People basing his “aggressiveness” from reserve football clearly have no idea how little protection him and the other kids got from the crap refereeing at that level. Some of the tackles the kids were on the end of were shocking and honestly ridiculous that the match officials didn’t do anything about it. He might have a vengeful/cnut streak but it’s really not as bad as a lot of you try to make it out to be.
46
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 10
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
It's a new way to counter anyone praising a youth player, accuse them of overhyping when all you're really doing is taking positives from a performance. Was it the perfect midfield performance? No. Has he shown enough promise to warrant a bit of excitement? Yes, I'd say so.
The game we beat Blackburn 6-4 and the subsequent Liverpool games were an absolute disgrace in that regard. None will ever top that Tottenham game though where he was on the receiving end of 15 yellow card worthy fouls, I wish I was exaggerating.
It's quite the sudden burst of energy, tenacity and aggression with Hannibal, Amrabat, Mount and Højlund entering the fray in such short order. It brings us up to standard with what's demanded of a PL midfield (and triangulation with the centre forward) and should earn us the right to play our game instead of chasing after others' playing theirs.
Suddenly, we can't be played straight through and there is pressure from angles, unsighted, even, which lends itself to errors and hurried play that should see turnovers increase (as you've said above).
What I like about what Mejbri (and now Amrabat and Mount) provides is a setting of the standards demanded by the manager. He's said to have had a "perfect" game by the manager despite some of his errors on the ball because he's knitting the midfield and forcing/setting the pace. It's sad it takes a youngster to do this, but it's definitely making a difference to the collective and breathing life into the unit.
-----------------------Hojlund-------------------
--Rashford------Mount------Bruno---Dalot--
-----------Casemiro-------Amrabat-------------
------Shaw------Martinez------Varane---------
----------------------Onana---------------
The good thing with what you've listed is that we now have some interchangeability to the components whilst being able to maintain the intensity, and to a better extent, the quality. That RW issue may turn out to be it's own benefit in that we get a pressing #10 in there whether it's Mount or Bruno. The pitch might be narrowed for us, but it should also make us a team you go around, rather than through, which also leaves the opposition with the question of what they do with our overload (stick or twist).
Having 5 subs these days means the manager should be replacing the midfield as soon as anyone's energy drops.
Images of the referee overtaking United's midfield in Munich come to mind...get them off!
Images of the referee overtaking United's midfield in Munich come to mind...get them off!
So glad he is being given a shot. Think he has the potential to become an effective squad player for us.
In all cases he should get all the minutes of McTominay and Van de Beek
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Does anyone know where I can find running/pressing stats? Was looking for these the other day and failing to find any.
Good to see Hannibal putting up these figures and I thought he did well on the ball as well against Burnley.
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Suddenly our midfield options dont look so bleak.
Maybe this will help.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...man-utd-show-the-way-forward-for-erik-ten-hag
I have always loved Mejbri for this. He is way more talented with the ball, both in terms of running with it and passing, that what he has shown so far. But imo what's rare is to see that type of player have his level of work rate and running. He has always worked hard even in the U18s. I am hoping he gets a consistent run and develops further to become a regular no.8 with us.
Have you seen him for our youth teams?Saw Birmingham a few times last season and he got booked so many times early in games but would never get sent off yet would continuously go hard into challenges
As for Hannibal in general for the thread I don’t think he’s technically great or has any stand out abilities but he’ll be a managers pet because he will run himself into the ground and never shy away. Nothing Like Mctominay and his pretend hard man/passion act. He could be very useful in certain games as Park Ji Sung was.
He disappointed a little last night, just because the energy that he brought to the Brighton and Burnley games, wasn't really there. I hope he doesn't lose that edge he has. He'll need it to play consistently at the highest level
The running and pressing metrics are super impressive but an equally impressive and pleasantly surprising element of his performances has been his temperament. If you'd told me a season ago that he would play 180 minutes of football without getting booked, I'd not have bought that.
But he did get booked last night. Early on in the game.
Agree, i honestly can´t remember any attempt from yesterday or Burnley that felt too rash or reckless. That yellow was really soft, he just touched him when trying to get around.
We can´t have players that are afraid to get stuck in and really challenge for the ball. I really like that with Hannibal. He is not afraid of a bruise.
I tuned in after the 2nd goal but still quite good as he is used to being very temperamental in the reserves. The championship loan seems to have really helped him mature.
Koleosho is definitely someone to keep an eye on.
I admit I haven't watched him that often, but I feel he plays very differently depending what position he's in. When he's playing that more attacking role he seems to run away from the ball a lot, moving up the field towards the opposition goal waiting for others to find him. Whereas when he plays deeper he seems to move towards the ball, demanding it and looking to dominate a lot more.
