How many PL starts for our youngsters?

Sparky Rhiwabon

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A lot has been made pre-season about the emergence of some of our youngsters.

But how much do you think they'll actually play this season? To keep things simple and (more) predictable let's just talk about starts in the Premier League.

Tuanzebe (age 21)
Garner (age 18)
Chong (age 19)
Gomes (age 18)
Greenwood (age 17)

Feel free to add any others that you think might breakthrough, although let's discount young players who have already broken through like Rashford, McTominay, Wan Bissaka etc.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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The following amount of games I think our youngsters will start is based on if we don't make anymore signings

Tuanzebe - 10 starts
Garner - 0 starts
Chong - 0 starts
Gomes - 0 starts
Greenwood - 15 starts
 

Random Task

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Tuanzebe (age 21) - as few as possible, hopefully. I don't think he's anywhere near good enough to start for the club. Signing Maguire will see to that.
Garner (age 18) - 3
Chong (age 19) - 2
Gomes (age 18) - 4
Greenwood (age 17) - 10 or more. If he handles the step up in class as well as we hope, he could become a first-team regular as the season progresses. He needs to be managed properly regardless to avoid burnout.
 

unplayable

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I think Tuanzebe and Greenwood are the only ones with a realistic chance of starting a PL match unless we count the last couple of matches when there is nothing on the line.
 

bosnian_red

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Tuanzebe - 5 to 10 starts, plenty of sub appearances, cup starts. 20 league appearances, starting every cup game.

Angel Gomes - ~5 starts, sub appearances, some cup starts, 15-20 league appearances, 5-10 starts in cups.

Tahith Chong - ~5 starts, sub appearances, cup starts. 20 league appearances total, 5-10 starts outside of league.

Mason Greenwood - 15 starts, sub appearances, cup starts. 25 league appearances, 10+ cup starts.

Garner - 0 league starts, 5-10 sub appearances. ~2-3 cup starts.
 

Dr. StrangeHate

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Tuanzebe - 0 starts, 0 subs, gonna be on loan as chukkle brothers gonna be ahead
Garner - 0 starts, 5 subs
Chong - 1 start, 10 subs, too inconsistent
Gomes - 0 starts, 5 subs, too many players in his position.
Greenwood - 10 starts, 20 subs, seems a fairly decent bet to have a breakthrough season
JLingz - 30 starts, 8 subs
Periera - 8 starts, 15 subs
 

billybee99

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Nowhere near as many as Young and Jones.
This. Some of the posters here need to get their heads out of their arses and take a look at our bloated squad and realize that most of these youngsters will be lucky to make the bench let alone get a Premier League appearance. Let's put the transfer rumours aside - as of this very moment, the attacking options on our bench, sad to say, will be Mata, Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Greenwood if he is lucky. Romero will take up a spot as will our crappy captain Ashley Young and we will have a mix of Jones or Rojo (or both) giving cover at the back (leaving Tuanzebe in the cold) and we will have Fred or Perreira or possibly both giving cover to the midfield. This literally leaves no spots for the youngsters. This is what happens when you resign average and past-it players like Jones and Mata and refuse to ship out dross like Darmian and Young and Rojo. You can't play 'em all and the youth will suffer as a result.
 

Havak

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Starting Premier League games will be very difficult for all of them IMO.

Regardless of how highly rated Gomes and Tuanzebe seem to be on here, they are distinctly behind Lingard, Mata, Pereira and Lindelof, Smalling, Jones respectively. It means there probably needs to be a couple injuries in their position before they will even be considered. I wouldn't be surprised to see 0 starts for both of these players, unless the following happens:

1. We have the usual injury cross at CB.
2. We are either mathematically incapable of finishing 4th, or are certain to finish 4th but can't reach 3rd at the very end of the season (last 2-3 games).

