[OrcaFat]

VDB is absolutely not a number 10 and he will never look good for us there. Also his attributes arent really well suited for that position
Hes an out and out number 8.

What we should have done in first half maybe was switch Pogba and VDB but anywho, all is well that ends well I guess.

No idea how people see a number 10 in him. Maybe he can get away with playing that position for Ajax but he doesnt have the necessary ceiling at that position for the PL.

He is a lot like Herrera and if you want him to be a part of our rotation, he is an out and out number 8. Central midfielder is his future position, absolutely not a number 10.

Yes I agree with all of that. He will do a good job as an 8, when needed. Depending who we’re playing, he’s a potential first pick at 8 due to good engine and tidy short passing game.

He is not a natural 10 but I think he can do okay there coming off the bench against a tiring team with his quick one touch passing.

He had a bad game today but I like him as a squad player. £40mil is decent business. And he will get better. He won’t be sold after one year or anything.

As an aside, Ole obviously does not want to play Pogba at 10. I assume this is a squad management decision rather than tactical. Kinda curious.

 

[luke511]

Bit of a Kagawa/Mkhitaryen buzz off him right now. Real struggle ahead for him to establish himself here.

Not really, it's obvious he's a great footballer and hasn't been bought off of one great season like those two. He's already established himself to the fans, he's just getting fecked over a little bit by Solskjaer at the moment.

 

[bosnian_red]

Bit of a Kagawa/Mkhitaryen buzz off him right now. Real struggle ahead for him to establish himself here.

Nah. Just needs to be used in midfield. He's not as good when playing as a #10 IMO, just doesn't get involved in the game.

 

[Mcking]

What type of player is he exactly, I’d say a Herrera with out the bite from the games I’ve seen which is basically a nothing player, now my assessment is obviously wrong as he’s not had enough games.

He doesn’t look strong enough to play 6 or 8, let’s see.

I'd say Lingard in terms of idea and style, but without the athleticsm, and with half the stamina.

I think Lingard pound-to-pound is a better player than he is, and I'd have Mata ahead of him too.

 

[FromTheBench]

Still don't get why we signed him.

 

[dal]

Still don't get why we signed him.

Is what we have seen of him seriously his level, if so I’m shocked.

 

[JJ12]

The second coming of Tom Cleverly.

Why are people so clueless

 

[sullydnl]

Lingard better than him. Good to see we're not rushing to judgement then.

 

[lex talionis]

Tough crowd here. Donny is nowhere close to Bruno so let’s be clear about what we expect of him. Today the entire XI were abysmal in the first half, Donny included, but he was from our worst performer. As some other posters have already said, he’s better used as an 8 than a 10. Fantastic addition to the squad. Let’s put the comparisons to Kagawa and Cleverly (thankfully, no word of Djemba-Djemba yet) in the psycho box where they belong.

 

[JJ12]

Some of the opinions in here are fecking baffling

 

[Mcking]

Lingard better than him. Good to see we're not rushing to judgement then.

He is an uninspiring athlete with little quality on the ball. I don't need 1000 games to see the player he is.

He is being sold as one intelligent footballer with a good touch, moves well off the ball, good combination play, and is able to utilize spaces. That is what Lingard does too in theory, but with far more intensity, could carry the ball, far better athlete.

It's just that he is a new player, and cost a lot, so it is going to take some time for people to accept what it is.

I have seen him play together with Lingard in the same game, and the latter looked great in comparison.

 

[ghaliboy]

Some weird posts in here.

 

[lex talionis]

Donny Van de Beek a downgrade from Jesse Lingard.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Nah. Just needs to be used in midfield. He's not as good when playing as a #10 IMO, just doesn't get involved in the game.

Aye, everything about his game screams CM to me.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

I think he’d do better as a false 9 than deeper in midfield. His best attributes are being in the box, not being the provider or playmaker.

 

[Red00012]

Bit of a Kagawa/Mkhitaryen buzz off him right now. Real struggle ahead for him to establish himself here.

We’re 10 games in and that was his 2nd PL start.
chill out

 

[Red00012]

Some weird posts in here.

Was just about to post the same thing

 

[Tapori]

Won't be too harsh on the lad but looked a little lost.
Could do with some Mata style appearances

 

[Tapori]

He is an uninspiring athlete with little quality on the ball. I don't need 1000 games to see the player he is.

He is being sold as one intelligent footballer with a good touch, moves well off the ball, good combination play, and is able to utilize spaces. That is what Lingard does too in theory, but with far more intensity, could carry the ball, far better athlete.

It's just that he is a new player, and cost a lot, so it is going to take some time for people to accept what it is.

I have seen him play together with Lingard in the same game, and the latter looked great in comparison.

All players need time to adjust. I wouldn't throw the sink at him yet.
A long season to go.

 

[predator]

He's quality and I have no doubt that he would flourish in different teams with different set ups.

I agree with many on here questioning why we ever signed him.

Having said that. He will probably feature at some point against Leipzig and score or assist the crucial qualifying goal and we will all forget about how ineffective he was today.

 

[Idxomer]

Why are people so clueless

Wasn't serious but he was invisible today.

 

[Carl]

Really tidy player but unless the game is going through him he's anonymous. Totally invisible today.

