Has he started passing the ball yet or still takes ridiculous shots from poor angles/distance when a pass is a much better option?
Mason Greenwood | 2023/24 Performances | on loan to Getafe
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His fitness seems incredible for someone who hasn't been allowed to even train properly for 18 months.
I'd take him over Antony every days of the week if he's willing to listen to ETH and track back.
Don't take me wrong I do rate Antony he's a baller and he's been ok for us but his right foot is non existent and his shot is weak. The only thing Antony does better is tracking back.
He will probably be match fit and ready to go by Jan. If the club decide to bring him back of course.
Big if. They’ll let social media get in the way again. Only way he possibly might come back is if we get a ton of injuries and to save money signing someone.
That's unlikely imo. Imo unless Antony would still be unavailable by then or Hojlund can't score enough goals.
Anyway if we ever decide to bring him back I hope we'd stick by that decision whatever the pressure. We looked like fools being pushed around by the media last time.
We made ourselves look like fools
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Maybe he had his mind on other things at the time.
He walks into our first team when fully fit.
I think there's a reason he only went out on loan and wasn't sold/let go by the club.
He will be back next season depending on how well he does, obviously if he's only half the player he used to be then the club will probably sell, but anywhere close to his best and the club won't think twice about keeping him.
For those saying he didnt really develop once breaking into the united team I'd challenge that. I remember his last half season for us before he was suspended, whilst he was not scoring with as much frequency he was starting to get praise for the development of his all-round game. He was starting to retain the ball better, linking up with players, started to handle the physicality better etc. It looked like he and coaches had been working on that side of the game. If memory serves me correct he was one of our most consistent players up until he was suspended.
Regarding the muscle mass that he lost, that will be very easily regained and very quickly through muscle memory. The muscle gained through playing football will naturally come back and any additonal muscle he deliberately put on when he was playing will only need him to dedicate some time at the gym during a break or pre season.
Regarding the muscle mass that he lost, that will be very easily regained and very quickly through muscle memory. The muscle gained through playing football will naturally come back and any additonal muscle he deliberately put on when he was playing will only need him to dedicate some time at the gym during a break or pre season.
And greenwood couldn’t run the length of OT. His laziness when he was fit was bad enough, imagine what he’s like now
Remains to be seen. I think everyone is making premature assumptions.
but from a personal viewpoint I hope not
Better than Antony sadly.
I want to see Antony in a settled team with a strong midfield and proper CF before writing him off
He'll be back at Utd
He was running the length of OT before delivering a beautiful pass for Bruno to score at 18 yo. And calling him lazy is actually a myth. His distance coverage and workrate was never a big issue. You could have a look at his old performance threads and you'd see. He's not as hard working as Antony but not lazy at all.
Then the now. Even if what you said is true imo if now ETH tells him to work his arse off he'll work his arse off if he wants to come back and continue his career here. Now he's in a position he'd need to grab his second chance with both hands. If given.
Even if his current physical conditions only allow him to play 45' running back and forth then 45' Greenwood + 45' Antony is simply much better than 90' Antony. He'd also allow ETH to have much more tactical flexibility since he basically can play anywhere in the front 3. You simply can't deny having him back is definitely a good thing. Football wise only of course.
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What evidence is there that he’d work his arse off? It looks like he didn’t do very much training when he was out, he’s lost so much muscle mass. That’s a fact.
he strikes me as someone who knows he is gifted but isn’t very driven
I think he would rather have a good defence behind him at the moment
I think he would rather have a good defence behind him at the moment
BoomIt'll be interesting what happens. I assume his girlfriend and family will want to live in Manchester.
I understand why we can't bring him back but at a certain point but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
He'll be playing at a top team soon enough
I understand why we can't bring him back but at a certain point but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
He'll be playing at a top team soon enough
I'd say he's a quite ambitious character after his previous falling out with Ronaldo. It's like watching Ronaldo falling out with RVN again.
Then if he didn't agree to or show some willingness to do what ETH wants no way ETH would have wanted him back imo. And even if he doesn't then ETH would simply get rid of him. Big deal. Many here would be overjoyed if so.
