[pocco]

He did well today, certainly didn't look out of place and i actually thought he did really well with his shot when he went through on an angle. Didn't get much said about it at the time but it was a really good save by the keeper.

I think he should start against Cardiff on the right, Greenwood should be in there too if he's fit.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

I swear. We have some real talent on our hands with this lad. Looks so dangerous. Hope he features more next season.

 

[Ajaxsuarez]

The yearning is blinding you. The Class of '92 and all. But football at this level is brutal. For all the current Ajax romance, about half the team came through the ranks, and all rest of the youth teams they were in didn't and they got rid of them.

Ajax u12s in 2009:

D1:

• Nouri( )
• Bergwijn (PSV / Netherlands)
• Fosu-Mensah(United / Netherlands)
• Sandler(City)
• Mazraoui (Ajax / Morroco)
• Bergsman (AZ)
• Savastano (AZ)
• Dekker (GAE)

+5 others

D2:

• Van de Beek (Ajax / Netherlands)
• Dilrosun (Hertha BSC / Netherlands)
• Eiting (Ajax)
• Zeefuik (Groningen)
• Flemming (PEC Zwolle)
• Hornkamp (Heerenveen)

+5/6 others

About 2/3rds of those 11 year olds made it to Eredivisie level, at least, of which 5 have already made it to full fledged national team appearances. That would have been a definite 6th at least if we hadn't lost the biggest talent of them all.

In fact of the U13 (C1) of the next year, Rosario (PSV / Netherlands) was also part of it, with Vd Beek, Bergwijn, TFM, Rosario, Mazraoui making 5 full internationals from a squad of 16 alone (+1 in Nouri again...) , with only 4 not active in professional football today.

 

[Member 93275]

We're saying the same thing? The bulk of those Ajax let go and found their place at a lower level. Of the couple who thought the grass was greener elsewhere, only Bergwijn is top Eredivisie level. Fosu-Mensah seems to be failing at the PL level clubs he was loaned to. Sandler is missing in action.

 

[Sea-Cow]

So far the only real positive you can say is -- he tries hard and at least the sight of him doesn't instantly fill me with a weird combination of rage and depression.

This puts him above the vast majority of his worthless teammates though, so good on him.

Keep playing him and maybe one day something will come off.

 

[Garethw]

Not good enough. File under Chadwick and Obertan.

 

[Jeppers7]

He’s poor. Why Ole plays him and not Gomez is beyond me

 

[Sea-Cow]

Not good enough. File under Chadwick and Obertan.

Haha thats a tad harsh I feel.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Writing him off after an hour of senior football... gonna be tough when greenwood doesn't play well next week and we are down to 0 youth prospects

 

[kundalini]

I have been flamed elsewhere in this thread for his ridiculous appearance against PSG.

But ok, let's turn it around, let's forget he has no spatial awareness and passes and runs into the wrong places. What does this guy have in your opinion? Is he strong? Is he fast? Can he dribble past an opponent? Does he have a dangerous shot? Does he have these smart assists? What does he excel in? Why is he playing for United?

If you watched Chong play in either United's U18s, U19s or U23 teams, he has been one of the top two or three in the respective squads each time (Edit Thurday. He just won the Denzil Haroun U23 player of the season. Last season he won the Jimmy Murphy award for best U18 player). That might make him the best out of a group of young players who won't become PL standard players, or he might be over-taken by a lesser talent that develops more over the next few years. Right now, Greenwood, Chong, Gomes and Garner are the young players that the club feels have the best chance. Kieran McKenna who was the U18 coach when Chong played at that level, is now one of the first team coaches, so I assume he will have had a major say in the decision to promote Chong.

United have a 25 player first team squad. None of the youngsters are currently in the 25. They typically only appear in the match day squad when there are several injuries. None of the four have started a game so far.

