Everyone watching the Chelsea game (including myself) hoping someone else could give a summary
Andreas Pereira | Granada Loan Watch
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Apparently he played as a CM instead of on the wings here which is nice. Lasted the whole 90, too. Looking forward to his individual highlights.
Yeah exactly what I didEveryone watching the Chelsea game (including myself) hoping someone else could give a summary
Not the best performance but showed some positive signs. Probably should've scored, too. Granada and Betis both played a bit of the game with 10 men and Pereira looked like he could still keep possession and work hard for the team despite this.
I might be wrong, but I think this is his first ever senior appearance in a midfield two I believe? So, considering this, I'd say he did well.
Reckon you're right.
Hope he does well, Id like to see him back here in our midfield, he has a lot of talent
The Betis player that was sent off was their sub keeper who was sent off from the bench for dissent so they finished the match with 11 men on the pitch. Pereira was fairly quiet but looked decent and wasn't helped by the complete lack of cohesion in Granada's play. Basically all of their players are new or on loan and play like a group of strangers. Pereira was trying to get moves going but players just kept doing their own thing and not playing as a team. He covered the most ground for Granada and did well positionally after they went down to 10 men. Had a couple of wayward shots and could have scored the rebound after the penalty save but the keeper saves well.
Game time is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned at this stage of his career. The more minutes he gets under his belt, the more happier I'm. Not too fussed about the performances at this moment.
Always hard to tell how he played in context with these individual highlights but it looked a very tidy display. Really rate this kid and I hope he continues to get plenty of minutes.
From the clips, looks like he had a solid first game. Put in a couple of decent crosses, as well as a few poor ones. Definitely should have had an assist. Good workrate and tracking back. Held onto the ball for too long a number of times. Also, was given a lot of space in that game, so you would expect good delivery with so much time on the ball. He won't get that in the Premier League. Decent game overall though.
Second game did not look as promising imo. Lost the ball quite a few times, chose the wrong pass or simply delivered the pass incorrectly quite a few times. He was given far less space in that game which will be far more similar to the conditions in the Premier League. I understand that adjusting to the cm position takes time, and tbh I don't think he'll ever be capable of playing as a pure cm, but he'll still need to improve there if he's to play more games there for Granada. The positioning required to play the role will be useful for him when playing on a bigger stage, even if it's as a cam. Most importantly, he needs to improve the speed of his decision making because a lot of the time a simple pass would have taken away some of the pressure. Difficult to play with poor teammates of course but there were still a lot of players available in those clips that he should have worked with better. It's very much the team aspect of his game that needs work right now rather than his individual ability, similar enough to Januzaj.
Hopefully, he'll continue to play and improve throughout the season though. At least he's getting starts, that's the most important thing.
Second game did not look as promising imo. Lost the ball quite a few times, chose the wrong pass or simply delivered the pass incorrectly quite a few times. He was given far less space in that game which will be far more similar to the conditions in the Premier League. I understand that adjusting to the cm position takes time, and tbh I don't think he'll ever be capable of playing as a pure cm, but he'll still need to improve there if he's to play more games there for Granada. The positioning required to play the role will be useful for him when playing on a bigger stage, even if it's as a cam. Most importantly, he needs to improve the speed of his decision making because a lot of the time a simple pass would have taken away some of the pressure. Difficult to play with poor teammates of course but there were still a lot of players available in those clips that he should have worked with better. It's very much the team aspect of his game that needs work right now rather than his individual ability, similar enough to Januzaj.
Hopefully, he'll continue to play and improve throughout the season though. At least he's getting starts, that's the most important thing.
The good thing about the position he played at the weekend is that it's one that would really benefit us next season. He seemed to be playing in a role similar to what Herrera plays for us at the moment (when he actually does).
Looks like he played another 90 minute, out on the left again. Granada lost 2-1 to Bilbao
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Saw people on twitter saying he looks head and shoulders above his team mates.
Another 90 mins 
Theres a quality player in there who hopefully by the end of the season will have shown Jose that he deserves to be at Utd.
He was driving the team forward early in the 2nd half when it was 1-1 and the game was there to be won.. Granada dominated but Pereira was little too unselfish with the chances he created. Will start to take and score those chances when the season progresses.
Excellent performance. My only worry is that he needs to be played at CM otherwise it isn't doing us any good. for him personally it is a positive.. but from a United POV, we want him developing as a game controlling CM.
The most important thing is to get games and show a top attitude. He will grow this season a lot as a starter in La Liga. I am very happy with this loan so far.
Just want him to figure out his position and play there for a full season. would love to have him as a 10/8 like Herrera. Would fit in well in our squad
He has always come across as a player who would do much better in the CM role. At the moment he looks like Pogba-lite. If improves his passing range he can become a very solid midfielder for us.
Dont agree. Plenty of players started playing out wide at senior level before ending up as a central midfielder (Modric at Spurs for instance).
Defending at that clip looked awful btw.
Of course that is possible, but there aren't too many instances I can think of other than Modric. Most CM's I can think of, either started out there or moved from AM's and moved back into CM. Number 10's on the other hand can definitely learn their trade from out wide.
Pogba has played on the left so much he hasn't got the discipline anymore to play as a pure CM. Pereira could do a Modric, but the odds are he will struggle to get into the United team next season if he stays out on the wing at this level.
He is competing with Pogba/Martial for the left sided/attacking midfield positions whereas if he can cement himself as a CM at this level, he will only have Herrera for competition.
