Wout Weghorst the cult hero
feck me.
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 27
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran discuss a horrific month of December and a depressing FOUR defeats in a row - the latest coming against Wolves and Newcastle.
They discuss how much blame is on Ruben Amorim and rank our squad against other Premier League teams.
Do we have any chance of avoiding defeat at Anfield?
feck me.Wout Weghorst the cult hero
Plenty of people love him despite being a carthose. I always found it a bit odd because I think he might be the worst footballer I've ever seen at United (although some competition in this current crop), but there you go.
Yeah, the booing of a guy that got hooked after 30 minutes was unnecessary. Especially when we put out a terrible midfield. Everyone knew that this was coming once the lineup was announced.
I genuinely felt bad for Zirksee. He was no worse than several others on the pitch. It was poorly handled by Amorim. He should have taken him off at halftime but I suspect that he simply didn't expect the fans to react so strongly to the substitution. This will take some time to rebuild the boy's self-confidence.
Weggy is far from the worst I've seen play for the club! Obviously he wasn't good enough but no one could ever say he didn't give it his all, that is why he's a cult hero to some, bit like Diego Forlan in that respect
Absolute BS. If he didn't work hard enough, this manager wouldn't have played him. I think people have selective memories if you are using Weghorst and cult heroes in the same sentence. If you think booing a player who arrived just 6 months ago, at arguably the worst time in modern history, you need to read up on the clubs history.
This kind of fan attitude, you would never had a Giggs or Ronaldo.
The more I watch him the more I doubt anyone actually bothered to watch him play. Reckon an agent took us for a ride with some Milan interest stories and we jumped right in.
Ticks a lot of boxes on a spreadsheet. Good age, good physical profile, good price and terms, reasonable stats last season. Very moneyballesque on paper
Regardless of his actual ability it looks clear as day he hasn't the character to play here. Fergie put so much stock in a players character for a reason and our ignoring this has been our biggest issue in signing players since he left imo
He's playing because we have feck all other choice.
Ronaldo and Giggs are baffling comparisons. Couldn't honestly think of two less similar players. Sure, they were inconsistent and frustrating when young, but both played with an intensity and a desire to positively change a game that we have never ever seen from Zirkzee. It's precisely the lack of those qualities in Zirkzee that is why we are where we are with him.
Manucho, Diouf, Bebe and Dong.
That four by far the worst we've had. Notable mention for David Bellion as well.
I don't know if he's good enough or not but after just 6 months, not signed by this manager and coming to the club at the worst time in modern history. Doesn't context matter anymore?
Even this is debateable. Age and price, sure, even though price is clearly linked to quality. Arguably we got rinsed.
Physical profile is only good at an extremely superficial level. He’s tall and looks strong. That’s it. Pace and agility is dreadful.
Stats also pretty dubious. Is 11 goals in Serie A really what we are looking for, given that is just about what Højlund was bought on the back of? Really we should be looking at players that got twice that.
Don't forget Djemba x2 and Kleberson.
At least with the Fergie era shite he was absolutely ruthless with them and they tended to cost pennies. I wouldn't be surprised if Zirkzee already has more appearances than the four you mentioned.
For some reason, however, top red fans try to convince themselves that if we don't give dross at least 2 years it is somehow betraying the heritage of the club. Christ, anyone who remembers the post Schmeichal diasters would have expected him to bin Onana in January last year, I think.
He was pretty shit on the spreadsheet. Here was statsbomb's profile on him (scroll down for a few more tweets on him) which I remember posting in the summer as I wasn't really keen on him and thought he'd just be a squad player CF behind Hojlund. It was just a dumb signing.
Incidentally I do think he's a better player than Hojlund for what it's worth. And if anything, both Hojlund and Zirkzee impressed in a 3-5-2 in the Serie A where they could be a strike partnership together, but yeah that's not what Amorim plays and I doubt they could do much in the prem together anyway.
Of course but the context when he joined was that we weren't very good and everyone knew ETH was in the last chance saloon.
He as a new player is also expected to raise the level right, make us a better team. He can't just point at everything around him and say how am I supposed to work in these conditions. He needs to pull his socks up and start performing
I appreciate that sounds harsh and by no means is he alone in this situation but that's the point I'm at now with this squad. To a man it's not been good enough and I'm sick of excuses for a lack of basic effort from supposedly professional players
I don't disagree, like I said I genuinely doubt anyone watched him. Someone cherry picked some facts, slapped a rose tint on them and splurged. They probably thought they were being clever unearthing a hidden gem
Who was the last player to be booed like this? Was it Pogba? Things got toxic with Maguire but I don’t remember booing.
I was surprised by the reaction yesterday, it is uncharacteristic of the OT crowd, but we’re in a pretty bad situation and Zirkzee ended up bearing the brunt of the reaction to it.
I was surprised by the reaction yesterday, it is uncharacteristic of the OT crowd, but we’re in a pretty bad situation and Zirkzee ended up bearing the brunt of the reaction to it.
Absolutely nonsense and you know it. There were other options clearly as we seen it after 30 mins!!!
Young players need support and patience, that's my comparison. Zirkzee has a particular style of play, not comparing them but Berb wasn't too dissimilar, and absolutely nothing to do with his application or attitude.
