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Pretty similar to the Ajax midfield. FDJ, VDB and a Danish attacking midfielder/winger
Not with our CBs in the premier league. Lisandro would help but we'd need a prime Varane in the best form of his career or a new partner to deal with that defensively
Well, its basically the Ajax 18/19 midfield with Eriksen in stead of Schone and I would rate Eriksen a lot higher in the role Schone took then than Schone himself... (allthough you might not get the best out of Eriksen as you are limiting his attacking capabilities, but he could very well fulfil that deeplying behind the ball holding passing midfielder...
I actually don't think Donny is good enough to play in the PL. he will not start in ETH's system.
I am genuinely interested to see if ETH can get him performing for us
Same. A lot of people on here have absolutely made up their minds that he’ll fail though; almost to the extent that they want him to, so they can be “proved” right.
I’m fairly sceptical, and am certainly not assuming that ETH will have any sentimental attachment to him, but would be delighted to see him come good.
Same. There was definitely a player in there when he was at Ajax. At the very least, there's unlikely to be a better manager around at potentially getting something out of VDB. If it works out under ETH, then lovely, we get a great midfield option. If it doesn't work then we can make our peace with the fact that it wasn't meant to be.
I don't agree. All 3 of them work extremely hard. If we are able to dictate the game and maintain possession we are less likely to concede stupid amounts of goals.
Yeah where does this come from that Donny isn't good defensively. He was 88% amongst all midfielders in Europe last year for tackles/game. The fella covers a lot of ground. Him, Frenkie and Bruno would be a very busy midfield trio.
I doubt there's many around that would beat those 3.
It would be fine until we, sooner or later, get dispossessed and teams break on us. They will run straight through that midfield like it’s not there.
That's not actually true. De Jong is very good in intercepting the ball and VDB is decent at it. It worked for Ajax against Real, Bayern and Juventus, why shouldn't it work here. It's all about how a midfield is complementary to each other. At Ajax the 3 midfielders were, that's why it worked. I don't see why Ten Hag isn't able to make it work. As all 3 players played in the Ajax academy, they all know what they have to do.
Besides, the opponent can't run through the midfield if they don't have the ball. That's the goal Ten Hag is aiming for with his tactics
I highly doubt that. I mean, lets be serious here, neither did Bruno shine for us in an all action role, nor did DVB in any way, shape or form. If you are using fbref, you have to consider the minutes played... DVBs numbers are based on 752 minutes - for comparison, Ndidi 1920, Fred 2452, McTom 2784. DVB never ever shined in an all action role. I like being enthusiastic, but this feels more like blind faith. And didn't the Ole-story gave us a lesson in that?
Yeah great theory, wonder why it didn't work with LvG back in the day... Possession isn't the holy grail. It is no coincidence that there not many teams who were able to make use of a possession heavy approach whilst staying dangerous in front of goal. We don't know what ETH is going to do. We don't know how the player will adjust to it. What we know is, that ETH always had a ball winner in his midfield. And thats certainly not DVB.
Honestly just don't see how he gets in the team if we sign Eriksen and De Jong. And I'd much rather see a midfield with Fred in it instead of VdB.
I think De Jong--Eriksen--Fred is more likely than De Jong--Eriksen--VdB but I guess we will have to see! Still think that midfield is extremely lightweight and we'd need a DM
I think De Jong--Eriksen--Fred is more likely than De Jong--Eriksen--VdB but I guess we will have to see! Still think that midfield is extremely lightweight and we'd need a DM
It is actually true. The prem is very physical and even the weaker teams have a lot of pace and physicality. Every team needs at least one tough guy in CM. Do you honestly believe we can keep the ball so well that nobody will break against us? The better teams will have more ball than us as well, unless we’re getting 11 new players.
Donny for false 9 
Huge question mark over him. From the interview with Ferdinand he seems to have the right mentality that's unquestionable for me. He has shown fairly strong character and resilience in not letting the situation of Solskjaer not trusting him effect him but his performances were sub par when given the opportunity.
The way I see it is that DVB is the Mctomminay of the attacking midfield region. He doesn't specialise in anything and his best position is undefined. One good aspect about his game is he does pass and move very well he has that Ajax philosophy cultured into his instincts now with a manager like ETH that could come into fruition. However, he will need more in his arsenal now that he has Bruno / Eriksen challenging for similar positions.
