[pascell]

Depressing to think that a winger coming on and doing a couple of 1-2s, pass and move, and not running into defenders like a headless chicken was enough to impress most of us here. And this is not a slight on Amad, but it does show how lackluster our standards of play have become

I agree, I don't understand some of the ott praise he's getting. It's mainly because Antony offers absolutely nothing, so anyone who can even pass the ball to someone other than AWB is an upgrade.

 

[RussellWilson]

Thought he was very good. Created a couple of chances and if he catches the shot he creates for himself better he has a goal.

Also he makes the right decisions.

 

[Bojan Djordjic]

Thought Amad had a great cameo. Really intelligent use of the ball and both Bruno and Eriksen probably should have done better with the chances he created. Carved Forest open in midfield a couple of times with smart passing.

Hate the way that the team seems to almost avoid passing the ball to the likes of him, Mainoo and Hojlund as if they want to protect them from making a mistake when in reality him and Kobbie are probably the most technical players on the pitch (with Shaw) and can handle passes getting fizzed at them. Really looking forward to getting the likes of Amad in the same team as Hojlund as I think Amad is really good at getting his head up and finding his man in the box.

 

[RedDevilQuebecois]

I thought he looked lively and direct and positive.
I really hope he starts the game against Wigan and he can build up his match fitness quickly.

That's exactly my impression as well. He was always playing with his head up, always on the lookout to create something for a teammate.

If that is what we can get out of a first and short appearance in several months, I can only imagine how that would be when he will hit full match fitness and have someone like a more confident Rasmus to feed the ball to. So far, I enjoyed his cameo and hope for more to come.

 

[sglowrider]

Thought Amad had a great cameo. Really intelligent use of the ball and both Bruno and Eriksen probably should have done better with the chances he created. Carved Forest open in midfield a couple of times with smart passing.

Hate the way that the team seems to almost avoid passing the ball to the likes of him, Mainoo and Hojlund as if they want to protect them from making a mistake when in reality him and Kobbie are probably the most technical players on the pitch (with Shaw) and can handle passes getting fizzed at them. Really looking forward to getting the likes of Amad in the same team as Hojlund as I think Amad is really good at getting his head up and finding his man in the box.

Small sample size but Amad has pretty good chemistry with Hannibal.

 

[Ali Dia]

Hindsight. Amad was the only silver lining today. He plays with his head up. Much better technically than Antony it seems, at the very least until players figure him out but it was a good promising showing and he should start the next game on that basis. He’ll instantly create more than any of the other lads who can’t seem to get a ball into the box to save their lives. Mount really needs to come back into the team so we can end this predictably terrible McT experiment. The fact the club is relying on players like this says it all about where we currently are. Anyway, well done Amad. I think Rasmus will eventually enjoy getting some kind of service

 

[lsd]

You only have to take a quick look at Amad to see he is a true player.

Good touch, good passing how he reads what's happening around him.

He has everything you need to be a star at any level except at the moment the right manager and possibly club unless we change things.

 

[Bondi77]

You only have to take a quick look at Amad to see he is a true player.

Good touch, good passing how he reads what's happening around him.

He has everything you need to be a star at any level except at the moment the right manager and possibly club unless we change things.

I think in his heart of hearts Erik knows that Antony is just not up to it but if he does not play him he will open himself up to the grilling he will get from the media that we fecked up by buying him in the first place.
I hope Amad makes a real fist out of any opportunity that he gets and makes himself an automatic starter for the team and takes a bit of the pressure of Erik.

 

[Yagami]

I see that you have not watched Amad play much. He's an excellent dribbler.

I've watched every game of his for us - both at youth and senior level - and nearly every game of his at Sunderland.

You're going to be very disappointed. Dribbling is a weakness of his.

 

[Ali Dia]

I've watched every game of his for us - both at youth and senior level - and nearly every game of his at Sunderland.

You're going to be very disappointed. Dribbling is a weakness of his.

He’s not a powerful dribbler but he has great control and passing. If he can become more direct and add goals to his game he’ll be a very well rounded player

 

[statpadder]

I mean taking 5 seconds in a 1v1 is poor no matter what the drill. Which is literally the entire issue with Antony, he has 0 burst/strength to create a quick opening to drive past someone. Great feet, but it doesn’t add up to much besides keeping possession pretty well.

Antony is not a winger who can beat players yet our manager keeps playing him that way - isolated with no patterns of play, no movement around him or any ideas to use him properly.

 

[mav_9me]

He thrives on link up play. So, he's either going to knit things together or be left isolated out wide and expected to dribble his man, which isn't his game.

I'm hoping it's the former where our attacking players now come closer together resulting in us passing through opposition teams. I'm expecting the latter where Amad will face the same struggles as Rashford, Garnacho and Antony.

He can absolutely be that player, if he has Dalot supporting him, with Mainoo in midfield. I think if we play in the opposition half like the first half today, he can absolutely have an impact.

