Ref could have read the room a bit better and maybe given him a final word, but he was shite all game so that wasn't going to happen. Upshot is Shea gave the ref an excuse to wave the card, lesson learned, move on. As others have said it was nice to see a young lad come in and look like he was up for it.
Shea Lacey | 2025/26 Performances
- Thread starter IrishRedDevil
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, we interview Duncan Drasdo of MUST - covering ticket prices, new stadium, INEOS and what fans should be demanding from our club.
Also, due to technical issues we couldn't put a notice up for the previous episode which was about the game against Bournemouth and other stuff. If you'd like to listen to it, click here.
Video is no longer available, but that's really low bar for what we're celebrating in a United shirt. One successful cross to a 6' 4" striker who had to stretch to get it, and a handful of backwards passes around the box.
The circumstances are wildly different between City flying high with an ensemble cast of top class players to support them and more to bring off the bench if things go wrong, and us. There's no expectation on City's youngsters, whereas we're placing real expectation on Lacey's shoulders way before he's ready, and it could damage him in the long term.
You're bizarrely defensive about this. Dribbling and duels are statistical measures, I can't gaslight you with them anymore than I can gaslight you with the information that the Earth is roughly 71% water. It's reality.
You're right that he's a prospect to nurture carefully, throwing him into matches with the expectation of him winning them for us is the opposite of that, as is inflating nothing performances to further increase the pressure on him down the line. A loan would be much more beneficial to his development.
I've been very clear that he has talent, but that he isn't ready, especially physically. Throwing players into the first team and placing huge expectations on them is rarely the best way to develop that talent,
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He is, and so we shouldn't be putting him in the situation where he's expected to carry our attack. Last night is likely to be damaging to his confidence, it was a chastening experience up against a PL defence, especially as he got himself sent off (which is why I wish the ref had shown a little leniency), and that could easily set back his development.
It’s not going to set bank his development. Look at the likes of the Arsenal left back. Been sent off a few times.
He will learn.
He’s wasn’t expected to ‘carry our attack’. He was the option on the right. We had Bruno, Cunha, Zirkzee (grrrr) and Sesko on the pitch.
He has a cameo in the cup.
Yeah, you're right. Might have been a 'soft' one, but going by the rules, it's dissent and a booking. Silly from Lacey but he's young and learning, as the saying goes.
Yeh at the end of the day hes a child in a high pressure environment. Tbh what pissed me off the most was that the referee couldn't wait to send him off and showed absolutely zero compassion. Twat of a human being displaying no empathy at all.
He does have a lot of expectation on him, you can't deny that. From the crowd getting especially excited when he got the ball, to the commentators and pundits hyping him up, and the fanbase in general too. We're clearly in the "build up" stage of the typical "build up and tear down" lifecycle.
I was embarrassed by the fact the young lad was thrown in and expected to change a game for eleven first team players who couldn't manage what he did in the brief period he was on the field. He was energetic, direct and he got the ball into the box.
Unfortunately he let him emotions get the better of him, but is that a surprise when you are asking someone so young to bail out his senior teammates.
Unfortunately he let him emotions get the better of him, but is that a surprise when you are asking someone so young to bail out his senior teammates.
Who expected him to carry out our attack? Also subbing him in wont damage his confidence, he needs game to get experience and gain form. Where and when would you let him play? Also getting a red wont set back his development, it's a part of the game ffs, it happens.
Yeah, agreed. The refs eyes probably lit up realising that there was a moment where he could make a headline.
The ref was doing his job unfortunately.
Dissent is dissent and should be clamped down no matter who does it.
Last night should only build his confidence. He was electric - to the point where the teams whole plan seemed to be 'give it to Lacey'. The sending off is what it is, it happens. But he got a standing ovation from the fans as everybody appreciated his effort and determination, which unfortunately spilled over for the second yellow.
Bigger picture though, we have a problem. Amad, Mbeumo and Lacey on the right, and all left footed players who like to cut inside.
I said to my brother during the game that I hope he's not another dick head, because he looks a very exciting prospect. I'm sick of having talented players come through who get too big for their boots. He was the only positive from last night.
I dont disagree.
