Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

Frenkie to United?


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rimaldo

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ffs:lol:

you an itk?
clearly not but the thing about the three conversations is true. i have a source that reckons ten hag phoned and begged frenkie to join. frenkie was adamant he is happy at barcelona and ever eth promising that frenkie could go to hollywood mid-season every year and visit universal studios, he still rejected the move.

eth then phoned two subsequent times and affected a spanish accent and pretended to be xavi. he informed frenkie that he wasn’t in his plans going forward and if he had had any contact with other clubs he should probably pursue it. eth nearly got away with it but frenkie caught wind of what was going on when ‘xavi’ said that he “should go for some tapash and think about it.”
 
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Hammondo

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clearly not but the thing about the three conversations is true. i have a source that reckons ten hag phoned and begged frenkie to join. frenkie was adamant he is happy at barcelona and ever eth promising that frenkie could go to hollywood mid-season every year and visit universal studios, he still rejected the move.

eth then phoned two subsequent times and affected a spanish accent and pretended to be xavi. he informed frenkie that he wasn’t in his plans going forward and if he had had any contact with other clubs he should probably pursue it. eth nearly got away with it but frenkie caught wind of what was going on when ‘xavi’ said that he “should go for some tapash and think about it.”
This is a joke, right?
 

2 man midfield

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eth nearly got away with it but frenkie caught wind of what was going on when ‘xavi’ said that he “should go for some tapash and think about it.”
passing the phone over to McClaren was definitely a mistake in hindsight
 

mitchmouse

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Compared to McT these players are Diego Armando maradona. Ffs even Savage was a better player then Mct

For the record I struggle the hype surrounding fletch and Butt. They were average players who were lucky to be carried by exceptional ones
There's no hype around them, that's the point. They played above themselves because of others and did good jobs. And by the way, anyone saying Savage was anything close to being fair (let alone good) loses the argument immediately!!
 

mitchmouse

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Are you serious? Those players were way more talented than Scott. McTominay is 25 and has taken over from Lingard as the oldest “young player” around. Milner broke Rooney’s record (or vice versa) as the youngest player in the league. He had bundles of talent and showed it early. Henderson was the jewel of the Sunderland academy and everyone knew his name before going to Liverpool.
I know lots of peoples' name, doesn't mean a thing. Milner and Henderson were and still are ordinary compared with those around them but fit and do good jobs. I feel McT might - might - be able to do the same. My point is that there should be lots of names ahead of him to be shown the door
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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People said much the same that about Fletcher and Butt. And look at the likes of Henderson (and to an extent Milner) at Liverpool. Don't tell me they are world class but fit a system with top class players next to them. Given the number of players who seem disinterested in the shirt right now, McT is not one I'd usher out the door in a hurry
Who are ‘people’?

Both the aforementioned are better players than McT, for as much as I dislike Pool both the players you mentioned for them are better than McT.

Your point lacks any nuance, there isn’t World Class or McT with nothing in between. You don’t have to be a World Class [whatever that means anyway] midfielder to be a better midfielder. We’ve seen countless examples, against teams of varying quality, midfielders best him.

As for keeping him around because he wants to be here, that’s all well & good but why wouldn’t he? He’s a limited midfielder with fans such as yourself elevating him based on things like ‘pashun’. In the immediate term he needs to stay for the numbers but he’s a prime example of how far the team has fallen technically & should be replaced in the medium term on that alone.
 

Reiver

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clearly not but the thing about the three conversations is true. i have a source that reckons ten hag phoned and begged frenkie to join. frenkie was adamant he is happy at barcelona and ever eth promising that frenkie could go to hollywood mid-season every year and visit universal studios, he still rejected the move.

eth then phoned two subsequent times and affected a spanish accent and pretended to be xavi. he informed frenkie that he wasn’t in his plans going forward and if he had had any contact with other clubs he should probably pursue it. eth nearly got away with it but frenkie caught wind of what was going on when ‘xavi’ said that he “should go for some tapash and think about it.”
:lol:
 

golden_blunder

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Compared to McT these players are Diego Armando maradona. Ffs even Savage was a better player then Mct

For the record I struggle the hype surrounding fletch and Butt. They were average players who were lucky to be carried by exceptional ones
Yes they were part of exceptional squads but that should tell you something, they were good players in their own right. Perhaps Fletcher more so. I have no doubt that but for injuries he would have had a very distinguished career
 

devilish

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There's no hype around them, that's the point. They played above themselves because of others and did good jobs. And by the way, anyone saying Savage was anything close to being fair (let alone good) loses the argument immediately!!
Nicky Butt was the class of 92's attempt of cloning Paul Ince. Nicky lacked Ince's immense strength and physicality (so did Keane TBH) but apart from that he had everything Incey had in his locker. He had the biggest shot of being first teamer out of the lot

Fletcher was a jack of all trades at a time when the B2B role was starting to become popular. He was never really first team material but he served us well at a time when Scholes was growing old and Carrick needed help. I never understood the hype around Fletch who ironically is more known for the CL final he lost then any games he played.