The way I see it is that DVB is the Mctomminay of the attacking midfield region. He doesn't specialise in anything and his best position is undefined. One good aspect about his game is he does pass and move very well he has that Ajax philosophy cultured into his instincts now with a manager like ETH that could come into fruition. However, he will need more in his arsenal now that he has Bruno / Eriksen challenging for similar positions.
752 minutes in PL football is going to show a bit of what you're about. And if you tackle more than 88% of all midfielders in Europe's top 5 leagues, it's safe to assume that you're not as defensively useless as people on Redcafe would have you believe.
It's nice to have stats to back up what I've been seeing myself. I'm all for Fred getting lots of time too but Donny can put the work in and he obviously is very handy at keeping the ball too.
We've a lot of centrally based midfielders now and more so if we sign De Jong. I wouldn't be surprised if Erik employs a diamond formation or plays with 2 number 10s ahead of a midfield 3. The full backs would provide the width in both cases.
Bruno, Fred, Donny, Mctominay, Eriksen, Garner, Hannibal. I even think Diallo would be better utilised in a central role, unless he gets some top end speed as he grows.
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What are his biggest attributes?
https://www.worlddata.info/average-bodyheight.php
Damn, us swedes have gone down... I try my best to keep those numbers up with my 187cm... I'd make an awful CD despite that
The reason Solskjaer, carrick and mckenna and co didn't trust him was I believe they felt he wasn't physically capable of playing in the PL, something I always felt was nonsense purely because his technical and mental ability made up for it.
He is very similar to Frank lampard in playing style dosent dally on the ball plays quick one twos progresses through midfield quickly, good movement off the ball and a definite goal threat.
ETH should get the best out of him, hopefully we see the real V.D.B this season.
He is very similar to Frank lampard in playing style dosent dally on the ball plays quick one twos progresses through midfield quickly, good movement off the ball and a definite goal threat.
ETH should get the best out of him, hopefully we see the real V.D.B this season.
Pep is using Rodri in front of a good CB pairing, Liverpool is making use of Fabinho in their industrious midfield, Real put Casemiro behind Mordric and Kroos, ETH hat Alvarezz, a classic DM in his team a couple of weeks ago, even prime Barcelona had Busquets in the team. I can't believe, that suddenly, we come up with a plan better than all that. I'm not getting triggered when DVB is called industrious or busy and he sure can be useful but we already have two players in that category with Fred and McTom. For all the shiny 10s and possession football, you have to have somebody in there, who is a defensive specialist. And when I am seeing the names thrown around, Eriksen, Garner, Hannibal and Diallo, my initial warning light is going like crazy... and it cries blind faith. You can't win football matches just with offensive players. Because opponents will set deep and bang you on the counter. It what they do since decades...
Even if he is all that, you still have to think whos place you are going to give to Donny. Is he good enough to take Brunos spot? I doubt it. And as a quick reminder, Lampard played with Makelele, Ballack, Essien, Mikel (thats a completely different dimension in terms of defensive capabilities in comparison to what we are going with.
Juventus managed to pull it off with Pirlo sitting behind Pogba and Vidal. Once you get 3 midfielders who work hard you don't necessarily need a specialist. Just somebody to stay back and hold the fort.
Christ Keane managed to work it out with Ince, Scholes and Butt. None of them were defensive specialists. Just somebody stayed and somebody went.
Claude Makelele comes along and everybody has to have a DM. It looks like Ten Hag has no interest in getting one and I'm fine with that. Call it blind faith if you like but I just don't think the role is that critical.
Pirlo didn't work hard. And he played in front of a Back-3 consisting of Barzagli, Bonucci and Chellini. Plus they had Lichtsteiner who was more than capable of joining midfield if needed and Alex Sandro on the left providing workrate together with Tevez and from a certian point onwards Manzukic. And lets not forget that they also made good use of Marchisio instead of Pogba. I'd also argue, that Vidal was quite a capable DM, he was "just" so much more. I think, a lot of the picture gets lost if we only reduce it to "they will work hard" and "Pirlo, Vidal and Pogba don't have a DM".
