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2020-21 Performances


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Samid

He's no Bilal Ilyas Jhandir
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Who are the next Ajax youngsters we should be raiding? Need to make the most of the VDS connection.
 

Valencia's Left Foot

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I'm a huge DVB fan. Loved his mentality at Ajax as well, tough bastard.
 

VivaRonaldo85

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Clearly a top class player and a rare ray of light in this bleak transfer market saga so far. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him cement a permanent place on our first XI soon given his quality and what he can bring to the team.
 

Henrik Larsson

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Who are the next Ajax youngsters we should be raiding? Need to make the most of the VDS connection.
Very early days and he's not a real Ajax youth product, but Antony was really good this weekend. Could be a baller.

Could be another Januzaj as well I guess, left footed players with good technique are always a bit deceptive...
 

bosnian_red

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Who are the next Ajax youngsters we should be raiding? Need to make the most of the VDS connection.
If FM is anything to go off of, but not just Ajax but the rest of the Dutch league (Ajax, PSV and AZ pretty much)...
  • Dest - off to barca
  • Stengs
  • Malen (was at Arsenal for a bit interestingly)
  • Boadu
  • Ihatteran (apparently the most promising one)
  • Koopmeiners
  • Gravenberch
  • Martinez
  • Antony
 
Last edited:
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If FM is anything to go off of, but not just Ajax but the rest of the Dutch league (Ajax, PSV and AZ pretty much)...
  • Dest - off to barca
  • Stengs
  • Malen (was at Arsenal for a bit interestingly)
  • Stengs
  • Ihatteran (apparently the most promising one)
  • Koopmeiners
  • Gravenberch
  • Martinez
  • Antony
Not interested in any Dutch players unless they have van in their surname.
 

Redplane

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If FM is anything to go off of, but not just Ajax but the rest of the Dutch league (Ajax, PSV and AZ pretty much)...
  • Dest - off to barca
  • Stengs
  • Malen (was at Arsenal for a bit interestingly)
  • Stengs
  • Ihatteran (apparently the most promising one)
  • Koopmeiners
  • Gravenberch
  • Martinez
  • Antony
What about Boadu?
 

kkengvib

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Decent performance tonight. Not very involved in the build up but had some lovely touches where most of his teammates bar Mata wasn't really on the same wavelength.

Feels a bit like when Kagawa joined. His teammates didn't quite trust him and were reluctant to give him the ball in tight spaces. Hopefully he gains that trust quickly because you can see he has good awareness and has a good one touch game.

I like that he gives us a different option at the number 10 and would allow Bruno to play the 8 role in certain situations.

I'm curious to see how he would do in a more open game. We've only seen him against teams playing the low block so far.
 

Cheimoon

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Not according to his agent, who is angry that he isn't starting every game instantly... but he's being managed just fine and is hopefully easing into a first team regular role
Was that really his agent? Read somewhere that it wasn’t?

We agree he’s being managed just fine.
Not his agent, though I think some guy who works for the agency that acts as his agent? Either way some nobody.
It wasn't his agent but someone he calls his advisor, Sjaak Swart. Swart is an Ajax legend aged 82 (yes, 82 ) who has a weekly interview where he gets to chat about football. That's where he talked about Van de Beek, but that's purely his own opinion, nothing to do with Van de Beek or his agent directly. His agent actually tweeted that it's got nothing to do with VdB, who he says is very happy to be at Man Utd and to be getting opportunities to show what he can do.
 

ghagua

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I just felt that VdB was a little off today. nice touches here and there, but missing most of the game other than that great pass to Mata. Hopefully, he will settle down soon and perform to his usual standards.
 

SambaBoy

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Very clever player, some lovely touches. Always 1-2 steps ahead.

He's not going to be an incredible match winner for us, but he could be a very astute signing.
 

NinjaZombie

Punched the air when Liverpool beat City
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Decent performance tonight. Not very involved in the build up but had some lovely touches where most of his teammates bar Mata wasn't really on the same wavelength.

Feels a bit like when Kagawa joined. His teammates didn't quite trust him and were reluctant to give him the ball in tight spaces. Hopefully he gains that trust quickly because you can see he has good awareness and has a good one touch game.