Robbie Savage was a brainless version of Gennaro Gattuso. He lacked the Italian's ability to read the game but he shared his work rate and his grit which made him very popular with squad at the lower side of the EPL. Savage would make a nuisance of himself anywhere he played, disrupting the game and give his 100% everytime.

McT stinks of not being good enough. His work rate is not particularly great, his distribution of the ball is horrific and he lacks that reading of the game that players at this level have. That's a problem in a football world were ball possession is becoming a key part of the game.
 

BenitoSTARR

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At this stage it’s just Barca making up the story to appease the fans. ‘We wanted/tried to keep him etc… recluctantly accepted a bid etc…. Financial situation, not our fault etc…’

He’ll be in red next season.
Agreed we’ll have another week of “oh he’s wonderful and we really don’t want to sell him but we’re poor” and then he’ll sign.

Least convincing message coming from Barca I’ve ever seen.
 

devilish

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Yes they were part of exceptional squads but that should tell you something, they were good players in their own right. Perhaps Fletcher more so. I have no doubt that but for injuries he would have had a very distinguished career
Is it really the case? Its more the case of United (like any other team especially at the time) couldn't afford having a squad of 23 superb players. We had to augment the first team with players of the academy and Fletch/Butt were the best of the lot.

I couldn't see Fletch attracting clubs capable of winning top honours. Butt maybe but not Fletcher.
 

golden_blunder

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Is it really the case? Its more the case of United (like any other team especially at the time) couldn't afford having a squad of 23 superb players. We had to augment the first team with players of the academy and Fletch/Butt were the best of the lot.

I couldn't see Fletch attracting clubs capable of winning top honours. Butt maybe but not Fletcher.
Curious, why are you so anti-Fletcher?
 

Mainoldo

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Yes they were part of exceptional squads but that should tell you something, they were good players in their own right. Perhaps Fletcher more so. I have no doubt that but for injuries he would have had a very distinguished career
Nicky Butt was a far better footballer than Darren Fletcher.
 

devilish

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Curious, why are you so anti-Fletcher?
First of all i don't hate the person quite the contrary. I never met the guy but he comes across from his interviews as a well educated an decent man.

What I am against is us giving him a long term contract at a time when it was evident that his career at this level was over + I find his quick rise within United's managerial ranks as hilarious but that speaks volumes about the way this club is run rather then anything else. I also never understood the hype surrounding him as a player. He was at his very very best an Ander Herrera level of player (and Im pushing it here)
 

Red the Bear

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He was one of those players who we appreciated but probably not rated as much by others, bit like Carrick.
Shame, I felt he made us really tick , always thought he would be a long term solution to our lackluster midfield of the time but his injuries didn't really alow that to come to fruition.

Carrick seems to get his due nowadays due to Perhaps his career going on long after sir Alex retired but fletcher didn’t really get that unfortunately.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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First of all i don't hate the person quite the contrary. I never met the guy but he comes across from his interviews as a well educated an decent man.

What I am against is us giving him a long term contract at a time when it was evident that his career at this level was over + I find his quick rise within United's managerial ranks as hilarious but that speaks volumes about the way this club is run rather then anything else. I also never understood the hype surrounding him as a player. He was at his very very best an Ander Herrera level of player (and Im pushing it here)
I think you're arguing against a scenario that didn't exist. Don't ever remember Fletcher being 'hyped'. I think if anything he was under-rated for a long time after he started putting in very good performances. Suspect he, like Carrick, would be far more appreciated if they were around in the analytics age where we could more objectively appraise their strengths. He was a really good carrier of the ball and fit as a race horse until his illness started to impact him. In his 25th year (the age McTominay is now), he scored 4 goals and made 5 assists.
 

mitchmouse

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Nicky Butt was the class of 92's attempt of cloning Paul Ince. Nicky lacked Ince's immense strength and physicality (so did Keane TBH) but apart from that he had everything Incey had in his locker. He had the biggest shot of being first teamer out of the lot

Fletcher was a jack of all trades at a time when the B2B role was starting to become popular. He was never really first team material but he served us well at a time when Scholes was growing old and Carrick needed help. I never understood the hype around Fletch who ironically is more known for the CL final he lost then any games he played.