Tbh I'm not worrying about the muscle masses. Couple years ago my country had a fantastic youngster. He moved to the Eredivisie and there they forced him to grow too much muscles mass without giving him enough match time. Which his body frame couldn't readjust/handle and led to many complicated injuries and he looked half the footballer he was when he came back despite almost twice the size. It took him like two years to got back to his initial size and started playing again.
If I were him I'd also rather stay thin then redevelop my muscles when I start playing than just hit the gym and build the muscles without playing. Your speed, agility and even your touch would need to readjusted accordingly to your body mass and muscle. Without playing any competitive football hitting the gym too much actually might make you a worse footballer.
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Solskjaer philosophy for attacking players!
Have you seen this video. Greenwood showed throughout his development that he had it all, right, left, poacher and the awareness and touch of decent 10. The period of his game he is most criticised for is, for me, when he was under clear instruction from Ole to have a go as soon as he got sight of goal. Ole clearly had a hand in that approach because the kid played whenever fit. It’s that simple.
Hard to criticise him for playing the way his manager wants him to.
ETH teams rely on high energy pressing. Look at Hojlunds pressing stats already, daresay that Antony isn’t far off that too. That’s the bar. Is greenwood capable? He used to gas out after an hour under Ole. Can our team carry 2 wingers who don’t put the work in? (Rashford & greenwood). Remains to be seen
He started out as a #8 if my memory serves me right.
Anything else would be stupid
Why?
Because everyone involved seems to have found peace except some high moral United fans
Ok let’s take that to the non performance thread
Where has this myth that he was a lazy player come out of? I don't recall any complaints to that effect ever in his performances threads. I do remember people being annoyed at selfishness and a tendency to shoot when a pass was a better option.
Yes I feel both him and Rashford have been let down by bad coaching. For Rashford, it seems he can’t rectify this now. But Greenwood can and I was surprised with his first cameo for Getafe where he was always looking up.
Even Martial has suffered from bad coaching to a certain extent. I remember Mourinho shouting “Go” to martial as soon as he received the ball as a left winger. But there was so much more to his game while we were just a counter attacking side at that time.
Constant changing of managers has really been detrimental to all young players. Also no manager has tried to work on their characters, motivation and hunger on a personal level too - like SAF used to.
All three would have been remarkably different and possibly world class players at City under Pep unfortunately whether we like it or not. We might end up getting a reputation of becoming a graveyard for top young talent.
I would not say that was an appropriate term for a player who was 19/20 years of age. I would say inexperienced would be more suitable.
He was playing under a coach that did not adhere to those principles of pressing and covering a lot of ground.
He has never played for a coach for any length of time, to instill that style of play or discipline to track back.
I think any personal opinions you may have of him are clouding your perceptions of his performances.
Maybe that’s the wrong term but it’s fair to say that he gassed easily and didn’t do much tracking back
On the bench today. Not surprising given he started midweek and is still working his way back to full match fitness.
Do people genuinely think he'll be back for us sometime. I just can't see it.
It's a few games into the season, who could see anything?
I mean, Greenwood didn't really have either himself bar a good run from Martial at CF for a few months, and looked 10x the player.
I watched a lot of Antony prior to coming here and it wasn't anything different. He's just not as good as Greenwood.
I don't recall any criticisms of Greenwood's perceived laziness. It was, as you say, his selfishness that people complained about. He wasn't a Park/Rooney/Tevez by any means in terms of how hard he worked off the ball, but he wasn't a Berbatov or current day Rashford either.
But having said that, we have scored nearly 35-40% fewer goals now than under the previous regime.
Just a thought but it was not as important under ole, we were a counter attacking side. Under ETH there is more of a fergie style expectation to work back
That's true. I remember G.Nev labelling it as sort of "cheating" the way Ole let Rashford and Greenwood stay up with Martial when we were out of possession. Rashford seems to still have that luxury under ten Hag, though.
I would agree that, from what we've seen, Antony works harder off the ball than Greenwood, but I don't think the gap in that regard is that big, and definitely not big enough to overlook how much better Greenwood was on the ball for us than Antony. Would you have faith in Greenwood adapting to the defensive demands of ten Hag? Personally, I wouldn't rule out him adjusting.
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