True.. actually I read somewhere.. in game against RB, Fred covered most ground .. around 10.5 km (90 mins). Second was Donny.. around 10.2 km that too only in 70 mins...
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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To be honest as a diamond we could probably play the 3 of them alongside Fred/McTominay against them vast majority of sides in the league. They all work extremely hard and cover the distance anyway.
We could. I don't see why would we do that though. It leaves one attacker to make the runs, and all of Bruno, Pogba and Donny need those runners.
It wouldn't be effective going forward. It would work if we want to keep possession.
In fairness Bruno and VdB are well capable of being those runners. You would also have 2 up top / out wide not 1. Not that I'm advocating it but I do think it could work.
And then one less player to make the pass for the runners...
I'm not arguing that. Mata on the wing can work. Williams as left fullback can work.
I would rather have one sub available rather than three attacking midfielders on the pitch, to me it seems forced move to accommodate all of them.
I think Donny has been hyped up to a point where it will be difficult for him to live up to that.
He's a fine player who offers us something different. I'm not someone who's calling for him to start every game as he will play his part this season. There isn't a single player in the Premier league who could displace Bruno right now.
He's a fine player who offers us something different. I'm not someone who's calling for him to start every game as he will play his part this season. There isn't a single player in the Premier league who could displace Bruno right now.
It was average. I watched him numerous times not even look to see if anybody was pressuring him before he made the decision to make a safe back pass. He releases the ball to quickly when under pressure when he could just wait a bit to assess if there are any advanced players.
Over hyping a performance by people who thought he should have started a game sooner is no more annoying than slagging off a performance by people who’ve been arguing that Ole was right to keep him on the bench. It wasn’t an average performance. He played well. With lots of moments that showed he is a quality player.
Every touch. Go watch how he got out of tight spaces and name me who in this Manutd squad can do that?
He is the best technician we have in the middle of the pitch. He looks around before receiving the ball, he has a clear picture of where his pass or touch has to go so he does not get pressed.
Pinning someone back means they were attacking us relentlessly.
They are a very good team, so you expect them to have a spell during the game, you would be naive not to expect that. The fact that we dealt with it without conceding many chances shows how well we played defensively. Just because they had possession, does not mean they pinned us back.
They had 2 shots on target. 2 shots after pinning us back.
If teams pin us back and get 2 shots on target, I will take it all day.
The ones in the media who are hyping him up and calling for him to start, will be the ones to throw him under the bus after one underwhelming performance.
He is a very intellegent player who always gives 110%. I really like this guy, and hope he beds in soon.
Agreed.
My opinion maybe not popular but if last match we played Mata in his position doing his 'supposed job' of retaining possession for the sake of keeping it then it'd be the same I think. Mata is also a very tidy player, smart and good with back passing. Our problem when we played Mata was he was doing so much of those back passes and can not keep the ball and move it forward. Mata got heavily criticized for that and now VDB got praised 'brilliant' for that. I don't get it.
VDB seems like a good player but imo the current hype would do him no good. Let the lad beds in and we'll see I think.
I don't understand the confusion here.
He is basically Ole's Park-Ji Sung regen. Simply too many similarities.
He played for an Eredevise side that reached the CL semis only to be knocked out by a late goal by the eventual runners up of the competition. He was one of the key players in his side despite not having any outstanding abilities.
The man will be a fantastic squad player with an amazing footballing brain, good technique and a big game player with a good attitude.
He is basically Ole's Park-Ji Sung regen. Simply too many similarities.
He played for an Eredevise side that reached the CL semis only to be knocked out by a late goal by the eventual runners up of the competition. He was one of the key players in his side despite not having any outstanding abilities.
The man will be a fantastic squad player with an amazing footballing brain, good technique and a big game player with a good attitude.
Anyone who knows about football can see that he is a talent. He reads the game very well, intellegent, good technique, and will give his all every game.
Excellent comparison. He's very close to Mata in terms of general play - based on what we've seen so far. Good short passing, great first touch, operating well in thight spaces, not particularly strong or fast. He plays more centrally, but still makes me wonder what is the plan how to use him. It might be a one for the future, which is fine by me, because I don't see him becoming first XI player for foreseeable future. He doesn't offer what we don't already have so far.
He is essentially an upgrade over Lingard with perhaps some more scope to grow further.
You’re being ridiculous.
Yes, he was fine. He wasn't bad. It was just a performance with little to note. If Mata, or Lingard put in a similar performance, everyone would just shrug and hope they are not in the starting XI for the next game.
People comparing him to Mata 
Mata wouldn't able to impose himself in deep as midfield and as forward as a striker.
Mata wouldn't able to impose himself in deep as midfield and as forward as a striker.
And he's a slightly better version of Lingard tooPeople comparing him to Mata
Mata wouldn't able to impose himself in deep as midfield and as forward as a striker.
He will be fine. I don't worry at all about his game time. It is a long season and we got very good players in "his" position.
Maybe the new version of Ji Sung Park. I see lot of similiarities deBeek have when you compare him to Park. .
Maybe the new version of Ji Sung Park. I see lot of similiarities deBeek have when you compare him to Park. .
