[AltiUn]

Being massively overrated on here, not convinced by him at all. Seems very suspect defensively.

Every time a young player does well someone wheels this quote out, he's getting praise for good performances, no one's calling the next Roberto Carlos.

 

[Andycoleno9]

I am always cautios with praising young players but the thing which i look in first place is talent ( that is why i don't rate McT i guess). Kid has it. Plays with lots of confidence, plays with both feet, good in attack, always make runs and offers himself in attacking area, solid technique, speed and crossing.
I am not so sure about his defending abilities though. But that he can learn.

 

[romufc]

I am always cautios with praising young players but the thing which i look in first place is talent ( that is why i don't rate McT i guess). Kid has it. Plays with lots of confidence, plays with both feet, good in attack, always make runs and offers himself in attacking area, solid technique, speed and crossing.
I am not so sure about his defending abilities though. But that he can learn.

The thing is talent only ever gets you far enough if you do not have the attitude. I.e Tarabt, Ravel Morrison.

This lad seems to have a great attitude .

The one thing I do love is hypocritical nature of fans on the caf. So we need a new LB because Shaw is not good offensively.

But some think Brendan is not good enough because he is not there defensively?

How often does a full back have it both? He is 18, he can learn the defensive side, and we have AWB on the other flank who is defensive.

I think having an attacking LB gives more balance to the team.

 

[KennyBurner]

Being massively overrated on here, not convinced by him at all. Seems very suspect defensively.

Trent is even worse defensively and liverpool are still sitting top of the table. City also have mendy and Cancelo who are both suspect in defense. We dont need a great defensive leftback if we are on the attack. Plus I think his defensive abilities are very underrated in comparison to a player like Dalot who I feel should just convert to a winger. He is still young and will learn how to mark/shadow his attacker before lunging in. He is also great at slide tackling so there's that.

Look at his defensive stats vs Norwich

 

[Freeney]

Every time a young player does well someone wheels this quote out, he's getting praise for good performances, no one's calling the next Roberto Carlos.

The problem is that people praise him and other youth products even when they have bad games. So therefore players like him gets overrated.

 

[Andycoleno9]

The thing is talent only ever gets you far enough if you do not have the attitude. I.e Tarabt, Ravel Morrison.

This lad seems to have a great attitude .

The one thing I do love is hypocritical nature of fans on the caf. So we need a new LB because Shaw is not good offensively.

But some think Brendan is not good enough because he is not there defensively?

How often does a full back have it both? He is 18, he can learn the defensive side, and we have AWB on the other flank who is defensive.

I think having an attacking LB gives more balance to the team.

That is why i was against buying AWB. My opinion is something like yours. It is hard to find new Evra or Cafu so one defensive and one attacking full back is perfect choice. We had Shaw who despite what people say is a good defensive fb so my thinking was that because of 2 defensive full backs our attacking game will suffer( which happened to us, imo).

About talent. In young players i look at talent because talented player( if he is not complete mental case like Ravel or Balotelli) can learn all that mental skills like right attitude, hard work, work ethic and tactics. But skill you can't learn. You have it or not. With hard work you can go to certain level and compensate lack of skill to certain degree but with talent you can go much much higher.

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

The thing is talent only ever gets you far enough if you do not have the attitude. I.e Tarabt, Ravel Morrison.

This lad seems to have a great attitude .

The one thing I do love is hypocritical nature of fans on the caf. So we need a new LB because Shaw is not good offensively.

But some think Brendan is not good enough because he is not there defensively?

How often does a full back have it both? He is 18, he can learn the defensive side, and we have AWB on the other flank who is defensive.

I think having an attacking LB gives more balance to the team.

If you want to compete at the top level these days then it's vital that your full backs are good at defending and going forward.
For £50million I don't think it's that audacious to expect a full back to be good defensively and offensively.

Only the current Utd recruitment team are dumb enough to pay £50 million for a full back that puts in a decent last ditch tackle but can't actually contribute anything going forward.

Fair enough, AWB is young so hopefully he can improve at going forward, but as I said, if you're spending £50m then you should expect the finished article.
If not, save the money and bring through an academy player.

It's these sort of illogical financial decisions that have landed us in mid table mediocrity and until they change it up that's exactly where we'll stay.

