[LLMU]

His potential is there for everyone to see and only 19. He may have bad games here and there but he will get better and better given the right coaching and platform to perform.

 

[bishblaize]

Agreed. We'll need five with European football and the injuries we get back there and I think Evans will be the one to sacrifice.

I hate the way that we've had glass centre backs for so long that United fans now think that you need five frigging centre backs to cover two positions in a 50 game season. A sad reflection of the sicknotes we've had at United for the last couple of seasons.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Why would you do that? Plus if we are to compete in the Champions League it wouldn't be wise to go with 4 especially given McNair's inexperience and injury problems to Smalling.

Well tbh I just think that it might be time to cut ties with Jones now. He has been here a few years and hasn't really progressed at all, Plus he is always injured and we cannot persist with the Jones \ Smalling injured all the time routine, it has set us back just TOO many times. I think realistically one should go, and Smalling has more to his game then Jones IMO.

 

[Getsme]

Well tbh I just think that it might be time to cut ties with Jones now. He has been here a few years and hasn't really progressed at all, Plus he is always injured and we cannot persist with the Jones \ Smalling injured all the time routine, it has set us back just TOO many times. I think realistically one should go, and Smalling has more to his game then Jones IMO.

He's 23 and has been playing well this season, both are injury prone but Jones seems to be preferred choice to Smalling when both are fit (recently anyway).
Personally I'd keep both for one more season at least.

 

[ThanksBoss26]

Well tbh I just think that it might be time to cut ties with Jones now. He has been here a few years and hasn't really progressed at all, Plus he is always injured and we cannot persist with the Jones \ Smalling injured all the time routine, it has set us back just TOO many times. I think realistically one should go, and Smalling has more to his game then Jones IMO.

He's 23 and has been playing well this season, both are injury prone but Jones seems to be preferred choice to Smalling when both are fit (recently anyway).
Personally I'd keep both for one more season at least.

Both have a year left on their contracts so you'd expect if they're part of the long term plans they'll be offered new deals this summer.

 

[Silverman]

Personally I would sell Evans and keep this guy at the club......Smalling and a new CB (Varane/Godin/Laporte/Hummels) would be my starters with Jones, McNair and Rojo coming in and out.

 

[ZDwyr]

For me he is better than Smalling, Jones and Evans.

Seriously? Or are you joking?

 

[khoazany]

I hate the way that we've had glass centre backs for so long that United fans now think that you need five frigging centre backs to cover two positions in a 50 game season. A sad reflection of the sicknotes we've had at United for the last couple of seasons.

Actually if we go with only 5 centre backs next season (with whoever stays out of McNair/Blackett also counted) I'm sure we will have to use Tuanzebe/Fosu-Mensah at some points with our injury records.Blackett is effectively our 6th choice and he played 10+ games this season.

 

[Nate Dogg]

Seriously? Or are you joking?

Yes, very serious-he is already more composed than Smalling & Jones

 

[RedorDead21]

Yes, very serious-he is already more composed than Smalling & Jones

Would you have said this last week?

 

[Cassidy]

Yes, very serious-he is already more composed than Smalling & Jones

So you forget hes been sub'd off at half time not so long ago.
Hes a top talent and very good player, but hes not as good as Smalling, and way to early to say hes any better than Jones.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

Has LvG traditionally played with one ballplayer and one cover in his backline (when playing 4-3-3) or has he expected both to push forward and be able to play?

McNair might see his most obvious position blocked by Hummels should we sign him. He didn't look too out of place at LCB against Chelsea, but then Chelsea gifted us all the play.

 

[khoazany]

 

[dasty]

Can anyone tell me how tall he is? From the games that I have watched he seems to have the standard height for a centerback but for some reason wikipedia is telling me that he is 172cm? FIFA have him on 176cm, 182cm on irishfa and 186cm on FM15. I am a very confused man atm.

 

[m1y2]

good game paddy, love his long range shots, he could also work good with Smalling but bigger challengers will come up, yeah bigger than Chelsea away, they couldn't chase the ball well with the tactics and players like Zouma included so we had good amount of time on the ball from wchich ball playing MCNair benefited a lo, we will see how he copes with more aggressive and positive playing team but I like him a lot

BTW 6:52 my fav moment of the game Smalling taking down the ball like a boss, yeah terrible first touch..

 

[m1y2]

And is he better prospect than Stones?

 

[khoazany]

And is he better prospect than Stones?

We won't sign Stones so I don't really care.They're on different stage of development as well.

 

[Nate Dogg]

So you forget hes been sub'd off at half time not so long ago.
Hes a top talent and very good player, but hes not as good as Smalling, and way to early to say hes any better than Jones.

So what if he was subbed off on one occasion....he's young that is going to happen!!

 

[Nate Dogg]

Would you have said this last week?

Yes, i've seen enough of him to form a conclusion that he is better than Smalling, in particular on the ball whether passing the ball short or simply coming out with the ball.

 

[Raoul]

Yes, i've seen enough of him to form a conclusion that he is better than Smalling, in particular on the ball whether passing the ball short or simply coming out with the ball.

He's nowhere near as good as Smalling, who is our best defender right now.

 

[Darkpulse]

So you forget hes been sub'd off at half time not so long ago.
Hes a top talent and very good player, but hes not as good as Smalling, and way to early to say hes any better than Jones.

Not saying that he is better than Smalling or Jones, but his bad performance came at right back, where he will generally find less space to go forward with the ball, and being primarily used as a center back and DM he may not have been very used to the positional discipline required to play the role, despite the good performance the game before. As CB he can potentially have a lot more space to run into unmarked especially since LVG sets his teams up to create space at the back.

