andersj
Nick Powell Expert
Man Utd-supporters have a high standard of expectation from our players. That is a good thing. We should have a high standard.
But the high standard has led to some brutal assessment of some of our players in the beggining of their carriers. There are several examples, but Carrick, Fletcher and more recentley McTominay, Lingard and Lindeløf comes to mind. Acamday-players are often targeted as well, for some weird reason.
A couple of months ago McTominay started his first game in a long time for us. He was short of match fitness, probably confidence and most of the players surrounding him were the same. They had not played much together, if anything, before. And it was his first game for a new manager. The reactions where typical and over the top. I've added a few of them below:
"Will be in championship within next 2 years. He's not good enough for PL standard never mind United standard."
"Stealing a living at Manchester United. He would struggle to get into any of the teams in the top half of the table. I doubt Huddersfield or Fulham would want him either."
"Will end up at Bristol City or someone along those lines.."
"He ain’t good enough for the Championship."
"He's rubbish and should not be anywhere near our team."
"Just nothing player unfortunately, I’m not even sure he would make it at Championship."
The reaction by our supporters are League Two-level (and I'm not talking about the supporters of clubs in League Two, they are probably great!).
And RedCafe is actually a lot better than a few other places where the insults gets much more personal or just meaner. I'm not saying that McTominay will be a new Vieira, Keane, a scottish Yaya Toure (well, I did joke about that actually..) or even Fletcher. But considering what he has done recentley, he is obviously a player with talent.
He has left quite a few of us looking more than stupid! Luckily (especially for me considering how many times I fecked up the last few years), I was taught that doing or saying something stupid, does not make you stupid. So I guess there is a chance for all of us! That being said, I'm convinced that repeatedley making the same stupid mistake actually makes you, by definition, stupid. Yes, that is in fact the defintion of stupid; the inability to learn from your mistakes.
And that will be a bit interesting going forward. Will it be the same people who had a knee-jerk, OTT-reaction to McT in the past who will have the same when James Garner, Mason Greenwood or similar goes through a rough patch? Or even McTominay, Rashford or Lingard? Or will these people have learned and there will be new fans popping up having a go at them? Maybe the people who had a go at McTominay will defend our players, remembering their own stupid assessment?
Everyone is entitled to an opinion of course, but maybe we should consider how this opinion is presented? If not to create a good debate, being respectfull or showing that you have some sort of manners, just to avvoid lucking f*****g stupid?!
Questioning whether a players is good enough? Fine!
Arguing why you dont think he is good enough (or ever will be)? Fine!
Stating that a player had a poor game (and maybe even arguing why)? Fine!
But comments like the ones above is pointless and add nothing of value to the debate. I really do not see the pont.
Btw, I used "we" and "us" a few places! It was mostly due to being respectfull and trying to avvoid putting myself on a high horse or pedestal (does these expressions work in english too?). But I would never have a go at one of our players, doing his best, in the manner some do repeatedley. And yes, this is me climbing on to the pedestal. In the case of McTominay:
A) I actually thought he looked fine.
B) He work rate has always been incredible. He plays with his heart. Even if a player turns out not to be good enough, he deserve our respect if he has the same attitude as McTominay.
C) Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seem to believe in him. And it is not just limited to these three. The staff at the club appear to have faith in McTominay. It includes Michael Carrick and Nicky Butt who knows a thing or two about being a midfielder in the Premier League. Hell, even Ferguson appears to have a sweet spot for Scott.
And to me, C is more important than A. Meaning that if I did not see it with Scott I would not be so f*****g stupid that I ignored the fact that professionals with several years of experience at the top level appears to rate him. Not only will they probably/hopefully have more experience and knowledge than me, they will probably also have more information about the player watching him every day in Carrington next to Pogba, Matic and Herrera. I'm not saying that I would not want to discuss it, but I would probably be carefull in the manner in which I did.