I like that he gives us a different option at the number 10 and would allow Bruno to play the 8 role in certain situations.

I'm curious to see how he would do in a more open game. We've only seen him against teams playing the low block so far.
Funny enough, Mata and Kagawa were the only ones on the same wavelength back then as well. :lol:
 

JuriM

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Who are the next Ajax youngsters we should be raiding? Need to make the most of the VDS connection.
Naci Ünuvar, Brian Brobbery, Antony, Mohammad Kudus - the latter two joined this summer, but been insane.
 

The United

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His role is clearly up front. I am not sure if he will be ok with not starting over Bruno at least for now. It is interesting to see what Ole will do with him.

I am not convinced that he can play in CM or CDM role. From what I have seen him in United shirt, his weakness could be his passing range.
 

Brightonian

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Decent performance tonight. Not very involved in the build up but had some lovely touches where most of his teammates bar Mata wasn't really on the same wavelength.

Feels a bit like when Kagawa joined. His teammates didn't quite trust him and were reluctant to give him the ball in tight spaces. Hopefully he gains that trust quickly because you can see he has good awareness and has a good one touch game.

I like that he gives us a different option at the number 10 and would allow Bruno to play the 8 role in certain situations.

I'm curious to see how he would do in a more open game. We've only seen him against teams playing the low block so far.
He will. This is a very different side than the sterile, midfielder-free outfit Kagawa joined. Players like Bruno, Pogba, Fred, Martial, Rashford etc are always looking to bounce passes off people, and VDB has already proven he can handle those moves.
 

Brwned

Have you ever been in love before?
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Decent performance tonight. Not very involved in the build up but had some lovely touches where most of his teammates bar Mata wasn't really on the same wavelength.

Feels a bit like when Kagawa joined. His teammates didn't quite trust him and were reluctant to give him the ball in tight spaces. Hopefully he gains that trust quickly because you can see he has good awareness and has a good one touch game.

I like that he gives us a different option at the number 10 and would allow Bruno to play the 8 role in certain situations.

I'm curious to see how he would do in a more open game. We've only seen him against teams playing the low block so far.
Yeah I like the sound of that actually. Could see some exceptional combination play if you were to get Bruno, vdB, Martial and Mata in flow.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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When Pogba & Rashford came on, he actually played on the left but given more freedom in his off ball movement to go central like Mata. I won’t be surprised to see him playing in that type of role more often against top opposition team to provide balance in midfield.
 

JJ12

Predicted Portugal, Italy to win Euro 2016, 2020
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Decent performance tonight. Not very involved in the build up but had some lovely touches where most of his teammates bar Mata wasn't really on the same wavelength.

Feels a bit like when Kagawa joined. His teammates didn't quite trust him and were reluctant to give him the ball in tight spaces. Hopefully he gains that trust quickly because you can see he has good awareness and has a good one touch game.

I like that he gives us a different option at the number 10 and would allow Bruno to play the 8 role in certain situations.

I'm curious to see how he would do in a more open game. We've only seen him against teams playing the low block so far.
Funnily enough he’s the only one along with Mata capable of playing in tight spaces. I don’t think it’s a trust thing, rather a lack of skill or brain from teammates.
 

Bestietom

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Very intellegent player. Reads the game very well and gets into space. When others get to know his play better,he will be big plus for us..
 

FrankDrebin

Don't call me Shirley
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Get Beek into a more possession based team and his nifty one-touch passes and clever footwork would be more greatly appreciated but we're not quite there yet.

I like to think, with this signing, Ole and the staff are going down this approach to bring more finesse and culture into our style of play but last night, minor the sexy flick for Mata, he was practically non-existent.

Still,put him alongside Bruno and Pogba then we should see a more influential performance from him.
 

Himannv

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He's fantastic at beating the press when on the ball. Those one touch passes and flicks when under pressure are sublime. However, he's the only player on this team who plays this way and it shows in how disjointed the overall play is. He's too far forward at times when we need the AM to be on the ball and creating the play.
 

FrankDrebin

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Yeah, he was high up the pitch last night, even further forward than our lone striker Ighalo.

