[Brightonian]

Yep, I'm not entirely sure where the idea he's not playing well is coming from. He's not yet had a game where he's single-handedly bossed it for us, but he produces wonderful moments every game, looks consistently creative, and has scored arguably our nicest goal of the season (and all-but-scored a very nice one against the Saints.)

He's not playing brilliantly yet, but he's doing well. Certainly well enough for a 21-year-old who's only a handful of games into his Premier League career.

 

[ricky-romeo]

he'll get better. a bit of inconsistency is expected from the very start.

statistically he will get pass 10 goal mark which represents a good start.

 

[K2K]

Id play Young in the EPL, especially with October fixtures coming up.Without Shaw, Young will offer greater protection to his LB, and has been very good in the bigger games. Memphis should come of the bench against tired legs.

Id start him in Europe though.

 

[Kraftwerker]

he'll get better. a bit of inconsistency is expected from the very start.

statistically he will get pass 10 goal mark which represents a good start.

I'd say he'll break 15 goals. He's already on 3 and a couple of near misses so 10 seems a certainty.

15 would be a brilliant return. Should be aiming for 10+ assists too (also has 3 already).

 

[sunama]

Haven't 2 of his goals come against Brugge? Brugg, were a side decimated with injury and who were not in the CL - they were qualifying to try and get into the CL.
Rooney also got a hat-trick against Brugge, so it shows you how bad they were.
He is unlikely to see weaker opponents than Brugge, for the remainder of the season.

The acid test is the EPL. The EPL is one of, if not the, toughest league in Europe, where new players can struggle to adapt.
I'd say Memphis should be judged on what he does next year.

In saying that, the raw materials are all there. He is strong/fast/physical. And he likes to go for goal whenever he gets the ball. I remember an 18 year old Rooney being very similar to what Memphis is today.

 

[United again!]

Aren't you even slightly worried about the fact he can't actually dribble? I mean, for a winger, thats a massive issue.

"Can't" is a bit to far, but I am a bit worried that he looks (to me) like he has lost a bit of faith in his ability to take on fullbacks from deep in the league though. His little moments of brilliance have come in the box and we need to get him there and get him pulling these little moves off around the area and not from so far deep that it makes no difference.

I think it's a fair point actually. It's a lot harder to find space when all the attacks are set up to go from your side. Defences will put a greater emphasis on that side naturally. Now, Memphis can and will do better with time anyway, but having a big threat on the other side dragging more attention that side would help greatly. Even Neymar, for example, has Messi dragging entire defences to the right leaving Neymar with much less to do on the left to hurt teams.

Ah, it seems this discussion has made it's way over here to the Depay thread. This has definitely been a problem.

 

[ThePlaymaker]

Memphis looks struggling with the pace of the PL. He's bossing it in Europe so far, but he's been bossed in the PL (tiny bit exaggeration). The burst of pace we see from him in Europe barely appears in the PL. Every time he's about to run with the ball, defenders catch up with him and he has to stop and check then pass backwards or make a cross. There are even occasions where he was easily shrugged off the ball and put on his backside when he failed to beat someone.

What he needs to do is inject more urgency into his game. At the moment he's taking too long with the ball. Taking his jolly good time, which invites defenders to come onto him.

I believe he still needs time to adapt, but once he does that, I expect consistent high level performances week in week out comfortably from him.

 

[CG1010]

Was just watching the highlights of the game against Southampton and there was one instance in the first half where he basically dribbled just outside their box and took out 4 defenders marking him with one move and passed to Martial. That was lovely and shows what he is capable of it even if its too much to demand consistently from him now.

 

[Shark]

Memphis looks struggling with the pace of the PL. He's bossing it in Europe so far, but he's been bossed in the PL (tiny bit exaggeration). The burst of pace we see from him in Europe barely appears in the PL. Every time he's about to run with the ball, defenders catch up with him and he has to stop and check then pass backwards or make a cross. There are even occasions where he was easily put on his backside when he failed to beat someone.

What he needs to do is inject more urgency into his game. At the moment he's taking too long with the ball. Taking his jolly good time, which invites defenders to come onto him.

I believe he still needs time to adapt, but once he does that, I expect consistent high level performances week in week out comfortably from him.

Every single PL team we've played couldn't be employing the exact same tactics against him, surely.

 

[ThePlaymaker]

Every single PL team we've played couldn't be employing the exact same tactics against him, surely.

I don't think teams in the PL would feel they need to employ special tactic against Memphis. Simply closing him down quickly is effective enough to put him off his game so far. I don't think PL defenders are wary of him.

 

[Red_Beans]

His numbers are actually really good when you consider that he's 21, in a new league and a new team. He might not be getting everything right but he is still being pretty efficient for us. In general he's been no worse than many of our other players, I think people are just expecting too much from him too soon.

Agree with all that, especially the bolded part. He hasn't been great so far, but he hardly deserves all the criticism he has been getting in this thread. Did everyone expect him to walk into the league and have a Sanchez like impact in his first season?

