[lost7]

I thought he was alright today, not spectacular but at least he wasn't giving the ball away cheaply. I would like to see him in a game where we hold more of the ball. I think his flicks and short passing are really good and probably would be very helpful at breaking down teams that are parking the bus. Perhaps Sheffield is another chance for him to get minutes (not in Bruno'd position of of course)?

 

[AngliaRed]

Right player, wrong time!

 

[evil_geko]

Saying "he doesn't do anything" is beyond mental.

 

[Irrational.]

I don't think he was as bad as people are making out. I still think we'll have a hell of a midfielder once he gets going.

We're too quick to write players off here as flops, same as with Fred.

 

[Borys]

I can see that but right now I think that's where vdb will get his chances and minutes to impress

We'll setting him up to fail then. I honestly don't see how would anybody expect him to impact the game playing higher when almost all of his good moves happen in midfield.

I don't get the Fred comparisons. Fred didn't look like a professional footballer when he came here, while Donny looks just not utilized right. It's like we played Cavani on wing.

 

[Rustyspider13]

I thought VdB was good at what he was doing. He picked the right pass with quickness and accuracy when needed. He is not a 10 of Bruno's ilk, so we should not expect him to be the one to put the long pass over the top of defenders. What we should expect, is for him to pick out the player who can give the final pass in rapid transition as he did for Rashford today. He'll never displace Bruno and if they are to play together he needs to mould his game as a wide AM (like Mata and Pogba in recent times) or as an 8.

 

[TrustInOle]

Today, and it happened a few weeks ago, but he received the ball in acres of space with options making runs ahead of him and he decided to hold up the ball, not moving it forward into space, and just playing it back, killing the potential opportunity. Something in me feels he is afraid of messing it up and keeps it abit to safe at times.

Really confusing player so far for me.

 

[fps]

First season, young, new country. He will get fitter and better. He struggled to make an impact here against one of England’s best teams. That’s ok at this point.

 

[Ali Dia]

He's in that awful loop now where he's playing infrequently enough to be unable to build up any sort of rhythm, which means he rarely plays well enough to oust guys who are consistently playing better than him (whatever your view for the reasons that's happening).

fred was there too not so long ago, It’s not impossible to get back into the team. If he’s still playing within himself next year then I’ll start to worry but even if he doesn’t turn out to be the player we’d hoped he will still command a decent fee. I doubt real were in for him for 40 million and he’s actually just an average player.

 

[bosnian_red]

He's a very good footballer IMO who is not a #10 in any way. Definitely not in our system. He's not a risk taker, and he is passive as a 10 and doesn't get involved enough. Doesn't assert himself and wants to be a add on rather than the main guy. As an 8 I think he has plenty of potential and worth persisting with. But if we bought him to be depth for Bruno as a 10, then we should sell him and just play Lingard there as he genuinely takes more risks in that position and suits it more than Van de Beek. He's totally wrong for the position.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Saying "he doesn't do anything" is beyond mental.

He fills space on the pitch with his physical form at the least.

 

[Brophs]

fred was there too not so long ago, It’s not impossible to get back into the team. If he’s still playing within himself next year then I’ll start to worry but even if he doesn’t turn out to be the player we’d hoped he will still command a decent fee. I doubt real were in for him for 40 million and he’s actually just an average player.

Course not. We have better options now than when Fred got back in, though.

 

[RuudTom83]

Its always hard to fully assess an individual performance from the telly, but he looked like he wasn't breaking a sweat at all today...I wanted to see him play at 100 miles an hour and pressurise Liverpool, really make an impression! but he seems happy to just jog around a little and play it safe.

 

[#07]

The issue with Van de Beek at the moment is he's playing a totally different style of football. He gets the ball in the pocket and he expects players to come towards him, make options for give and go's. However, our players do the opposite. They get on the run, they make the pitch big. He's yet to make the mental adjustment from playing with Ajax to playing with Man Utd. It makes him look a bit lost and a bit of a passenger. He needs to carry the ball more instead of looking for triangles.

 

[11101]

Neat and tidy and tried a few things but not quite enough. He's a good player, and that's the problem. We saw what happened when a great player came on in his place.

He looks like he's expecting neat and tidy football all around him and can't bring out the aggression to force things, which is needed in this league and at this level.