I think that's a very good performance against a good team in Bilbao. He made some great runs, some decent passes. His most promising so far imo. Still don't agree with people saying he should be a cm. Maybe in a midfield 3 but he could never play properly in a midfield 2 imo. He's a clear cam for me, maybe one who can play on the wing also. I am happy that he's getting more involved with the defensive side of his game. I think this will be a better loan move than I had anticipated. Hope he comes back better and ready to compete for a place in the first team.
Whilst I agree that this is the logical assumption to make when you watch him play, my fear is that either of those roles.. he is not going to break into the United first team and we will have to lose him.
No way is he a winger for Manchester United ahead of Martial and he isn't going to be our RW answer either (we will sign a big name for this role if Mkhi doesn't work out). Secondly, as a AM.. he is going to have to dislodge Pogba, again that is never going to happen.
Therefore the only opening is as a CM and I think he does have it in him to play well in a deeper position. I hope he can make it here one day but if your assessment is correct (and I think deep down you are right) - his future is away from Manchester United.
Yeah, that's understandable. It will be tough no matter where he plays. I suppose it depends if we're going to play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 going forward. I think we're probably adjusting to a 4-3-3, so if we go forward with that he could probably play in that system. I just don't think he could be a cm in a 4-2-3-1. Mourinho seems to rate him highly so I do think he'd rather keep him. I think he'll probably play a few positions for Granada. He's looked good on the left, but I think they'll play him at cam in some games, and he'll probably get a few more games at cm throughout the season. Not sure he'll be a starter for any position next season but even if he can perform off the bench, he could potentially break into the team, similar to Rashford.
His lack of pace and physicality has concerned me whenever he's played for us. He looked stronger on the ball today so that's a plus but again it's a different league and I think that football suits him.
Hopefully he can still comeback here and play a part next season.
Hopefully he can still comeback here and play a part next season.
everytime he touches the ball he looks class, 2:45 my favourite moment of him, he's a bit wasted out wide, he has a ability to ditcate the tempo of the game fromt he middle, he's skillfull no doubt so he can play from the left.. but as long as he plays I am good with that. I think he will end up somewhere in athletico madrid in few years,he would have to really shine and when coming back be ready to paly in one of those attacking positions but he's not quick enough for a winger and not a big name to start as CAM but there could be some space after rooney leaves and maybe Mata too, Lingard will be a squad player and Mikhi his only competition... but we will buy someone I am sure.. for CM he played there too little but the season is long so we will see
Wht?
He takes corners with both feet!
Three full matches in a row in Europe's top league for the lad. That is the most important thing.
With these young players it seems impossible to get any decent information. Some say he is fast and is two footed, whereas others say he clearly lack pace and is seriously one footed. Do people watch him or just make assumptions? I've hardly watched him play so can't really comment.
What are his strengths and his weaknesses?
He uses predominantly his right foot in open play. It's very obvious.
His best position is CM.Being able to play AM or winger is only gonna help, but I think he lacks a bit of end product in those positions.
He is anything but one footed.
He has very good acceleration, but not "fast" in sense of top speed. Comparable to Messi. He has two very good feet, but he mainly uses his right one. However if he uses the other one, you can see that his left one is also very good.
Strengths technique, vision, dribbling, work rate, off the ball positioning, intelligent ballplaying.
Weakness well..not the strongest lad with his height of course. Heading obviously. But for his type of footballer he has no significant weakness - nothing apparent at least.
Strengths:
- Strength - good at shielding the ball against grown men
- Agility - very adept at getting through gaps, with sidesteps, not quite Iniesta but in that mould of player like an Isco but more rugged
- Footwork/flair - World class talent on this front, he really is one of the most talented youngsters I have seen with the flair he has on the ball, bit like Thiago Alcantara on this front
- Long range lofted passing - has one of the best crossfield passing techniques I have seen on a youngster which coming from a club which had Beckham and Scholes, I am not surprised
- Work rate - strange one but for an attacking midfielder, he has good work rate.. isn't a Januzaj in that sense. He does like to cover ground and makes an impact because he has a dynamic pitch presence
- Ambidextrous - one footed when he carries the ball but don't be fooled.. he packs a good left foot and can cross with either foot
- Set pieces - can take a mean free kick and corner
- First touch - rock solid, very reliable
Weaknesses
- Attitude - thinks he is better than what he is, best friend is Januzaj
- Athleticism - He is nippy but he is quite stocky, if he was just a yard quicker he'd be a shoe in to make it at United, but as it is.. he always looks like he's having to work very hard to get past people - reminds me abit of Rooney in this sense although the younger Rooney was rapid. Quicker than Mata though.
- Positional discipline - If he doesn't play in a free role for a top club, he's going to have to play in a more restricted role and the question is, does he have the discipline to accept that and mould his game accordingly or is he a free spirit who needs to drop down a level like an Eriksen.
- Slide through passing/goals - doesn't quite pull off killer through balls regularly enough for me or hit the back of the net enough. If he could do that, again he'd make more of case of him being a 10.. but this is one reason why I think he is suited to being a CM
It's pretty common for young CMs to play out wide. Their managers rate them and they can run a bit, but they don't trust them in the engine room. Fletcher played wide for us, Koke and Saul at Atletico still often do, Gerrard did at times, Cazorla started there, Iniesta played some LW.
That doesn't make him one footed, his weak foot is better than the vast majority of professional players, you might aswell call Ronaldo one footed.
disagree. Might look like that in Spain, but in the PL he would get shoved around just like Januzaj. No Agüero type of small people's strength
Strongly disagree here. In only very few games he made already 4 or 5 killer passes/crosses. Not his fault, when his teammates are shit and can't convert anything.
I fully agree with the rest of your assessment
Schweinsteiger and Kroos the most prominent Germans to start their career at the flanks, and mostly played there in their first few years.
Indeed quite common