The Ten Hag Babes (at least we are building for the future)

Scandi Red

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All of the following are starters or close to starting:

- Yoro (18)
- Mainoo (19)
- Garnacho (20)
- Højlund (21)
- Amad (22)
- Zirkzee (23)
- Dalot (25)
- Mount (25)

On top of this we are linked to Ugarte (23), Branthwaite (22) and De Ligt (24).

In the "mid-range" we have Martinez (26), Rashford (26) and Onana (28).

Only Shaw (29), Bruno (29) and Casemiro (32) are older than 28!

We might not have a team capable of challenging yet, but there is a lot of potential here.
 
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Lets see if the fans are patient and appreciate this as the results might not come straight away
 
Escobar said:
Lets see if the fans are patient and appreciate this as the results might not come straight away
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I hope they direct their anger towards the manager who's had 2 years and 3 summer transfer windows to build a team and implement a plan then. It would be unfair to blame the young players first.
 
Scandi Red said:
I hope they direct their anger towards the manager who's had 2 years and 3 summer transfer windows to build a team and implement a plan then. It would be unfair to blame the young players first.
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Agree. If we end up with 4+ new players, yet still playing every man for himself football, TH excuses will no longer apply.
 
Escobar said:
Lets see if the fans are patient and appreciate this as the results might not come straight away
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I think most will be, the most painful thing of recent seasons has been the results and performances have been poor and there appeared no long term plan. Think we're starting to see that plan now. Hopefully top 4 can be doable this season.
 
Escobar said:
Lets see if the fans are patient and appreciate this as the results might not come straight away
Click to expand...

Its not the fans but the United hating media will have their knives out if we have a few bad results. Thats my big fear. I am glad we are building a young team. But with the Sky sports and Talksports of this world who have large followings on social media they will be posting daily if we lose a few games. Just hope we don't get sucked in and accept next few years are going to be a rebuild. This is something we should of done a few years ago.
 
The-Mezzala said:
Its not the fans but the United hating media will have their knives out if we have a few bad results. Thats my big fear. I am glad we are building a young team. But with the Sky sports and Talksports of this world who have large followings on social media they will be posting daily if we lose a few games. Just hope we don't get sucked in and accept next few years are going to be a rebuild. This is something we should of done a few years ago.
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It is also the fans. Just look at the crap that has been posted in the past 5 months against Ineos and the club.
 
I agree, we are obviously building for the future and I'm glad to see it.

A post in another thread is suggesting that the whole team still needs replacing!
 
Adding to this, Shea Lacey/Harry Amass/Toby Collyer/Gore/Little Fletchers/Ibragimov/Biancheri (atleast 2 or 3 make it from this list it would be a grand)
 
We are building a nice squad. I for one, love the actual structure we have in place. We spent the last part of last season and the early off season really strengthening our front office while also trimming fat.
We have people in place that can make logical money making moves without just blowing wads of cash. There seems to be thought and a since of quickeness to move targets unlike we have seen in the past.. .De Jong.. I am talking to you. Wasting a whole period for nothing.
We seem to be organized and I feel this will translate to the on field play.
 
Looking at the OP's list of players of Yoro / Mainoo / Garnacho / Hojlund & Amad absolutely for me are the present plus long term future - personally i'd exclude anyone over 25 who i'd happily see replaced - so Mount and Dallo i'd take out.

But I'm much more excited about the list of players that have the potential to break through coming from the academy over the next few years

We've tied down our own Saka, with wonderkid winger Bendito Mantato (16) signing a scholar / pre-agreement for pro contract at 17

Anyone following the academy can't help but be excited about forward Amir Ibragimov (16)

Harry Amass (17) made a very good impression in pre-season and could potentially be our LB for a decade if he reaches his potential.

Shea Lacey (16) had an injury setback last year but really found form again and is a very exciting attacking midfielder

Jack Fletcher (17) scored a beauty over the week but looks like a good midfield prospect

Elyh Harrison (18) is a modern style goalkeeper with amazing distribution / footwork skills as well as obviously keeping.

Radek Vitek (20) another quality keeper. Out on loan for the second season in a row but his pre-season performance against Rosenborg was impressive.

We just signed 16 year old Crystal Palace winger Samuel Lusale who turned down a scholar there to sign for us.

Two players who aren't yet signed but look certain to:

Subject to premier league ratification, 16 year old striking sensation Chido Obi Martin (16) forward looks set to sign from Arsenal

Mali DM Sekou Kone (18) looks set to sign as we just read today

I mean come on - how can you not be excited when you see this list of mostly 16 year olds. Obviously the chances of most of them making at United are small (eg Charlie McNeill had us all excited and didn't work out) - but this is a really impressive group of players.

Calling it now - the class of 25/26
 
Most of these players will be sold for profit in the future, which is what a sustainable model should look like. In the coming years it should be harder for academy players to break into our first team, as we will finally have raised the quality and bar of entry.

This also means that the few youngsters who actually do make it, are top level, and not just another McNair, Brandon Williams, or even Pellistri.

We will always maintain our proud tradition of bringing through young talent, but these last 10 years we've seen too many young players who were never anywhere near the level required get way too many minutes for us. And that was out of pure necessity, as the first team was either not good enough or massively plagued by injuries.