Who would you have played instead?
Young attacking players at United always have hype. They are exciting.
This will dampen it, if anything.
I don’t think the commentators are hyping him up, he’s a player that had a fantastic cameo in the last game, that’s exciting. It’s something interesting to talk about, rather than a CB sub.
No the stupid narrative is all the pundits and fans saying he has to start and the manager is wrong not to play him etc. It immediately puts pressure on the lad when he might not even agree with that.
Youngsters should never be pitched as saviours. We can all enjoy them growing into a team but the vast majority of them will have bumpy starts, they should be expected to struggle not loaded with expectations of proving the manager wrong.
Our fanbase is way worse at this than other teams.
Agree with this.
A lot of my red mates are always saying 'play the kids, they can't be any worse'.
Well they ****ing can !!!!!
Given the pressure cooker of Utd at the moment, we will probably break them along the way too. Either with too high an expectation and they just never will be IT or the most seasoned pro's around them letting them down week in week out.. Who's there role model's / leaders. The same bunch of chumps who have contributed to getting the team and club where they are today. All too quick to jump to Insta and apologise yet deliver the same **** week in week out.
I’ve not seen anyone saying he should start, except for a few random posters on the likes of here.
We saw his involvement very differently. He was mostly pocketed by the Brighton full back, managing one successful cross out of 2 attempts and 15 touches altogether (losing the ball with 6 of them). The red card will hurt him a bit in the short term, but overhyping his current toothless performances is going to hurt him long term, as eventually fans and the media will turn on him, even if his performances stay exactly the same, due to the hyperbole going on at the moment.
We've had the same recently with Mainoo and Garnacho recently, to name a couple, heavily overhyped early performances leading to accusations of regression and laziness for similar performances a year or so later.
Neither have I. Maybe a shit tabloid or two is saying it but if so I remain blissfully unaware of their bollocks, and intend to stay that way.
I thought Kadioglu was really good for them, so it was a tough test for him. But I’m looking at him in the context of him being a kid who is being thrown in to try to rescue us. He went at the fullback and got the better of him a couple of times, he had the right attitude, put in a decent cross, and had a decent effort on goal. Ok if it was an established PL player then it’s less impressive, but context is key.
I am actually not one to get carried away with youngsters anymore, I’ve been burnt with predictions about Morrison, Pogba and Ravel. But so far, so good with Lacey as far as I am concerned and he definitely should be happy with his contribution so far.
He was a twat trying to be Billy big bollocks by making an example out of the kid. I'd accept it if he treated the other 20+ grown adults on the pitch for the previous 90 minutes in exactly the same manner. He had plenty of chances to book Brighton players for time wasting, running away with the ball or kicking it away after the whistle, did he do it? Of course not. He didn't have the balls to, he just saw a chance to be a jobsworth and a bully and took it.
Any decent referee there would have told him to calm down and gave him a final warning. Sending him off for a second yellow, while it is the rule, it was very small time and petty.
This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. No other club in the league has anywhere near the same level of pressure and scrutiny, so many hopes are being placed on Lacey due to a good, but ultimately off-target, effort against Burnley, and one fairly average cross last night. If these kind of performances continue, it won't be long before the conversation amongst fans and in the media becomes "what was all the hype about?", which could be incredibly damaging to his development.
This is a fair question, the system that Fletcher decided to play was one that required wingers, and then he only included 2 in the squad in Dorgu and Lacey, the former was playing fullback so it was inevitable that Lacey would have to come on as the only winger left.
I don't remember him getting the better of his fullback. He managed to create some space against Rutter, the Brighton no.10, one time in order to make room for a cross, but from what I saw he tried to run at the fullback a couple of times, lost the ball, and then gave up trying because he wasn't getting anywhere. The stats show he didn't complete any dribbles or win any duels too, corroborating my interpretation.
And this is my issue with us throwing him in, it isn't a harmless dice roll, his biggest takeaway from this match is likely to be "I can't get past PL defenders", which will dent his confidence. It isn't his fault, he's a 17 year old kid against fully grown professional athletes, but if we sap his confidence in running at players this early it'll damage his development.