And for those of you that do not understand the importance and relevance of C), I suspect that you will be inclined to make the same mistake over and over.
But the high standard has led to some brutal assessment of some of our players in the beggining of their carriers. There are several examples, but Carrick, Fletcher and more recentley McTominay, Lingard and Lindeløf comes to mind. Acamday-players are often targeted as well, for some weird reason.
A couple of months ago McTominay started his first game in a long time for us. He was short of match fitness, probably confidence and most of the players surrounding him were the same. They had not played much together, if anything, before. And it was his first game for a new manager. The reactions where typical and over the top. I've added a few of them below:
"Will be in championship within next 2 years. He's not good enough for PL standard never mind United standard."
"Stealing a living at Manchester United. He would struggle to get into any of the teams in the top half of the table. I doubt Huddersfield or Fulham would want him either."
"Will end up at Bristol City or someone along those lines.."
"He ain’t good enough for the Championship."
"He's rubbish and should not be anywhere near our team."
"Just nothing player unfortunately, I’m not even sure he would make it at Championship."
The reaction by our supporters are League Two-level (and I'm not talking about the supporters of clubs in League Two, they are probably great!).
And RedCafe is actually a lot better than a few other places where the insults gets much more personal or just meaner. I'm not saying that McTominay will be a new Vieira, Keane, a scottish Yaya Toure (well, I did joke about that actually..) or even Fletcher. But considering what he has done recentley, he is obviously a player with talent.
He has left quite a few of us looking more than stupid! Luckily (especially for me considering how many times I fecked up the last few years), I was taught that doing or saying something stupid, does not make you stupid. So I guess there is a chance for all of us! That being said, I'm convinced that repeatedley making the same stupid mistake actually makes you, by definition, stupid. Yes, that is in fact the defintion of stupid; the inability to learn from your mistakes.
And that will be a bit interesting going forward. Will it be the same people who had a knee-jerk, OTT-reaction to McT in the past who will have the same when James Garner, Mason Greenwood or similar goes through a rough patch? Or even McTominay, Rashford or Lingard? Or will these people have learned and there will be new fans popping up having a go at them? Maybe the people who had a go at McTominay will defend our players, remembering their own stupid assessment?
Everyone is entitled to an opinion of course, but maybe we should consider how this opinion is presented? If not to create a good debate, being respectfull or showing that you have some sort of manners, just to avvoid lucking f*****g stupid?!
Questioning whether a players is good enough? Fine!
Arguing why you dont think he is good enough (or ever will be)? Fine!
Stating that a player had a poor game (and maybe even arguing why)? Fine!
But comments like the ones above is pointless and add nothing of value to the debate. I really do not see the pont.
Btw, I used "we" and "us" a few places! It was mostly due to being respectfull and trying to avvoid putting myself on a high horse or pedestal (does these expressions work in english too?). But I would never have a go at one of our players, doing his best, in the manner some do repeatedley. And yes, this is me climbing on to the pedestal. In the case of McTominay:
A) I actually thought he looked fine.
B) He work rate has always been incredible. He plays with his heart. Even if a player turns out not to be good enough, he deserve our respect if he has the same attitude as McTominay.
C) Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seem to believe in him. And it is not just limited to these three. The staff at the club appear to have faith in McTominay. It includes Michael Carrick and Nicky Butt who knows a thing or two about being a midfielder in the Premier League. Hell, even Ferguson appears to have a sweet spot for Scott.
And to me, C is more important than A. Meaning that if I did not see it with Scott I would not be so f*****g stupid that I ignored the fact that professionals with several years of experience at the top level appears to rate him. Not only will they probably/hopefully have more experience and knowledge than me, they will probably also have more information about the player watching him every day in Carrington next to Pogba, Matic and Herrera. I'm not saying that I would not want to discuss it, but I would probably be carefull in the manner in which I did.
And for those of you that do not understand the importance and relevance of C), I suspect that you will be inclined to make the same mistake over and over.