There's a lot to criticize about Ten Hag, but he has at least been very clear that he won't fast track young players or keep them around if they simply aren't good enough. And that's a good thing. That means more profit and higher quality in the first team. Not to mention how it will breed more competition in the academy.
 
Man United U24:
(bold = already starting or close to starting)

......................... Vitek ........................
..... ???? - De Ligt - Yoro - Amass .....
Garnacho - Mainoo - Ugarte - Amad
................ Højlund - Zirkzee .............

If we go for U25 then Dalot, Malacia and Mount also make the cut.
 
The funny thing is that in 3 years time, most of these players could either be sold, or be deemed simply not good enough.

Mainoo I think is the only one that looks to be almost a certain for the future. And even he is not a guaranteed success. We could easily find ourselves overplaying him, which would hamper his development.

I can easily see top talents like Garnacho and Amad simply not being good enough in a few years. Not to mention the rest on the list. They have undeniably good skill sets, but I also see very concerning parts of their game that I fear would be hard to improve.

Hojlund I think is slightly overrated by our own fans. He is decent, but not a potential world class striker like many want to believe he is.

Yoro is an unknown quantity. Far too early to make any judgements. He looks incredibly promising, though.

It's very positive that we are signing young players and promoting from our academy. But it's far too early doors to be calling these players a spine. They need to actually prove themselves first to be capable of competing for the league title. If they can, then that is definitely a spine. But until then, they're really just unrealized potential.
 
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Further analysis...

The way I see it, only the following 17 players are starters or close to starting. Anyone not mentioned will only play when there are injuries and not because they have played themselves into the starting eleven.

Current age in parenthesis. Sorted by age (can't be arsed to check birthdays):

Yoro (18)
Mainoo (19)
Garnacho (20)
Højlund (21)
Amad (22)
Zirkzee (23)
Ugarte (23)
De Ligt (25)
Dalot (25)
Mount (25)
Martinez (26)
Mazraoui (26)
Rashford (26)
Onana (28)
Shaw (29)
Bruno (29)
Casemiro (32)

Average age of "squad": 24.5
Average age of "squad" outfield players: 24.3

--

I think that this is very impressive. And it gets better!

As things stand now, it is not inconceivable that Shaw, Casemiro and Rashford all will lose their starting spot over the next few months. That would probably give us the following starting eleven:

........................ Onana .......................
Mazraoui - De Ligt - Martinez - Dalot
................ Mainoo - Ugarte ...............
....... Garnacho - Bruno - Amad .........
....................... Højlund ......................

The average age of the 10 outfield players above? 23.6 years! To call this "very young" is an understatement.

And just for fun: if Yoro somehow steals Martinez' spot then the average age drops down to 22.8 :o
 
We need an rvn said:
Looking at the OP's list of players of Yoro / Mainoo / Garnacho / Hojlund & Amad absolutely for me are the present plus long term future - personally i'd exclude anyone over 25 who i'd happily see replaced - so Mount and Dallo i'd take out.

But I'm much more excited about the list of players that have the potential to break through coming from the academy over the next few years

We've tied down our own Saka, with wonderkid winger Bendito Mantato (16) signing a scholar / pre-agreement for pro contract at 17

Anyone following the academy can't help but be excited about forward Amir Ibragimov (16)

Harry Amass (17) made a very good impression in pre-season and could potentially be our LB for a decade if he reaches his potential.

Shea Lacey (16) had an injury setback last year but really found form again and is a very exciting attacking midfielder

Jack Fletcher (17) scored a beauty over the week but looks like a good midfield prospect

Elyh Harrison (18) is a modern style goalkeeper with amazing distribution / footwork skills as well as obviously keeping.

Radek Vitek (20) another quality keeper. Out on loan for the second season in a row but his pre-season performance against Rosenborg was impressive.

We just signed 16 year old Crystal Palace winger Samuel Lusale who turned down a scholar there to sign for us.

Two players who aren't yet signed but look certain to:

Subject to premier league ratification, 16 year old striking sensation Chido Obi Martin (16) forward looks set to sign from Arsenal

Mali DM Sekou Kone (18) looks set to sign as we just read today

I mean come on - how can you not be excited when you see this list of mostly 16 year olds. Obviously the chances of most of them making at United are small (eg Charlie McNeill had us all excited and didn't work out) - but this is a really impressive group of players.

Calling it now - the class of 25/26
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Ten Hag’s Toddlers
 
We'll have the O Leary interviews soon saying how the squad is so young as an excuse.
 
We have a lot of exciting players in our squad, compared to when Erik started, but

1. As Chelsea showed us, having a collection of players a team does not make, young jedis
2. City, Arsenal, and Liverpool all have better players and better squad. Spurs have a better team, and Chelsea has more talent than most if they can fix that mess into a team, not to mention Aston Villa, Newcastle, and Brighton. So making top four will still be extremely hard

Even I, who desperately wants Erik to succeed, think that if he doesnt make top four this year, or make top5 but get us into Champions League by winning Europa League, he should be sacked in June
 
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