As some have said Rojo was just as bad if not worse in his lack of composure and relinquishing of possession.
33
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 18
- Clean sheets
- 5
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 2
Absolutely ruthless from Van Gaal but he did what was needed. As Gary mentioned some managers would've waited till half time but these are the kind of decisions VG gets paid for.
Also as VG said, its only one game and McNair will hopefully be better for the experience.
Also as VG said, its only one game and McNair will hopefully be better for the experience.
I thought LvG was great in the press conference, was fair in his assessment and said it's not going to happen for a long time (once in a lifetime moment). Hopefully this will not dent the lad's confidence.
ruthless it may seems to be but that's life and that's why Louis Van Gaal is a world class manager.
tough on a young lad like paddy for sure but the team is more important and he was a complete liability last night. he has done nothing wrong before this, hope he bounce back stronger.
tough on a young lad like paddy for sure but the team is more important and he was a complete liability last night. he has done nothing wrong before this, hope he bounce back stronger.
Early hook was totally justified. Was giving the ball away. I get the feeling LVG has finished giving people the benefit of the doubt. He's calling people out and demanding quality performances.
He had some individual errors, but the defense as a whole was always verging on calamity. Many players in front of him gave the ball away carelessly as well, putting him under pressure. The team/system/philosophy deficiencies certainly didn't help his performance. Tough spot for a young player to be singled out as the problem.
I felt for him. Tough game but IMO he shouldn't have started because we should've played a flat four to begin with. Im also pleased about the reactions in here, no harsh or unwarranted criticism. How come Blackett doesn't get the same treatment?
Very impressed by LVG taking McNair off - leaving him on would just have been what Moyes would do, in other words, setting up your players to fail rather than to succeed. I'm a huge fan of McNair, and I'm sure he himself was glad to be taken off before costing the team. The lad just keeps his head down and gives it his all with no fuss or nonsense.
Feel bad for the boy, but something had to change and it was the right decision.
I'm glad this thread isn't filled with people screaming for his head. Paddy has been a pleasant surprise for us this season. He had a bad day today as did Rojo and Evans, but I put a lot of our shocking defensive displays down to that godforsaken 352. For some reason this formation brings out the inner Prunier in all our defenders. For the last few weeks Smalling looked so assured on the ball and even he looked shaky on the ball today. This has happened every time we've gone 352 that it can't be a coincidence.
I'm glad this thread isn't filled with people screaming for his head. Paddy has been a pleasant surprise for us this season. He had a bad day today as did Rojo and Evans, but I put a lot of our shocking defensive displays down to that godforsaken 352. For some reason this formation brings out the inner Prunier in all our defenders. For the last few weeks Smalling looked so assured on the ball and even he looked shaky on the ball today. This has happened every time we've gone 352 that it can't be a coincidence.
Good on LvG to make the call that early.
I doubt that. I think he would have been disappointed/embarrassed to be taken off and annoyed at how he performed.
Great question.
McNair has looked a bit more stable and reassured than Blackett has, even though the latter looked good during the pre-season tour. I think LvG has finally realized he can't get much more out of the inexperienced youngsters than he has this year, and attempting to force the issue will result in our conceding more goals and damaging their confidence. Evans and Rojo couldn't have returned any sooner, and getting Jones back will be another boost.
To be fair, he alluded to this during our pre season tour. He said that both Blackett and Mcnair are great on their day, but consistent performances from them would not be possible.
Blackett is unfairly criticised when he makes the slightest of mistakes. McNair has a bad game and its because he's young and inexperienced. It should be the same both ways. Just saying.
I don't think it's merely a bad day in the office tbh.Can't be so coincident that the trio Rojo,Evans and McNair all performed badly and gave too many balls away.Something is really wrong with that system.
I agree with this.
bingo.
McNair hadn't put a foot wrong before this match whereas Blackett has made me nervous every match he plays.
Blackett was directly responsible for a number of goals being conceded early in the season. McNair wasn't at fault for the goal in this one.
I agree that Blackett has shown promise should he continue to improve. I'll be hoping for him to succeed. But turning him into some sort of martyr in this thread is nonsense in my opinion.
Perhaps Blackett would have been pulled off before halftime earlier this season if we had been able to. Perhaps he'd have received less criticism then. But the fact is he played, made errors, looked fragile and/or limited and justly received some stick as a result.
Blackett was directly responsible for a number of goals being conceded early in the season. McNair wasn't at fault for the goal in this one.
I agree that Blackett has shown promise should he continue to improve. I'll be hoping for him to succeed. But turning him into some sort of martyr in this thread is nonsense in my opinion.
Perhaps Blackett would have been pulled off before halftime earlier this season if we had been able to. Perhaps he'd have received less criticism then. But the fact is he played, made errors, looked fragile and/or limited and justly received some stick as a result.
