I honestly don't think he's been given a proper chance so far, and Ole's reluctance to use him at any given situation is weird. Just sell him if you don't trust him.
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Wonder if Monaco would take him in part exchange for Tchouameni?
Don't think he could have been much worse than Pogba/Fred in the midfield pivot in the first half yesterday. He showed signs of adapting to the midfield role end of last season and in pre-season. Playing Pogba in that deeper role makes us equally, if not more open, and wastes his quality further up the pitch. We could have used DVB there in last 2 games.
We should try that out. Given he did well in the Dutch league a step down in league may work for him.
Yes it is strange and this topic has been discussed ad nauseum. By all accounts he is a good guy so I wish we would just be honest with him and allow him to go somewhere else. 40m bench warmer. FFS.
I felt that a lot of purchases last season were made without much planning.
Alex Telles was deemed to be not suitable for the EPL due to his lack of defensive work. Pellesteri has been loaned to La Liga twice. Amad is still raw and needs more playing time in a lower club in the PL. VdB is not suitable for the tactical setup in the team.
I think the Super League debacle forced the Glazers to buck up in their signings.
Alex Telles was deemed to be not suitable for the EPL due to his lack of defensive work. Pellesteri has been loaned to La Liga twice. Amad is still raw and needs more playing time in a lower club in the PL. VdB is not suitable for the tactical setup in the team.
I think the Super League debacle forced the Glazers to buck up in their signings.
When did we become tactical?
Don't be such a wet blanket. OGS is not as tactical as Tuchel or Benitez, but after watching Klopp for the past 4, 5 years, his tactical setup is on the same level as Klopp, in which attacks have been one-dimensional and over-reliant on individual player's flair. But players still can find space and link-up during a good passage of play. Klopp is after all, still a serial winner.
If you want to look at someone with no tactics and no plan, that will be Mikel Arteta for you.
Hang on a second, there's a massive debate going on about how we were missing a link man between our midfield and forward players, wouldn't VDB be perfect for this type of role? Did he not do this very thing at Ajax??
My hunch is that vDB was supposed to take over Pogba, in which he will do the link-up play on the left side of attacking midfield or from central midfield. Pogba was supposed to go to Real Madrid this season.
However, with the pandemic hitting and the Spanish clubs began to lose money, the move did not materialize, and with CR7 coming back, I see Pogba moving back to CM to accommodate Rashford and Martial on the left.
vDB now has only one option - that is to displace Bruno Fernandes, who wants to/can play almost every game.
There is a glimmer of hope though. If Mbappe ends up moving to Real Madrid, we may see Pogba going to PSG, but will United fans really want to see him go now?
My blanket is very dry sweetheart go google sarcasm
What's baffling is that Fred and McTominay can have numerous shitty games to established and improved themselves, but Van De Beek wasn't given the same chance. A game here, a sub there. There's no continuity for him to get familiar with real match situation in the set up.
He looks bad whenever I saw him, but I also saw someone who absolutely bereft of confidence and so scared to fecked up because he knows he never got the chance again for weeks if he did.
He looks bad whenever I saw him, but I also saw someone who absolutely bereft of confidence and so scared to fecked up because he knows he never got the chance again for weeks if he did.
Ironically that sentences would also make sense with Pogba, and the above actually happened numerous times last night.
We don't know whether this would happened with Donny because he simply hasn't play enough to know if that would happen consistently.
But I do know as soon as I saw the team sheet last night, Pogba leaving the entire midfield unprotected would happen constantly
Looks like he bulked up for feck all
No way he could be worse than James, who's already started 2 games and been awful.
He's carefully wrapped up resting on the bench, no danger of being harmed.
If he couldn't even get on the pitch yesterday, I do wonder when exactly he'll be able to (apart from cup games)
Pellistri and Amad were signed for the future... The super league happened after the previous summer window.
You keep saying he was 5th or now 6th best player. But you forget to mention that that Ajax team was superb and maybe the best team that season. So it's not a bad thing to be the 6th best player, also because that list only includes 1 other midfielder, who was crowned the best midfield for that season.
It's such a weird way of criticizing, Pogba is also our 6th best player, does that now make him a bad player? No ofcourse not
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That Ajax team wasn't superb compared to the level Manchester United is aspiring to be. You lost to us in the EL final and won the league only once. So if you guys were worse than Manchester United and were worse than where we want to be, how does an average Ajax player (average in terms of the starting XI), make our starting XI better?
