Can we recall him before our match tomorrow?
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Yep. Matic and Pogba have their obvious advantages but neither is particularly sharp over the first few yards.
I'm not saying he'd be starting every game or something but if we're looking sluggish, as we sometimes do, he'd be a great option.
He played a lot of football in the centre of the park for our reserves and at academy level, he's adept with the ball at his feet for sure and probably one of the best tacklers around for his age.
It's because he's not that great going forward. He's only good when there's open space in front of him and he can dribble with his pace. It's why he's very conservative at RB and often passes it back. A lot of us think at DM he would have his attacking responsibility passed over to Pogba and he can concentrate on what he does best, winning the ball back which can lead to dangerous counters if he's in the middle of the park. Plus he's so athletic he can make up for Pogba's tendency to stay up the pitch.
Summed up nicely.
Are we recalling him ??
He played today, don't you think he needs more than a day rest before he's ready to play 90 minutes again?
Second that
I'm glad he is on loan. We didn't have any space for him at the back at all this season.
After looking at his performances this season, I’d happily ship Smalling off to give him more game time.
And the same goes for Jones with Tuanzebe.
In my eyes, Smalling and Jones are never gonna get any better than they are right now and that’s not the level we aspire to be at. Timbo and Axel have world class potential. Their ceiling is much higher than Smalling and Jones.
That is precisely why the both needed a full year on loan in the EPL playing regularly. Not on our bench as back up hoping to play only when our first choice defenders are injured. People forget we have Valencia, darmian, Bailly, rojo. lindeloff, Jones, Smalling, Blind and Shae before we get to them. Its next summer that we can ship some out for them
He's not that good going forward so rather than play him in defence you would play him in midfield? You say Fosu Mensah is better with space in front of him and then claim he should play centrally? The space on a football pitch is mainly out wide.
For a top club like United (and especially the current United side), breaking the opposition down to score the first goal is absolutely key. Playing someone in central midfield so limited offensively, creatively or being able to play passes in tight spaces will make the team far less dangerous and less likely to break the opposition down. It also gives the opposition a player to target to look to win the ball back high up the pitch.
It might work for a team battling relegation but top clubs need to aim higher than that.
Just think about how much Herrera gets criticised for his role in the United midfield for playing sideways passes and not being creative enough. He's far more adept at being creative than Fosu Mensah.
He was extremely protected by having Cabaye in front of him winning the ball 5 times. But he did his job too, which was mostly clearing the ball
Which ones? One or two isolated games or all of them including the ones after which he got dropped for Joel Ward? He's only back in the side now because Ward is injured.
So we start every game with 2 very young players in our central defence? Glad you don't manage my team.
With Valencia injured and Young probably banned for 3 games, Darmian possibly off, I would recall him. Its not like he has had many games for Palace since their change of manager. I would recall all our youngsters as most of them haven't been playing eg. CBJ and Redmond, and Pereira we need.
He's got something good going on for him at Palace. Why recall him and ruin it ? That's selfish.
I thought everyone wanted YOUTH?
Besides we have Bailly, Rojo and Lindelof ahead of them.
If those young players are better then older senior farts, whats the problem?
Point being neither are better, they may 1 day be better but not any time soon. Let's not forget Smalling and Jones would be nailed on to start for Palace. Some people just get a bit giddy and think they know better than actual football managers.
Damn. How good was he in this video 
He's certainly good enough to be playing for us at RB ahead of the likes of Lindelof and Darmian but I doubt he'd get the chance even if he were still here. The best thing we can do for his development is keep him out on loan as long as Mourinho is here.
What makes you think they have world class potential? I'm not disagreeing necessarily, just asking. They have hardly played first team football, so how do you know so much about their ceiling?
Its not question of knowledge, more like preference, mindset, they think or see things differently. For example, you can have a 18 year old hybrid of Nesta,Rio,Vidic and its better then 29 year old one, JM would never trust a 18 year old CB regardless of qualities. Last year before away game vs Arsenal, JM said how Axel wasnt ready due his age, few hours later he had whole game Sanchez in his pocket.
Their performances in the reserves. Tuanzebe bossed it as the U21s captain. He is so mature for his age.
