Sounds like a bs excuse for me. Just say he isn't good enough and that's it. Saying he is weak when physicality is the easiest thing to improve as a pro is basically an insult. There are many players of similar stature who aren't doing too badly in the PL in the middle of the park
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I can’t lie, I am quite looking forward to the reactions when Donny inevitably isn’t able to break into the Crystal Palace midfield over Connor Gallagher, Ebere Eze and Michael Olise.
It's not nonsense. Our transfer record is nothing short of terrible.
Did not say anything about our transfer record which is terrible. I was talking about the claims around Donny's physicality which are utter bs made up by journos with an agenda and clicks to harvest.
Its not clickbait, its been reported by credible journalists.
The Glazers are missing a trick here. Pay per view Donny vs Fred arm wrestling would be a great way to increase revenue from non-football-related-success (a strategic priority I believe)
It has been reported by journalists, outside of Simon Stone I don't know there are any that are credible with this kind of thing. It is definitely clickbait, a story attributing comments to mysterious "figures" at the club. Not sure anybody over the age of 8 is going to buy that nonsense, anything that mentions Donny and United drives traffic and that is all they care about so throw out some garbage that does not name names and cannot be fact checked and job done. The gullible will fall for it.
Laurie Whitwell I am quite sure has reported this in the past. He has known sources at the club and is a reporter for Athletic which is as credible as it gets.
Fred's more prone to getting bullied physically than VDB is. Based on watching them play.
Do I really need to explain to you that taller people have an advantage in force production?
Lingard at it again “figures”
I think the 'physical' comment can be taken multiple ways, like he's not strong enough, or he doesn't have the engine to do the running the PL demands, or he can't cope with the physicality of the PL and gets shoved off the ball too easily. It's not as simple as just getting stronger, I know some pretty big guys that you could push over with a nudge because their balance just isn't great.
It's something you can only really learn growing up in a physical league and getting knocked around all the time, he's too far past that now to waste time learning, it's better for him to go and play in another league instead.
I honestly think he'd struggle to get into that midfield, especially when you look at the shifts they put in each game.
agreed, and VdB is not only taller than Fred, he is heavier and has a bigger frame, physically he is bigger than the likes of B.Silva & Mata, so physically he has the tools to operate, he isn't going to square up to a league full of Maguires & VVDs. The one thing maybe unique about the PL is the physical intensity and the pace of the game, you don't need to be a unit like Carrol to operate in PL.
my question is if he is a good footballer to play at United, and it seems Ole & RR think otherwise
These figures don't exist mate!
It is just some joker tying something that anyone can see when he plays.
Whoever signed him needs to be fired. If this is the best we can do with 35 million as a hole in our midfield remains ever since? heads need to roll.
If our scouts said he’d definitely improve us then they aren’t fit for purpose. I’d rather get better spotters in. It’s a relatively cheap hire. I feel like the scouts haven’t been given a lot of power at this club but I could be wrong. Maybe more so there to run the rule over managers suggestions or provide a list to ed and the manager.
most likely it was a call from Ed to Ed and then sold to Ole as getting him from under madrids noses at a good price. Madrid pass on him so we are choice #2.. happy days.
Or else Ole decided he wanted him and didn’t know how to use him, at all.
Either way the tail is wagging the dog or the scouts are crap. There’s no denying it. We are a shoddy outfit.
#freedonny
If our scouts said he’d definitely improve us then they aren’t fit for purpose. I’d rather get better spotters in. It’s a relatively cheap hire. I feel like the scouts haven’t been given a lot of power at this club but I could be wrong. Maybe more so there to run the rule over managers suggestions or provide a list to ed and the manager.
most likely it was a call from Ed to Ed and then sold to Ole as getting him from under madrids noses at a good price. Madrid pass on him so we are choice #2.. happy days.
Or else Ole decided he wanted him and didn’t know how to use him, at all.
Either way the tail is wagging the dog or the scouts are crap. There’s no denying it. We are a shoddy outfit.
#freedonny
Unless by physicality they mean pace / stamina? It's probably just media bollocks but I suppose it's possible they feel he can't do 90 mins or something? Not that he's had many chances to mind!
It’s strange if they think he doesn’t have the physicality for the league but Fred does. Fred gets bullied all the time.
Figures at Crystal Palace seem to disagree
Exactly, and it’s offensive that they expect us to swallow this horseshit. Sadly many do. Remember when Prunier came over and played in defense and was an absolute car crash? Has Donny ever done that? No. When he’s come in he’s generally played ok. Sometimes done very well, sometimes done average. But he’s never stunk the place out like Fred and McTominay used to do frequently. Yet they were trusted. And his ok to good performances have come with him coming in cold with no series of games to get himself ready like McFred who still played shit. Those guys aren’t like Rooney who you needed to play even when he was shit cause it took him a few games to get back to his best. Those are just inconsistent players who despite a run of games were always capable of pretty frequent horror shows. Which may also have been because they were played to death. So don’t give me this bullshit that Donny isn’t strong enough. Smaller and weaker players have done fine in this league. The only way we see if Donny is good enough or not is if he gets a run of games. Until that point no one can say. The only thing we can say for a fact is he hasn’t been given a fair chance.
