[RedorDead21]

Thought he showed enough to highlight why he's so highly thought of at the club. Yes he made some mistakes but the lad is 19 and if you had ever watched any of the greats at 19 thats par for the course. Only at our club, we give young players the opportunity to learn as they go in thye first team. Long may that continue and I for one will look at the positives from his performance and what that experience will give him and us 3-4 years down the line.

 

[Rood]

got massive potential but Im not sure if CB will be his long term position, I'd actually be inclined to give him a run out at RB next weekend as Tony V looks like he needs a rest.

 

[RedMachine03]

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[Rado_N]

That's it, he's not a teenager anymore, no more excuses.

 

[Getsme]

He hasn't shown great promise, honestly going down this road would be a waste of time for all parties involved. Its quite clear he'll never be good enough to be a first choice defender for us. He's good on the ball and that's about it. He has no recognizable defensive game at all and asking him to develop the whole package is just asking too much.

Personally I think we should disregard all players that under the age 21 (it's the new 30 IMO)

 

[Nighteyes]

I don't think he's anywhere near good enough right now but there's definitely something there to work with. To be honest, before the last 2 games I'd written off both him and Blackett but the confidence and composure he's shown with the ball has been encouraging and something I hadn't seen from him previously. Loan him out for a couple of seasons and see where he's at defensively once he returns.

 

[matt23]

Looks great on the ball but it looked like Smalling was having to do a lot of his ball winning yesterday. I thought he looked the same at Chelsea to be honest. Definitely looks a player, but not sure CB is his future.

 

[sullydnl]

Definitely a work in progress but there's potential there alright. Think LVG said he's one of the players who have improved the most since he arrived and that will have to continue.

 

[The Purley King]

I thought he played pretty well yesterday. What is most promising is his composure on the ball, he is excellent at taking it forward into midfield. Compare that to Smalling, who shits himself whenever he gets over the half way line.
McNair will fill out over time and get stronger and in a couple of years he could be an outstanding player - still some work to do though.

 

[jb8521]

The amount of people on here who seem to base their entire opinion on players and especially young on their last game is incredible. He's an extremely inexperienced player and as such will have good games and bad games as he learns more about the game and comes to terms with first team football. The most impressive thing about him for me is how quickly he is learning as 18 months ago he wasn't even making the u21 team and there was no indication whether he would even be kept on at the end of the season. Just as a good game last week didnt mean he should be our first choice cb as some were implying a poor game this week doesn't mean he's not good enough and never will be. He's coming into one of the worlds biggest teams in a very pressurized environment in probably the most difficult position for a young player to come into the team and has shown far more positives than negatives so people need to have a bit of perspective here

 

[Walrus]

The amount of people on here who seem to base their entire opinion on players and especially young on their last game is incredible. He's an extremely inexperienced player and as such will have good games and bad games as he learns more about the game and comes to terms with first team football. The most impressive thing about him for me is how quickly he is learning as 18 months ago he wasn't even making the u21 team and there was no indication whether he would even be kept on at the end of the season. Just as a good game last week didnt mean he should be our first choice cb as some were implying a poor game this week doesn't mean he's not good enough and never will be. He's coming into one of the worlds biggest teams in a very pressurized environment in probably the most difficult position for a young player to come into the team and has shown far more positives than negatives so people need to have a bit of perspective here

Honestly I didnt even think he had *that* bad a game yesterday. He was partially at fault for the first goal yes, but other than that the entire team played badly. I didnt rate McNair as one of the standout bad performers by any means. I thought he did well for the most part and carried the ball forwards well when the opportunity presented itself.

I thought there were plenty others who had a worse game - Valencia, De Gea, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata and Blind to name but a few.

 

[Ballache]

Very weak challenge on McCarthy for their first goal.

Yes. The ball was ahead of McCarthy and as a defender when you go for a challenge you need to be firm and make sure the ball is out of danger.

 

[DanNistelrooy]

I've seen nothing from him to suggest he can make it here as a centre back with the exception of that header against West Ham.

A definite talent in possession though, wonder if he could play in Carrick's position ?

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Yes. The ball was ahead of McCarthy and as a defender when you go for a challenge you need to be firm and make sure the ball is out of danger.

Yeah, he weakly tried to clear but all of a sudden just backed off from the challenge and let him through the goal. You dont do that, esp. when the opposing player is so close to your goal.

 

[JPRouve]

I've seen nothing from him to suggest he can make it here as a centre back with the exception of that header against West Ham.

A definite talent in possession though, wonder if he could play in Carrick's position ?

It's impossible to judge the future career of a 19 years old centerback, who is in his first season and isn't a starter. Only the coaches have an idea because this position is all about how the player process the information gained after every games.

 

[khoazany]

http://www.squawka.com/news/has-paddy-mcnair-justified-van-gaals-faith-in-him/364925

A statistical view over McNair's last two performances.