 

[Bebestation]

I think he’d do better as a false 9 than deeper in midfield. His best attributes are being in the box, not being the provider or playmaker.

I agree.

He is a CAM like Delle Ali was seen as a CAM once until he got played behind the ST more often.

VDB is a movement and a goalscorer player than people expecting him be dictating our play with creativity like he is Christian Eriksen.

I think Ole bought him because then he has a flexible player at his disposal - a goalscorer that can get in to the box and score from CAM or plays a bit deeper in CM when needed. Maybe that's why it looked like to many that he wasnt Ole's player straight away because he didnt need to use him straight away.

 

[sullydnl]

He is an uninspiring athlete with little quality on the ball. I don't need 1000 games to see the player he is.

He is being sold as one intelligent footballer with a good touch, moves well off the ball, good combination play, and is able to utilize spaces. That is what Lingard does too in theory, but with far more intensity, could carry the ball, far better athlete.

It's just that he is a new player, and cost a lot, so it is going to take some time for people to accept what it is.

I have seen him play together with Lingard in the same game, and the latter looked great in comparison.

So if VDB turns out to be a better player than Jesse Lingard we can all safely assume you're clueless about football? I'll try to keep that in mind.

 

[luke511]

He is an uninspiring athlete with little quality on the ball. I don't need 1000 games to see the player he is.

He is being sold as one intelligent footballer with a good touch, moves well off the ball, good combination play, and is able to utilize spaces. That is what Lingard does too in theory, but with far more intensity, could carry the ball, far better athlete.

It's just that he is a new player, and cost a lot, so it is going to take some time for people to accept what it is.

I have seen him play together with Lingard in the same game, and the latter looked great in comparison.

You must be a troll, anyone that's watched DVB consistently, knows that hes 10x the footballer Lingard is.

Today wasn't the day for him, but our defence, Pogba and McTominay couldn't even get the ball out our own half for the majority of the first half. He was actually putting in a better shift defensively than Pogba, it was a harsh sub to say Pogba and McTominay had a worse 1st half.

He's the best in the squad at moving the ball quickly on the counter, which is very useful when he's played in the 8 role.

 

[Caesar2290]

Now that Shaw, Lindelof and Maguire have been consistently performing, CAF was out of scapegoats.

Looks like they found a new one.

 

[Devil may care]

For me he's better deeper than in the AM role, I know Pogba had a decent second half but at half time I'd have brought Pogba off for Bruno and put Van de Beek in the double pivot.

 

[Adam-Utd]

He’s better deeper against teams like that. 2 big physical DMs who press and hound, he got zero space around goal and we hardly played a forward pass. Id rather use him where he can use his quick 1 touch passing and smart brain.

It didn’t help that we had nobody stretching the pitch either, rashford really helped that.

 

[MetoTTT]

For me he's better deeper than in the AM role, I know Pogba had a decent second half but at half time I'd have brought Pogba off for Bruno and put Van de Beek in the double pivot.

Same here. We've badly missed Bruno AND Fred.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I don't think he's the type of midfielder we needed at all.

 

[Dve]

Playing all positions in the Dutch League, is not the same as doing it in the PL. Right now, he´s too careful with the ball to play as a nr. 10, you never see the unexpected. But he has played well as one of the two holding, and both the diamond and 5-3-2 suits his abilities. So he is another tool in the box, we will need a player like that in many games. But when everyone fit, he´s probably not in the starting 11 right now.

 

[Tom Cato]

Donny is a fine player, but today he was taken off because it just wasn't working.

He's had some good performances so I don't think he'll struggle to see gametime, but I don't know how comfortable Ole will be starting him in the immediate future

 

[MS4]

I think the signing is fine.
He is versatile, like Blind. He can play many roles and that's what we need with all the ongoing injuries.

 

[AltiUn]

Early days but he really doesn't look like a number 10 to me, looked better when he was played further back.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

repeated justification for the signing centred on the team needing better backup for Bruno, now told he can’t play as the ten and needs to be deeper, where Ole will likely never play him regularly. Increasingly hard to believe he was an Ole signing

 

[simplyared]

It's becoming obvious there are issues regarding how good the player is. There are reasons why he's been getting little playing time. Just a mediocre player as it stands at the moment and that's a bit worrying.

 

[eire-red]

I think he's a good signing, and if nothing else it means we never have to watch Pereira and Lingard again.

Didn't work out against West Ham, but he suffered just like the rest of our midfielders due to lack of movement ahead of them.

He's still young, and the PL is a difficult league to adapt to. Let's give him a full season before judging him.

 

[George Owen]

Donny is a fine player, but today he was taken off because it just wasn't working.

He's had some good performances so I don't think he'll struggle to see gametime, but I don't know how comfortable Ole will be starting him in the immediate future

Not because of himself though.

He was playing with Pogba, Martial and McT, who were stinking the place up. Hard to do anything with that.

VdB would play and link up great with smart players like Bruno and Mata, who understand football and can play quick passing game.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Early days but he really doesn't look like a number 10 to me, looked better when he was played further back.

That's because no one can find him and taking advantage of him for creating spaces for others. His style as AM doesn't suit our players at all.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Can’t wait for next Summer when Pogba’s sold & we get the narrative DVdB was always his replacement - thus far he’s been underwhelming to say the least.

Unnecessary purchase.