True, but how much longer is he going to that light and thin? he'll bulk up soon and lose speed as a result. Obviously he'll still be able to go past players, but to be a winger you need possibly more genuine pace.
Adnan Januzaj | 2013/14 Performances
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True, but how much longer is he going to that light and thin? he'll bulk up soon and lose speed as a result. Obviously he'll still be able to go past players, but to be a winger you need possibly more genuine pace.
Any compilation videos from last night? @MoneyMay
After yesterday's game you would have thought that the pace discussion is done now
His issue isn't pace. He's tall and quite slim so when he comes up against a genuinely bigger guy, he's easy to brush off because he doesn't have that "low centre of gravity".
But because he's generally very good with the ball at his feet, his skill and technique often make up for whatever physical attributes he might not be exceptional with.
He's definitely quicker than he looks and I think he's quite suited to coming in from the flank. Unlike other natural central players he is very capable of offering genuine width and I don't think his penetrative passing through the middle is quite there yet. Looks very comfortable on the right at the moment.
But because he's generally very good with the ball at his feet, his skill and technique often make up for whatever physical attributes he might not be exceptional with.
He's definitely quicker than he looks and I think he's quite suited to coming in from the flank. Unlike other natural central players he is very capable of offering genuine width and I don't think his penetrative passing through the middle is quite there yet. Looks very comfortable on the right at the moment.
Well yeah, but both of them are faster players than Adnan. Ronaldo was like lightening at Adnan's age.
I only managed to watch the second half last night but he looked virtually unplayable and as a result he was getting the same treatment from the Hull players that a young Ronaldo would have.
Neither Ronaldo nor Bale slowed down as they filled out. If anything they're quicker. Plus much harder to knock off the ball.
Anyway. Who's the quickest player in our squad right now? Is he skinny or built?
This "add muscle lose speed" idea is so dumb. Bulking up and adding muscle doesn't make you lose speed. You never hear anyone saying "oh look at that 15 year old rake, I'm sure he'll beat Usain Bolt in a sprint because he's got so much less muscle than him". Adding muscle makes you go faster as long as you don't go completely mental. Maybe it makes you lose some agility, but I don't think there's much evidence for that either. Ronaldo is still absolute lightning, as is Bale, they just know when to open the taps to save their muscles/hamstrings.
This. Bale wasn´t actually that quick in his younger years. Ronaldo was quick, but after he bulked up he was absolute lightening.
This reminds me of a huge debate years ago on here where a guy just refused to accept that muscle can aid speed
Great performance by Adnan yesterday. Star man.
At 19 and playing with such confidence is a great boost for us.
He still needs to learn to play with other. How many time he kept the ball instead giving Valencia wide ? almost 15 times. He probably tried too hard alone to do something, but it was great to see a player step up and taking the ball.
What a pace and a great left foot.
In a better side with pace, power and steel behind (United of 2009) he would have flourished even more.
Hope he will keep his feet on the ground and maybe with Van Gaal he will be regular ?
At 19 and playing with such confidence is a great boost for us.
He still needs to learn to play with other. How many time he kept the ball instead giving Valencia wide ? almost 15 times. He probably tried too hard alone to do something, but it was great to see a player step up and taking the ball.
What a pace and a great left foot.
In a better side with pace, power and steel behind (United of 2009) he would have flourished even more.
Hope he will keep his feet on the ground and maybe with Van Gaal he will be regular ?
The weight of the assist for Fellaini was brilliant. Although Wilson got the two goals, thought he was the best player. So exciting that our two best players were possibly the two youngest as well 
Yeah, I was on one side of that debate. Ended up posting loads of photos of olympic sprinters with their shirts off. Not my proudest google search.
I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on what he can lose or gain from bulking up, so I'll take that on board, hopefully he does gain pace.
You can't really compare Ronaldo and Bale to Januzaj anyway though, as much as he gets compared to a young Ronaldo, he's a different type of player IMO.
Ronaldo's increase in size didn't slow him down.
Is there any individual match video of his performance?
I'd need to see him live to get a better idea of how quick he is but from what I'm seeing on TV I don't think the type of player he becomes will be limited by a lack of speed across the ground.