 

[romufc]

That is why i was against buying AWB. My opinion is something like yours. It is hard to find new Evra or Cafu so one defensive and one attacking full back is perfect choice. We had Shaw who despite what people say is a good defensive fb so my thinking was that because of 2 defensive full backs our attacking game will suffer( which happened to us, imo).

About talent. In young players i look at talent because talented player( if he is not complete mental case like Ravel or Balotelli) can learn all that mental skills like right attitude, hard work, work ethic and tactics. But skill you can't learn. You have it or not. With hard work you can go to certain level and compensate lack of skill to certain degree but with talent you can go much much higher.

Exactly, but we have AWB now so we are where we are on the right side.

I think we can rotate with Williams and Shaw for the time being until we desperately need a new LB.

 

[romufc]

If you want to compete at the top level these days then it's vital that your full backs are good at defending and going forward.
For £50million I don't think it's that audacious to expect a full back to be good defensively and offensively.

Only the current Utd recruitment team are dumb enough to pay £50 million for a full back that puts in a decent last ditch tackle but can't actually contribute anything going forward.

Fair enough, AWB is young so hopefully he can improve at going forward, but as I said, if you're spending £50m then you should expect the finished article.
If not, save the money and bring through an academy player.

It's these sort of illogical financial decisions that have landed us in mid table mediocrity and until they change it up that's exactly where we'll stay.

Hence why going and spending more money on the LB is not the answer.

We need to identify a target first, and Ed usually takes 12-18 months to sign a target anyway.

Why not give Williams a chance till the end of the season? It could well be that we need a new Lb but we might not actually need one?

 

[iHicksy]

I hope all the Shaw fans finally realise how fecking poor he is. This kid rocks up and has looked like a real modern fullback, absolutely fearless, fast, and a mentality that defies his age.

 

[AltiUn]

The problem is that people praise him and other youth products even when they have bad games. So therefore players like him gets overrated.

Do they? He got slaughtered against Sheffield United.

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

Hence why going and spending more money on the LB is not the answer.

We need to identify a target first, and Ed usually takes 12-18 months to sign a target anyway.

Why not give Williams a chance till the end of the season? It could well be that we need a new Lb but we might not actually need one?

I agree 100%, Williams is worth a shot.

Out of all the youngsters that Ole has given a chance, I think him and Greenwood have looked the real deal, they came straight it in and hit the ground running.

 

[Freeney]

Do they? He got slaughtered against Sheffield United.

If i remember correctly he got some man of the match votes and was the second highest graded player. And after getting destroyed by Mahrez there were people saying that his bad showing was due to be playing alongside Phil Jones. Which in my opinion is not true. Phil Jones was our best defender that night.

 

[MikeKing]

If i remember correctly he got some man of the match votes and was the second highest graded player. And after getting destroyed by Mahrez there were people saying that his bad showing was due to be playing alongside Phil Jones. Which in my opinion is not true. Phil Jones was our best defender that night.

You'll read weird opinions on here all of the time, thing's that aren't "true" to you. Surely it is expected seeing a pattern of people being exited about academy lads, even overly so, but especially when certain of those players are adjusting to the first team at an unexpected rate. It opens up possibilities right now, and as well for the future. As for Phil Jones, well even if he has a good game he doesn't offer anything in terms of excitement for the future or even the next game he'll play. I think getting a high from riding the unexpected wave should be encouraged even if you know you might come crashing down at some point. It certainly isn't any sort of problem or issue with the club.

 

[AltiUn]

If i remember correctly he got some man of the match votes and was the second highest graded player. And after getting destroyed by Mahrez there were people saying that his bad showing was due to be playing alongside Phil Jones. Which in my opinion is not true. Phil Jones was our best defender that night.

He gets rightfully criticised when he has a poor performance, for example, these were the first five posts after the Sheffield United game.

Great goal but it papered the cracks of a very poor performance. Not sure he's ready yet.

Apart from that beautiful goal he was horrendous. Definitely not ready to be playing tough away games in the PL.

He was bullied a bit by a very physical sheffield side and a lenient ref who let the lads play on. But he wasn't that bad. Fantastic goal and attitude to get on with it rather than celebrating his first goal.

Good goal but struggled today. Happy for his goal and looks a good talent though.

Cracking finish but he got taught a lesson today and really struggled. He was pressed and harried in to a few mistakes and I feel like he should have done better at some moments when Sheffield had chances.

