Big deteriation in form. Lost confidence. You name it! He knows he's coming off and looks just as disappointed each time. Down to the coaching staff to get him back on track. I'd start him against Burnley and see what happens. Could bang a few in and he's back on track.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 52
- Goals
- 12
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
This is one of Ole’s and the coaches biggest challenges now to get this lad back playing like he was last season. Remarkable to think we can go top of the league on Tuesday night, yet this kid hasn’t even got going this season. And remember, in footballing terms, he is still a kid.
If we can get another 10-15 goals out of him in the second half of the season, well who knows.....
If we can get another 10-15 goals out of him in the second half of the season, well who knows.....
It's a tough task when our youngest attacker doesn't get half the chances the older ones do, yet is treated as equal. I don't think it's fair. If he is supposed to be judged fairly compared to Rashford and Martial we need to play to his strengths instead of forcing him in where he doesn't fit and take him off to give Rashford and Martial easy goals towards the end.
I'm a bit worried, not about him, but about our management of him. His confidence is very low because of struggling out wide. He know he is a good player, yet out wide doesn't get half the chances others do and gets hauled off for not scoring while others don't. I think he deserved 90 minutes as a striker today. Weird. Would at least finally get his first full 90 minutes under his belt in his favourite position against senior defenders. He needs time to develop in that role. He had fantastic contributions in moments today as a striker. Tidy touch and classy quick passes to bring others into play. Easy to see how well he'll play there stylistically once he gets to play in that role more frequently.
I'm a bit worried, not about him, but about our management of him. His confidence is very low because of struggling out wide. He know he is a good player, yet out wide doesn't get half the chances others do and gets hauled off for not scoring while others don't. I think he deserved 90 minutes as a striker today. Weird. Would at least finally get his first full 90 minutes under his belt in his favourite position against senior defenders. He needs time to develop in that role. He had fantastic contributions in moments today as a striker. Tidy touch and classy quick passes to bring others into play. Easy to see how well he'll play there stylistically once he gets to play in that role more frequently.
He was really poor. More concerning was the lack of work rate. He needs to step that up because talent will only get him so far.
Very interesting to see how quickly people have turned on him with their snarky remarks, the same ones who preach patience rarely have any themselves, happens every time. He wasn't good and he hasn't had a great season, no doubt about it. He's 19, these teething issues happen with our youth players all the time.
Greenwood's problem this season has been his inability to physically impose himself on games. As hard as it is to do from the right, it's levels harder to do from centreforward.
Greenwood is nowhere near ready to play from the middle right now. He needs time to get over his sophomore slump from rightforward first.
It's easy to say he's regressed, but I'm not sure that's true. I think what's actually happened is that he's getting more attention from opposition defenders and struggling to deal with it. Experience should fix things.
Greenwood is nowhere near ready to play from the middle right now. He needs time to get over his sophomore slump from rightforward first.
It's easy to say he's regressed, but I'm not sure that's true. I think what's actually happened is that he's getting more attention from opposition defenders and struggling to deal with it. Experience should fix things.
This but also because we play unorganised football. We take an absolute age and rely on moments of individual play to create chances.
Any player would struggle to show their quality in our workman like play.
Nail on head here. Very common with young players and I think it showed today that he’s not got the hold up play yet to be a CF which is why he went wide and deep so often today.
He’s still so young just need to be patient let him grow into a mans body and forgive him for inconsistencies. It was a poor performance today but a striker is only as good as their service and James, Lingard, Mata, DVB and McTominay aren’t as good as having Martial, Rashford and Bruno to interchange with.
I feel like he’s not got going so far this season, feel like he will get going eventually.
Did plenty of running but he needs to broaden his game as defender's are reading him too easily now.
He isnt ready to lead the forward line, but honestly at 19 not many are. Lets all remember, with Covid and all, it isnt exactly an easy ride for a young player,let alone home grown forward for one of the biggest clubs in the world. Mason, is definetly one of the most gifted players to come from the academy that we are so proud of. Maybe instead of criticsing him, lets get behind him and support him. He's having 2nd season blues right now, but hes still our best finisher and to me, potentially our best player. Also deserves a new fifa 21 skin/avatar. Disgraceful that the best young player in England AT Manchester United, gets a generic avatar. Fifa should be ashamed of themselves.
The seeming lack of effirt and determination doesnt bode particularly well. Confident technical issues can be sorted but if mentality is an issue then that will limit his potential
Don't think so actually. I think playing him on the right frequently showed itself in this game as his movements weren't great. He hasn't played enough as a no.9 and it showed today. He didnt know when to come deep, move into channels or beat the offside trap.
He hasn’t looked right since the England debacle, he is just a kid though and who knows what personal challenges he may be going through, perhaps we are too quick to pressurise our young players at times.
We didn't get much help from Southgate at all. We wanted to keep him out of the spotlight and not giving any interviews. Then he went away with England and the first press conference Southgate has him sat next to him infront of the press, answering questions about Maguires arrest.
