I agree with that. The rub for me is that, perhaps one or two mediocre performances, Donny has actually been very good. But instead of sticking with him before Pogba got back on track in December Ole leaned on James and McTominay before Donny. Neither is superior to Donny, although McTominay’s performance against Leeds was of the highest class. We dropped points against clubs we should have taken more from.
But here we are today, at the top of the table. We’re going to hit another dip in squad performance and when that happens I hope Ole looks past James and McTominay and gives Van de Beek a run of several matches to prove whether or not the investment in him was worth it. If not, then we all just need to move on. Donny is at an age where he can’t afford to be a bystander.
We shall see.
1. James plays LW/RW not CAM. So, I am not sure what you are getting at.
2. Donny has played more minutes than James. Almost twice as many... so can you tell me where is the substance in your pos?
3. McT is in the team to be a destroyer... get about the pitch, win the ball back, mark their attackers. I.e Get on Neymar, Grealish, etc.... So again, can you tell me how McTominay has taken Donnys minutes?
4. Donny is a midfielder who likes to score and get in the box... Bruno is our midfielder who does that, if you say Ole needs to drop him for Donny, it would make more sense.
5. Donny is 23... just come to a new league and hasn't even been a season, how is he a bystander then?
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Donny plays deeper than James, no doubt, but through and through he’s an attacking player. Just my opinion but I regard him as superior to James who, and I want to be careful in phrasing but I’ll put it this way anyway, just isn’t United quality.
I’d like to see the minutes in PL games, not cup competitions. I’m not particularly interested in the league cup or the FA Cup. We’ve been in several league matches where we needed something extra in the final third and Ole gave us James, who gave back nothing.
I like McTominay, but I wouldn’t call him a destroyer. Nor would I call VdB a destroyer either. But he’s not much of a creator either. He’s tidy up to a point and we all know about his performance v Leeds, but McTominay’s ability on the ball is a pale shadow of that of Van de Beek. And if that’s not a true statement, that in fact McTominay is in fact a superior ball playing midfielder to Van de Beek then we just shoveled 35m into the furnace.
I have never suggested Donny is the equal of Bruno. Nor Pogba. Pogba was rather shit earlier this season, which I don’t think anyone here denies, on account of health and fitness issues. Now he’s shaken that off and has returned to being the imperious midfielder we’ve seen him be for United on a few previous occasions, though he’s still nowhere close to his form at Juve. Ole is doing exactly the right thing by riding Bruno and Pogba hard during this stretch and there’s no doubt both must start against Liverpool, but what I’m saying is that looking ahead if Donny gets subbed on in the 85th minute every other match through the end of the season, that may be a great thing for United, but he would be mad not to explore other options. You only get this kind of window once in your playing career. It’s a pretty quick turn from being a star player for Ajax to becoming a journeyman who has to settle for, say, Bayer Leverkusen because your career sputtered with United.
The last point is nonresponsive to the previous points.
If Donny is happy with being a long term squad that’s great for United, although it’s hard to imagine a player of his quality entering his prime playing careers being happy to be a long term squad player. Some, like John O’Shea or Nicky Butt, were perfectly suited for such a role. I have doubts that Donny Ban de Beek is suited fir such a role. It’s virtually impossible for such a player, who was stellar for Ajax and is on the radar of both Barcelona and Real, to progress as a footballer being an underused squad man for United.
But we’re top of the table and I see us actually beating Liverpool this weekend, so it’s onward and upward, glory Man United.