The City game was a fairly poor example, he got done by Mahrez because he was left 2 v 1 most of the first half because Fred had to play the roles of Pereira and Lingard so he was out of position leaving Williams isolated against Mahrez and Silva (even if he wasn't 2 v 1, Mahrez is one of the best wingers in the league and any young full back would struggle against him). Once we sorted our midfield in the second half, like most or the team, he improved and he was rightly lauded for his attacking intent and contribution. I don’t think anyone’s in denial and pretending that he’s some great defender but people aren't really praising the defensive side of the game rather his attacking side of the game which is something we haven't seen from one of our full backs in a long time. It just gets a bit boring that whenever a youth player has a good game we all get accused of 'overrating' them because we give them justified praise, he gets rightly criticised when he has a poor game too.

 

[Adam-Utd]

If i remember correctly he got some man of the match votes and was the second highest graded player. And after getting destroyed by Mahrez there were people saying that his bad showing was due to be playing alongside Phil Jones. Which in my opinion is not true. Phil Jones was our best defender that night.

That really doesn't say much, and to be honest I don't think "best" comes anywhere near it. He was completely to blame for the Pereira own goal, I think he's still break dancing on the floor as we speak.

 

[sglowrider]

If you want to compete at the top level these days then it's vital that your full backs are good at defending and going forward.
For £50million I don't think it's that audacious to expect a full back to be good defensively and offensively.

Only the current Utd recruitment team are dumb enough to pay £50 million for a full back that puts in a decent last ditch tackle but can't actually contribute anything going forward.

Fair enough, AWB is young so hopefully he can improve at going forward, but as I said, if you're spending £50m then you should expect the finished article.
If not, save the money and bring through an academy player.

It's these sort of illogical financial decisions that have landed us in mid table mediocrity and until they change it up that's exactly where we'll stay.

We have an unbalanced side -- everything seems to go through the left. This is why a proper defender like AWB makes sense in the short term. It solidified the right defensively whilst we try and fix the right side. We can't fix everything in one summer so Ole, I figure knows that all good teams starts with a solid defence/back four. Just plug that hole up for this season. Then fix the RW next summer.

 

[SAFMUTD]

I dont care if Williams is raw and makes defensive mistakes, he will get better. He has incredible stamina, pace and likes to go forward this season is a write off already we might as well use it to develop him, Shaw has stalled at best and its clear he will never be good enough for what we should aspire, Williams might so we may very well try it.

 

[Freeney]

He gets rightfully criticised when he has a poor performance, for example, these were the first five posts after the Sheffield United game.





The City game was a fairly poor example, he got done by Mahrez because he was left 2 v 1 most of the first half because Fred had to play the roles of Pereira and Lingard so he was out of position leaving Williams isolated against Mahrez and Silva (even if he wasn't 2 v 1, Mahrez is one of the best wingers in the league and any young full back would struggle against him). Once we sorted our midfield in the second half, like most or the team, he improved and he was rightly lauded for his attacking intent and contribution. I don’t think anyone’s in denial and pretending that he’s some great defender but people aren't really praising the defensive side of the game rather his attacking side of the game which is something we haven't seen from one of our full backs in a long time. It just gets a bit boring that whenever a youth player has a good game we all get accused of 'overrating' them because we give them justified praise, he gets rightly criticised when he has a poor game too.

Brandon has shown promise especially going forward but i just want people to have realistic expectations. You have people saying that we have found our left back for the future which is a bit premature. If we have the chance to buy Ben Chillwell for example we should do it.

 

[spontaneus1]

Trent is even worse defensively and liverpool are still sitting top of the table. City also have mendy and Cancelo who are both suspect in defense. We dont need a great defensive leftback if we are on the attack. Plus I think his defensive abilities are very underrated in comparison to a player like Dalot who I feel should just convert to a winger. He is still young and will learn how to mark/shadow his attacker before lunging in. He is also great at slide tackling so there's that.

Look at his defensive stats vs Norwich

Trent constantly get bailed out by Van Dijk, neither of our centre halfs will be able to do the same for Williams, I'm not saying he wont improve but he has made constant errors since he started playing, what the stats from that Norwich game don't show is his mistake that nearly let them straight through on goal. Hope he doesn't play Sunday as he will be shown up badly by Salah who will make use of his mistakes.

 

[RedStarUnited]

I wonder if Ole has really seen the light or its just luck with Shaw injury.