To spend 35m on a player and never play him is an indictment of Ole and an indictment of our scouts if in fact he is indeed that bad. It’s just incredible how Ole never played him. It does my head in. He really did do a huge amount of damage to this club. Hero or not. He brought the good times back then he shat the bed. And now Ralf is clearing up his mess.
Which would still be nonsense. He is not slower than Matic (and probably not McTominay either, who is really slow) and he was known for his work rate at Ajax. Some people pulled the numbers up that showed he covered the most ground there and in some of the games here as well.
It came from Luckhurst who is a big a spoofer as there is.
Athleric has reported the same a few months ago, and Luckhurst has known sources at the club. Thats quite commonly known in fact, hes also often one of the main journalists in press conferences.
So in short, two credible sources have said this. Its not BS.
Need the link to Whitwell saying "figures" at the club say he lacks the physicality to play in the Premier League as I don't remember him saying that at all. With regards to Luckhurst, yes he has sources as he is the MEN reporter for United but 95% of what he posts is utter rubbish because he has to come up with 3 or 4 stories a day and there simply is not enough real news to write. This is all getting ridiculously circular anyway, the point I was making is that when a journalist quotes "figures" or "sources" which cannot be verified they cannot be taken seriously. You seem to think that all journos are honest paragons of virtue so lets just agree to differ.
This reminds me of when posters were begging for Gomes to be given a chance and yet where is he now?
Are you making the mistake in thinking everything in MEN is his? I dont like Luckhurst and thought he was shite too, before I learned hes legit.
Point out one or two rubbish articles from him please.
Whitwell pointed out issues in VDBs physical deficiencies by stating the United staff feel he cant cover enough ground. So as explained before, credible journalists have pretty much raised same or similar concerns:
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I stand corrected
Remember, Ed told us to trust the process
Just like Mata, his career will be ruined at United. Both these players were more suited for City.
Would his lack of "covering the ground" be tolerated by Pep?
It is very strange that he hasn‘t had more game time, that’s for sure. Stating the absolute obvious, there must be a reason as no manager is generally not going to play someone who is going to improve the team. For me, I don’t think Donny can get around the pitch in the same way as Fred and Scott, and that’s this reference to physicality. I think a better terminology would be athleticism. Also I think Donny‘s competition is Bruno and Pogs, and what was more interesting is why he didn’t play when Bruno’s form was poor and Pogs was injured?
How are these "figures" coming to these conclusions when VDB gets no more than 5 minute sub appearances a game, if that?
At least give him a few starts in a PL game rather than a cup game alongside reserves. You can't say he's not cut out for the PL if he doesn't get to play in it.
I don't believe he is a solution long term, but our midfield is dreadful, he surely cannot be any worse to at least be an option.
At least give him a few starts in a PL game rather than a cup game alongside reserves. You can't say he's not cut out for the PL if he doesn't get to play in it.
I don't believe he is a solution long term, but our midfield is dreadful, he surely cannot be any worse to at least be an option.
To be fair at the time I did say it felt like he was pogbas replacement. Fair play to the club for getting In front of a situation for once etc. what I didn’t expect is that he would mainly be played off the bench in a token fashion (an understatement) and in dead rubbers until leaving for palace on loan. Where is the rest and rotation for others and the chance to actually shine in a strong team? It’s an experienced international player who made it the semis of the CL for gods sake! How crap can he be?! McT can’t even get into the Scotland midfield….
One of the strangest Utd signings of my lifetime.
One of the strangest Utd signings of my lifetime.
I don’t know what happened with VDB at Utd. Solskjaers non-use of him was weird despite spending £40m on him. Ralf doesn’t want to use him. Did VDB want out regardless of Ralf? Does Ralf not rate VDB?
One of the weirdest transfers in recent times. If he isnt decent at Palace then it would make more sense and we can conclude on that. If he’s good at Palace then what the feck?
One of the weirdest transfers in recent times. If he isnt decent at Palace then it would make more sense and we can conclude on that. If he’s good at Palace then what the feck?
Exactly, he might do well in some teams in the league but midfield is something of a strength for Palace. I don’t see this move going well for him.
Nope, nor would his lack of passing the ball forward.
Anyway, naturally we're all interested to see how this potential loan pans out.
Yes, because there's no lack of covering the ground. He's a player who can cover the most ground in a match(and regularly did in the past). He's stronger than Fred and faster than Matic. So there isn't any part of his "physicality" that should be a problem
Faster than Matic isn’t a special attribute
That's not the point. The point is Matic starts ahead of VDB, so VDB's "slowness" or whatever isn't why he doesn't start. He's very likely also faster than McTominay btw
VDB doesn't start because he isn't rated by the manager.
The leak is bs.
This is the first report to make sense. Can't cover enough ground makes it so we know the problem is his natural workrate (in possession). All the other tabloids saying muscle are doing my head in because I'm thinking it makes no sense, Silva didn't have mass but had the engine to be a world class midfielder in the PL. If VDB has neither then I can see why they all seem to be reaching that conclusion.
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