On the basis of the minutes he has played for the first team, what else would I have to go on?
Mason Greenwood
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He's almost exactly the same build Rashford was at his age. He will obviously significantly beef up, probably along the same sort of schedule that Rashford has. He's a proper CF through and through. The fact that he's been able to do so much from a wide position this season at such a young age is simply testament to just how good he is.
This basically smacks of someone who's only watched his first team games and therefore doesn't know that much about him as a player. He's quite fast - not Rashford/James fast, but fast enough to be considered a fast CF. His all-round game is genuinely superb. You've already seen flashes of it for the first team but there's so much more to come, and the sky's the limit there really.
Of course none of this counts for anything until you see it fulfilled in the first team, but it is still important to understand what he is capable of. It's very much the same reception that Rashford had on here when he first broke through - those who'd never watched him for the youth teams assumed he was just a pacy poacher and lots were claiming he didn't have a good all-round game. Those who'd known him before his growth spurt as a flair, tricky winger whose passing and close control were his best assets knew that when he settled in he would develop the incredibly rounded game that we now see.
That’s not even close to getting bodied. There is barely even any contact there.
I've seen him in the youth/u23's but I don't think that holds much weight to what he can do at a first team level especially when people are claiming he will be one of the top 5 player itw. Wilson was scoring some ridiculous goals at that level, literally running from the halfway line and scoring. Loads of players have looked stupidly good at youth level. You are basically playing against a bunch of players where the majority will do well to make it in the football league.
I'm not saying he won't be a good/great/fantastic/world class player because I think he will and he's already shown glimpses of it but I'm not sure how people have come to the conclusion of him being an absolute dead cert to be one of the best players around, and then back it up by claiming what he has done in the youth team.
If a player has played a decent chunk of football at first team level, then that's the sensible decision to base an opinion on. If am being honest then game against Cardiff was where I thought 'wow'. Since then, I haven't really seen him scare defenders, he seems timid to commit a full-back and his touch is often sloppy but regardless even if he's carries being an absolute lethal finisher on both feet with more consistency and game time that comes with the maturity of being a first team player than that's fine as essentially he will be here for years to come and contributing well.
Lindelof actually beats him for pace, but then just has no idea what to idea and makes a complete hash of it. Great feint to sell Gomes though.
Watch this goal and tell me he lacks speed, or that a lack of speed will stop him scoring goals
it's just a pointless criticism.
Watch this goal and tell me he lacks speed, or that a lack of speed will stop him scoring goals
it's absurdYeah, I don't get it, Greenwood's got so few flaws to his game people seem to be actively looking for some.
Watch this goal and tell me he lacks speed, or that a lack of speed will stop him scoring goals
Yeah, running up the pitch with nobody around him illustrates his acceleration and pace so well
Watch this goal and tell me he lacks speed, or that a lack of speed will stop him scoring goals
As always, a comment that he lacks a bit of pace (which he does, compared to quick players like Rashford and James) and next thing the forum turns it into claiming he's another Akinfenwa.
It's so embarrassing that it seems to be coming from our own fans too! We have a truly remarkable talent on our hands, yet people can't just sit back and enjoy his development? Mind boggling.
The thing I absolutely love about that goal is the little half touch he takes in the blink of an eye to open it up for himself.
Watch this goal and tell me he lacks speed, or that a lack of speed will stop him scoring goals
Some have forgotten how much faster Rashford has become the last three years. Greenwoods top speed is obviously very good. His acceleration will improve too as he matures.
Was he not a very promising sprinter during his younger years? I think his sister is too.
He runs passed Deulofeu who's quick.Yeah, running up the pitch with nobody around him illustrates his acceleration and pace so well
As always, a comment that he lacks a bit of pace (which he does, compared to quick players like Rashford and James) and next thing the forum turns it into claiming he's another Akinfenwa.
Saying he lacks pace though is talking like he's a slow player like Mata. He is perfectly fast enough to play football to a high level, you don't need to be a 100m champion to be good at football.
Beautiful isn't it, subtle things like that are what makes the difference. He actually does remind me of Lewandowski in the way he does that, little quick touches to move the ball into a better position before shooting.
https://images.app.goo.gl/qomrhsoedNAt4d8NA
This is Rashford at 18, compare him and Greenwood now.
https://images.app.goo.gl/rEZsKFaYjR5zmMp9A
Rashford now.