Robbie Savage was a brainless version of Gennaro Gattuso. He lacked the Italian's ability to read the game but he shared his work rate and his grit which made him very popular with squad at the lower side of the EPL. Savage would make a nuisance of himself anywhere he played, disrupting the game and give his 100% everytime.

McT stinks of not being good enough. His work rate is not particularly great, his distribution of the ball is horrific and he lacks that reading of the game that players at this level have. That's a problem in a football world were ball possession is becoming a key part of the game.
did you mean to say that Keano lacked Ince's strength and physicality? really?
 

mitchmouse

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Who are ‘people’?

Both the aforementioned are better players than McT, for as much as I dislike Pool both the players you mentioned for them are better than McT.

Your point lacks any nuance, there isn’t World Class or McT with nothing in between. You don’t have to be a World Class [whatever that means anyway] midfielder to be a better midfielder. We’ve seen countless examples, against teams of varying quality, midfielders best him.

As for keeping him around because he wants to be here, that’s all well & good but why wouldn’t he? He’s a limited midfielder with fans such as yourself elevating him based on things like ‘pashun’. In the immediate term he needs to stay for the numbers but he’s a prime example of how far the team has fallen technically & should be replaced in the medium term on that alone.
I said playing next to a world-class midfielder would help McT as it helped others we've had...
 

devilish

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did you mean to say that Keano lacked Ince's strength and physicality? really?
Yes. Ince was physically a beast. I happened to have met both players and Ince was clearly the stronger guy. Keane was the better overall player and the modern type of a DM
 

mitchmouse

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Yes. Ince was physically a beast. I happened to have met both players and Ince was clearly the stronger guy. Keane was the better overall player and the modern type of a DM
Keane was one of the strongest players in PL history if you ask me
 

SadlerMUFC

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dutchred is right, mate; de Jong is not someone who should be classified as a nominally positioned #8. Defensive midfielders, liberos or deep-lying playmakers with the freedom to go forward are not necessarily #8s. Beckenbauer (the greatest libero of all) was not a #8, even though he had the freedom to pick-and-choose his moments to go forward as a defender at the peak of his powers. Sammer was not a #8, even though he had the freedom to surge forward and start counter-attacks for Dortmund and Germany as a defensive spare. Redondo was not a #8 for Madrid, even though he had the freedom to go forward while vacating his defensive midfield station (which was temporarily manned by someone else). Frenkie is not exactly like them and by no means as accomplished of a defensive presence, but he does fit into the general category of deeper positioned players with the freedom to incessantly probe and affect spaces in front of them (while also moving around a lot to pose numerical advantages, circulate the ball and create the fabled playing-against-12-men effect).

This is a decent representation of that, against high-caliber opposition as well — frequently forming a variable rhombus with de Ligt, Onana and Blind (often the first to release pressure on the centerbacks and distribute possession), sometimes filling in for Tagliafico, drawing opponents towards the ball and freeing teammates further forward, and intelligently pulling the strings from a deeper starting position than a conventional #8:

Spielverlagerung's Players of 2019: Frenkie de Jong
He is not a #6,. He needs someone beside him. That makes him box to box. aka a #8. Again he is NOT A #6. This is what United fans seem to want. A player who can run the show in a 433 not the 4231 we've been playing.
 

SadlerMUFC

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The poster is right. I don’t know what are laughing about ? And no, a 6 going having some freedom isn’t an 8. Sorry but seems like positions and their roles are very fixated in your head and wrongly too. I don’t know since when you started watching football but the above poster gave very good examples especially about Sammer. If you had watched him you would know too.

Take Declan Rice for example not like for like to de Jong but let’s see Rice’s roles for England and West Ham. He plays as DM for both but there is a difference. With England he is much more rigid, holds his position and rarely ventures forward. With West Ham he still plays as a 6 but with much more freedom to the point it would seem he is an 8 but he is still the 6 for West Ham.
He is not #6
 

mitchmouse

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He is not a #6,. He needs someone beside him. That makes him box to box. aka a #8. Again he is NOT A #6. This is what United fans seem to want. A player who can run the show in a 433 not the 4231 we've been playing.
this talk about No. 6 and No 8 and No 10 - that's all Savage ever goes on about on BT. We just need good players - we haven't had a decent midfield three (of four) for years
 

Bojan Djordjic

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Christ sake lads, will you set up another thread on what number he plays. It's unbelievably tedious stuff.
 

didz

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He's a midfielder who can keep the ball and get it up the pitch. Everyone happy?
 

BluesJr

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Less debate more tweets. How all transfer threads should be.
 
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