I think he played well in the first two games at RB and was good as a CB in his 30 minutes against Barca tonight. The fact he got the nod ahead of Evans is a big boost for him and to me he just looks physically a bit stronger than he was a few months ago.
33
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 9
- Clean sheets
- 2
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
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Has continued to look good, the only thing I can complain about is the few times he kept hold of the ball too long and tried to run too far with it. Wasn't given much support in ways of a pass though.
All the discussions about CB. McNair should be considered one of the options. I dont get worried seeing him.
He will only get better.
He will only get better.
He'll get his chances this season, he looks to have developed physically over the summer. Finally starting to look like a CB
Firmly ahead of Evans now, wonder if he'll get some action in the UCL...
no he's not Evans was probably just injured
I'd like to see him alongside Rojo in some cup games, to see what chemistry he can develop. He is definitely one we should continue to groom for the future
Evans isnt injured, lvg has confirmed that the only injured player is jones....and in talking about his cb options the other day, Evans was excluded...he's definetly ahead of him....although most likely because Evans is completely out of Lvg's plans..
He named Smalling, Jones and McNair only so he probably meant the RCB options. Evans has (from memory) only played on the left or at least mostly. He's a good passer of the ball and capable with his left so I assume he's fighting for the LCB spot with Blind and Rojo who van Gaal also didn't mention.
If a centreback does come in Evans is the most likely player to leave seeing he's the only one who didn't get a new contract or was signed by van Gaal so I agree with the second part.
This isn't a league cup game.
People saying we should rest so and so are being silly really. This is one of the most important games of our season and we should play our best team.
Perhaps, but then thinking of the left foot thing that LVG said..but you may be right..but he's definitely behind all the those two though..even in the preseason, I think LVG preferred Smalling and McNair as part of that second team, with Evans hardly getting any game time.
Believe me, I know..I was not thinking of a start, maybe a sub appearance if we were leading perhaps.
People are actually saying we should rest players? Crazy talk.
Want him to start the 2nd leg with Smalling. Would be happy just to see him get 20 minutes though
Agreed. He looks like he has potential, far more than Blackett in my opinion.
Agree that it'd be good to see him get some game time this season. With Blind playing CB, it's likely he'll struggle to get many games since he'll be 5th choice if Evans also stays, but he looked composed at times when he slotted in last season, and definitely has some potential. Hopefully we'll play him every so often.
I wouldn't really want him starting tomorrow night. I feel the first 20 minutes or so will be quite nervy. If we are home and dry late on, then yeah, I wouldn't mind him getting a run out.
Mental. How about we take the game seriously and not feck up all last years hard work?
Yup. The worst possible thing we could do would be to start dicking around in such an important match.
Start him tomorrow? Are people crazy?
He's been terrible and nervous in nearly every away game he has played in last season. So let's start him in the most important away game of our season.
Makes sense.
He's been terrible and nervous in nearly every away game he has played in last season. So let's start him in the most important away game of our season.
Makes sense.
It's not like Blind is some world class CB. He's done well so far having not being tested. I doubt he's actually a better CB than McNair.
But our back line is settled and we have a partnership that works, it's fair too risky at this stage.
Southampton 2:3 Man Utd
I was surprised when he came on, not sure if he got caught cold on the second Pelle goal or it was a lack of communication with him and Smalling or if it was simply a bloody good ball that put it right on Pelle's bonce, but he made an important contribution with that driving run that got us right up the pitch and relieved the pressure in injury time.
Reckon he might get a start against Ipswich to give Blind a rest for a game.
Was really thrown in there. Didn't really understand it but he did a pretty decent job, as posted above that was one really tasty run.
Lionel McNair 
Should have done better for the 2nd goal though.
Should have done better for the 2nd goal though.
I agree. We shouldn't take Ipswhich too lightly but there's a couple of others I'd like to see sit out as well: such as Darmian, Martial, and Memphis.
Was sleeping for their 2nd goal but it was not the best game to throw him in imo
He did not know where Pelle was for the second goal, but then what a run from him right at the end
I don't really care for him, he's poor and not UTD quality. Ridiculous positioning for their second goal and defended poorly over all, Smalling had to cover him a few times.
Looking forward to Jones being back to come on in situations like that, thrown in at the deep end a bit but if we played for 10 more minutes we would have lost 4-3..looked all over the show when he came on.
I think he needs a season in the championship and playing regularly. He is good on the ball but defensively he is nowhere near good enough to be anywhere near the team and we aren't good enough to carry him. There is potential there but sitting on the bench is not going to help him improve.
That's what I feel too. Defensively especially away from home he is not somebody that I would want to call upon. The whole defence starts getting nervous.
I think we're only sticking him on the bench to keep that youth team/matchday squad streak going. Will be interesting when Jones comes back.
Impressive performance today. LvG would not play him if he didn't rate him highly. All a part of his long term development imo.
Not necessarily. I think we only have one fit CB, so we dont keep him on the bench for our youth record, but because we need one. LvG gave him some minutes today, again nothing to do with our record. I think he just rates him a bit.
Yeah, agree with this. He showed real potential against West Ham and Everton when he first came into the team last season so I have hope that he'll make it here but he's far from ready atm. Most of his best work comes with the ball which is good for us if he does improve defensively though.
I thought bringing him on was more of a psychological move after he was yanked in the first half last season. Fair play to LvG, he obviously thinks a lot of him and wanted to give him some confidence. I don't think even Blind would have done any better for the second goal, that was just a beauty of a cross placed right between the two center backs.
Yeah, although the Shaw injury means that's unlikely. If Rojo is th LB this season then we only have Blind, Smalling and Jones at CB. That's not enough.
Maybe he'll get a season of cup matches and spot starts this year and next year can go on a Premier League loan with Shaw back and maybe even a new LCB signed.
He was too far from his man. You should at least be interrupting the attacker. Can't be allowing them to get a free header.
Was a weird sub. Putting Blind up against Mane, who had been going past players all game and is a lot quicker, was simply a bad move. At the same time you're splitting up the CB partnership. Two games in a row LvG has done that now and both games we've conceded after doing so.
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