This is Rashford at 18, compare him and Greenwood now.
https://images.app.goo.gl/rEZsKFaYjR5zmMp9A
Rashford now.
Greenwood isn't explosive like Rashford and James but that doesn't mean he lacks pace. Rashford and James are among the fastest players in the league. Greenwood is deceptively quick, I don't see pace being a problem at all.
Lacks a bit of pace does not equal slow.
Of course he is quick enough to play, it just means he will have to develop that little extra bit of anticipation and movement than a player like Rashford who can get away from a defender on pace alone.
Can't believe he is even being questioned.
He's a young man that isn't even fully developed and showing all the attributes and class without those physical benefits YET.
He is a TOP talent. I've never been more confident on a player. It isn't just that flash footwork and quick feet kind of talent, it is genuine ability with the ball and good decision making at 18!
He's a young man that isn't even fully developed and showing all the attributes and class without those physical benefits YET.
He is a TOP talent. I've never been more confident on a player. It isn't just that flash footwork and quick feet kind of talent, it is genuine ability with the ball and good decision making at 18!
It's a right of passage for our academy products. From Fletcher to Rashford - mctominay and now young Greenwood
You have to be a top talent to break into the first team at 17. Ole got rid of Lukaku and Sanchez for the benefit of this lads progress. All the criticism Ole gets, I am sure him and his coaches can recognise that this lad is special to make such calls.
We haven't seen him anywhere near his best yet, only glimpses in spells. Once he gets 10/15 games on the bounce, we will see a different Greenwood imo.
Look at the likes of Fred / Rashford / Martial when they are in and out the team, it is easy to criticise them, once they start getting a run of games and get confidence they start playing well.
He will get an injury sooner or later, all players get injured at times. A young player's mental strength is going to be tested while injured and Mason, like all young player, has to face it some point in his career. Mason seems to be a laid back lad with a good mentality for the game and I'm fairly certain we will cope with it just fine. We'll just have to hope that the injury is anything major, e.g. knee, back, etc.
As for the speed discussion, he is fast enough but lacks the explosiveness in his first few steps. That is something that is going to improve by adding strength and muscles to the lower body. It's just good that his game is not based on any physical attribute, but on technical skills and understanding the game (good decision making already). It's much easier to improve your physical attributes with just a fair share of work. It's not same for technical skills and understanding the game.
I'm fairly certain we will reach the very top with us, he is just that special. A special player for me.
I mean being fast at 13 when most people havne't even gone through puberty doesn't count for much. I was probably one of the quickest in my country at that age and people shoot up in height and development in the following years. Its basically chilren at that stage.
Definitely not a problem, especially if he isn't destined to be a winger. Even as an inside forward you don't have to be lightning if you have good IQ. Ole used to play RM for us for Christ sake and people actually questioning Mason's pace?
It kind of does though. You can tell a lot from youth level. You've to be cautious about how it translates to the first team but you can see so much of young players on MUTV that you do get a good idea of their potential level. Greenwood is very good. His all-round game is better than I think has been obvious in the first team. Add that to his finishing and composure and two feet then there's gonna be excitement.
Greenwood is different to Wilson. You could see that Wilson was relying a fair bit on a physical advantage at some stages and you wondered about his overall game. It's not the same with Greenwood.
The one thing is you don't know what's going on in a young player's head though. Along with the talent do they have the insane level of drive needed to get to the very top? Funnily enough given the way both Rashford and McTominay are improving you'd guess they do have that drive and maybe Greenwood will follow that??
It's one of the worst things about the Caf, I'm fully with everyone having an opinion but some take it too far. People losing their minds because we didn't go for Werner, when we already have a young forward line and have Greenwood developing brilliantly, plus possibly the acquisition of Sancho.
If he were in Dortmund, we would be wanting to bid for him for 100M in summer.
Exactly this. With us extending Ighalo to Jan shows that Ole is looking at Greenwood developing into a starter. He will be 19 and the right time to say here you go, time for you to shine. We already fecked up Rashford / Martial's development using the strategy of buying a ready made player in Sanchez.
