First United game, playing with unfamiliarity and only 18 years old. Nothing to judge him here
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Only a snippet, but I thought he did well. Couple nice bits of play, looks technically good and confident.
How did he do against the Chinese?
He was decent. Suffered a very bad tackle where in any normal game the opposition player would have been sent off. Got taken off at half time along with Petrucci. Played in the middle.
Good work rate is what stood out for me.
Thanks a lot. Let's hope he'll get more opportunities to impress. Great to hear about Petrucci, too.
Great run and first touch for his chance, dragged the finish wide but was still encouraging. Can see him getting goals for us
Looked composed in the middle when he had time. Crisp passer.
Seemed quite one-footed though, not sure if anyone who's seen more can comment. Pretty much every pass, first touch and play started with his right. Not as big an issue out wide, but limits him in the middle, imo.
Seemed quite one-footed though, not sure if anyone who's seen more can comment. Pretty much every pass, first touch and play started with his right. Not as big an issue out wide, but limits him in the middle, imo.
Steven Gerrard is extremely one footed. Paul Scholes hardly has a sweet left foot either?
Would be great to see individual highlights from today's game. Anyone?
If he were extremely one footed he would have used his right and put the ball by the near post instead of using his left when he had his chance.
Being overly reliant on one foot is more of a hinderance out wide than it is playing in the centre.
Yeah but their right foot is capable of more things than 10 Bebes both feet + his hands.
Carrick has the best 'weak' foot out of our centre midfield players and it's not top quality.
He can use his left...
2 things:
Yes - obviously most players occasionally can score with their 'weak' foot - just like most of us could score a wonder goal every now and then.
Powell looked a bit like Ando in the way he received passes and looked for passes - always using his right (obviously the left for Ando). That's how it felt to me.
Players like Scholes and Gerrard are easily able to go either way - it's part of what makes them so dangerous. Not saying Powell can't do that - obviously he can - I was just surprised tis all.
As for being one footed being more of a hinderance on the wing - I couldn't agree less. Some of the best wingers in history could barely stand on their weak foot, can't think of a single central midfielder who had that limitation. Figo, Giggs, Valencia to name a few.
Yes - obviously most players occasionally can score with their 'weak' foot - just like most of us could score a wonder goal every now and then.
Powell looked a bit like Ando in the way he received passes and looked for passes - always using his right (obviously the left for Ando). That's how it felt to me.
Players like Scholes and Gerrard are easily able to go either way - it's part of what makes them so dangerous. Not saying Powell can't do that - obviously he can - I was just surprised tis all.
As for being one footed being more of a hinderance on the wing - I couldn't agree less. Some of the best wingers in history could barely stand on their weak foot, can't think of a single central midfielder who had that limitation. Figo, Giggs, Valencia to name a few.
Nick Powell - how's he done in pre-season?
For us muppets who missed the game, what was he like against Shanghai?
For us muppets who missed the game, what was he like against Shanghai?
I liked what i saw of his positional sense. He has a future in the middle for sure.
I presume you mean that right footers will open up to the left, left footers to vica versa. In other words right footers will tend to turn and pass towards their left.
Exactly - with certain players you can just kind of see where they're going to go next. The best midfielders are the ones where you have no freakin clue.
I'm not saying he was bad btw, thought he looked very comfortable in quite a deep role. Made himself available a lot, had a nice touch and good, pacey distribution. Will be interesting given our obvious deficiency in the centre if that's where Fergie will force him to play.
I'd say its more about the nerves. The kid just got launched from nothing into one of the most high profile teams in the world, not wanting to make a mistake is probably a common feeling.
From what we've seen of him in the past, he looks to be at least fairly comfortable with his left.
He's certainly not shy shooting with his left.
The greatest midfielder ever, Diego Maradona was almost as one footed as you can get.
I like how he got of the tough situation in the corner at 1:25. Good presence of mind. I think Fergie is going to use this lad in the first team this season. Maybe thats why we haven't bought a central midfielder.