 

[gooDevil]

He was poor at RB, shouldn't count against him, he's completely unfamiliar with that position.

 

[gooDevil]

He's nowhere near as good as Smalling, who is our best defender right now.

I'm a huge McNair fan, but yeah he's not close to Smalling yet. I think he'll catch on very quickly though, his instincts are great.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Way way too early to be saying he's better than any of our first team defenders just yet. He was very good on Saturday, and he had a couple of impressive performances earlier in the season as well. It's all about how he develops and how he performs when the pressure is really on. I don't want to take anything away from his performance, but I think Chelsea were the least attacking team we have played this season. I think even Yeovil and Cambridge offered a bigger threat to our defence than Chelsea did.

There's definitely something about him. He seems to have constantly been thrown in when we have injury crisis', but he's mostly done well. That's a credit to him and his mentality. You could hardly blame a player for shitting it in a bit by being thrown in, in an away game against the best team in the league, but he looked very assured. Good to see him have the bollocks to not just get rid of the ball like we often saw Blackett do earlier in the season, but stepping into midfield, and even getting shots on target; away at Stamford Bridge! Top lad.

Would be good to see him get a Premier League loan and play week in week out. I don't think he'll get that here next season, especially as I predict we'll bring in a CB this summer as well.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

I thought he played with some real class on Saturday, bringing the ball out of defence and taking some decent shots. There's been the odd game where he's struggled but overall I think he's been good this season. Always great to see a youth player come through and play well.

Deserved that new contract.

 

[Rykker_4united]

Yes, i've seen enough of him to form a conclusion that he is better than Smalling, in particular on the ball whether passing the ball short or simply coming out with the ball.

Come on...

 

[Gopher Brown]

Can anyone tell me how tall he is? From the games that I have watched he seems to have the standard height for a centerback but for some reason wikipedia is telling me that he is 172cm? FIFA have him on 176cm, 182cm on irishfa and 186cm on FM15. I am a very confused man atm.

He looks about 6ft 2in. But he's had a bit of a late growth spurt in the last 2 years.

 

[Skills]

I'm a huge McNair fan, but yeah he's not close to Smalling yet. I think he'll catch on very quickly though, his instincts are great.

I think it's fairly unlikely he'll ever become as good as the current versions of Smalling or even Jones. But they're both pretty unique/special talents.

Interesting prospect though.

 

[::sonny::]

McNaibauer

 

[gooDevil]

I think it's fairly unlikely he'll ever become as good as the current versions of Smalling or even Jones. But they're both pretty unique/special talents.

Interesting prospect though.

He was only promoted to the U21s for the second half of last season, getting multiple starts for the first team in the league is way above what what we normally line up for a prospect of his age at CB. He won't even turn 20 for another week!

I think he's looked great at CB for someone his age. He was playing midfield for the U18s anyway, he hasn't been a CB primarily even.

 

[ZDwyr]

Yes, very serious-he is already more composed than Smalling & Jones

I would like to see him perform at the level he did on Saturday for a consistent period of time before I said that. He has shown potential though, but he isn't as good as the other CBs. Otherwise LvG would have played him instead of them.

 

[LR7]

What was impressive is that normally when Smalling, Jones and Evans to a lesser degree run forward with the ball, it all looks good for a while then they get to a certain point and panic a tad about what to do next. When McNair got forward he was refreshingly composed, which is probably due to his midfield roots. He made the right passes in the attacking third and had a couple of half decent shots. His composure in such a big game away, at such a young age was impressive. Hopefully his development trajectory continues in the same way next season.

 

[Feedingseagulls]

Would there be a case for him to learn the DM role from Carrick and Blind for a couple of years? Ready to step in as an option when Carrick retires.

 

[Darkpulse]

Would there be a case for him to learn the DM role from Carrick and Blind for a couple of years? Ready to step in as an option when Carrick retires.

For that he will probably have to improve on his vision, first touch and distribution imo.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

I hate the way that we've had glass centre backs for so long that United fans now think that you need five frigging centre backs to cover two positions in a 50 game season. A sad reflection of the sicknotes we've had at United for the last couple of seasons.

This! I couldn't even name Chelsea's 4th choice central defender (after Terry, cahill and Zouma) let alone their 5th or 6th

 

[gooDevil]

What was impressive is that normally when Smalling, Jones and Evans to a lesser degree run forward with the ball, it all looks good for a while then they get to a certain point and panic a tad about what to do next. When McNair got forward he was refreshingly composed, which is probably due to his midfield roots. He made the right passes in the attacking third and had a couple of half decent shots. His composure in such a big game away, at such a young age was impressive. Hopefully his development trajectory continues in the same way next season.

Well said. Defenses have dared him to come out in every game he's played at CB and he's shown great composure.

 

[NoPace]

Actually if we go with only 5 centre backs next season (with whoever stays out of McNair/Blackett also counted) I'm sure we will have to use Tuanzebe/Fosu-Mensah at some points with our injury records.Blackett is effectively our 6th choice and he played 10+ games this season.

We played 3 at the back for a while, though on the other hand you wouldn't necessarily expect Hummels to play 50 games and be injury free all year.

 

[Dante]

Once we shore up the midfield, Carrick will be out 5/6th choice centreback.

 

[The Red Thinker]

The lad is naturally suited to the possession game. Smart feet and a good head on his shoulders. His runs forward are actually how Beckenbauer used to do it! Pierce through midfield and have a go at goal. He's got something special about him the boy.

 

[Kag]

He's awfully indecisive when he's having a bad game. An early error seems to rock him for the rest of the match. That's a few times now.