I would like to feel his forward position was in design but you never really know with us.
 

tomaldinho1

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He's fantastic at beating the press when on the ball. Those one touch passes and flicks when under pressure are sublime. However, he's the only player on this team who plays this way and it shows in how disjointed the overall play is. He's too far forward at times when we need the AM to be on the ball and creating the play.
He had a good game overall but I agree, it was really easy to see he's been brought up with a completely different style of play. He adapted well as the game wore on but that type of intelligence is what we need more of in our team - the way the best team get through the low block teams that we struggle with isn't by just having rapid forwards it's players like VdB and Mata who really understand how to exploit space. Sounds wishy washy but it's not something really taught in the PL academies and you can see it as far back as players like Cantona, Zola, Bergkamp.
 

AmanNits04

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One thing i noticed about him is he was asking for our players to play a forward pass quite a lot of times, there was space and time too but our players just couldn't see that. This probably shows that his intelligence and awareness is superior. but then it was our second string team, i am confident our first team players will be on a similar level. He definitely looks like a good addition to the squad, this is how our back ups should be, only with ample quality in our squad depth will be more consistent.
 

Yagami

Good post resistant
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The problem with this signing was evident yet again.

We needed a midfielder to be able to come in and take the creative weight off of Pogba and Fernandes, but he's just another one that needs their service to do anything. We needed a midfielder to take the initiative and not hide regardless of tactics/teammates, not another one that needs everything in his favour to be able to do anything.
 

georgipep

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The problem with this signing was evident yet again.

We needed a midfielder to be able to come in and take the creative weight off of Pogba and Fernandes, but he's just another one that needs their service to do anything. We needed a midfielder to take the initiative and not hide regardless of tactics/teammates, not another one that needs everything in his favour to be able to do anything.
Can you try adding another sentence saying the same thing? We really need to push for longer paragraphs.

Also, haha, you're delusional.
 

Shark

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The problem with this signing was evident yet again.

We needed a midfielder to be able to come in and take the creative weight off of Pogba and Fernandes, but he's just another one that needs their service to do anything. We needed a midfielder to take the initiative and not hide regardless of tactics/teammates, not another one that needs everything in his favour to be able to do anything.
Maybe try having a bit of patience with him before drawing too many conclusions such as that? Everyone is so impatient with new signings these days, they don't all start like Bruno did. VDB unlike Bruno though, has been thrown into makeshift starting eleven's so far with the likes of James/Lingard/Mctominay and when he did come into the first team vs Palace he scored. Not sure what people are expecting of him so far.
 
Joined
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The problem with this signing was evident yet again.

We needed a midfielder to be able to come in and take the creative weight off of Pogba and Fernandes, but he's just another one that needs their service to do anything. We needed a midfielder to take the initiative and not hide regardless of tactics/teammates, not another one that needs everything in his favour to be able to do anything.
Like the initiative he took to assist Mata?

Your posts spill hate for VDB, after 4 games it’s quite something.
 

dutchred

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The problem with this signing was evident yet again.

We needed a midfielder to be able to come in and take the creative weight off of Pogba and Fernandes, but he's just another one that needs their service to do anything. We needed a midfielder to take the initiative and not hide regardless of tactics/teammates, not another one that needs everything in his favour to be able to do anything.
Why do we need to take the creative weight off Pogba and Fernandes. If we get a creative right winger ( not just a speed merchant) we have enough creativity. What we need are players who understand what the creative players are doing. Donny drifts into space and goal scoring positions but we need intelligent enough players to find him. He si brought up the Ajax way. His best season at Ajax was when Tadic, Neres and Ziyech were the creative ones and Donny just popped up scoring important goals. l
In that Ajax team Tadic played as a false '9' and Neres and Ziyech swicthed positions all the time. Donny played just behind them.
If we dont get a good right winger maybe we can play Bruno as a false '9' with Rashford and Martial swopping from wing to wing and play Donny behind them with Matic and Fred doing the defensive duties
 

