Jordy Clasie

Many keep on saying that we need quality. However is it true? United can rely on an attacking unit made up of players like Mata, Rooney and RVP who are world class goalscorers and assist machine. We also have players like Kagawa and Nani whose record in terms of goals can't be understimated. Surely a team which has this sort of talent shouldn't end in 7th place. So what's going wrong?

Lets give a closer look to our more defensive side of CM. Ando and Cleverley are not defensive minded at all. Fellaini is slow and lacks both discipline and positioning to make it in that role. Carrick on the other hand has never been fast and seems in decline and I wonder how Fletcher has been able to stay at United for so long. Our Defensive side of CM is struggling badly and without ball winning and retention then you wont win even if you got Messi in the team.

Players like Strootman and Clasie would chase the ball all day long. They would win the ball and are technical enough not to lose it. This would allow the likes of Mata, Rooney and RVP to focus on their game.

There are other issues that need to be tackled. We need pace on the flanks and 2 defenders who would make the backline rock solid. However I wouldn't mind if United get the likes Strootman and Clasie especially if that means seeing some deadwood leaving our CM.

Completely agree with this, everyone gets excited about Kroos and Fabregas, they are not what we need first and foremost, we need to stop the likes of City overunning us in midfield, we need the ability to regain and then not immediately lose posession, we need solidity. Besides if LvG wants to take players we haven't heard of and make them into superstars then thats fine by me
 
Finally some common sense on here. We do not necessarilly need 50 million quid superstars but players to compliment what we already have albeit an improvement. People who work in a system. Liverpools midfield 3 does not exactly scream excellence and strike fear on paper but it works.
 
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Many keep on saying that we need quality. However is it true? United can rely on an attacking unit made up of players like Mata, Rooney and RVP who are world class goalscorers and assist machine. We also have players like Kagawa and Nani whose record in terms of goals can't be understimated. Surely a team which has this sort of talent shouldn't end in 7th place. So what's going wrong?

Lets give a closer look to our more defensive side of CM. Ando and Cleverley are not defensive minded at all. Fellaini is slow and lacks both discipline and positioning to make it in that role. Carrick on the other hand has never been fast and seems in decline and I wonder how Fletcher has been able to stay at United for so long. Our Defensive side of CM is struggling badly and without ball winning and retention then you wont win even if you got Messi in the team.

Players like Strootman and Clasie would chase the ball all day long. They would win the ball and are technical enough not to lose it. This would allow the likes of Mata, Rooney and RVP to focus on their game.

There are other issues that need to be tackled. We need pace on the flanks and 2 defenders who would make the backline rock solid. However I wouldn't mind if United get the likes Strootman and Clasie especially if that means seeing some deadwood leaving our CM.

Amen, with Mata and Kagawa we are not lacking of creativity we need some enforcers and ball retainers in the midfield and necessarily world class ones, competent ones would transform our team.
 
Completely agree with this, everyone gets excited about Kroos and Fabregas, they are not what we need first and foremost, we need to stop the likes of City overunning us in midfield, we need the ability to regain and then not immediately lose posession, we need solidity. Besides if LvG wants to take players we haven't heard of and make them into superstars then thats fine by me

Clasie is not type of player who would help fix that issue.
 
Wow no wonder we are in 7th place if people seriously think Clasie would be the answer to our midfield problems, how mediocre can you be ?

One worldy pass to RVP in the game versus Ecuador and the media make him the new dutch Scholes/Xavi and people actually fecking buy into to that and want him ? Probably the same people that have been having digs at Fellaini for not being good enough, but than they come up with Jordy Clasie, ok he is mayaby more the actual type of midfielder we need, but in terms of how good he is :wenger: (This guy wasn't even good enough for Tottenham...)
Do you really think people want Clasie ahead of say players like Fabregas and Kroos? We're all realistic here. Its not football manager and we can't sign all the top players that we want. We've to be realistic here keeping in my mind our structure and no CL to offer. Its not about signing all 50m+ players its about getting players who'd fit in well and won't mind being out of CL for one season hopefully.

With all these things in mind , Clasie is not exactly the worst option.
 