Garner and Chong are even less likely. Despite us not having the quality we desire in midfield, there are too many CMs in our squad for Garner to step in yet. Chong has slightly more of a chance if Alexis Sanchez continues to underperform or remains injured. However, he will still be behind James for the left wing role and even Greenwood for the right wing role IMO. To get in the side he will need Martial and Sanchez to be unavailable, but that would still probably mean he only gets on the bench. Ole would probably favour playing Lingard, Mata, James, Greenwood or even Dalot on the right. While even if Alexis, Martial and say James were out, I think Ole would start Greenwood down the middle and Rashford on the left, with a more senior player on the right, or even use the diamond before turning to Chong to start.

Greenwood is the most interesting and I think he will be the one to make 10+ PL appearances, but unless he hits the ground running and really makes the Right Wing position his own, probably less than half of those appearances will be starts.

These guys will get plenty of game time in the cups though. Probably less so Garner, but I believe they will see some serious minutes and I might be proved wrong on PL game time if they perform well elsewhere.

If there are more than 10 PL starts combined for the players listed in the OP, I'll be surprised.
 

DWelbz19

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The following amount of games I think our youngsters will start is based on if we don't make anymore signings

Tuanzebe - 10 starts
Garner - 0 starts
Chong - 0 starts
Gomes - 0 starts
Greenwood - 15 starts
In the Premier League? Extremely unlikely Greenwood starts 15.

Tuanzebe and Greenwood might make 10 between them. The rest are correct.
 

Pughnichi

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This. Some of the posters here need to get their heads out of their arses and take a look at our bloated squad and realize that most of these youngsters will be lucky to make the bench let alone get a Premier League appearance. Let's put the transfer rumours aside - as of this very moment, the attacking options on our bench, sad to say, will be Mata, Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Greenwood if he is lucky. Romero will take up a spot as will our crappy captain Ashley Young and we will have a mix of Jones or Rojo (or both) giving cover at the back (leaving Tuanzebe in the cold) and we will have Fred or Perreira or possibly both giving cover to the midfield. This literally leaves no spots for the youngsters. This is what happens when you resign average and past-it players like Jones and Mata and refuse to ship out dross like Darmian and Young and Rojo. You can't play 'em all and the youth will suffer as a result.
Nailed it.

How many times do youngsters impress on tour and subsequently not get a sniff.

It’s maddening. If Tuanzebe is that good, we don’t need 38 CBs at the club. Maguire, Lindelof, Smalling and Tuanzebe should mean we are looking to ship out at the earliest opportunity Jones, Rojo and Bailly

Likewise at fullback. We now have Dalot, Shaw and Wan-Bissaka so at least Darmian should be gone ASAP.

Further up the field it’s a bit less obvious. Either way, Gomes and Greenwood should be getting plenty of minutes. Either starts or significantly more than 5 mins at the end of games.

I just can’t fathom why we aren’t looking to offload our bloated squad. Ole has continuously talked about his SAF influence and will no doubt be aware of the season we got rid of Hughes, Ince and Kanchelskis to make way for our talented youth. Those 3 were infinitely more talented than the players we seem to want to hold on to for as long as possible.
 

Gopher Brown

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Because they are a better indicator of a player's progress. If we say "appearances" that includes these meaningless short cameo appearances that they've been getting.
Are 5 starts better than 20 sub appearances of unspecified length? I’d say no.

I think Tuanzebe and Greenwood will get quite a few minutes, but fewer than 5 starts each.

No starts for anyone else, but Gomes and Chong will get quite a few minutes too. Garner won’t get any.
 

Denis79

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This. Some of the posters here need to get their heads out of their arses and take a look at our bloated squad and realize that most of these youngsters will be lucky to make the bench let alone get a Premier League appearance. Let's put the transfer rumours aside - as of this very moment, the attacking options on our bench, sad to say, will be Mata, Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Greenwood if he is lucky. Romero will take up a spot as will our crappy captain Ashley Young and we will have a mix of Jones or Rojo (or both) giving cover at the back (leaving Tuanzebe in the cold) and we will have Fred or Perreira or possibly both giving cover to the midfield. This literally leaves no spots for the youngsters. This is what happens when you resign average and past-it players like Jones and Mata and refuse to ship out dross like Darmian and Young and Rojo. You can't play 'em all and the youth will suffer as a result.
Sadly this is true.
 

