield and play us off the park.

Mikel can do that. Lamps can do that. Van Ginkel looked capable of doing that and now we're looking to sign another midfielder who can do that. You can either moan about what we should've done (because we have made mistakes) or you can be hopeful and happy about what we're trying to do going forward.

The fact that we have a clear gameplan that suits the majority of our players and gets results, and also looks like it's being implemented in the youth ranks and we have young players who it suits should be cause for optimism.

[José Mateus 46]

How is he doing in Benfica? Last time I've checked he has been loaned to other clubs.

He was big talent here in Slovenia.

He is doing his first games, but the majority of the fans want him to be our main goalie.

Still hasn't suffered any goal. 4 games and 20 mins.

[The only place to be 11,313]

There is a reason why they are 'top team' so if we want to be one, we should emulate one of them. Whether it is Bayern/Barca or Dortmund/Madrid's style, that is the top teams approach. Sitting 10 behind the ball, play out for a draw is not a top team approach, it is good and effective but not trait of one.

It's also not our approach.

Should Bayern have emulated Barca's style last season? Or should they have gone for that style that saw them win 7-0 over two legs.

We're developing our own style. If that's not a style you like then I've not got much more advice except for two words and the second one is OFF!

[Melanicus 5,208]

He is doing his first games, but the majority of the fans want him to be our main goalie.

Still hasn't suffered any goal. 4 games and 20 mins.

What happened with Artur?

[José Mateus 46]

What happened with Artur?

We are tired. Too many mistakes, too much insecurity.

Time to give a go at Oblak. He deserves.

[The Mak 4,459]

Combo of Matic and Ramires would be better than what we have but still not good enough to improve our central midfield dramatically .

If creativity in central midfield is not important how come Barca plays Busquets, Bayern won everything when they got Martinez and now are playing Alcantara I guess, City scores a lot with Fernadinho and Yaya who is more offensive than defensive oriented, Juventus improved significantly when they got Pirlo, Real plays with Alonso and Modric, Dortmund has Gundogan ect.

In fact the only team who was successful without playmaker are Man United but they made up for it with great wingers, strikers and superb coach.

Just because we don't have genuine playmaker for ages we can't underestimate benefits of having one.

Genuine playmaker is even more important when you have creative mids up front to get the best out of them not the other way around.

Matic with playmaker would have taken our central midfield to a whole other level , up to the City’s even better. Matic with Ramires not so much. There is the difference.

I agree that a DLP is still needed for us to be right up there with the best in Europe, but just on the United point - United had Scholes and, as much as I hate to admit it, he's one of the best DLP/CMs of all time. He kept them ticking over, kept United in control. Carrick does it for them now, but they are still missing Scholes' influence massively.

I know Swansea are a possession team, but last night they had 61% of the ball at Old Trafford...meaning United's 39% possession was United's lowest ever recorded. They relied heavily on a playmaker in Scholes.

But we had Makelele/Essien-Ballack-Lamps partnership once and we were realy good, I might say even more efficient than most other teams. And we had no real playmaker then.

Also if Matic comes, we will probably play 4:3:3 with midfield of

Ramires-Matic-Oscar, Oscar is good playmaker and will only get better and dont forget we have very creative Hazard and Willian, who are in my opinion few levels higher than Asamoah, Lichtensteiner, DiMaria, Ronaldo,...in terms of playmaking. Hazard and Willian can play as #10, while those players at Juve and Real are typical wingers/wing-backs.

Juve has Pirlo and thats it. We have Oscar, Hazard, Willian. There is difference. We might be good with deep playmaker, but I think we need all round CM like Matic more. We need someone who can run whole game and cover whole midfield, protect back 4. And Matic is quite decent in attack to. He made some amazing runs vs us in last year Europa league final.

Not again.

Please stop...please stop saying Oscar is going to be or play CM. Please god stop. It hasn't happened since I last tried to explain to you months ago that it's never happening, so why now?

Why do you even bring 4-3-3 up? Why would we start playing 4-3-3? Why would we sell KDB in that case? He would've been pretty useful in a 4-3-3 don't you think?! He's pretty creative himself!

Some people need to stop acting like they can apply their FIFA experience to actual football!

[lionsden 4,689]

It's also not our approach.

Should Bayern have emulated Barca's style last season? Or should they have gone for that style that saw them win 7-0 over two legs.

We're developing our own style. If that's not a style you like then I've not got much more advice except for two words and the second one is OFF!

They didn't defend deep with 10 men behidn the ball like we have been doing against every top team since forever though. in fact bayern played barca off the park last season and were able to accomplish such feat because of technicians like bastian and javi martinez controlling their midfield. so you don't have a point.

[The only place to be 11,313]

They didn't defend deep with 10 men behidn the ball like we have been doing against every top team since forever though. in fact bayern played barca off the park last season and were able to accomplish such feat because of technicians like bastian and javi martinez controlling their midfield. so you don't have a point.

They played with pace, power and pressing and that's what we're looking to try and do. That's my point. That's the style we're trying to develop.

[Severinb 309]

@ChelseaRumours: Chelsea scouts at Benfica v Porto. #CFC

[lionsden 4,689]

They played with pace, power and pressing and that's what we're looking to try and do. That's my point. That's the style we're trying to develop.

Answer these truthfully. would they have been able to dominate the way they did last season and have continued to do so again this season with Ramires as the number one option in their midfield? And the football they played last season was far from mechanical like the picture you are trying to paint. they had one of the best possession stats in europe.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Answer these truthfully. would they have been able to dominate the way they did last season and have continued to do so again this season with Ramires as the number one option in their midfield?

Probably not because he doesn't suit their style. Not sure what your point is though, unless you're simply raking over our past transfers in order to find something to moan about. If that's what's left for fans like you then that bodes well for our future.

You're moaning about our lack of a ball-playing midfielder in a thread about us signing a ball-playing, defensively strong midfielder.

[lionsden 4,689]

Probably not because he doesn't suit their style. Not sure what your point is though, unless you're simply raking over our past transfers in order to find something to moan about. If that's what's left for fans like you then that bodes well for our future.

You're moaning about our lack of a ball-playing midfielder in a thread about us signing a ball-playing, defensively strong midfielder.

Which would still leave us short of a regista/ DLP in midfield and that was the whole point all along.

[Mustafa 885]

Since Marin is on loan and the current holder of the #21 jersey, how does the whole situation work ? Can Matic wear the #21 right now or does he have to wait till Marin comes back and wears another number in the mean time ?

Buzzin about the news tho :blue scalf:

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Which would still leave us short of a regista/ DLP in midfield.

You do know Matic isn't purely a DM right? He's a better passer than Ramires/Mikel and Essien combined.

[Jype 6,398]

Benfica seem to have 11 Eusebios on the pitch today, nice gesture from the club.

[We Hate Scouse 10,261]

Since Marin is on loan and the current holder of the #21 jersey, how does the whole situation work ? Can Matic wear the #21 right now or does he have to wait till Marin comes back and wears another number in the mean time ?

Buzzin about the news tho :blue scalf:

I imagine the number won't actually be registered to Marin as he won't need a squad number, so it should be free.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Which would still leave us short of a regista/ DLP in midfield.

That's if we go for one. We could stick with a stronger midfield like Matic, Mikel, Van Ginkel, Ramires and maybe introduce Chalobah. I don't see a problem with that, but then I'm not hung up on us being Bayern or Dortmund or Barca.