I feel as if the United coaching staff have real faith in Greenwood. Mbappe, Haaland, Rashford were all starting games at 19. Not saying he is their quality, but if we want him to be the best, we need to expose him to first team football.
This is tosh, to be honest. Pace hasn’t held back Harry Kane. He’s where he is because of his movement and his ability to strike a football as pure as any other player around. Greenwood shows signs of having that same knack.
It still obviously tells you a lot about the type of player they are regardless of the low level of competition. My Rashford example is just one demonstration of that. It's not about how good he looked at youth level, it's about the balance of his different aptitudes.
It’s that sort of touch that confirms why he’s going to be a killer. You don’t teach that. He has the kind of finishing ability that some strikers spend years working to perfect.
Short of injury or attitude, I think Greenwood is about as good a guarantee you will see. I think his 12 goals in 36 (mostly substitute) appearances has been somewhat undervalued throughout a stuttering season in which we’ve largely relied on numpties like Lingard and Pereira to create chances. This lad comes into a sea of shite, probably out of position, and glides daisy cutters into the bottom corner for fun. He’s a gift.
This is doing my head in now. Did i say he was going to be shit? No. Did i say he was slow? No. I said he lacks a bit of pace, which he does, relative to the properly fast players in the league. Right now he will not get away from a player the way Rashford does through acceleration alone. Maybe he will develop that, maybe he won't, maybe he develops in other areas sufficiently to make it irrelevant, but if he was properly rapid to begin with it would not be something that needs to be developed at all.
I didn’t say you said any of those things. You did, however, imply that the league being faster would mean that less pacy strikers (and you cited the two Vans as examples) might find it more difficult to excel. That’s what I think is tosh. Both Van Nistelrooy and Van Persie would still murder the Premier League in 2020 and Kane has murdered it for five successive seasons. Pace and acceleration is helpful, but it’s a small part of puzzle.
No problems with that, that's why i said he will need to develop other areas more if he doesn't get that acceleration. The league being faster just places more emphasis on that. RVN, RVP and Kane all had/have fantastic movement and anticipation to get away from their markers and time wouldn't change their ability to do that.
I shouldn't be admiring the body of a 20odd year old kid but feck me - he's definitely looked at Ronaldo and has decided to go down that route which is only good for us...hopefully him and the rest of the young lads we're signing up means we're going to explode in 2 or 3 years again
So you basically made an argument about pace, to ignore the fact that the kid is already demonstrating the abilities of those mentioned at 18?!
Shouldn't your point have been something like - "thankfully he is showing a lot of the attributes of players that don't need pace, so hopefully his lack of lightning speed won't hold him back" ?
He's actually got a brilliant touch, even Vs City where he almost pulled one out the air to the other side of the defender.
The thing is that he is a finisher.. the way he sits keepers down and finishes the ball is almost like something we have never seen. They don't look like brilliant goals because they looked scuffed, but when he is doing that on a regular basis, you know he means to put them in the corner.
I know what you mean but it's nothing to be ashamed of. It just shows how hard they/he works and keeps himself in amazing shape.He's developed so much physically over the last few years, he's clearly very professional. He is going to be a great role model for the younger lads like Greenwood/Williams/Garner etc.
Exactly! And that's a huge part in what will make the difference between playing at United / Real etc or having a decent career but what could have been if...
He's developed so much physically over the last few years, he's clearly very professional. He is going to be a great role model for the younger lads like Greenwood/Williams/Garner etc.
Still amazed at that picture of the muscles on his back though...
He has already improved over the course of the season. His striking ability and the backing the club will give him already already ensures that he will be a top player. The question here really is what type of striker will he be
I would argue though that one of Greenwood's biggest strength is his ability to get away from defenders and create space for himself to cross or shoot without using pace. His two-footedness is a great asset in that respect.
The whole talk of Greenwood's pace is quite funny, people here kind of appreciate speed over actual technical qualitie,Greenwood has everything it takes to be world class,all he need to do is grow physically which he would as he grows older,you guys compare him with Rashford,He is a centre forward how does his pace compares with Lewandoski,Kane,Ibrahimovic.His is going to spend a lot of time with his back to goal linking play, I would like to see him improving strength, his touch(which is already good but could be more consistent)and movement than pace
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