Chong has 76 mins in total, during which time he has run about a lot, given the ball away carelessly rather too often, had a few promising moments but generally looked very raw. Personally, I'd rather wait until he has 1000+ mins, perhaps 2000 mins, in the first team, ideally mostly Europa League and domestic Cup competitions, rather than PL, before making an assessment. Even then, I'd be cautious about how he might develop in his mid 20s. He could improve a lot yet still not be good enough for United.

United have to take risks. There is risk involved in signing a top player like Sanchez or Mkhitaryan, then hoping they can bring their elite performances with them from their old club, from a set-up that likely suited their strengths and weaknesses. It could be the risk of buying Memphis Depay or Lindelof, players that impressed in a weaker League. Or it could be the risk involved in promoting a few raw kids and hoping they can develop sufficiently to become first team squad players within a reasonable time-frame.

During my time watching United, Macheda made his debut in a crucial PL game late on in the season and went on to score a spectacular late goal that won the match, helping United towards the title. He left United after several underwhelming loan spells, played in the Championship for a few years, then Serie B, currently he's playing in Greece. The much hyped Ravel Morrison, the outstanding youth player since the Class of 92, is another for whom the early predictions turned out to be wildly inaccurate. No-one on this forum, indeed barely anyone at United apart from Mourinho, thought McTominay had even the slightest chance of becoming a PL standard player, yet less than 2 years after his debut, he was United's best performer in a game against Barcelona, having performed well in the win at PSG in the previous round. Jesse Lingard in the England team that reached the World Cup semi-finals, is a bet that would have made you a lot of money, had you invested when he was in his early 20s. I had Januzaj down as a future elite talent after he had less than 10 starts for the first team; I still find it difficult to understand how he has barely improved since then.

You asked what does Chong have ? He's fairly tall for a wide player. He's quite fast. He seems brave. He takes risks. He's left-footed. He has scored some goals at U23, U19 and U18 level. He had a few promising moments during the first team's pre-season tour. I have no idea whether 24 year old Tahith Chong will be playing CL football, Keuken Kampioen Divisie, or some level in between.

I didn't have the slightest problem with United giving McTominay starts in the domestic Cup competitions and against weaker PL sides at home, to see if he would develop into a decent player. Similarly, I don't have an issue with United investing some time in Chong and seeing how things go over the next three or four years.

 

[Red00012]

He's not very good.

He’s better than the over rated rubbish that is Rashford

 

[bosnian_red]

Obviously he will have chances and rightfully so, but like... I just don't think he will amount to too much. Will probably be decent, but don't think he'll stay at United or a top team. More a mid table player at most. He's 19, he just lacks too much to be a top attacker. Might be harsh, but to be "good enough", you need to have the potential to be a truly top player. That's it really. Greenwood looks a few levels above as a talent while being younger. Angel Gomes looks far more talented, though size might be a big stumbling block for him. With Chong the thing he lacks is the actual intelligence and talent.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I haven't seen much of him for the academy, but based on the couple of 1st team appearances only - his touch looks very heavy and doesn't seem to possess the same sort of technique that Rashford did when he first came into the team.

That may well improve and I hope it does, and I hope to be proven wrong about him, but usually a young player has something exciting about them early on, and I'm yet to see it with Chong.

 

[Sweet Square]

Anyone making any kind of judgment on the kid after a couple of games is being completely stupid.

 

[Escobar]

Anyone making any kind of judgment on the kid after a couple of games is being completely stupid.

This is Redcafe, what did you expect? They called Ronaldo a flop too

 

[Jonno]

Quite alarming that he looked as good as, if not better than Sanchez has ever done for United.

 

[BlackBen]

Useless.

Rubbish. He did more than any of our attackers yesterday. If he's useless, what does that make Rashy, Sanchez and Mata?

A raw youth prospect comes on and looked the most capable player of our attack and he gets branded useless. What's wrong with this place? No patience for the kids too? Christ

 

[red4ever 79]

Did well when he came on. Showed a bit of fight, a bit of willingness to pass and move. Looked to have some intensity about his game and was unlucky with his shot. Saw more from him than from other senior players over a longer period of time.