 

[Glorio]

I find DVB looks a bit overawed with the whole Man Utd set up
never mind a covid jab for Donny he needs a good injection of confidence, he needs to rub shoulders all day with Mr Cool Martial a bit
time will tell if he can blossom into a player for us, hopefully as he's young and has ability

Martial??? Now that's a man whose confidence is shot to bits

 

[Red00012]

First of all , it’s a difficult game to come in after playing feck all this season .

He seems to prefer to play safe rather than look for the pockets. Classic example when McTom found him with a great through ball and with acres of space he cuts back to allow Liverpool players to come back

He needs time but I’m thinking would he be better suited to a position to what Pogba did today ? Possibly alongside Fred , McTom or Matic. He certainly isn’t close to what Bruno provides us .

 

[Terranova]

You are joking right

absolutely not. Why else would he turn into a player that doesn't shoot. If you watch his compilations you can see that is one of his strong points.

 

[Ali Dia]

Course not. We have better options now than when Fred got back in, though.

totally but you’d think fans, especially older ones would be used to seeing our new players improve the most in the second and third seasons. If he’s training the way he’s playing then ole is making the right call by not playing him but he’s barely unpacked at the minute and the player he’s most likely been bought to replace is winning us games. I think everyone is just scarred from our shoddy recruitment over the last few years but he’s the right profile with lots of upside. If he’s pogbas replacement I tip my hat to the club for being proactive and getting in front of the situation for once. VDB will be settled next year and hopefully much better prepared for life in the PL.

 

[wolvored]

I cant see where he fits in with the system Ole plays. Who does he replace? None of the midfield roles seem suited to him and all the players in the midfield seem better than him. The only role he could remotely play is Brunos and that aint going to happen. I thought he was bought to replace Pogba, but I'm not certain now. That time when he had the ball on the RW and instead of bombing towards the goal, or crossing, he slowed it down and played it back.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Once again. There was nothing remarkable about him.
Don't understand the fuss about him. Very useful squad player. No shame in that

Agree if he had cost 20-25M the problem is that he was 40M, we expect more from a player at that price.

 

[DCP]

He isn’t a number 10, he’s like Mata light. Doesn’t fit with this side.
He could possibly make a stake of a deep lying midfield position if he wanted to though....

 

[Conor]

I wish he would take a shot every now and then, he could have easily tried to dink it over Alisson.

 

[Rojofiam]

Guys...just look at his name and nationality...no way he's gonna be a failure

Seriously though, as others have mentioned before me: he should be given patience, way too early to draw conclusions, I'm confident he'll be a good player for us.

 

[Cheimoon]

Well, I believe there were a few other posters on here who knew he was rubbish, too. It's a shame we were in the minority, though, as it was clear that he was, in fact, rubbish.

So if he was really rubbish, then why was he a starter with Ajax in the season they reached the CL semis?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he's great or should be a starter for Man United. I think he's a poor fit stylistically and that he may not have the quality of the current United first 11. If he wants to be a starter, he might rather go to a team that's more organized/careful in possession and is just below United's current level - maybe something like Leicester (if I'm not underestimating them) or Southampton (this season), or like Leipzig (who shouldn't have made it through in the CL before United) or Gladbach in Germany.

But there's a difference between explaining why you think it won't work out for Van de Beek at United and claiming to 'know' that 'he was, in fact, rubbish' - which seems more like wumming to me.

 

[Mcking]

The only reason he plays ahead of Mata and Lingard is because he isn't Mata or Lingard.

 

[Polar]

I’m sorry to say, but I don’t think Ole got the answer he wanted today, probably he got more questions.

He played very safe and looked a bit lost out there - like a junior playing with and against men. Very strange considering he was among the 30 players nominated to Ballon d'Or in 2019.

VDB suffers under the fact that we don’t focus a lot on possession play between the midfield and the opponent’s yard. That space is seldom crowded by United players and we often play with longer distance between players in that space compared with other teams.

It’s way to early to write him off, but I think he depends on a system change or an incoming CDM in order to succeed at United.

 

[Dan_F]

I thought VdB was good at what he was doing. He picked the right pass with quickness and accuracy when needed. He is not a 10 of Bruno's ilk, so we should not expect him to be the one to put the long pass over the top of defenders. What we should expect, is for him to pick out the player who can give the final pass in rapid transition as he did for Rashford today. He'll never displace Bruno and if they are to play together he needs to mould his game as a wide AM (like Mata and Pogba in recent times) or as an 8.