 

[Yorkeontop]

I'll remind myself to lower expectations because I don't trust his ability to to stay fit.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

I'll remind myself to lower expectations because I don't trust his ability to to stay fit.

I mean he’s stayed pretty fit his whole career, just had a tough knee injury that required surgery. No issues last year at Sunderland.

 

[AneRu]

I agree, I don't understand some of the ott praise he's getting. It's mainly because Antony offers absolutely nothing, so anyone who can even pass the ball to someone other than AWB is an upgrade.

It was just last season when we saw what he can do when he is on it so this was encouraging in that in his first appearance in 5 months he showed that he is capable of translating his skills to the big stage. It's early days but the signs were encouraging.

 

[Yagami]

He’s not a powerful dribbler but he has great control and passing. If he can become more direct and add goals to his game he’ll be a very well rounded player

No arguments there. From everything I've seen of Amad from both here and Sunderland, I like him and want him to succeed, but I'm not blind to his flaws. His lack of acceleration/pace hinders him when it comes to dribbling, but his smart body positioning between himself and the ball, decent agility and, as you say, close control still allow him to be promising under pressure.

I've likened him to Arda Turan before not only because he was a link up type 10 who played out wide, too, but because, despite not being fast himself, his close control, strength, agility and smart body positioning made up for that like it hopefully will for Amad. I'd put Nasri in there, too. Not saying he'll reach their levels but their the types of players Amad reminds me of.

He can absolutely be that player, if he has Dalot supporting him, with Mainoo in midfield. I think if we play in the opposition half like the first half today, he can absolutely have an impact.

Definitely, but a lot of it will come down to ten Hag's coaching. He needs to stop leaving our wide players so isolated in possession.

 

[city-puma]

Hindsight. Amad was the only silver lining today. He plays with his head up. Much better technically than Antony it seems, at the very least until players figure him out but it was a good promising showing and he should start the next game on that basis. He’ll instantly create more than any of the other lads who can’t seem to get a ball into the box to save their lives. Mount really needs to come back into the team so we can end this predictably terrible McT experiment. The fact the club is relying on players like this says it all about where we currently are. Anyway, well done Amad. I think Rasmus will eventually enjoy getting some kind of service

We paid 4x in transfer fee to get Antony who basically did nothing on the right for 60 mins in this game and almost nonexistent the whole season so far. Unbelievable!
Well, Amad at least now is in position to take over the right side. That’s the only good thing out of this game.

 

[city-puma]

He’s not a powerful dribbler but he has great control and passing. If he can become more direct and add goals to his game he’ll be a very well rounded player

Well, he is a super good dribbler. He just be relatively conservative in this first game. But still, he created about 5 or 6 chances if I remember well. I just hope he could be more bold and selfish to shoot more even from those acute angles because almost everyone else on the pitch had been so poor today to produce shots.

 

[city-puma]

Reminds me of his early days at Sunderland. He traps the ball beautifully but nowhere to pass to due to the lack of movement in front of him. Eventually the off the ball movement improved and his goal contributions increased.

Are you confident that ETH will play him more? I mean leaving Antony on bench a lot?

 

[foolsgold]

Better than Antony but that's a low bar to clear. I'd love it if it worked out but I'm far from convinced so far.

 

[Borys]

Watching this - he was very good. He might not be fast player over a distance (what is probably the most overrated attribute for an attacker - see Rashford / Garnacho trying to outpace Bayern defenders), but Amad is actually very nimble and that combined with close ball control will be super useful. I have not seen much of him last season but you can already see he's the only attacker that plays with his head up AND seems to be able to link up well.

I think he will help to progress the ball in a way Saka does, that would add another dimension to our game. Definitely worth giving him a shot on the right wing.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Watching this - he was very good. He might not be fast player over a distance (what is probably the most overrated attribute for an attacker - see Rashford / Garnacho trying to outpace Bayern defenders), but Amad is actually very nimble and that combined with close ball control will be super useful. I have not seen much of him last season but you can already see he's the only attacker that plays with his head up AND seems to be able to link up well.

I think he will help to progress the ball in a way Saka does, that would add another dimension to our game. Definitely worth giving him a shot on the right wing.

Didn't Sunderland play him off the striker? I think Hojlund and him can build a nice, active partnership. Rest of our attackers don't really link well with Hojlund i feel.

 

[Red Rash]

Watching this - he was very good. He might not be fast player over a distance (what is probably the most overrated attribute for an attacker - see Rashford / Garnacho trying to outpace Bayern defenders), but Amad is actually very nimble and that combined with close ball control will be super useful. I have not seen much of him last season but you can already see he's the only attacker that plays with his head up AND seems to be able to link up well.

I think he will help to progress the ball in a way Saka does, that would add another dimension to our game. Definitely worth giving him a shot on the right wing.

I think his speed is fine, but the reality is we have a huge issue with breaking down teams with a low block. Amad is exactly the type of player we need that can allow us to unblock these teams with his more incisive passing and one twos around the box.