Not for the first time, I'm thinking I'd love to be able to see the GPS dats from our squad.
Not that I'm concerned with the numbers players wear usually, but it would be a nice (albeit somewhat trivial) tribute to the faith the club has in the boy if we gave him the no.7 for next year.
I dont think so. He seems to prefer it, but he's also our best crosser from the left aside from maybe Giggs.
Like with Nani and Young when they play on the right and they're more direct, looking to whip the ball in sooner, Januzaj does the same thing when he's on the left. He's put in some very nice crosses from that side curling away from goal.
When he plays on the right it allows him to do other things but he hasn't really found good form with inswinging crosses from the right. He's tried some but they haven't been as dangerous.
Adnan Januzaj's agent Dirk De Vriese is very proud of the big new contract he helped secure for the youngster at Manchester United earlier this season. De Vriese says it makes Januzaj the highest paid youngster in world football, although there's probably zero way he could say that with any authority.
Januzaj could have been on even more money had he accepted a last minute proposal from PSG. The French club were repeatedly linked with a move for Januzaj, which would have seen him leave Manchester United for no transfer fee this summer.
De Vriese has told HLN "Among the clubs who wanted him was Barcelona it shines... All the big clubs have tugged at his sleeve. Especially Paris Saint-Germain, who wanted to really go far. Five minutes before we signed the contract extension, an adviser to the president of Qatar made a completely insane offer to us. Because Adnan at the end of the season was a free agent, and no transfer fee would be payable, the Qataris were ready for everything, both in terms of salary and signing bonus."
Luckily for Manchester United, Januzaj didn't get quite as excited about the PSG offer as his agent sounds and decided to renew with Manchester United. The player's father has as much, if not more, impact on Januzaj's decisions as De Vriese and that's probably fortunate for Manchester United.
Januzaj could have been on even more money had he accepted a last minute proposal from PSG. The French club were repeatedly linked with a move for Januzaj, which would have seen him leave Manchester United for no transfer fee this summer.
De Vriese has told HLN "Among the clubs who wanted him was Barcelona it shines... All the big clubs have tugged at his sleeve. Especially Paris Saint-Germain, who wanted to really go far. Five minutes before we signed the contract extension, an adviser to the president of Qatar made a completely insane offer to us. Because Adnan at the end of the season was a free agent, and no transfer fee would be payable, the Qataris were ready for everything, both in terms of salary and signing bonus."
Luckily for Manchester United, Januzaj didn't get quite as excited about the PSG offer as his agent sounds and decided to renew with Manchester United. The player's father has as much, if not more, impact on Januzaj's decisions as De Vriese and that's probably fortunate for Manchester United.
Heh, gotta love Google translate
It's a very litteral translation of 'naar het schijnt' which means 'apparently'. The whole translated interview is on the previous page by the way.
Thought he was brilliant yesterday. I'm glad Giggs played him on the right, because I feel that's where he's at his best. Thought his best moments come when he stayed wide and was able to run with the ball, and either cut in onto his left and cross/shoot or go on the outside. He gave Figueroa a torrid time. He reminds me of Robben. He just oozes class.
Him and Reus (if we can get him) on the wings next season would be frightening, in my opinion.
Him and Reus (if we can get him) on the wings next season would be frightening, in my opinion.
He's the best young player so I dont mind if he's also the best paid. As long as he continues to develop at that rate, he'll be a top 10 player soon enough
Bulking up won't make you lose pace but it had an affect on agility which IMO is a big loss. The reason why the likes of Messi, Iniesta and Suarez are so good is their reaction and ability in tight spaces is second to none. Ronaldo was as good as them IMO in his earlier years with us in that respect but I think the bulking up and focus on scoring goals has really killed his agility and technique in tight spaces.
Completely disagree with your assessment of Ronaldo but meh, the thread isn't about him.
I think you can actually get faster by bulking up. It just depends on your training and your goals.
You talking about the build up for the second goal? I loved his little pass with the outside of his boot, it was absolutely perfect, right into the path of the crazy haired buffoon. It was criminal Fellaini didn't finish that chance as the run + pass deserved an assist. Still, I was glad Wilson got a brace, so there's that.The weight of the assist for Fellaini was brilliant. Although Wilson got the two goals, thought he was the best player. So exciting that our two best players were possibly the two youngest as well
What would you say is the reason he can't seem to dribble anymore? Or at least not as effectively as before. It kinda coincided with him bulking up and focusing more on scoring goals.
