DVB has had games in DM where he has passed the ball simply and well and then won the ball a bit on top of that. Things Fred doesnt always do. Neither are consistent, but trying to the same thing and expecting different results is something something. DVB hasnt had as many chances in that DM role to persuade me that he's not good enough. But by the time the summer comes he's been here long enough to have made an impact and he just hasnt. Regardless of whether he has had runs as a DM like other players or not. Theres no indication he's going to get one anyway. So its obviously better to just replace him with someone our manager is going to play for runs of games in DM and most likely they'll come in and perform at a higher level than VDB's levels till this point.
34
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 10
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
- Status
I don't think ten Hag sees DVB as a likely candidate for a deeper midfield role. If he had, he would've tried him out in that role earlier this season, during the period when Casemiro was being eased in slowly.
A move back to Ajax would be the best for everyone. What a terrible signing. He looks so lost.
I don’t know what his strengths are.
I don’t know what his strengths are.
So what exactly did DvB do in 2019 with that Ajax team that gave him a (or multiple) player of the year votes? Was it just an impressive champions league campaign? Even if that was just it, what did he do? WHAT DID HE DO!?
Never felt so scammed by the hype of a player, about how we misused him and did him dirty. Usually there's a period of form constantly being referred to, VDB has nothing. I'm still confused how the hype even started.
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If you think about it, the way we've hyped Van de Beek is like being excited about Dele Alli because of what Dele did years ago.
Any time anyone questioned anything about Van de Beek the answer always was: 'Yeah but look at what he did for Ajax'. At United it used to be that players were only as good as their last game. Now we're referring to games played years ago, for another club, to explain why would should have faith in players like Donny.
This is some Wizard of Oz type situation: Everyone has been convinced that behind the curtain there's some powerful wizard, when in fact its just an ordinary man.
Moved on in January hopefully. Probably will be a loan again though, not sure who would spend a decent amount on him now
He is a very nothing player. I don't see why Manutd fans think he should play. I see Mark Goldbridge go on about this lad as if he is something special?
If ETH plays Donnie again, we deserve whatever results we get. It ain't going to be 3rd time lucky. Playing with Ronaldo is like 10 v 11. With Ronaldo and Donnie, its 9 v 11.
Cant keep repeating over & over and hoping for some miraculous change in performance..
Thought he looked lively and positive his first few appearences here. Moving well and actually wanting and demanding the ball, as opposed to for example McTominay who seemed to view his role solely as some sort of destroyer: Waking to life when the team was out of possession, hiding or at best running with the ball a few yards into a dead end when in possession of the ball.
Think it must also be acknowledge that the environment he came into was a hard one for a player of his profile to perform in, both in terms of expectations, style of play, personel and the team's general performance at the time. And also that it must have been incredibly hard for him to keep his spirits high during two years of bench-warming.
Maybe ultimately he wasn't good enough (I still think if he got McTominay's minutes and played under a competent manager we would have been better for it), but still the situation could have been handled a lot better by giving him enough chances and playtime to prove his worth during his first couple of seasons here, and shipping him out a lot earlier if he was deemed to not live up to the required standard.
Think it must also be acknowledge that the environment he came into was a hard one for a player of his profile to perform in, both in terms of expectations, style of play, personel and the team's general performance at the time. And also that it must have been incredibly hard for him to keep his spirits high during two years of bench-warming.
Maybe ultimately he wasn't good enough (I still think if he got McTominay's minutes and played under a competent manager we would have been better for it), but still the situation could have been handled a lot better by giving him enough chances and playtime to prove his worth during his first couple of seasons here, and shipping him out a lot earlier if he was deemed to not live up to the required standard.
He's always looked crap at the 10, much better when played deeper.
He plays too much like a 2nd striker, too high up the pitch looking for long runs. Maybe with Martial as the 9 it would work better, but he just isn't athletic enough really.