I'd be surprised to see him used in the league much at all. Especially given the number of players we have in that area. I expect he'll get quite a few cup games though. If he puts in a few top notch performances in those though then who knows.
He is comfy on either foot, did you not see the strike in the playoff final, he deliberately flicked it to his left side and the way he re-adjusted to hit it after it skipped and buried it with his left. Valencia would not have tried it on his left, to compare it to a very one footed player.
He didn't do that well in the long range category today, not that I'm being harsh on the lad but he did try to rush things sometimes when upfront there was not that much movement. That was only his flaw today imo. He did really well in other departments, though sometimes a bad touch or a concentration lapse lead him to lose the ball, but the potential was there to be seen.
To be honest, if Kagawa wasn't so good, Powell might have looked decent, but with Kagawa showing a motm match and when Scholes came on, we totally dominated.
His game has so much room for improvement, while he looks quite good already is my summary. Just learn from Scholes and he'll make it.
To be honest, if Kagawa wasn't so good, Powell might have looked decent, but with Kagawa showing a motm match and when Scholes came on, we totally dominated.
His game has so much room for improvement, while he looks quite good already is my summary. Just learn from Scholes and he'll make it.
He has the old English love of the Hollywood pass.
So does our resident Brazilian midfielder.
Worth remembering that Powell only turned 18 in March.. of course he has a lot to learn.
Madness to be talking about being too one footed. One of his biggest strengths is that he can use either.
He has probably never played a game of football so 1 sided, its difficult to know what to do in those situations.
To be fair to him we didnt have a huge amount of width either, the fullbacks were not pushing as high as they should of, petrucci was cutting inside and valencia was triple marked.
He tried to force a few passes forward, but alot of them failed. The main thing was he was atleast trying them!. Hes definitely an exciting project to watch.
That's a very common "rookie" mistake from youngsters. He's not the only one. See it from Brady, Tunnicliffe, Lindgard and more. Anderson still does this and with Jones it's his biggest strength and weakness when he's got the ball.
It's one of the reasons people generally rate young players like Petrucci so highly. He doesn't do this and he's good at passing the ball. Calm and composed.
TBH the one thing Rio said is that he's 2 footed. Think Carrick mentioned it too! They've seen more of him than we have.
Hopefully you guys didn't see my comment as bashing the lad, but my eyes were focused on his every movement cuz already knew what Kagawa can produce...
No harm done.
No harm done.
God I hope not. He's 18 and has barely played at the top level. We need someone to step in now and make a difference in the DM position. Not a kid who'll spend the next two seasons hit or miss like Jones. And it's fine they'll be that way, they're teenagers, they are supposed to be that way.
But we really need a performer.
I didn't think he had an awful game, but nothing he did stood out for me except his shot.
Then again the feed for my game was terrible and I spent the whole game squinting and identifying them by the pixelated color of their skin. Does that make me racist
While you on the other hand are a right ganesha with each limb multi talented I bet.
I like him, for such a jump up in class he doesnt seem out of place in a united line up.
We have Carrick-Scholes. And Ando-Cleverley when fit would be a very good option for us in the middle.God I hope not. He's 18 and has barely played at the top level. We need someone to step in now and make a difference in the DM position. Not a kid who'll spend the next two seasons hit or miss like Jones. And it's fine they'll be that way, they're teenagers, they are supposed to be that way.
But we really need a performer.
I didn't think he had an awful game, but nothing he did stood out for me except his shot.
Then again the feed for my game was terrible and I spent the whole game squinting and identifying them by the pixelated color of their skin. Does that make me racist
Its still early days and lets face it, playing in an unfit side against third rated teams isn't the best way to judge a player. However what impressed me till now is the way he adapted in the first team. He seems to be an EPL tested player rather then an 18 yr old with no EPL or Championship experience. He's a good passer of the ball, he can shoot from a distance and his awareness on the pitch is top notch.
Lets see how he will adapt when the real pressure starts kicking in.
Lets see how he will adapt when the real pressure starts kicking in.
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