McNair and Blackett deserve to cop the same amount I think. McNair has probably performed better than Blackett in some matches but they have both looked poor. Sure you could say McNair hasn't directly cost us a goal from a mistake like Blackett but that is more down to luck/poor finishing.
Had a poor game yesterday, it happens. The kid is 19 after all. He'll learn from it and bounce back. Taking him off was the right move imo.
Not great when you are having a shocker plus playing in a defensive unit where no one is sure of what they are doing.
Won't have been good for his confidence to be subbed before half time but he really was completely out of his depth yesterday. I didn't expect LVG to be that ruthless but it needed to be done. Obligatory comparison to Moyes who would have done nothing until the 70th minute.
Ok to take him off, but the injury to Smalling didn't help him and the rest of the defence. At to be fair, Evans was not good when he came on, and Rojo had a terrible game aswell. Hopefully McNair will learn from the game and his mistakes, and keep working and developing. It's natural for players to have bad matches now and then, specially young players. He will be class in a couple of years time..
LvG knows how to handle youngsters, so I'm not worried about him. He'll definitely learn from this.
I hope he is made stronger than to sulk after being hauled off in what was a terrible performance.
Needs to work harder and be more assertive. He would be fine in the long run, I feel.
Needs to work harder and be more assertive. He would be fine in the long run, I feel.
I was going to come in and make the point about Blackett being criticised but good to see it has been mentioned a few times above.
It must have been a blow to his confidence and he must have been embarrassed by the early substitution. However, I think being taken off early would have been better for him than him staying on and making further mistakes which possibly could have led to goals, making him a scapegoat of sorts.
On the flipside he could have gotten better as the match progressed on but it looked uunlikely, as the whole team was playing like shite and the defense on the whole was shaky. It was not the right atmosphere for a teenager to be playing in. High pressure match against a good team away, with his team not playing well and he himself being off colour.
Damage limitation and an astute call by LVG if you ask me. I'd prefer to regard it as him protecting McNair rather than him punishing McNair. Bit of both tbf but veering towards the former imo.
On the flipside he could have gotten better as the match progressed on but it looked uunlikely, as the whole team was playing like shite and the defense on the whole was shaky. It was not the right atmosphere for a teenager to be playing in. High pressure match against a good team away, with his team not playing well and he himself being off colour.
Damage limitation and an astute call by LVG if you ask me. I'd prefer to regard it as him protecting McNair rather than him punishing McNair. Bit of both tbf but veering towards the former imo.
LVG was spot on to take him off, he had to be cruel to be kind.
I actually think Mcnair, except yesterday has been solid if not spectacular, and i don't know if anybody has noticed it, with Blackett it seems like the jump from reserves to first team is far too big for him, he takes far too long on the ball before deciding what to do with it and gets robbed, and constantly hoofs it forward to nobody, it actually pisses me off to see him being that much casual, while Mcnair looks focused and solid, although both are in-experienced, i actually think Mcnair can make it here, hence he wouldn't get as much criticism from me or other people, while for Blackett, i feel he will never make it here and he doesn't have the potential and ability as a player to succeed here.
I think the Leicester game has really knocked Blackett's confidence. He looked very assured before that game but not so much since.
Taking McNair off before an error proved costly was absolutely the right call and better for him in the long run. He's been good in his brief United career so far. Hopefully that continues and this gives a bit of perspective to those who would have him as a first choice starter.
Taking McNair off before an error proved costly was absolutely the right call and better for him in the long run. He's been good in his brief United career so far. Hopefully that continues and this gives a bit of perspective to those who would have him as a first choice starter.
I have said a couple of times that I hadn't actually been impressed with his defending apart from against West Ham. He seems to stand off markers and let them run at him. Which would be fine if he was strong/quick but tbh most of the time he looks like a boy against men. Those saying he is better than Evans need have a word with themselves and rewatch last night's game. I see more potential in Blackett, but that is probably because he is more developed physically.
I guess that's because people expected far less from McNair. To be honest at the beginning of the season many fans barely knew of him while Blackett was already highly rated and expected to make a few appearances (though surely no one expected we'd rely on either of them to this extent), McNair looked like a player who might never play in Premier League for United let alone start games consistently. He's been very good so far, yesterday was basically his first bad performance.
He is a boy against men, he will mature and grow out of it. He's 19 and probably didn't expect to make his PL debut this season at all.
I think they showed Van Gaal high fiving him when he walked past after being subbed so I think it was handled well, Van Gaal will make sure it doesn't affect him. The good thing about Van Gaal is he won't be afraid to start McNair again in the future if he has to, it's not like he'll be frozen out.
Absolutely awful display from him. Quite unbelievable just how bad he looked. Very young though.
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What goals? His only bad performance was against Leciester. He played 90 minutes in 2 games where we got clean sheets. We've only had four clean sheets all season.
Blackett wasn't highly rated by anyone. You're overstating things. If anything most people were surprised he made the jump because Michael Keane and Tom Thorpe are rated more highly.
Moyes out!