 

[Icemav]

I hope all the Shaw fans finally realise how fecking poor he is. This kid rocks up and has looked like a real modern fullback, absolutely fearless, fast, and a mentality that defies his age.

Not to mention ice cold finishing ability!

 

[Icemav]

Trent constantly get bailed out by Van Dijk, neither of our centre halfs will be able to do the same for Williams, I'm not saying he wont improve but he has made constant errors since he started playing, what the stats from that Norwich game don't show is his mistake that nearly let them straight through on goal. Hope he doesn't play Sunday as he will be shown up badly by Salah who will make use of his mistakes.

Trent constantly get bailed out by Van Dijk, neither of our centre halfs will be able to do the same for Williams, I'm not saying he wont improve but he has made constant errors since he started playing, what the stats from that Norwich game don't show is his mistake that nearly let them straight through on goal. Hope he doesn't play Sunday as he will be shown up badly by Salah who will make use of his mistakes.

Very scary moment and an awful awful mistake. The only forgivable thing is he is 18. AWB had to go total beastmode to miraculously salvage the situation.

Now he is young and a talent that needs developing but that sort of thing is not acceptable if he wants appearances for the first team. But he will know that.

 

[NinjaFletch]

If i remember correctly he got some man of the match votes and was the second highest graded player. And after getting destroyed by Mahrez there were people saying that his bad showing was due to be playing alongside Phil Jones. Which in my opinion is not true. Phil Jones was our best defender that night.

He was left two on one throughout the game with Jones for company against one of the best attacks in the country and you're surprised that people might be making allowances for his performance based on those facts?

The faux objectivity people spout as an excuse for negativity is beginning to irritate me. He's a young talented, academy kid who has impressed. If you're not going to get excited about that I feel a bit sorry for you.

 

[KennyBurner]

He was left two on one throughout the game with Jones for company against one of the best attacks in the country and you're surprised that people might be making allowances for his performance based on those facts?

The faux objectivity people spout as an excuse for negativity is beginning to irritate me. He's a young talented, academy kid who has impressed. If you're not going to get excited about that I feel a bit sorry for you.

The kid has definitely made it if people are criticizing him for being poor against Rihad freaking mahrez!!! Would love to see him start against Liverpool. Im not worried about him against salah but rather Mane. Hopefully we don’t have Mane switching flanks from AWB bullying him like the last time.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

I wonder if Ole has really seen the light or its just luck with Shaw injury.

Shaw will definitely play a few games soon, for rotation purposes, which is fine. He may be better suited to certain games, but if we're playing a park-the-bus type side Williams has to play every time.

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

We have an unbalanced side -- everything seems to go through the left. This is why a proper defender like AWB makes sense in the short term. It solidified the right defensively whilst we try and fix the right side. We can't fix everything in one summer so Ole, I figure knows that all good teams starts with a solid defence/back four. Just plug that hole up for this season. Then fix the RW next summer.

You've made my point, £50m to 'plug a hole for a season'.
As I said, this is why we're getting shafted in the transfer market.

 

[Isotope]

If he keeps improving and stays fit, in a few years that left side with him and Rashford will be a sight to behold.

 

[Tarrou]

I wonder if Ole has really seen the light or its just luck with Shaw injury.

Shaw’s injury hasn’t impacted any starting line ups yet

he was named on the bench against Norwich before he got injured, and Williams started the previous two right?

 

[Captain16Keano]

A young player showing lots of promise. Yet to be seen if he will disappoint Nicky Butt as much as Adnan Januzaj.

 

[Based Adnan]

Fantastic again vs a very good Wolves side. MOTM for me.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Improving game by game. Our undisputed best LB for the season.

 

[El-Manos]

Should be our starting LB now.

 

[dev1l]

Should be our starting LB now.

With Shaw injured and young leaving, he is..

 

[Van Piorsing]

Rapid and cool in the same time.

Never looked like provoking a dangerous foul near the box.

 

[charlenefan]

Fantastic again vs a very good Wolves side. MOTM for me.

And me

Should be our starting LB now.

I don't think that's in question anymore

 

[Random Task]

He'll be up for an England call up before long.

Quality young left-back.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Very good performance!

 

[Zoo]

Excellent today. Shaw should be worried.

 

[AltiUn]

Excellent today. Shaw should be worried.

Think Shaw's already lost his place to him, deservedly so.