We were handling him perfectly last season, we were not reliant on his output winning us games at all and he was progressing very well physically and technically.
This season he's had a lot going on mentally, he lost his friend and had the England debacle to deal with, he's never had such a spotlight and scrutiny before. I feel Ole & United have done well to protect him, we took him out of the spotlight and gradually brought him back into the team. This season has been a test mentally for him and I'm sure he's going to start banging in the goals soon enough, he said himself in an interview a few weeks ago, he just needs a goal to get going.
Its also we're noting we've had a change in tactics this season, last season Greenwood and Rashford were playing as inside forwards allowing our fullbacks to overlap, this season they're playing more as wingers to allow our full backs to underlap.
Keep the faith instead of writing him off, you get wildly inconsistent patches of form with every young player.
He is playing within himself, controlled and afraid to do something wrong. I prefer his approach stylistically honestly, it's a lot more predictable right now though when his confidence is so low but it also means when players learn his moves and he gets integrated to the team better he'll be able to repeat moves very quickly and create danger out of combinations on a more consistent level than Rashford who needs to freestyle individually. Greenwood simply isn't a wild winger type like Rashy.
My biggest annoyance is that Greenwood hasn't got someone to combine with when he plays. Last year he could play with Martial a bit, but it has barely happened once this season. He is isolated in one way or another and rarely gets the ball at his feet in a good position and if he does it's not really good movement around so he just plays it on instead of disrupting the flow. He is trying to be a team player but doesn't get the ball back when we create space.
Since the incident which is absolutely from his own mistake in England National camp, there has been a lot of huge pressure from media and fans. Less playing time doesn't help him restore confidence and facing 2nd season difficulties which opponents know better how to mark him out of the game.
In my opinion, loaning him to championship team that currently need promise to lead the line scoring goal and ensure playing time every week for a half or even one season will do him good for long term. He need less pressure from media, week in week out playing time, to improve both mentality and physicality. Once he's back, he'll be much stronger and really ready for 1st team spot.
In my opinion, loaning him to championship team that currently need promise to lead the line scoring goal and ensure playing time every week for a half or even one season will do him good for long term. He need less pressure from media, week in week out playing time, to improve both mentality and physicality. Once he's back, he'll be much stronger and really ready for 1st team spot.
Its Rashford Redux.
Championship player? Not good enough for United? Kick & run merchant? People never seem to learn.
Championship player? Not good enough for United? Kick & run merchant? People never seem to learn.
Every team in the league would probably bite our hand off for Greenwood. He was largely anonymous today but as many have stated, he's still young in footballing terms and his talent is undeniable.
It probably is weighing on his mind, much like the same mental issue for Martial, that he has not been anywhere as clinical or productive as he was last season. It may be that defenders are now better coached to target Greenwood's weaknesses - with his back to goal, he's not strong enough yet and he tends to try to force the shot from an angle even if there are 2 - 3 players crowding him out. It worked a peach last season but I reckon he needs to add more variation to his game, especially in terms of the final product.
I don't think he is ready to start for us on a regular basis in his current form, but as an impact sub he's a great option to have. No idea why he spent so much time out wide even though he was a CF today.
It probably is weighing on his mind, much like the same mental issue for Martial, that he has not been anywhere as clinical or productive as he was last season. It may be that defenders are now better coached to target Greenwood's weaknesses - with his back to goal, he's not strong enough yet and he tends to try to force the shot from an angle even if there are 2 - 3 players crowding him out. It worked a peach last season but I reckon he needs to add more variation to his game, especially in terms of the final product.
I don't think he is ready to start for us on a regular basis in his current form, but as an impact sub he's a great option to have. No idea why he spent so much time out wide even though he was a CF today.
Everyone can have a bad game. My worry is that he showed a distinct lack of work rate. That was very disappointing. He clearly has all the attributes needed to be a top player. I just hope he has the attitude and desire.
He is so young so inconsistency is more than expected. However he may not be as good as he was touted either. We tend to ridiculously overrated some of our players.
Not worried, more or less every youngster faces a tough second season. He's still an excellent talent. Let's not forget that he's a had a very tough season mentally due to English media targeting him and one of his friends doing suicide. Let's give him space. We shouldn't be reliant much on him.
Poor yesterday. We can see why he isnt starting games. He's far from challenging at the momement.
He needs time
He needs time
Kinda wish he had stayed on instead of lingard once martial and Rashford came on
Wound have liked to see the three play together as it might have helped Mason playing with them again rather than James and lingard
Wound have liked to see the three play together as it might have helped Mason playing with them again rather than James and lingard
Poor performance yesterday. Didn't seem switched on at all. It's a bit of a letdown, because these are the types of games, where he can get a good runout centrally and build his confidence, but it obviously is not easy when the whole team is not gelling and creating chances.
