Midfield_General

Which tells you all you need to know about why United are in such a mess with Wilcox so heavily involved

Superbly put. 👏

Not directly Saints-related, but hopefully it gets a pass as it's the international break. Couldn't see an existing thread, so (prompted by CB in the Austin thread), just to say RIP to Danny Kelly who passed away this week. I used to love Under The Moon when I was a student. Three hours of loosely sport-related live chaos, all tucked away late at night on terrestrial TV before we had Sky. A particular favourite was Ken Monkou getting more and more visibly pissed up as he got on it while taking calls for a phone-in. Founder of Football365 which to me felt like the first football website that successfully understood fan culture. Pretty much the only good thing about TalkSport. Highly knowledgable and passionate about not only football, but music too, as a former editor of the NME. Always came across as warm, funny and was one of those people that apparently no-one had a bad word to say about off-screen. Numerous stories being shared by people who he helped and mentored. The 365 tribute was really nice: https://www.football365.com/news/rip-danny-kelly Felt like he was one of the good guys. RIP.

Middlesbrough, hopefully

Worth noting that with a season long loan, unless a specific clause has been included, you can’t normally just unilaterally choose to end it. If there’s no clause then all three parties (parent club, loan club and player) have to agree to ending it early. So sending Mubama back to City in Jan may well not be as easy as all that. Even if we wanted rid, if they don’t want him back or he doesn’t want to go, we’re probably stuck with him for the season. Same applies to getting Robinson back or whatever.

I suppose the thinking was that it’s a long old season and if Azaz needs to come off, needs a rest, gets injured, or we have three games in a week, or he loses form or whatever then it’s good to have two decent players for every position. We didn’t really have anyone else who could naturally step into that 10 role if Azaz wasn’t playing.

When we bought him the talk was that it was as competition / an alternative for Azaz in the deeper no. 10 role. Which would fit with what people who had watched him said about him being best in a supporting position. I don’t think the intention was ever for him to have to lead the line. We’ve been forced to play him as an out and out no 9 because of Larin’s injury and because Mubama has turned out to be so utterly shit. Dobbin could well still turn out to be a useful addition if we can actually play him in his favoured position. The real cock-up was thinking Mubama was ready to lead the line when Larin wasn’t available.

Not as quick as peak Zaha in a straight sprint either. Nowhere near the levels we need for a reserve Championship right back.

Agree with that re the extra man in midfield. We’ve been overrun for long spells in the last few games with only two in there.

JWP has never had any pace, so he has never relied on that for any part of his game. When he schooled Zaha, it wasn't because he was matching his sprint speed. Kyle Walker had no pace left by the end of his career but was still getting picked for England when he was 35. Gary Neville was a sloth. There's a lot more to being an effective full back than speed. But anyway, let's agree to disagree, that's fine.

OK let’s forget the Danish international and the FA Cup semi finalist and go deeper into our paper thin squad. How about a full England international with 433 Premier League appearances, who has barely missed a game through injury throughout his career, who has played right back multiple times at PL level and who when playing in that position had Zaha in his pocket more than once when Zaha was at his peak? Would he do as 4th choice RB back-up at Championship level, or do we need to be aiming higher do you think?

Oh come on, we’ve only got Bree, Roerslev, Abbott, JWP and Stephens who can play there. You know what they say about good squad planning: you need to have six players for every position.

Fair enough. But who is Leo being dropped for if not Edozie?

Did you see Edozie against WBA? Agree Leo is not playing well at the moment but he’s still levels above Edozie and always will be

JWP and Stephens can both cover RB as well Is five options for that position not reasonably sufficient depth at championship level?