Manchester United - Team Guide

Football teams don’t get much bigger than Manchester United, although since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013 the club has struggled to find the consistency it once made look so easy under the Glaswegians leadership. With current manager Jose Mourinho receiving heavy criticism for his defensive style of football in a club that craves a free flowing attacking style, now is the perfect opportunity to step into the dugout at Old Trafford.

Board Expectations

The board of directors priority target this season is European Qualification, preferably to the Champions League. Although with the squad at your disposal a first league title since Fergie left is a more appealing target.

Transfer Budget

A cool £159 million is at your disposal, and with a bit of tinkering with the wage budget that can go up to £200m+

More than enough to make your shrewd transfer dealings.

Tactic

I’d highly recommended a variant of a 433 formation, mainly due to the fact you’ve only got Lukaku and Rashford as strikers with Ibrahimovic being well past his best ingame. Here’s a version I’d recommend:-

 

A flat back four offers you the best protection and along with the DLP in midfield it gives you a resilient defence which even the best of attacks will struggle to break down. Further forward we go with a midfield combo of an AP with a CM followed by an IF on the left wing, AP on the right wing and even though I’ve got an AF upfront I have kept that open to change. 

Going with short passing to make use of the triangles in the formation and this in turn gives you a tiki-taka-esque style of play.

Recommended Transfers

For outgoing transfers I’d personally sell: Marouane Fellaini, Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo & Chris Smalling, whilst also trying to loan out Scott McTominay as to give him some much needed game time outside the pressure of Utd.

For Incoming transfers I personally like the look of both our recent signings in real life, Fred and Diogo Dalot. Dalot develops really well in the game from what I’ve heard and Fred can come in to effectively free up Pogba. We’re also crying out for a new left back and Fred’s compatriot Alex Sandro can be bought ingame for around £85million which still leaves plenty in the bank for a new centre-back. If you canget him, go for PSG’s Marquinhos as he develops into a truly elite player and would Marshall your defence for the best part of a decade. Other options include Lazio’s Wallace who is a cheaper alternative.

Recommended Lineup

GK: David De Gea, speaks for himself. The best GK in the game hands down.

RB: Antonio Valencia - You can still get a couple of years from him whilst Dalot is developing. A solid choice

CB: Eric Bailly/Marquinhos - This would be a classy pairing if it ever came into fruition

LB: Alex Sandro

CDM: Nemanja Matic - A quality player, and when Timothy Fosu-Mensah returns from his loan spell he could act as his understudy

CM: Pogba/Fred - Pogba can be unshackled here with the acquisition of Fred. Andre Herrera would come in as rotation

LM: Alexis Sanchez/Anthony Martial - Torn between who starts, I’ll leave that up to you

RM: Jesse Lingard/Juan Mata - Playing an AP on the right side gives you a couple of decent options in these two

ST: Romelu Lukaku - speaks for itself. Marcus Rashford could come in for cup games and against the easier sides of the league.

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve found this guide informative. Disagree with something? Let me know in the comments below

Edited June 7, 2018 by Nucleus

[FoxD]

Interesting article mate in fact it was so good you almost got me to care about Man Utd😉

[Taff]

Cracking read mate not to in depth so you lose interest but enough info to take over, I also like the tactic and transfer suggestions 

da iawn @Nucleus

[kylieboi88]

Cracking read!

As a Utd fan I was eager to check this out. Ive found Axel Tuanzabe to be a wicked cb but it does take 4 to 5 seasons to trust him 100%.

Henderson and Pereira turn out to be good options to cover DDG.

Thanks for posting mate 

[Philipizmo]

Can you make a lower league tactics? As you can see I'm managing United of Manchester (North Vanarama League)

[Titjes]

Great article mate maybe will use Man Utd in the future for a challenge 

 

[JohnyBravo]

Great guide, nice trasfer ideas, Dalot, Sandro and Fread instead of standard Henrichs, Tierney and Goretzka

[Nucleus]

24 minutes ago, Philipizmo said:

Can you make a lower league tactics? As you can see I'm managing United of Manchester (North Vanarama League)

I can, but I won’t do it on this thread as it has nothing to do with it

[Nucleus]

25 minutes ago, kylieboi88 said:

Cracking read!

As a Utd fan I was eager to check this out. Ive found Axel Tuanzabe to be a wicked cb but it does take 4 to 5 seasons to trust him 100%.

Henderson and Pereira turn out to be good options to cover DDG.

Thanks for posting mate 

Thanks, Tuanzebe develops really well in around 4 years as you say. Pereira often finds himself as my backup keeper in any united save, I can’t say I’ve tried Henderson but I may consider it now thanks 😁

Thanks for your comments lads, glad this first team guide of mine has gone down pretty well so far!

[Rob]

Cracking article, which is saying something as I am a ABU.

[Bobby87]

Great article, but in each game I start with united, Leon Bailey is a must-to-buy, wiLeverkusen will drop him available on transfert list around august and 'll cost around 54m€ and accept a 150.000€/week contract. Tierney from Celtic as LB as he got 16 in leadership (one of the low point of the team at start) and will sign for 60.000€/week. De Vrij is under contract until 06/18 at Lazio and could leave for 20m€ (with Darmian included), he is right footed but has 4/5 with left foot, so highly recommanded with Bailly right CB. Salary will be expensive but 180.000/week for a wall like him is ok for me. I sometimes have offer from city for Mata (around 45m€), and from Sevilla or Barca for Bailly (he starts sometimes to have bad relationship with teamates) so I sell them to take Nainggolan (also around 55m€). Sometimes Real Madrid offers 75m€ for Martial and at that price, I would let him go to take a stronger back-up for Sanchez. 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Bobby87

[gunnersaur]

Have to agree with @Foxy a great read that nearly made me care about utd but could you make a guide about arsenal or benfica? 2 teams i like to use

[Nucleus]

6 hours ago, gunnersaur said:

Have to agree with @Foxy a great read that nearly made me care about utd but could you make a guide about arsenal or benfica? 2 teams i like to use

Thanks, a Benfica Guide is something I’ll definitely consider. Won’t do an Arsenal one as I’ve got two premier league ones out already, I may do in the future however!