Okay. But you're the guy who thinks Martial will never be United quality, so I'll take your judgement with a pinch of salt.
We played a 4-3-3 today and looked good.
That midfield 3 could be Pogba, Matic and Fosu. NO, not in a 4-2-3-1. Get rid of the #10 position all together, have Pogba playing on the left helping initiate the offense.
But you can't do that against better offensive teams with Herrera beside Matic. Stick Fosu beside Matic who can help cover defensively.
Instead of buying a RB maybe give him a chance next year?
Fosu's talents are wasted at FB. And Smalling and Jones are better at CB than Lindelof, so why ship either of them off?
Now, Fosu could be a better Herrera if he's used beside Matic.
He would have a great chance of getting into the side even with Tony fit.
Tony has lost quite a bit of his pace and power.
Tony has lost quite a bit of his pace and power.
Well you have to remember what part of the midfield he would be playing. He would be the destroyer. As such he wouldn't have much need to provide the creativity. You also have to remember that Pogba would be next to him. And your point about a destroyer bringing United down is not true at all. Kante is like that and many of us want TFM to turn into Kante. It's a lofty goal or hope, and would take a lot more development, but he can do it (not that he will). Herrera isn't a good comparison because Herrera in this hypothetical wouldn't provide the defensive ability that TFM is capable of. TFM is a better tackler, and is much more athletic. You're right that Herrera is a better creative force and that will always be true, but again, that comes down to what you're asking out of TFM. Herrera doesn't have the defensive ability of TFM so he must provide elsewhere to compensate for that and to give United value on the pitch.
As far as space, we're talking about counters. TFM would have opportunities to start breaks as he wins the ball back in the middle of the park. Dribbling outside of that would not be something he would do as he is fairly limited in taking on defenders. There is plenty of space during counter attacks.
A modern RB is much more attacking in nature. Eventually you'll start to want something more from the RB. I've seen TFM a lot at RB. He is very conservative in that position. And that makes sense because he's not an attacker, nor was he ever an attacker at youth levels unlike say Valencia. He can certainly play RB, but I would still prefer a more attacking RB than TFM. People will have their preference, but I can see him becoming a good partner to Pogba in a midfield 3 especially if the other midfielder is more in the mold of Modric, Scholes, etc...
He did more than that. He clattered Silva and Sané a few times. Which means he got within two feet of them. More than our first team did at Old Trafford a few weeks back.
Wouldn't fit in this current team at all. Herrera already breaks up play very well now but adds at least something with the ball.
Might end up a serious destroyer but can't help but feel we need a real playmaker in midfield and not a destroyer alongside matic
Might end up a serious destroyer but can't help but feel we need a real playmaker in midfield and not a destroyer alongside matic
So you would play him ahead of Matic?
I don’t really understand the role you would expect him to play. Deep in front of the back 4 or energetic going box to box? Would he come deep to start the attacks between the centre backs like Matic does? I don’t think he has anywhere near the quality for that. I also think he would struggle with positional awareness in that position, especially if you partner him with Pogba and a pure playmaker. Playing further forward picking the ball up with his back to goal or on the half turn would be even worse.
You seem to suggest he would play in midfield for his defensive abilities which suggests a deep role but then expect him to lead the charge on the counter attack?
I realise it’s difficult to explain positional intricacies in text but it sounds a bit too much like “Kante is fast and athletic, TFM is fast and athletic. He can do the same as Kante does.” I don’t even think Kante would be anywhere near as effective in the United midfield because he has been at his best in 2 counter attacking sides and United really aren’t a good counter attacking side.
Lindelof has a higher ceiling than Smalling and Jones. They’re Ferguson players. We need to build toward the future.
TFM can play similarly to Gattusso did I think.
Gattuso? Come on. Show some optimism. How about Xavi?
Different qualities. Gattusso was a ball-winning machine in his prime. Personally, I see a lot of Kante in TFM though, but he hasn’t been tried in midfield much in ththe first team.
He has extreme physical qualities, and I think he is underrated on the ball too. He made many great surging runs with the ball for us under Van Gaal. He can be moulder into almost anything in the defensive half of the field.
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