If I was Ole I would build my team around these younger players. Ok we may struggle for a few years and they might not be ready, but give me a lad who puts a shift in every day of the week over some of the others attitude.

 

[sugar_kane]

Rubbish. He did more than any of our attackers yesterday. If he's useless, what does that make Rashy, Sanchez and Mata?

A raw youth prospect comes on and looked the most capable player of our attack and he gets branded useless. What's wrong with this place? No patience for the kids too? Christ

Mate it's an absolute cess pit this forum right now.

I'm hoping Ole gives a lot more of these lads chances next year and injects a bit of energy back into the club.

 

[edgar allan]

Not good enough. File under Chadwick and Obertan.

delete your account

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Wow,he's being written off already.Amazing.

 

[Spiersey]

He’s not good enough for United, pretty confident he won’t be there in a couple of years time. Seems to have regressed over the last year or so when I watch him compared to u17s etc.

 

[edgar allan]

Mate it's an absolute cess pit this forum right now.

I'm hoping Ole gives a lot more of these lads chances next year and injects a bit of energy back into the club.

You can see that if they aren't world beaters within 20 mins of coming on, many on here will have the knives out.

 

[BlackBen]

Mate it's an absolute cess pit this forum right now.

I'm hoping Ole gives a lot more of these lads chances next year and injects a bit of energy back into the club.

I'm hoping the same too.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Hoping to see Chong,and a couple of other youngsters (*cough* Gomes),feature in our final PL game next week at Old Trafford.
Dont disappoint,Ole.

 

[johanovic]

Here is a young talented boy making his first starts for United and some seem to think it´s best to write him off before he starts. At least he showed a will and out of many of the stars on huge salaries not giving a toss I would chose a youngster that´s hungry and want´s be a part of United every time.

 

[jb8521]

Good to see the usual suspects writing off a player who they've probably seen play less than an hour of football in a malfunctioning team safe in the knowledge that more players fail than prosper & one day they'll probably be able to say I told you so & pat themselves on the back. This place is tedious as feck these days & the desire to look at everything negatively is a joke.

 

[VP89]

I don't see what he offers to be honest. I'm unsure why there's any hype about him right now.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I swear. We have some real talent on our hands with this lad. Looks so dangerous. Hope he features more next season.

Didn't look that great to me. I'm happy for him because he didn't lost as so many young players do. But from the little I've watched of him, including this game, can't say he looks an immense talent. Early days though. Sometimes the nailed on talents fail and the ones fans aren't sure about, make it

 

[P-Nut]

Expect to see all 4 of the prominent kids play some part next weekend. Maybe start with Greenwood and Chong and let Gomes and Garner come off the bench

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Mate it's an absolute cess pit this forum right now.

I'm hoping Ole gives a lot more of these lads chances next year and injects a bit of energy back into the club.

That I agree. It's one thing I really liked about LVG. Hope Ole does so as well. Happy for Chong

 

[Born2Lose]

I thought the urgency and enthusiasm he showed when he came on really embarrassed the other players on the pitch.

Like I heard Rio say a few weeks ago, "The bare minimum is hard work", unfortunately we've got to many players who don't even provide this.

 

[roonster09]

So the judgement is passed on a 19 year old who barely played a half.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Hope that encourages Ole to play more youth. It just adds a freshness to the game which does help.

 

[Litch]

The loss and no CL has amounted to seeing this lad in a certain way. No ones saying he's the next CR7 but within the context of the game, he showed he has the right Utd attitude, temperament and bravery. If the rest of the clowns playing showed 50% of that this season, we would be where we are.

 

[Kaglish10]

His movement is class. He's too one footed though. Can't even make a pass with his right. I would like if he can be moulded into a traditional winger for us. Because he often looks better and assured on the ball on the left than on the right side where he often look erratic.

 

[sglowrider]

Not good enough. File under Chadwick and Obertan.

Need to add Jonathan Greening to that list.

 

[Adnan]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[3KDré]

Brilliant tache

 

[Nickosaur]

Is that awarded by fans? Probably should have been Gomes. Regardless, well played Chong.