 

[Yorkeontop]

He seems to be comfortable on the ball but when he's required to make a defensive play on it, he panics at times. Hopefully the composure will come with time.

 

[Devil may care]

It'll be interesting to see how he develops, I wouldn't be surprised to see him tried as a #6 in the summer.

 

[Roboc7]

His defensive ability is probably championship level at the moment, on the ball he is better than most premier league centre halves and that is why he manages to get games. How much he can/will improve the defensive side of his game will determine if he is around long term.

He could possibly be suited to playing in midfield more than CB, would be good to see him played there in cup games rather than at RB because I don't think he is equipped to play there long term.

 

[Raoul]

Honestly I didnt even think he had *that* bad a game yesterday. He was partially at fault for the first goal yes, but other than that the entire team played badly. I didnt rate McNair as one of the standout bad performers by any means. I thought he did well for the most part and carried the ball forwards well when the opportunity presented itself.

I thought there were plenty others who had a worse game - Valencia, De Gea, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata and Blind to name but a few.

He wasn't that bad. As you say, our performance was indicative of a collective lack of team focus. When the team is focused, various players look very good and conversely, when its not, its open season on the likes of Valencia, Falcao, Blind etc. Its also important to bear in mind the lad is still just 19 (20 now) and has been thrown into the fire in his first year with the first team. He will continue to improve in the coming years as long as his progress is nurtured correctly by LvG and staff.

 

[Stobzilla]

His only mistake was the goal really and even then he did well to get in the way of the ball from the initial pass inside, he just got extremely unlucky with where the diversion ended up.

 

[Bojan11]

I get nervous when he is playing.

 

[devilish]

Mcfail

 

[Kag]

He's just not very good at defending in the slightest. Another error, another goal.

 

[Skills]

Awful freekick to give away.

 

[sizzling sausages]

He looks good with the ball but he panics so much when it comes to defending. Still a long way to go for him if he's to have a chance of making it here.

 

[Triple.Threat]

will never be good enough for us, needs to be as far away from the club as possible.
As soon as I saw his needless foul on Fletcher with Brunt around I was like we are going to suffer from this.

 

[FromTheBench]

Meh Vidic would have given away that freekick when caught deep every time.

Not sure it was that big a fault considering the position. Fletcher was about to get a shot away and it was a counter.

 

[Roboc7]

Not good enough defensively unfortunately, he is a liability and it is just a question of whether he gets away with it or not. Should be loaned out next season because that part of his game needs dramatic improvement and he will learn more playing every week.

 

[Ringo 07]

As soon as I saw Paddy McNair's name on the team-sheet I felt we might lose...He's cost us in all of the last 3 games. Van Gaal is to blame though for insisting on picking him. He might be a Vidic in the making but he is 5 years away from being ready for first team football at Man Utd

 

[Wowi]

Thought he was decent today. Yeah, the free kick was a poor one, but it's one of those that almost every defender give away. Should've scored though.

 

[Bojan11]

Meh Vidic would have given away that freekick when caught deep every time.

Not sure it was that big a fault considering the position. Fletcher was about to get a shot away and it was a counter.

Vidic can tackle. He just isn't aggressive enough and just can't tackle.

 

[FromTheBench]

As soon as I saw Paddy McNair's name on the team-sheet I felt we might lose...He's cost us in all of the last 3 games. Van Gaal is to blame though for insisting on picking him. He might be a Vidic in the making but he is 5 years away from being ready for first team football at Man Utd

Tbf he didn't have any other option last 2 games except Blackett.

Today he didn't play Jones for assesing Match rhythm though as per his not playing injured players too quick philosophy.

 

[Boycott]

I like how he charges up the pitch with the ball like a peak Vieira and then remembers he's a center back and turns and passes backward.

Jokes aside I like his confidence. I like how he wants to play from the back and is willing to receive the ball in somewhat dangerous areas. And generally he handles himself well.

 

[khoazany]

What the actual feck?So people would rather let Fletcher through in that situation?Let's the blame game begins...

 

[Getsme]

I've seen nothing from him to suggest he can make it here as a centre back with the exception of that header against West Ham.

A definite talent in possession though, wonder if he could play in Carrick's position ?

You've seen nothing? Come on, hes 20 and in his debut season and hasnt looked out of place that often.

 

[The White Pele]

One of the last players to blame for today's defeat.

 

[Bojan11]

What the actual feck?So people would rather let Fletcher through in that situation?

Smelling was close by. fletcher is hardly the quickest, if Fletcher was through he would have got a red.

 

[Walrus]

One of our better performances. He gave away the free kick which led to the goal, but at the time that he conceded the foul it was the correct decision for him to make - it was unfortunate (although completely expected) that they scored from it.

Didnt have much defending to do, but carried the ball forward well and joined in the attack whenever possible (which was most of the time).

 

[FromTheBench]

Vidic can tackle. He just isn't aggressive enough and just can't tackle.

I am talking about the specific situation. I think what he did was the best option after being caught deep and no defensive shape on the counter.