I wouldn't mind see him play the Eriksen role in midfield when he needs rotating out, but then we have Mcfred competing also.
Unfortunately for Donny it's not really worked out. Probably better to go home.
He plays too much like a 2nd striker, too high up the pitch looking for long runs. Maybe with Martial as the 9 it would work better, but he just isn't athletic enough really.
I wouldn't mind see him play the Eriksen role in midfield when he needs rotating out, but then we have Mcfred competing also.
Unfortunately for Donny it's not really worked out. Probably better to go home.
Does Donnie have the passing range to sub for Erikson? The only passing I have seen from him has been his fabulously 2m passes sideways or backwards. He is really good at them. World-class almost.
But when he was playing deeper people said that it wasn't his position and he's more of a 2nd striker/attacking midfielder. Think it's just a case of he'll never make it at United and that's it. It's his 3rd season here so no need for excuses anymore. Sancho is in his 2nd season and if he doesn't deliver this season, will be gone in summer probably. Can't keep players forever.
Another in a long list of shit signings.
Really puzzling transfer. In fact that entire window was nuts.
Imagine the scenes if Ole someday declares he had a free run at Haaland that window but pulled out at the last minute because he didn't think his style would compliment Donny's well enough
Imagine the scenes if Ole someday declares he had a free run at Haaland that window but pulled out at the last minute because he didn't think his style would compliment Donny's well enough
To be honest, the problem with him playing deeper is that he really likes to play as a 2nd striker-type 10. In the Ajax success season he played as the 2nd striker 10 pretty much during the best games and excelled at it. But that was when he had Frenkie and Schøne do the creative work behind him and had a false winger/10 in Ziyech on the right wing. It worked especially well with Tadic in the false 9 role, so he could pretty much dash into the space left behind in the striker areas. Scored quite a few goals and was part of great attacks that way. All in all he was really good at that role and it seemed to be a great talent at 10 or maybe someone who could use those skills at 8 as well.
That summer Frenkie and Lasse left and Donny initially had to take one of their positions, due to the available options left. Seemed logical, when he debuted he played at 6 and 8 mostly. However, suddenly the power midfield was turned into a one man army (in I think Martinez in his debut season, who was later accompanied by Alvarez more successfully, before moving out of the squad and later in at CB position). Donny wanted to be important in exactly the same way he was in the season prior. He was too stubborn to follow his responsibilities as a 6/8 player and Ajax' midfield was really weak for a while until he eventually got retrained by ETH to be better at 8 when needed, but it was never as good as his 10-role in the 18/19 season.
What I'm trying to say is that I think you're correct in your observation of Donny playing as a 2nd striker when deployed as 10. But unfortunately he'll do that a lot when played as 6 or 8 as well and then it's even more of a problem. In all honesty I think he can still do that 10 role well, but it really depends on the overall balance of the squad. Theoretically Casemiro and Eriksen should work as the players behind him, but with the wingers and strikers at Utd right now (except maybe for Sancho and Martial, or possibly Bruno as a Ziyech-like winger), you're no so well off with Donny. Maybe it's worth it to check it out with Martial and Sancho around him, but if it doesn't work out without very specific setups and players around him, especially in the moment of growth that Utd finds itself in right now, it's not the time and place for Donny, in my opinion. People talked about Pogba needing very specific players around him to be unlocked or useful with his very specific set of skills, but somehow Donny is even more specific in his skillset.
Maybe he'll prove us wrong as he recovers and adapts more from his lack of fitness and to the team and gameplan, but it's difficult when he's shown so much to disappear from midfield when an 8 and is too attached to his shadow runs when played as 10 that I don't know if it will work for him here. As I said, I am curious about a setup with Martial and Sancho in play as well (if recovered and adapted respectively themselves), but we will have to wait and see if he stays past the winter window at all to be able to see that option in action. With those players he could fit better than Bruno, but it could be that the confidence levels of both himself and his teammates in him will be too low that it's simply a lost cause now. I don't think ETH would play him if the latter were the case, but it's getting harder and harder to believe in this redemption arc.