Zoo

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Maybe try having a bit of patience with him before drawing too many conclusions such as that? Everyone is so impatient with new signings these days, they don't all start like Bruno did. VDB unlike Bruno though, has been thrown into makeshift starting eleven's so far with the likes of James/Lingard/Mctominay and when he did come into the first team vs Palace he scored. Not sure what people are expecting of him so far.
He compared him to Fellaini. Some people have agendas.
 

giggs-beckham

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Funnily enough he’s the only one along with Mata capable of playing in tight spaces. I don’t think it’s a trust thing, rather a lack of skill or brain from teammates.
They had an on pitch bromance thing going on. I remember this vid/giff of Kagawa walking along and then Mata jus slinks in and out of the frame behind him with this big smile on his face at Shinji.
 

-Supreme-

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Interesting comments by Ole today, he thinks VDB has potential to be a left-sided player, playing in Rashford's position.

Solskjaer hints at new Van de Beek role

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted Donny van de Beek has the potential to be used on the left side of a front three after an impressive showing against Brighton.

"He’s got very high footballing intelligence and tactically he’s gone through the Ajax system. Dutch football is tactical, he knows football, he's got his head screwed on," Solskjaer said.

"He’s a different type of left-sided player compared to Dan James and Marcus Rashford but coming inside and finding good pockets why not, he can play loads of different positions, which sometimes is a strength for a player.

"I remember myself sometimes, right-wing, left-wing centre forward, No. 10, Donny is one the coach will always look to have in a squad."
 

Yagami

Good post resistant
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Maybe try having a bit of patience with him before drawing too many conclusions such as that? Everyone is so impatient with new signings these days, they don't all start like Bruno did. VDB unlike Bruno though, has been thrown into makeshift starting eleven's so far with the likes of James/Lingard/Mctominay and when he did come into the first team vs Palace he scored. Not sure what people are expecting of him so far.
I'm not basing my opinion on him off of United games, though. They're based off the last 2 years.
Like the initiative he took to assist Mata?

Your posts spill hate for VDB, after 4 games it’s quite something.
Before Pogba came on and helped us control the match, Donny had done nothing.

That's what I'm saying. We needed a midfielder to dominate games without needing service from Pogba and Bruno. If we want to rest them, we're going to be in the same predicament as last year.
Why do we need to take the creative weight off Pogba and Fernandes. If we get a creative right winger ( not just a speed merchant) we have enough creativity. What we need are players who understand what the creative players are doing. Donny drifts into space and goal scoring positions but we need intelligent enough players to find him. He si brought up the Ajax way. His best season at Ajax was when Tadic, Neres and Ziyech were the creative ones and Donny just popped up scoring important goals. l
In that Ajax team Tadic played as a false '9' and Neres and Ziyech swicthed positions all the time. Donny played just behind them.
If we dont get a good right winger maybe we can play Bruno as a false '9' with Rashford and Martial swopping from wing to wing and play Donny behind them with Matic and Fred doing the defensive duties
You're right, but, as of now, we don't have that creative right forward, and we also haven't implemented a good, attacking system which will allow players of that ilk to shine. As he's not very press resistant, and we don't look like we're becoming a well coached team in attack, I think he'll just go the route of Kagawa, Mkhi and Mata in that they'll have no influence on our general play, but will get the odd goal/assist.
He compared him to Fellaini. Some people have agendas.
Agenda because I don't think he's good? Even though I held this opinion before signing him. Yesterday was Fellaini-esque. Works hard, does nothing on the ball for %99 of the game, but has that one moment which causes people to overlook the other 89 minutes.
 

Bebestation

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He isnt going to be creative like Bruno or Mata and Pogba are. That doesnt make him shit though.

He isnt that type of player to sit behind the attack and lay clear chance after chance. However he will confuse the opposition with his runs and quick interchangable passing within a group of players. The importance is that group of players as we saw yesterday.

That confusing ability is a very rare thing which can spread open a defensive line either by getting the ball to him who has beaten the defensive line by finding the pockets of space - or the defense have found him so have to accommodate his runs which brings space to the rest of the forward line.

Players like him are like gravity - they bring the ball towards him and if not they bring the defenders with him for the space of others.

Very intelligent player that has to be used in the right system which includes players and formation.
 
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