Clasie is not type of player who would help fix that issue.

I am happy to admit I dont know how valid that statement is, I know nothing about him, what I do know is we hired a manager to do a job, he apparently thinks differently and I will judge him and the player once either result comes to pass.
 
Absolutely incredible how many are writing him off, when you know they've never even seen him play.

LvG will bring a certain system, and will want players he trusts to fill a certain role. Clasie might not be the best option we've been linked with, but he could be tailor made for a role in LvG's new formation. And if he trusts him, that would be good enough for me. People were saying last summer that Strootman wasn't United quality (I wasn't totally convinced myself I'll admit) but look at him now.
 
It makes sense for van Gaal to sign players that he actually knows and likes, even though I know nothing about this lad and Blind I would be ok with getting them if LvG actually believes that they will be useful.
 
Do you really think people want Clasie ahead of say players like Fabregas and Kroos? We're all realistic here. Its not football manager and we can't sign all the top players that we want. We've to be realistic here keeping in my mind our structure and no CL to offer. Its not about signing all 50m+ players its about getting players who'd fit in well and won't mind being out of CL for one season hopefully.

With all these things in mind , Clasie is not exactly the worst option.

I not expecting us to sign the likes of Fabregas and Kroos. But if the best we can come up with to improve this midfield is the likes of Clasie and Blind we should expand the search.
 
One of the main criticisms of Van Gaal at Barcelona was the 'Hollandisation' the club underwent on his watch, with numerous members of the Dutch national team being transplanted into Catalonia.

Van Gaal is a fine coach, but his record in the transfer market is mixed to say the least. I generally don't really agree with the idea of forcing players onto a manager, but hopefully Ed has the courage to steer Van Gaal in the direction of players of the calibre we should be looking at.
 
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Clasie is not type of player who would help fix that issue.

I haven't seen him enough to make a final judgement but he looks like a hardworking tough guy whose, pretty mobile, technically good and can deliver a pass even under pressure. He's better then what we've got. Clasie-Strootman would improve our ball winning and retention allowing the likes of Mata, Rooney and RVP to perform their magic. Add 2 solid defenders + some real pace on the flanks and we'll be pretty competitive
 
I haven't seen him enough to make a final judgement but he looks like a hardworking tough guy whose, pretty mobile, technically good and can deliver a pass even under pressure. He's better then what we've got. Clasie-Strootman would improve our ball winning and retention allowing the likes of Mata, Rooney and RVP to perform their magic.

Exactly, he seems to do what our midfielders dont do which is track back and win the ball
 
Exactly, he seems to do what our midfielders dont do which is track back and win the ball

Even when they do (to be fair Carrick and Fellaini don't mind tracking back) they seem to be too slow. Our CM is probably the slowest amongst the top clubs. That needs to change.

Mind even I would like to see the likes of Fabregas, Kroos, Messi, Vidal and Ronaldo at United. However that isn't be possible. It wasn't possible when we were on top let alone at 7th place and out of the CL.

However let us not despair. Id say add 2 solid defenders (CB, LB), 2 players like Strootman and Clasie and some real pace on the flanks and we're back to seriously challenging the EPL. Once on top we can start focusing on the fine details ie spending top money on 1-2 world class player we need to win the CL.
 
We all still trying to railroad this kid into a Cleverley comparison? In one youtube compilation Ive seen Clasie intercept and tackle more balls than I have in watching Tom Cleverly over three or four seasons

I know stats can never really tell the whole story, but in terms of tackles and interceptions, Cleverley and Clasie have almost been identical this season (Cleverley: 2.28 tackles, 1.94 interceptions, per 90 minutes. Clasie 2.51 and 1.90).

Other than the slight physical resemblance I don't really see the broader comparison though; different types of player certainly.
 
I know stats can never really tell the whole story, but in terms of tackles and interceptions, Cleverley and Clasie have almost been identical this season (Cleverley: 2.28 tackles, 1.94 interceptions, per 90 minutes. Clasie 2.51 and 1.90).

Other than the slight physical resemblance I don't really see the broader comparison though; different types of player certainly.