He's a very good footballer IMO who is not a #10 in any way. Definitely not in our system. He's not a risk taker, and he is passive as a 10 and doesn't get involved enough. Doesn't assert himself and wants to be a add on rather than the main guy. As an 8 I think he has plenty of potential and worth persisting with. But if we bought him to be depth for Bruno as a 10, then we should sell him and just play Lingard there as he genuinely takes more risks in that position and suits it more than Van de Beek. He's totally wrong for the position.

Agree with this. I can only think that Ole knows Pogba is going, and that he’s giving VDB a season to settle in. Even using that excuse, there’s no obvious way that DVB fits into the midfield in its current set up, as it still feels like we’ll have defensive issues with a double fit, unless we buy an out and out DM.

 

[RepardReece]

A lot of whiners on here; I truly believe he perhaps just needs a good run of games in the team to get him off the mark and running. Look at Fred, a lot of people thought he couldn't cut it but he's really come on since he started playing regularly and not the odd game here and there.

Give the man some time, and if Pogba ends up going at the end of the season, he may just pick up then.

 

[Green_Red]

This kid is quality. He goes weeks without a game and then comes in against Liverpool in the cup and plays like that. Can just imagine how good he is when he is being regularly picked. He has a very bright future here with us.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

This kid is quality. He goes weeks without a game and then comes in against Liverpool in the cup and plays like that. Can just imagine how good he is when he is being regularly picked. He has a very bright future here with us.

strange post.

this game changes nothing for me. He will get more games, and hopefully will show us how good he is. He’s taking time to adjust. Not disappointed, but certainly not excited by today. The grey man.

“plays like that” - he really didn’t do anything today.

 

[OrcaFat]

He was pretty feeble and ineffective today.

Just as I was thinking he’d been totally useless, he did some decent covering around our D and I felt guilty.

Needs lots of games to grow into this league and this team. Not sure how soon he will get the game time but if Pogba goes, I guess we’ll have to play him more often.

 

[KirkDuyt]

So if he was really rubbish, then why was he a starter with Ajax in the season they reached the CL semis?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that he's great or should be a starter for Man United. I think he's a poor fit stylistically and that he may not have the quality of the current United first 11. If he wants to be a starter, he might rather go to a team that's more organized/careful in possession and is just below United's current level - maybe something like Leicester (if I'm not underestimating them) or Southampton (this season), or like Leipzig (who shouldn't have made it through in the CL before United) or Gladbach in Germany.

But there's a difference between explaining why you think it won't work out for Van de Beek at United and claiming to 'know' that 'he was, in fact, rubbish' - which seems more like wumming to me.

I might be one of the people who warned the caf. Not necessarily about him being rubbish, but about him not being an impactful player in that Ajax side's playstyle. He provided runs and some finishing, but to me he was the clear weaker player of the bunch. On the other hand he complimented the likes of Ziyech and De Jong well, because they dont score goals, but they were a great box to box player away from being a world class side.

In the end, Donny can play a role when surrounded by lots of creativity, but only then. And that role is limited.

 

[90 + 5min]

Needs time. Smart player but needs to adapt to tempo and gain confidence. Far from being starter with this form. It will get better.

 

[Red00012]

Really bad today. Doesn’t do anything in games.

I’ve it mentioned already but it’s difficult to come in to a game like today against Liverpool and expect to be Bruno level when he’s barely played all season

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Without having say the impact of a Bruno, I thought he was really good. Solid even. Quietly went about doing his job. Positionally excellent and it was great having someone sitting between midfield and attack for a change. Just allowed us to build play better and he got in some great positions during our attacks.

 

[Red00012]

Needs time. Smart player but needs to adapt to tempo and gain confidence. Far from being starter with this form. It will get better.

Exactly

You look at how long it took Fred to settle now he’s 1st choice

 

[Van Piorsing]

No match rhythm just yet and when injuries in midfield will strike, he better be ready.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Needs a glass of milk in my opinion.

Looks so weak and frail, like has received a prize form the make a wish foundation.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Needs time. Smart player but needs to adapt to tempo and gain confidence. Far from being starter with this form. It will get better.

Yes, the calls for having him in the team in every game is insane.