The kid is talented, anyone can see that, he will score and assist a fair few this season. Probably go on a two or three game run where he looks world class. But anyone expecting him to drag us to silverwear ala Hazzard is going to be disappointed.

As a side note, I wonder what Martial's thread is going to look like once he inevitably goes on a bad run some time this season?

 

[Devil may care]

Get the feeling him and Martial are going to strike up a devastating partnership interchanging positions and causing defenses all kinds of problems with their pace and power.

 

[Shark]

Get the feeling him and Martial are going to strike up a devastating partnership interchanging positions and causing defenses all kinds of problems with their pace and power.

Yep. The two of them are going to destroy the league in a couple of years.

 

[rotherham_red]

Get the feeling him and Martial are going to strike up a devastating partnership interchanging positions and causing defenses all kinds of problems with their pace and power.

I see that happening too, hopefully with Januzaj and Wilson too. I'm getting giddy at the prospect of it

 

[CG1010]

I see that happening too, hopefully with Januzaj and Wilson too. I'm getting giddy at the prospect of it

And Pereira! Do we have the best set of young players in the world right now? (Genuine question as I have no idea what other clubs have)

 

[Devil may care]

Yep. The two of them are going to destroy the league in a couple of years.

It really is looking extremely promising, now if we can just get the #10 and RW spots sorted out to create a Fantastic Four!

I see that happening too, hopefully with Januzaj and Wilson too. I'm getting giddy at the prospect of it

It would be great if they also got into the mix, big season ahead for Januzaj in particular.

 

[RedorDead21]

The most excited I've ever been in terms of what he and Martial could do. Rooney and Ronaldo started off with early elimination if I recall from Europe and then kicked on.....hopefully these two can have a good stab at Europe from the off!

 

[WR10]

He has great harmony with Martial and Mata. Then we have Rooney providing the wrecking ball support

 

[ottosec]

Definitely looks like he likes to play with more urgency, same as Martial, no wonder they often look for each other on the pitch, Mata and Rooney play a much slower tempo than these two.

 

[m1y2]

he's almost like Nani his worst but Nani could at least had his dribbling spot on. You knew if there was any player t score a goal it would be him though.. sub him off for Pereira or wait a couple of minutes, maybe the goal can help him to raise his game

 

[Raw]

He needed that goal.

He's so selfish, which was to be expected. If he can work on his final ball he'll be class.

 

[Skills]

Good to see him off the mark now in the league.

 

[Raees]

He needs a goal during bad games .. that will teach him to be more effective on a bad day.

 

[VanGaalEra]

Happy for him, needed that in the league.

 

[Hed Zitin]

Great he got the goal after a poor game. Hopefully the goal will settle him. He over does it too much and dwells on the ball for too long.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Thank heavens for that goal. Should open it up a bit, and make for a better second half.

 

[Wade3]

You have to realize, he never gets any space. The problem is, Rooney in particular has become such a non-threat with the ball that the Sunderland defense can comfortably give him space to take it away from Memphis and to a degree also Martial.

 

[2mufc0]

Poor again. Needs to stop taking the free kicks too, utterly hopeless at them. Rooney and Mata would be better choices.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Not playing well but has 4 goals and 4 assists for us in like 10 matches. Not too bad. And his raw ability is unreal, needs to get smarter and more patient tho.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Poor again. Needs to stop taking the free kicks too, utterly hopeless at them. Rooney and Mata would be better choices.

Mata hasnt scored a direct free kick for us in a while as well.

 

[Adisa]

Teams are doubling up on him.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

Nice to see him off the mark in the league. Will give him a lot of confidence, 5 goals and 4 assists for the season so far, not bad from 11 matches, eh?. His decision making needs to improve though, and he needs to stop taking freekicks because he's shit at them.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Still only showing glimpses. His cut inside earlier on the game was great, but he dwelled and ended up making the wrong decision. He makes good runs in behind, but doesn't anticipate the ball too well.

Good movement for the goal. Not a pretty goal but he needed it. Seems to have upped his work rate a bit, which is good.

Sunderland can't really park up anymore, they need a goal so hopefully he'll have some room to run into in the 2nd half to make something happen.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Teams are doubling up on him.

Well, Rooney poses no threat, so

 

[Twigg]

Was Ronnie as frustrating in his early days?

 

[quiet_united]

Havent done anything to justify his place yet. Awful game and his body language has been very negative

 

[Rado_N]

Awful is a ridiculous overstatement and I'm not even going down the 'body language' road.

Frustrating from him at times today for sure, but he's clearly got bags of talent and he seems to link up well with Martial.

 

[Wade3]

Was Ronnie as frustrating in his early days?

Yes, very much so. To be fair to Memphis, he rarely ever has any space to go at the defense. There's always a second or third guy waiting, so his big strength is basically eliminated.

 

[Twigg]

Awful is a ridiculous overstatement and I'm not even going down the 'body language' road.

Frustrating from him at times today for sure, but he's clearly got bags of talent and he seems to link up well with Martial.

We're only winning 2-0, emotions are high.

 

[adexkola]

He's not a winger, is he?

Not having a winger who can dribble and create space hurts us.