That's what I hope for. However, Jose seems to trust Fellaini a lot so let's see who will be picked
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Whatever he doesn't have, he has a haircut that says 'I'm ready to play alongside Pogba'.
But you've not actually responded to the point in my post, just to the first line. 'This kid is amazing, and one of the best I've seen - he could be a great player for us one day' is not the same as 'this kid is so talented he will definitely make it and become a first-teamer.' Regardless of talent, the chances of going from youth-team talent to actual first teamer are ridiculously small. We could have a teenage Leo Messi in our academy and it would still be stupid to guarantee anything. But it doesn't make the original assessment wrong, or naive.
Vardy scored against both Atletico and Sevilla in the Champions League last season. He's a player with lots of quality who happened to hook it together for an entire year. Aspas has none, but still smashed La Liga.
Aspas seems to have hooked it together for a year too and scored against Sevilla, Barcelona, and Real Madrid. Even has a couple caps for Spain.
Didn't he score against similar calibre teams domestically? And Jamie Vardy's England.
Just because things didn't work out for him in England (Official Best League In The World) doesn't mean he's useless.
I'm surprised Jose played him at CM 
and he performed well.
Nice to see he took all the corner kicks.. that crossing of his.
and he performed well.Nice to see he took all the corner kicks.. that crossing of his.
Played very well today. His passing is surpassed only by Pogba.
Played pretty well, especially on the ball. Good corners. Will be interesting to see how he copes with a stronger opposition midfield, like in the Int'l Champions Cup. Hope he can stake a claim to a squad role this season.
Excellent today. Great control, great passing, very good positioning. Can't fault him on anything. He looked at home in that deeper role. Apart from Pogba he was easily our best player in the 2nd half imo. Really looking forward to seeing how he progresses in pre-season and this season.
That turn and run when surrounded by 3 opposition players was superb. His ball control, retention, dribbling and crisp passing in tight passes is bar none in our squad. He lacks the tenacity of Herrera but nonetheless is a very good option at the 8 role. Starting to show his worth to the team. Hope it continues for long.
He will be fine. There are not much players who can hold the ball against RM and Modric. This guy did that during his loan. He will be more than fine
I see Modric esque traits in him during his early Spurs days.
Best acadamy player with Rashford and Lingard. He is our best young midfielder since Pogba and a different player. I have high hopes for him, give him regular football and he could turn out to be a beast in a few years. He has all the ingredients to grow and become a class player
Composed, calm on the ball and has good vision, but LA didn't provide much challenge for him as a DMF, though, to say he can be deployed as a DMF permanently. Need more challenges before we can discuss this.
He'll be a great sub for Herrera or Pogba and can provide a very good depth when the busy fixture hits us.
He'll be a great sub for Herrera or Pogba and can provide a very good depth when the busy fixture hits us.
Gif / video?
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Really hope this lad is given an opportunity this season. Could make a big impact.
He really is a very talented player. We need to give him chances this season and make him sign that contract extension.
WildcardOnly saw the highlights but looks like he played well today judging on your guys reactions.
Could we line up with a potential three man midfield of Pogba-Herrera-Pereira? Would it work? Possibly a bit lightweight.
Could we line up with a potential three man midfield of Pogba-Herrera-Pereira? Would it work? Possibly a bit lightweight.
I don't think he should be given too many defensive duties. Let him express himself.
Pereira's physicality seems a potential issue, but it depends how they set out. If he plays on the right with Herrera the deepest, he'd be on the move a lot more, finding his own space. If he played as the deepest, more ike a DLP, I'm guessing the other two would be charged with giving him a lot more protection. He seems composed enough to not panic when under pressure/getting pressed, but yeah, we've obviously not seen him in the Prem properly.
I've been expecting him to get most games as rotation with Pogba, but seeing the three of them together is intriguing.
I agree. Let's play Herrera deeper, he has anyway much more grit and tenacity. Pereira would be perfect in a transition role to bring the ball forward and be creative with his passing. Pogba can then be even further upfront and help creating chances like he did so well at Juve.
In a way, I hope Jose wont be another midfielder and play Pereira but then again I doubt he trusts him just yet
1:39 on that video
Difficult match to judge him on, given so much space and didn't have to get involved in too much defensive work. I can say we were much more open when he was on the pitch. Hope he gets more game time on the tour.
He was playing a transition role and taking the ball from the defenders and playing it forward, he was being creative with his passing, he frequently cut LA open with quick direct balls through to forward players. he has a ton of tenacity and grit.
His one weakness is simply experience and that will come with time. He has in the past been erratic with his passing, the U20 WC showed that but he has become more consistent since then.
He was continually involved in defensive work, his positioning kept cutting off passing lanes and forced LA to go wide when going forward. He was very disciplined sitting in front of the backline and shut down space all the time.
He is definitely staying this season and playing big minutes I would say. He is an alternative to both Pogba and Herrera. Glad he worked on his game and came back stronger. He has real attitude.
Slightly concerned about his ability to cover ground in that role. Not convinced by his recovery speed and whether he could protect the defence properly.
On the ball he's definitely United quality. But I think we should get proper DM in and have him rotate with Herrera.
Too deep for me.
On the ball he's definitely United quality. But I think we should get proper DM in and have him rotate with Herrera.
Too deep for me.
Very excited about him to be honest, more excited than about any signing we made/are going to make based on current speculation. He is our own little Thiago style of player in midfield. He has good potential, he doesnt need to be a big strong and powerful player, if he is class on the ball and puts in a defensive work/shift, he will play more and more. Lets see how he does against the better teams later on the tour.
That must have been why we looked more open, he no Carrick. I don't see where he's going to get major gametime, he's not a holding midfielder, not better than Herrera or Pogba. But we will play a lot of games, so he can do the stand in stuff, unless of course we sign another box to box midfielder. I see a lot of over rating him in a game where as a good young midfielder, he got a lot of time and space and was tidy.
Be nice to see how he performs against better players on the tour.
Have they cut out "bad moments" from that video? Because if that's all his touches, then he didn't give the ball away even once. And some of his passes, and especially his turns, were sublime. Although even in this performance you can see he's more suited to a CM rather than DM role. I think Herrera is better there, if needs must.
Personally I feel that with Pogba, Herrera, Pereira and Fellaini (who brings something diferrent with his height) we are basically sorted for CMs. But we will need a specialist DM with Carrick nearing the end and TFM not yet ready for a starting role. I hope we move for Fabinho.
Its gonna be Matic
Nobody's over rating him. He's a promising young lad. Try to watch his games against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico, he was running rings around some world class CMs.
That's only the case if you've missed the part where he played in La Liga for a whole year. Not only has he been good there, but one of his tidiest performances last year with a video doing the rounds was against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. I'd say their midfield is a decent test for any young midfielders, wouldn't you?
Thread is performances 2017/18?
Some of us have been watching him for a number of years.
He is quite capable of holding his own against much stronger opposition.
He is able to play in a number of positions and be effective in all of them.
He wont get huge amounts of game time but what he will do is be a very strong backup in a number of positions when needed.
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