He has what Lingard does in movement but VDB js more consistent because he has a wider range of capability to him. Lingard once he makes a move out of his comfort zone all he does is open up space to the rest of the forwards.And he's a slightly better version of Lingard too
Van de beek does that but he makes runs to LM, RM, CAM, ST, CM and CDM and he is able to dribble, tackle, shoot, pass and bring others in to play even under pressure of pressing or teams lying back.
They are going to be players that have individually better abilities than VDB, for example Mata's creativity in playing a through ball is always going to be better than VDB's but that's not what VDB'S use is.
When VDB plays, he brings an extra 0.5 of a player to a starting 11. That's because not only does he make runs to a position to an area that his team members always need, but he has made that move before the opposition has realised and could catch him. He makes a run to LM, RM, CaM, striker, CDM and from those positions he is interlink the forwards to the midfield, linking the midfielders with each other and even dropping deep as times to interlink the defence with the midfield. In all those positions he has a good 8/10 to do what's needed, to dribble, cross, pass, move, tackle, shoot etc.
He might be seen by some as a jack of all trades & a master of none- however that isnt exactly a bad thing when all those trades are done with a consistency and a reliability of movement to be where he needs to be all the time.
Most on here will not have seen enough of him to have a real feel for him as a player, which makes the rush to grade him a little odd.
From what I have seen he is technically good, with tidy, quick feet, and he gets around the pitch well. Have little to note about his passing range, shooting ability or defensive contribution.
Utd building a strong squad should be something to celebrate after years of inadequate planning, if VDV only ends up as a really important squad player then that would still be a successful signing.
From what I have seen he is technically good, with tidy, quick feet, and he gets around the pitch well. Have little to note about his passing range, shooting ability or defensive contribution.
Utd building a strong squad should be something to celebrate after years of inadequate planning, if VDV only ends up as a really important squad player then that would still be a successful signing.
If he only had more touches of the ball (2nd lowest against RB). But I guess it's others fault.
This.
That's because he is the most one touch passing player in the whole squad.
This is new to me tbh. So the number of touches is the number of times a player get the ball or the actual number of times the player touches the ball?
Man Utd 0:1 Arsenal
How long will it take for Solskjaer to figure out that Bruno and VdB need to be playing at the same time.
My man of the match, because he was the only out there who looked like he gave a feck.
I don't think he suits our current playstyle if I'm completely honest. Don't get me wrong he's a good player but his best talents are wasted here.
VVD seems to have good technical ability and quick feet with alot of one touch passes. But when the rest of the team are constantly rooted to the ground, it doesn't really offer much benefit.
Whereas at least with Bruno he is willing to take his time and pick out a pass or find the run of a player. VVD calls out for the ball and most times passes it straight back to the player he received it from, which works in a team which are constantly moving and rotating and trying to create space. Which is probably why his best performance came when Mata was on the pitch with him. But the rest of our squad just don't have the ability to play like that and I find vvd largely ineffective.
Maybe I'm missing something which others are seeing, I don't know.
Still too early to judge him especially when he's only getting cameos.
VVD seems to have good technical ability and quick feet with alot of one touch passes. But when the rest of the team are constantly rooted to the ground, it doesn't really offer much benefit.
Whereas at least with Bruno he is willing to take his time and pick out a pass or find the run of a player. VVD calls out for the ball and most times passes it straight back to the player he received it from, which works in a team which are constantly moving and rotating and trying to create space. Which is probably why his best performance came when Mata was on the pitch with him. But the rest of our squad just don't have the ability to play like that and I find vvd largely ineffective.
Maybe I'm missing something which others are seeing, I don't know.
Still too early to judge him especially when he's only getting cameos.
Him and Rashford are my motm actually. Rashford was able to pull something off and even managed to get Gabriel & Holding in trouble few times and got them on yellow. Donny movement was good but Pogba and others were so bad unable to find him and he created our best chance to score. Donny deserves his starting XI against Everton or at least should be above Pogba in pecking order.
Its simple- he doesnt suit counter attacking football.
He suits to play in a team that have the ball with them and are creative alongside him.
He plays better with players like Bruno, Mata and Martial in the team because they can create or/and hold on to the ball with each other and bring others in to play..
Unfortunately Ole is a bit to defensive minded for us to hold on to the ball with one CDM so he plays two.
This is why he chose the 4231 - not because it suited the players but it suited his defensive tactics.
It's a joke, isn't it? We looked miles better when he came on, but the rest of the team were already deflated by that point. Could have easily put him in today instead of McTominay.
He can’t be worse than Pogba or McTominay. If he doesn’t start midweek then we’re done
You’re spot on. I said this in our game against Luton (I can’t directly repost the quote cos the thread is locked): Someone should tell VDB all this one touch football doesn’t work when your teammates are lethargic snails with no footballing brains whatsoever.
It isn’t a slight on him, though. As you mentioned our players are too inept for that and we are much better off with midfielders like Bruno who wait for players to make that run before picking out a pass.
One of the few players that know how to find space, move off the ball to create space, and how to find his teammates in space. You can tell he hasn't been coached much here...
It was so frustrating to see him finding pockets of space and no one was passing to him.
One instance. McTominay was on the ball. A simple pass forward in between their LCB an LB and VDB would have been through. He decided to pump it long to Cavani... so frustrating.
Should've stayed at Ajax. Madrid would've come for him in January.
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