Manchester United's 6h best player > Ajax's 6th best player. Your Pogba comparison falls flat there (and I'd argue he isn't our 6th best, but whatever), you're equating two clubs that operate on different levels. Ajax hasn't been capable of having 6 players that make Manchester United's starting XI better for a quarter of a century. One or two super talents, maybe (like De Jong or De Ligt). Who was the last Ajax player that would walk into Manchester United's starting XI? Suarez 13 years ago?
We're not looking to win the Eredivisie once every 3 years or to lose an EL final. There's maybe only one player in the Eredivisie in any given year that would improve us (see Memphis). I can know, I watch Eredivisie's top and international fixtures as a neutral.
Farcical. If there is no intent to play him, should've told him and shipped him out in the summer.
Either he's good enough or not.
Either he's good enough or not.
Don't know where he fits currently within the double pivot unless he's with one of Matic or McTominay in midfield but Fred and Pogba are 'trusted' by management.
He's not shifting Bruno in the side at the 10 and the idea of shifting to a 4-3-3 doesn't seem like its happening.
He's not shifting Bruno in the side at the 10 and the idea of shifting to a 4-3-3 doesn't seem like its happening.
I hope I get to see VDB as a false 9 trying to interlink Rashford and Greenwood just once in my life.
Rashford- - - - - Greenwood
VDB
VDB
Then most people would be asking why not just play Bruno there?
We should have sold him in summer and brought in another midfielder. It's ridiculous that we paid 45m for a midfielder to never use him even while our other midfielders aren't really sitting the world on fire.
Scott - VDB
Bruno
Greenwood - Ronaldo - Pogba
That's what I would have liked to try after the break to be honest.
Sancho doesn't deserve to be a starter at the moment until he gains some form and fitness, and Pogba will be better on the left than a double pivot.
But alas, it won't happen.
What does James have to do with where Donny plays? Please explain this train of thought, as I can’t get my head around it.
Difference was he stopped doing it. DvB would melt under pressure.
Ironically that sentences would also make sense with Pogba, and the above actually happened numerous times last night.
We don't know whether this would happened with Donny because he simply hasn't play enough to know if that would happen consistently.
But I do know as soon as I saw the team sheet last night, Pogba leaving the entire midfield unprotected would happen constantly
Pogba gets to play in his more productive left attacking mid role while Donny plays in the middle of the park with Fred. The idea is that donny gets a chance to prove himself, certainly over James. Pogba is also known to be a defensive liability in the double pivot anyway. I don't find it as ridiculous as many top reds here make it out to be.
In the last game we could have played Pogba further forward and Donny in midfield if we didn't play James.
Should go out on loan in all honesty
Melted under pressure? How can you make a call like that when the guy has literally not had a chance to show what he can do?
Yup, that's what I'd have gone for too. It's totally baffling why he hasn't got a minute so far.
He played over 30 games for us, and failed to deliver and looked weak and cowardly. Sideways passes, invisible, hiding from the ball. That's how I can "make that call" because I actually watched him FOR united...
And neither does Van De Beek.
I'm surprise Ole rates Lingard that much and wants him to stay... He clearly sees Lingard above Donny in the rotation.
Now with James being sold to Leeds, Lingard staying, hopefully we can sell or loan VDB and buy a new midfielder.
Now with James being sold to Leeds, Lingard staying, hopefully we can sell or loan VDB and buy a new midfielder.
Where the hell did you get the EL final year from. You were talking about Ajax' team in the CL semi finals, so was i. The Ajax from the CL semi finals should be the level United wants to be at. Being one of the best in CL that is.
Sure Ajax' 6th best player is worse than United's 6th best. But that's not the point. The point is the you say that being the 6th best player is bad. If there was an All-Star XI, would the 6th player still be bad?
Even if the best striker in the world would play in the team but players on other positions are individually better, you'd say that the 11th best player of that team is bad, while that player could be the best in the world in his position.
Ajax had a great run in the CL and was one the best teams in the CL that year, so being the 6th best player isn't a bad thing. Especially he's only behind the best midfielder in the world for that year.
Sure VDB wasn't the second best midfielder in the world that year, but following your logic, he might've been.
I'm not sure why you keep repeating the nonsense you post just to convince yourself VDB is bad.
If Ole doesn't want to play him then we should get someone who can contribute and move VDB on. We need players who can play in Midfield
He doesn't rate him, why do you think he sent him out on loan and has tried to sell him? It's Lingard that overrated himself thinking he can start for us. Donny is gash, but Lingard has shown far more than he has.
I'm surprised that VDB isn't pushing for a move, he's going to miss out on the world cup at this rate. Van Gaal doesn't use players who aren't playing for their clubs so he needs to leave.
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