Perhaps, as you say, he could try to become a Eriksen-sub, but I think he'll be reliant of a more midfielder-type 10 than Bruno is, and probably a more playmaker type winger than Rashford and Antony are, too. Again, maybe he will still prove us wrong as happened before with other midfielders (here and elsewhere), but is this hope naive or rational? (And is there an option more worth of our hopes by now? - especially with so little time left before the world cup and following winter window...)
Not sure what happened but he’s been shite here and shite at Everton. Time to sell him.
Most of Ole's signings seem to be poor now.
We won't see him in a Manchester United jersey again. It's over. I'm just hoping the same is true for Ronaldo, and both jog on come January.
I never had a strong opinion on him. How could I? I feel that I've only seen him play for two minutes combined. He suddenly enters the pitch a couple of times per year and if you look away for a second you'll miss it.
No manager seems to rate him after he came to England. There must be a reason for this.
No manager seems to rate him after he came to England. There must be a reason for this.
He was taking all the bad positions on Sunday, basically sitting in Ronaldo's lap so to speak. I mean if the ball isnt coming to you come back for it and contribute to the gameplay. Yet he was constantly near the box and the ball and our whole gameplay was avoiding him. Not only that, I think in about 3, 4 instances he didnt press when we would lost the ball and he was close to the Villa players with the ball. Not to mention waving hands when some action wouldnt be pulled of or some pass wouldn't reach him. For a player who barely plays and when he does he plays a ghost position he sure had an attitude..
James, AWB, Maguire, Bruno, Ighalo, Donny, Telles, Cavani, Pellistri, Diallo, Sancho, Varane, Ronaldo
Only one you could undeniably say worked out was Bruno (and even he's had some shockers). Could also say Varane but he's been constantly injured. Mental how much uselessness has been put in the squad.
That's depressing list. And a long one which makes it even more depressing.
Remember in the summer of 2019, a Cardiff fan on this forum had already warned us about Ole's awfulness in the transfer market. He brought 17 players for Cardiff in one summer and almost all of them were awful and failed miserably in the Championship
Man Utd 4:2 Aston Villa
Very quiet again tonight, how many more chances does he deserve?
The very definition of a nothing player
Waste of space the lad
He's had a decent run now and I think he should go in January. Whoever sanction the move for him needs sacked ASAP.
Worked hard off the ball but beyond that....
Need thread to be moved into the "General Forum" please.
He's clearly not a "player".
He's clearly not a "player".
Needs to be moved on
No excuses at all. I don't see his purpose whether it's starting or even as a sub. We have better players in every position he could possibly come on for
He's a squad player
you can't get rid of everybodyWe have to stop playing him. Fraud.
This was his biggest chance. 3 consecutive starts and failed unspectacularly…he did fecking nothing all 3 games. He hides and when he gets the ball he barely try’s anything remotely adventurous
Dear Lord. Three times, all the same. Even Fred managed to put in a class performance against Spurs with what little was given to him. A ghost.
Standard Donny, you could cut and paste exactly what was said for the last 3 games.
Eriksen came on and in 30 mins had 5/6 key passes, Donny has barely had more than that in his entire English football career, that is not a joke, it is the factual truth. Takes no creative responsibility, relies entirely on others to allow him to influence the game and plays with no fire or desire to prove a point. Good or bad you have to impact the game, he doesn't, clearly technically a better footballer than someone like McT for instance but completely pointless at the same time.
Eriksen came on and in 30 mins had 5/6 key passes, Donny has barely had more than that in his entire English football career, that is not a joke, it is the factual truth. Takes no creative responsibility, relies entirely on others to allow him to influence the game and plays with no fire or desire to prove a point. Good or bad you have to impact the game, he doesn't, clearly technically a better footballer than someone like McT for instance but completely pointless at the same time.
Hide and seek world champion 2022
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