Not sure what the tactical idea was, but I thought he took up the wrong positions most of the time. He often came deep or wide instead of playing centrally off the shoulder, but those spaces were already covered by Lingard, James and Mata. He will come good eventually though - we have seen his quality. Just needs to regain his confidence a bit.
Not sure what the tactical idea was, but I thought he took up the wrong positions most of the time. He often came deep or wide instead of playing centrally off the shoulder, but those spaces were already covered by Lingard, James and Mata. He will come good eventually though - we have seen his quality. Just needs to regain his confidence a bit.
Second season syndrome. Everybody knows what he's going to do now. He will run diagonally at you, twisting and turning, doing stepovers, before getting a snap shot off low to the corner. Give him a bit of space for the tricks, wait for the backlift and jump in to block the shot. It's easy to defend. We need to teach him ways around it.
I think you are overrating his teamplay, he is actually very greedy once he is anyhwere near the opposition box and is looking for shot, even if I think strikers should be more selfish but lately he isn't scoring as much as he used to so he could do with one or two passes to an open teammate instead of going for the shot every time. After all, he is not playing as a striker either, so creating more from the wide position is sometimes easier than going for the goal every time.
Indeed. It’s difficult to articulate just how piss poor Southgate’s handling of him has been. The decision to throw him into a press conference like he was was negligent and a complete dereliction of care. He was then thrown to the wolves following the Iceland debacle.
I think even Ole said he wasn't happy about it in a press conference after the international break. It certainly has hindered Greenwood this season, I'm sure he'll come good soon enough though.
I’m pretty sure I recall at the time that Ole even phoned Southgate prior to the NT games to ask him *not* to call Greenwood up just yet. Like you’ve both said — absolutely ridiculous stuff from Southgate throughout the whole ordeal.
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I’ve repeated myself a few times in this thread — I’m really not that worried at all; second season syndrome is a real thing and he has more than enough talent and time on his side to bounce back out of this.
My only criticism is how he looks way too predictable on his left. He’s gone from being one of the most two-footed players I’ve seen to being very reliant on cutting the ball onto his left.
Silly isn’t it? The desire to write a young player off is strong on this forum sometimes.
Greenwood, Williams, Mengi have all struggled to get in the first team or make an impact this year. It’s normal, it happens, it’s happened to the best of the best. If Greenwood was playing somewhere like Newcastle they’d be running him into the ground and ruining him.
He’s fine, he’s got some of the best support around him in football. He’ll be back to scoring ways and keeping the likes of James and Martial out of the team again in no time.
I agree. Yes, Lingard gives better defensive balance but I would have loved to have seen Greenwood stay on with Martial and Rashford.
A goal for Greenwood to get his confidence going could have a huge impact on United's season. If Lingard had somehow scored it would have made no difference to anyone's life.
He is too eager to show something when he gets the ball. Most of times he goes in solo run. I don't mind that players try to finish play on individual skill but he is going over the top.
On the other hand, Rashford does it too and even Martial (who was always more team player than those two) so that is maybe manager's instructions.
I don't know why they do it but i do know that our attackers must work together more than they are doing at the moment.
On the other hand, Rashford does it too and even Martial (who was always more team player than those two) so that is maybe manager's instructions.
I don't know why they do it but i do know that our attackers must work together more than they are doing at the moment.
Quite annoying to see his close mate Foden flourishing at City whenever he's given a chance and Greenwood going backwards. Hopefully it's not disciplinary issues as is being reported. He's still young though so not unexpected and plenty of time to get back on the right track.
Trashwood or Greentrash then?
He was doing things effortlessly last season but this season everything looks a bit forced. He just tries to shoot without properly positioning himself. I think the Iceland incident has affected him. Hopefully Ole knows what he is doing with him. We cannot afford to have his career ruined. Needs 2 or 3 goals and he will be fine.
Still a huge talent but you can see that he's a long way off being ready to be our CF.
Nothing to worry about with him, I feel he’s one good performance away from turning a corner. Ole will help him keep his head up.
No. We have a problem offensively between our attackers in that while they are all very talented, they sometimes struggle with their decision making. This means we heavily rely on Rashford and Martial even if they aren't exactly providing fluidness to our attack, they do provide the most danger individually. So we'll have to let them play the way they play, with Bruno supplying them but I don't think we do that enough with Greenwood. We accept that Rashford dribbles past a few players then lose the ball and take stupid shots and individualistic choices too much because we need his individual ability as proved by the fact he eventually scores important goals.
He never stops trying and that is something we should want from Greenwood especially as his best individual skill is shooting the ball into the goal. I get almost upset about you calling him selfish, because if he stops trying going for goal then his only purpose is to supply Rashford and Martial which is a total waste of his talent and he wont develop as a natural forward but as a limited winger, that's not his natural game. If there is anyone I want to be individualistic in front of goal it's the guy with the best shot on him. That's Greenwood.
It was impossible for him yesterday, the support from Lingard, James & Mata didn’t allow him to get in to the game. What were people expecting him to do? Pick the ball up in his own half and skin the whole Watford side.
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