The only hyperbole about Lacey has been from you
Everyone has been pretty sensible. He's a promising player, exciting but a long way to go.
He had 25 mins and created 3 chances ffs and you've claimed he was pocketed, and he got sent off out of frustration because he played shit.
He's 19 in April
You're taking this far too personally. There are statements in here that he was electric, you stated he was our biggest threat, that's clear hyperbole for a kid who's only real contribution was a cross for an xA of 0.09.
Can you cite your source for 3 chances created? Both fotmob and sofascore only have the 1, which was that same cross.
My claim was accurate, he was unable to affect the game and was clearly frustrated by this, it's fair to suggest that said frustration contributed to his outburst which got him sent off.
One cross into dangerous area which wasn't attacked
One cross which was headed on target
One shot just off target which he created for himself
Far different from the 'he did nothing' hyperbole you spewed onto the Internet yesterday
Ok so those aren't classed as chances, you've just decided they are. A cross to nobody, a cross that was headed off* target, and a shot off target created from a flick by Casemiro* with an xG of 0.02.
You keep accusing me of hyperbole, yet continually make demonstrably false statements about what Lacey did last night. If you have to make things up to make the performance sound better than it was, then your point isn't very strong. Genuinely I think some introspection is in order, to figure out why this narrative is so important to you.
There's no other United player you'd be happy with that performance from.
It's a bit weird having strong agendas about a youth player with less than 45 minutes under his belt
Given you claimed he had no successful dribbles or duels when he clearly beat people to create the crosses and shots..
Maybe there's lies damned lies and statistics, or maybe just liars. Who knows
Yeah, read the room, jeez.
One friggin' positive from last night and someone has to be a constant debbie downer
One friggin' positive from last night and someone has to be a constant debbie downer
That poster accused me of having an agenda, because I said the midfield was poor for the 4 goals conceded vs Bournemouth.
I wouldn't even bother engaging.
A dribble is taking the ball past someone, not creating a yard of space. These things have definitions, to prevent people exaggerating as you are, for example calling a cross that hit the first defender as a chance created.
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Yeah really strange. At least give him a few games before we write him off as flop.
Seriously how can a kid shine in such a negative and high pressure environment?
He did that for the cross.
Dribbled past someone and crossed the ball.
You also said 0% duels, which would include creating space witha touch under challenge and laying it off or crossing/ shooting, no?
I didn't include any crosses that hit the first defender.
It may have been Rutter then, he did a step over and went past him before putting a cross in. So I don’t know what counts as a duel or a completed dribble in your stats, but it’s either very specific or just wrong, but either way clearly doesn’t tell the whole story.
With regards to your second paragraph, he proved he can do this against PL defenders just a week ago. Obviously we need to not put any pressure on him or expect him to be the one to dig the team out, but from what I’ve seen I think he’s ready to be given these little cameos and I think it will only help his development. Compare him to Jack Fletcher who I think was clearly nervous, I can’t say the same about Lacey. Hell he was being criticised for shooting the other day, which was actually not a bad effort. This isn’ta typical youngster who has come in and looked like he’s not mentally ready for it. Time will tell on that one but so far I am actually pleased, in the same way I was when we saw Garnacho put in similar performances early on.
One thing to remember also is that Bruno was pulling to the right a lot when he came on. So Lacey rightfully gave him the ball to cross once he’d attracted all the attention of the defenders. I know it’s a very simple thing but he made the right call to give it to Bruno in those instances, but it doesn’t help his stats. This is why context is key.
I'd suggest it's more weird trying to class a pretty basic analysis of the performance of said youth player, using some stats, as a "strong agenda".
Nobody is writing him off, or calling him a flop, I'm simply pointing out that isn't ready yet. He hasn't done anything in his cameos, and the pressure being placed on him due to overhyping from the fans and the media is going to damage his development.
He should be out on loan developing his game at a level he's ready for.
If that shot against Burnley had been, ooh, 3 inches lower? What then? You’d be sticking to your guns? And what if Sesko had buried the best cross to his head he got in open play against Brighton?
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Young players learn from mistakes, a shame for him but good to see a United youngster for a change with some desire and determination.