You couldn't just go and say "look at what we did, managing to pull off a midfield consisting of Scholes and Carrick". There you also have to add Rio-Vida to the picture, Brown at RB, never-tiring Evra on the left, never tiring Ji-Sung and Rooney as well and if necessary bringing Fletcher into the mix.
It just doesn't add up.
I always thought that Butt was more or less a disciplined more defensively oriented midfielder, but I'll give you that as I am not too familiar with that period. A period that ended quite some time ago, I'd like to add.
And I say it is madness as he himself always deployed one. And that certainly wasn't Donny at any point in time. There are quite a few holes to plug in our squad, maybe ETH sees other priorities, for me he is risking a lot with it as some sort of DM is instrumental in a lot of formations.
Seems to me you're making a case for a team without a DM yourself. You just need hard working players and good defenders to compensate for your lack of "specialist". Fred, Bruno, Donny can be those players for us.
I think we've got good enough defenders too. They just need to be told to press with the midfield and not sit back and invite teams onto them.
Will be interesting to see if the boss accommodates him, i think he may get lost in the shuffle.
I'm pretty optimistic about him next season. Ole didn't have a clue on how to use him.
Schone's role in the Ajax 18/19 team was to play in the double pivot alongside Frenkie De Jong.
His role was similar to what Carrick/ Fabinho, he was meant to provide cover for FDJ and keep the ball moving. Playing Eriksen and VdB(both 10s), in this role would be stupid. Eriksen can play in a midfield 2, but that would be in place of De Jong, not alongside him.
If FDJ is signing, he would be playing alongside McT/Fred/Garner. And we would have Eriksen/VdB/Bruno as the third attacking midfielder.
His role was similar to what Carrick/ Fabinho, he was meant to provide cover for FDJ and keep the ball moving. Playing Eriksen and VdB(both 10s), in this role would be stupid. Eriksen can play in a midfield 2, but that would be in place of De Jong, not alongside him.
If FDJ is signing, he would be playing alongside McT/Fred/Garner. And we would have Eriksen/VdB/Bruno as the third attacking midfielder.
Does that mean if he doesn't play much, ETH doesn't have a clue how to use him? Or does that only apply to Ole?
Keyword if. I highly doubt he'll be unused as much as under Ole, and I'm not his biggest fan.
Not to be the bearer of bad news but like Fred and like McTominay this guy ain't anywhere close to good enough if we want to be good.
You do know that Schone was a Winger/attacking midfielder before he was put at DM right and couldn't really defend? Because it all was about instructions and teamwork on that midfield. Something similar could be here. You don't need a DM if all your midfielders share the defensive responsibility.
We'll see. Ten Hag got Ajax to the CL semi finals using a system that has a role for Van De Beek. I highly doubt Ole would have taken Ajax that far in the CL using whatever managerial/coaching methods he uses.
Being used deeper as no 6, may be that's ETH plan to play him next to FDJ. But it's only training so it probably means nothing.
Makes sense though. VDB is probably the only one who instantly excels at the Ten Hag drills. Until the rest catches up i guess he'll feature in the starting XI. After that it's all on him to make sure he performs in the matches.
I'd be very surprised if he amounts to much with us. I've just not seen it and we've had him for 2 years.
My argument is that we've given others in the squad chance after chance, even when they've performed badly. Some have stayed far, far longer than they should have. Yet we never had a plan for VDB and have treated him pretty badly, either by not featuring him at all, or giving him 5 mins as a sub, or not giving him a run of games. The stick that we're using to measure VDB is not the same as others are being measured by. He's worth a shot this year under ETH. If after this year it becomes apparent that we can't accommodate him in the squad or get the best out of him, then that's a cause to move him on.
First pre season game, on the bench in a clear "1st 11 vs 2nd 11"... I dunno. I don't see Van de Beek ever being more than a depth player. He's not a 6. He's competing with Fred as the 8 or Bruno as the 10. Or he's competing with Eriksen and Frenkie when they get added in. He's the 5th choice among that group IMO. Clearly will be behind the 2 new signings and Bruno, but also for me he's clearly behind Fred as well. We'll see how it goes, but I get the impression that Ten Hag coming in doesn't change much for VdB.
Invisible once again.
Not good enough today. You'd hope he will have a Fred-like resurgence.
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