That's based on a fairly small sample size though so I could be wrong.
Would love to see this data for all our players, have a feeling he absolutely embarass a lot of more experienced players
The last foul was a bit risky. I believe he made five fouls in total after the yellow, two of which were nothing fouls but the other three were the type that do add up in the referees mind. None of them by themselves were yellows, but by the third one it's starting to ask for trouble.
Think that will grow over time (if he indeed gets that time). There was a huge difference from him even in his first year in the academy and the player he was about 18 months in. He was taking charge of games and showing his class. So long as he can keep a respectable base level in terms of discipline, effort etc - then I am confident that there are many more levels within him. As someone who has watched him a lot at youth level, I haven’t been hugely impressed with his first team outings yet. He has so much more to give, but even then, he is already gaining plaudits.
Even his performance in pre-season against Wrexham I think offers a bit more insight as to his capabilities. I know they are a league 2 team, but he also had far weaker teammates that day and he got on the ball and made things happen against grown men.
Admittedly not. I’m going based on what I saw from his time at Birmingham:
I don't think running and distance covered stats are available for free. Have to pay for the more in depth stats.
FBRef used to have pressing stats but they don't seem to anymore. Not sure about anywhere else.
Good post, completely agree.
Fair, that would not tell you what sort of player he is. I think Birmingham was a great environment for him to really excel in his off the ball workrate, and ability to compete physically, however, his main attributes consistently shown in the youth side are more his passing and dribbling
I feel Ten Hag is onto the right path. There will be some more bumps down the road for sure but after this work rate phase we seriously need to work on our technical ability in this team.
Buying players who will dominate the ball like City do. They conserve so much energy it’s easier to cruise to league titles.
Buying players who will dominate the ball like City do. They conserve so much energy it’s easier to cruise to league titles.
Yeah, that explains it. Technically he is a proper CM.
Just one example of his technique
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Fred 2.0. Runs around a lot, much to desire when it comes to his passing. In my opinion, not a United regular starter despite his pressing abilities.
Mejbri was one of the most talented youngsters coming out from France when he joined us at the age of 16. He is 20, so he shouldn't be a regular starter based on what he's shown, but he's far more talented than you give him credit for.
Unless the poster watches him for the youth team he’s obviously not going to know that yet based on his first team outings, with that in mind I don’t know why he’s bothering to make such bold assertions after about 3 senior games anyway.
The funny thing is that it was Hannibal's ability on the ball that interested me when watching him coming through the ranks as a youngster. His passing/dribbling etc was impressive imo.
And I can understand why people are making conclusions regarding him because they've only seen him play a handful of times at first team level or on loan at Birmingham where the tactics were focused on getting the ball forward quickly to the big battering ram CF. So like I said during his loan spell, that it was a productive loan spell due to him playing for a coach who wanted him to press and counter press in a collective unit high up the pitch in a strategy which centred around bypassing the defensive and midfield thirds.
And I can understand why people are making conclusions regarding him because they've only seen him play a handful of times at first team level or on loan at Birmingham where the tactics were focused on getting the ball forward quickly to the big battering ram CF. So like I said during his loan spell, that it was a productive loan spell due to him playing for a coach who wanted him to press and counter press in a collective unit high up the pitch in a strategy which centred around bypassing the defensive and midfield thirds.
He's actually a pretty good passer.
His performances the last few games tell me everything I need to know about him. He’s a proper Manchester United player, and he’s gonna be here for a long time.
I think it’s the same for so many of us who were probably all rooting for him in the same threads at the time; very surreal to read of him as a non-technical player by those only seeing him now, but it makes sense as he’s shown a fraction of that part of his game thus far.
The Birmingham loan brought his out of possession game up a level. Because John Eustace (Brum manager) did coach a pressing and counter pressing strategy which seems to have improved Hannibal out of possession. Anyone who has seen him play coming up through the youth teams, will know that he was a play maker with passing and ball carrying abilities.
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"It has long been a feature of his game. "He has broken records for total distance, all that kind of stuff," said Birmingham City boss John Eustace last season, where Mejbri enjoyed a coming-of-age campaign in the Championship. It was the making of him."
"Speaking to the midfielder in February, he explained the transformation in his game and in his mentality. "Since I am in the Championship, I have seen that I need to work on my physical capabilities. It is making me a better player," he told Sky Sports."
And the game below from a couple of years ago in the EFL Cup against Lincoln shows his ability on the ball playing in a deeper midfield role where his passing and ball carrying ability is on display.
Thing is I'd rather people just research a bit before throwing bold assertions around. No foul if one hasn't watched a lot of reserve football, but if you must, at least read up on the player, or watch a few videos - even if it's the "every touch" videos. Because it's genuine odd reading that he's some form of limited hussle merchant.