Thanks for pointing that out. I guess thats the lesson learned from comparing youtube videos to live games. How many games did each player play last season?
 
One of the main criticisms of Van Gaal at Barcelona was the 'Hollandisation' the club underwent on his watch, with numerous members of the Dutch national team being transplanted into Catalonia.

Van Gaal is a fine coach, but his record in the transfer market is mixed to say the least. I generally don't really agree with the idea of forcing players onto a manager, but hopefully Ed has the courage to steer Van Gaal in the direction of players of the calibre we should be looking at.

And at Bayern he signed Edson Braafheid who was clearly not a Bayern caliber player.
 
Thanks for pointing that out. I guess thats the lesson learned from comparing youtube videos to live games. How many games did each player play last season?

Cleverley played 22 games (1578 minutes) in the Premier League, Clasie played 32 games (2835 minutes) in the Eredivisie.

The stats are from the Squawka.com website, and is data licensed from Opta.
 
I know stats can never really tell the whole story, but in terms of tackles and interceptions, Cleverley and Clasie have almost been identical this season (Cleverley: 2.28 tackles, 1.94 interceptions, per 90 minutes. Clasie 2.51 and 1.90).

Other than the slight physical resemblance I don't really see the broader comparison though; different types of player certainly.

lol no

Clasie averaged 3.2 tackles a game and 1.9 interceptions.

http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/256

Clasie made 23 more tackles this season than the 2nd placed tackler in the Feyenoord squad and had the 7th highest amount of tackles in his league.

Cleverley was our 6th most often into the tackle, joint 52nd in the league.

Regardless he's more of a Dutch version of James McCarthy than he is Tom Cleverley

McCarthy was 3.3 tackles and 1.5 interceptions. Even their passing stats were similar with Clasie making more, but McCarthy being more accurate and both averaging exactly 1.2 key passes a game

Of course Clasie is playing in a much weaker league and we dont know how he'd do in the premier league. Having a good showing in the world cup would be a good sign.
 
Would this thread even exist if not for his pass to Van Persie in that friendly?
 
Just looking at league matches per 90 minutes:
Clasie: 3.24 tackles, 1.97 interceptions
Cleverley: 2.74 tackles, 1.94 interceptions
McCarthy: 3.50 tackles, 1.64 interceptions

Using whoscored for tackles and interceptions and transfermarkt for minutes played.

Don't really mean much but should clear up the stat comparison.
 
He looks like the lovechild of Cleverley and Spearing.

Would this thread even exist if not for his pass to Van Persie in that friendly?

It's probably got more to do with him being Dutch than that pass, the papers have ran out of of top midfielders to link us with so now the Dutch squad fillers like Blind and Clasie are being linked.
 
He looks like the lovechild of Cleverley and Spearing.



It's probably got more to do with him being Dutch than that pass, the papers have ran out of of top midfielders to link us with so now the Dutch squad fillers like Blind and Clasie are being linked.

He's also VG's replacement to the injured Strootman with the national team and he's also gettable.
 
I not expecting us to sign the likes of Fabregas and Kroos. But if the best we can come up with to improve this midfield is the likes of Clasie and Blind we should expand the search.
We've a Dutch coach so obviously he'd know a lot mote about Dutch football than we do. Both are players with good potential and would be an upgrade on what we have. Of course we need to look at the upper tier but if we end up with Blind and Clasie , I won't be gutted. Blind is a really underrated footballer who I'd like.
 
I'm sure we wouldnt get both of them. A Blind or Clasie are an upgrade on Cleverley/Fellaini and would work well with whoever our bigger name CM is.

It'll be a tough ask for any CM to play next to Cleverley or Fellaini and rival the top midfields out there.
 
Van Gaal looked like he wanted to play with De Guzman, De Jong and Sneijder in midfield. But De Guzman injured his hamstrings last week. This whole week in the training sessions it looked like Clasie might play with De Jong and Sneijder in midfield against Spain.

So if he gets a chance against Spain it'll be interesting to see how he does, he's a type of player that might do reasonably well against Xavi/Iniesta style players. And it's also interesting what happens in the next matches if De Guzman regains his fitness.