 

[MDFC Manager]

I think his speed is fine, but the reality is we have a huge issue with breaking down teams with a low block. Amad is exactly the type of player we need that can allow us to unblock these teams with his ore incisive passing and one twos around the box.

Yes, my thought is the same. Play him off Hojlund.

 

[Rojofiam]

Don't think he's the long-term solution for the RW spot but much rather him than Antony just based off of this cameo alone.

I want to see him start there until we buy someone better.

 

[Borys]

Didn't Sunderland play him off the striker? I think Hojlund and him can build a nice, active partnership. Rest of our attackers don't really link well with Hojlund i feel.

The problem is Hojlund doesn't link well with anyone as he doesn't do much on the ball (doesn't involve others in play). But at least Amad can feed him (I guess that's what you mean).

Side note but I just think Hojlund is a really bad match for this squad.

 

[youngrell]

Promising return after a while out. Will take a few games to get up to speed so may only see 30 minutes here and there. Needs a bit of time to get to know his teammates too, there was a funny passage where he made the same run as about 3 other players in quick succession.

 

[Yagami]

Didn't Sunderland play him off the striker? I think Hojlund and him can build a nice, active partnership. Rest of our attackers don't really link well with Hojlund i feel.

He rotated between being the 10 and on the right with Patrick Roberts. Their link up and understanding with one another was incredibly entertaining to watch last season.

 

[MadDogg]

Are you confident that ETH will play him more? I mean leaving Antony on bench a lot?

There have been signs this season that ETH is willing to drop Antony. The issue is that we haven't had anyone step up and actually deserve the spot any more than he had. After he had his issues in Brazil he was in and out of the starting line up for the next two months, and it was only after he had a couple of good games that he became 1st choice again and started five in a row. Then he got dropped against Villa and probably only started the Forest match because of all the injuries meaning Rashford and Garnacho were playing ST and LW respectively.

ETH also specifically talked about Amad being good when he came on in this match. So while I expect Antony is still ahead of him in the pecking order for now, I do think ETH will be looking at Amad as someone to give minutes to in the hope he'll be an upgrade. In saying that, I also think that the Villa match will mean ETH's first choice right now is Garnacho, but nobody knows if he will actually be suitable on the right or whether it was a one-off performance against a team that played to his strengths.

 

[Dannn411]

I don't care how bad he plays. I'm starting him ahead of Antony every single time. He could score 10 own goals and I would still not even consider Antony ahead of him.

 

[Lux Thunder]

Very positive cameo from him, considering he was out for a while and that we were struggling in the game. I can understand people saying our standards might have dropped in general, but individually Amad did very well and almost everything we did good last night had him involved. It was refreshing to see our right side actually taking part in our attacking play.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Saw enough in his cameo yesterday to believe he probably deserves more opportunities than Antony. Look assured on the ball and like he actually had ideas of finding someone to do damage with a pass. He’ll however probably have to improve the intensity of his defensive workrate if he wants to replace Antony but yeah he looked an interesting option yesterday.

 

[Yorkeontop]

I mean he’s stayed pretty fit his whole career, just had a tough knee injury that required surgery. No issues last year at Sunderland.

Martials' downfall has left me feeling very cynical about injuries.

 

[sglowrider]

Are you confident that ETH will play him more? I mean leaving Antony on bench a lot?

That's my concern. He needs to be developed. His ceiling is much higher than Antony

 

[Cantona in disguise]

Looks like he can use both feet. Not a bad start.

 

[johannes_fd]

If there ever will be a time to give him chances, its now. If we dont play him now, we might as well sell.

I’d take any starting right winger in Premier League ahead of Antony.

 

[Adamsk7]

He’s one of our best players talent wise. He’s actually a proper footballer with no glaring weaknesses that makes you wonder how he made it so far in the professional game. He’s the sort of player City or Liverpool would love in their youth setups too. He keeps his head up and knows when to keep it simple or take risks.

Personally as soon as he’s fit for 90 minutes I’d start him. I quite like the idea of him in the 10 too, he’s a very good passer of the ball.

 

[Doracle]

We will see when Hojlund comes back in as the decision will be a lot harder than todays. We'll see when he has Rashford, Anthony and Mount on the bench.
Also a chance means after todays performance, he then starts against Wigan.
We will see.....

He doesn’t need to be a starter yet. I’m hoping EtH has learnt enough that his starting wingers now are Rashford left and Garnacho right and, given the low number of matches in January, I’d be sending out a full strength team to try and build some confidence and understanding in the Wigan game.

If Amad has moved himself up to be first choice replacement then he will get plenty of minutes for this stage in his career. Basically, as long as he is now ahead of Antony I’d be happy!

 

[Sancho99]

I've been saying for ages that in terms of technique, awareness, control/first touch, his weight of pass and his decision-making; he's simply on another level to any other player in our squad.

He's a great talent for sure but ultimately, what does that say about the rest of our squad? Our recruitment has been awful and the club's standards have dropped massively and us as fans have just accepted it with our standards and expectations having dropped as well.

 

[Dans]

Give him a run of games - he should feature heavily in the next 10 games.