Fred and Scott ran around with desire and intensity and the fanbase couldn't wait to see the back of them. Apparently 'Weggy' is now a cult hero cause he did the same. Some fans just have selective memories when it suits.
Irrespective of all the BS, booing a utd player should never happen under no circumstances but maybe that's just me....
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Christian Eriksen said this to danish TV (Viaplay) after the match:
They could have turned against everyone in the first half.
Of course I think it's a shame for Josh that he was the one who ended up looking like the black sheep who was substituted in the first half like that, but it could have been all of us.
As I said, it's a shame for Josh. He is a good guy, and hopefully he will get the support he needs from both us and the fans, and then he will probably come back again, says Eriksen.
They could have turned against everyone in the first half.
Of course I think it's a shame for Josh that he was the one who ended up looking like the black sheep who was substituted in the first half like that, but it could have been all of us.
As I said, it's a shame for Josh. He is a good guy, and hopefully he will get the support he needs from both us and the fans, and then he will probably come back again, says Eriksen.
Yep, from a season pro and no mention of the lack of Zirkees application or attitude.
He's right here, but have they got the mentality required to respond to their pressure? It's crap that Zirkzee had to bear the weight of the collective frustrations but it shouldn't be a surprise. Fans have been very patient over the last few years, they need to show something in return.
I always see it as a positive sign when a player tries to defend a teammate.
Agree and not the kind of player that would have commented on it if he didn't have to.
William Prunier trumps them
Who was the French lad who was suppose to be the next Henry? I think we sold him to Newcastle?William Prunier trumps them
He's not one of the players that have been shielded over the years though. He's still a newbie at the club, and not one of the ones been stealing a living for a long time. So he didnt deserve that reaction at all. We have seen the likes of Martial, lingard, Maguire and Pogba get jeered going off after being sh*t/ looking a whole lot less interested in a game than Zirkzee did, and they didnt get anything close to that last night.
His application hasnt been amazing, but i wouldnt say he doesnt try or is taking the piss, he's just simply nowhere near good enough.
He tried last night but his touch and passing was just utter rubbish and gave the ball away every touch. Amorim was right to hook him off, but he shouldnt have started him in the first place.
Obertan?
That's him....
You're picking some really odd examples here for someone who is accusing others of selective memories.
When were Fred or McTominay booed?
And Berbatov was constantly criticised for his style and was significantly less popular than Tevez who, you guessed it, worked harder. In fact, it was the number one point of controversy that surrounded his entire time here and it flared up every time he went for a period when he didn't score. Tevez's subsequent move to City got him so much hate because he was such a fan favourite.
The bold is the crux of it. There's a bunch of our fans like you who think that anything other than matchgoers sitting around clapping like seals is unacceptable. All the while standards have eroded year on year. Those two things aren't directly related, but I can't imagine fans of any other big club would have been so accommodating of a decline into irrelevance as ours have been, and yet here we still are arguing about whether the power of wishful thinking or hope can bring us back.
Zirkzee might be unlucky to be the first, but when the club is on the cusp of flirting with relegation I'm not going to lose a second of sleep over players getting feedback if they don't fulfill minimal expectations like 'run' or 'try and get involved'.
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Obertan
Never said Fred or Scott was booed?
People view of Berb was wrong too.
Each to their own, just think it's unfair and not what this club was built on. Trust me, if I was a young player I'd think twice about signing for a club whose fans think I'm shit after just 6 months and boo me. These things matter to modern footballers.
This is football. Your asking for comparison and rational within a 90 minute game where Manchester United are 14th around Christmas.
This is the epitome of a crisis. At the end of the day if Zirkzee can’t deal with it maybe this isn’t the club for him.
We care too much about external circumstances when players before these have literally give their lives to continue a man’s vision of making this the best club in English football. We are not a joke nor a soft touch and it is the lack of understanding and removal of our successful culture and standards as to why we are in the position we currently are.
If you want to care about integrity, compassion and all those things you mentioned maybe your aim isn’t what most of us want, which is to be the best club in England again. You literally have to give your life over to this club to benefit the rewards. Not my words, Patrice Evra says it. Roy Keane has said it. We have players here that have took sabbaticals midway through a season, built campaigns with the government etc etc. Your job here is to represent the biggest club in England and win the major trophies. If you can’t achieve that you are a failure. Regardless if it’s Zirkzee, Lisandro or Harry Maguire.
The only issue I see here is that he got substituted first.
Yep, this might be football just not for me. You learn more about fans in adversity than when you are winning. Away going fans are testimony of that and I guarantee they wouldn't have booed him....
I didn’t see a lazy player at all last night, in fact I saw a player who tried to make amends for his mistakes and won two tackles and tried to pressure, admittedly usually after a mistake. What I did see was a player completely unsuited to the league in an awful team who looked just bewildered by the pace of the game.
I feel sorry for the guy and I think most fans are just baffled by the people who thought this would be a good signing, specifically for EtH’s system which was reliant on pace and (supposed) workrate.
I feel sorry for the guy and I think most fans are just baffled by the people who thought this would be a good signing, specifically for EtH’s system which was reliant on pace and (supposed) workrate.
Terrible
shame he did the same invisibility trick for the 30 mins he was on the pitch.
Turned out to be the next Lenny Henry.
That guy might just be painting a different story to the reality. Maybe Joshua was just feeling cold.
He did!!