I think Januzaj should focus on keeping the balance between pace, agility and technique. His got more vision and playmaking ability to his game and should not focus his development on pace too much.
Ronaldo can dribble just like he always could, he just chooses not to. Why take a few seconds performing a dribble when you can just blow past someone with pace, or avoid them entirely with intelligent movement? He's all about efficiency.
There's a lot of truth to this, but I also think he's genuinely not quite as good a dribbler as he was in his best years for us, and it's because of his body shape. Bulking up so much has improved him massively as a footballer, but it undeniably gives him a much higher centre of gravity, which makes his balance slower to shift. He can't snake his way through three or four defenders at a time the way he did week-in-week-out for us when he was a bit more slender.
But as you say, he wouldn't try to anyway. The way he plays now, keeping the extended dribbles to a minimum, is much more efficient.
At 19 he can run an entire game. That's how good he is.
Over the next couple of seasons I am hoping he improves his consistency as a winger before eventually being moved centrally.
Over the next couple of seasons I am hoping he improves his consistency as a winger before eventually being moved centrally.
Nah. He doesn't just choose not to. Your lying to yourself if you watch him and can still conclude his dribbling is still at the same level as it was before. I agree with the second part of what you've said though.
I agree wholeheartedly with this.
The most impressive thing is he rarely ever shuts out during a game. He kept the tempo from the start till the last whistle. That's something even experienced senior players lack. Hopefully he keeps it up.
It's not particularly clear-cut. The thing with Adnan is at 19, he's not at his optimum physical level yet anyway.
There are people qualified to create the right regimes for him to be as strong and as fast as he can be.
He looks even more pacey now than when he first broke into the team, not to mention a noticable height difference and his shoulders are wider. He does remain quite tall and slim, but again it's mostly down to age.
What he needs to work on is using his body, agility and whatever speed he has to effectively step away from players when taking them on. You could see last night that he looked a lot quicker out of the blocks when he slowed the play down, shifted the ball and went past a player. Obviously Hull had 5 at the back for the first half so after beating one man, he'd be fronted by a second instantly.
What I like most about him is he has that little bit of greediness in him. With the absence of Nani through injury, we've missed that player who wants to mix it up and occasionally burst through on his own rather than looking for the sensible or safe option. A player dedicated primarily to attacking rather than 'doing a job'.
I'm convinced he'll play most of his football out-wide for the foreseeable future as Ozil often did when he was younger (and even at Madrid at times). You simply don't have to be Bolt-fast if you have the brain. He clearly has the brain - it's just a case of adding more execution, which again I'm sure he'll build on after a very successful personal season for him.
The backheel volley he scored the other day would suggest otherwise
I don't know that Januzaj needs to "bulk up" exactly, but he should and will certainly get stronger. I'm sure this is what the club will be going for. He doesn't need to become a bodybuilder but he clearly can use with some strength training. Januzaj can put on lean muscle and become faster and stronger without becoming much larger. I think that's what's happened in part with Sterling this season - he was being tossed off the ball a lot early last season. This season, not the case.
Also look at Giggs. I bet he doesn't weigh much more than he did 20 years ago but is much, much stronger because of his workout regimen.
I'd say the back heel volley is more instinct than agility.
He excites me in the way Ronaldo used to. Every time he gets the ball, you know he's going to do something both positive and entertaining.
Have you ever watched a rugby player or NFL running back side step a tackle? They're built like fecking tanks and can turn on a sixpence. Absolutely no correlation between having a strong upper body and an inability to quickly change direction. Not unless you get into the realms of ludicrously pumped up body-builders and the like.
Look at these dudes, for example:
Obviously, if you bulk up to ludicrous degrees your cardio will suffer, so that reason alone is enough to mean most footballers should be wary of putting on too much muscle. The build of Ronaldo or Bale isn't close to having an effect on their speed or agility though. If anything, it's made them more agile and explosive.
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