CM

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Gomes and Greenwood are the ones I would hold out most hope for out of those.

Greenwood's got a decent chance of breaking through on the right wing and should get a few starts. Gomes has a bit more competition for his place so I think his minutes will be a bit more restricted but I would at least expect him to be given a few sub appearances over the course of the season.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Because we haven't got any players.

fecking hell - Greenwood will get triple that by himself.
We haven't sold anyone. Greenwood is 17 - he'll be eased into the first team, regardless of preseason involvement. There's no way he'll start 15+ PL games this season.
 

JJ12

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We haven't sold anyone. Greenwood is 17 - he'll be eased into the first team, regardless of preseason involvement. There's no way he'll start 15+ PL games this season.
He'll certainly start 5 and be involved in 15+.

OGS has already said he's in contention for the first game.

Garner is the only one that will rarely be in the match day squad.
 

Treble

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He'll certainly start 5 and be involved in 15+.

OGS has already said he's in contention for the first game.

Garner is the only one that will rarely be in the match day squad.
Every fit player is in contention for the 1st game. Ole would be silly to say otherwise.
 

JJ12

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Every fit player is in contention for the 1st game. Ole would be silly to say otherwise.
Considering our lack of RW he is in contention. My guess is he gets 20 odd minutes off the bench.
 

ManchesterYoda

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Our youngsters made a grand total of 1 start last season in the league. Greenwood in the last game at home to Cardiff. We lost 0-2.

Why will Solskjaer all of a sudden start youngsters this season if he didn't last season, even when we were playing garbage at the end of last season?

Pre-season performances mean nothing, even if we play much better in pre-season games. The youngsters will not start at the expense of the "experienced pros" because Solskjaer isn't brave enough to axe the "experienced pros" regardless of how bad they are.
 

welshwingwizard

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He'll certainly start 5 and be involved in 15+.

OGS has already said he's in contention for the first game.

Garner is the only one that will rarely be in the match day squad.
People keep on dismissing Garner but I think he could end up with a fair few. Not because he is more talented or ready but look at our depth in midfield against the other areas.

Looks like we will play a midfield 2 in 4-2-3-1 with Lingard, Mata further up (potentially Gomes). If we don't buy people to replace Herrera and Fellaini then we have Pogba, McT, Matic, Fred and Perreira. The last 2 are hardly proven and Matic is on his last legs. Drops in form or a couple of injuries and he is close to getting an opportunity to show he is better than the last three.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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In the Premier League? Extremely unlikely Greenwood starts 15.

Tuanzebe and Greenwood might make 10 between them. The rest are correct.
My thinking is that if we dont sign a right winger, based on Greenwood's performances during pre season, he will get a good amount of minutes in the EPL on the right. I could be wrong, but it is only a prediction.

If Greenwood was to start against Chelsea and have a good game, they'd be no reason for Ole to take him out of the team. He's already said its a strong possibility too.
 

SteveW

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We haven't sold anyone. Greenwood is 17 - he'll be eased into the first team, regardless of preseason involvement. There's no way he'll start 15+ PL games this season.
Even if he's better than the alternatives?
 

wolvored

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Depending on how we go when they do play really. If they play a blinder then quite a few. Ill guess at
Tuanzebe (age 21)-12
Garner (age 18)-2
Chong (age 19)-1
Gomes (age 18)-5
Greenwood (age 17)-15
 

Dong Fangzhuo

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Tuanzebe (age 21) - 5
Garner (age 18) - 0
Chong (age 19) - 0
Gomes (age 18) - 2
Greenwood (age 17) - 8
 

Big Ben Foster

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Is this thread worth revisiting? Some very optimistic predictions in here!