Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace

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I didn't see the game either, but it sounds like a pretty typical Zaha showing: Struggling to beat a man despite apparently being really good at it.

The only thing he does nearly consistently well is roll a man using his back. The rest of his game is at Bolasie's level.

Aside from the expected youthful naivety on the pitch and the issues off it, he's just not that talented anyway.
 
Well no, they didn't play at that level during yesterdays game, otherwise we wouldn't have put 3 past them and possibly many more. He had a poor game and it ends at that
They are a week behind in their training.
 
I think there's a good player in there, his athletisism is world-class, and he is a talented lad on the ball aswell. He needs mature and learn how to use his talents effectively and i'm sure that Van Gaal can iron out alot of the creases in Zaha's game if he finds it worthwhile. Not saying he'll ever become as good as Bale because he more than likely won't, but they share many of the same strenghts. Zaha is years behind in terms of experience despite only being 2 years younger and it's doubtful if he's got the determination to to reach such levels but if he becomes 3/4 of the player Bale is it'll be worth it. Nani's a lost cause though imo, while I still have hope for Zaha.
Fair enough, I can see where you'd get the hope from. I just personally don't see it - yes, he has good athleticism, but his decision making is pretty poor from all the times I've watched him. Hopefully I'm wrong on that front.

Nani is still relatively young. My thinking with him is that we have certainly seen him deliver over the course of a few seasons, all we can do with Zaha is hope that he has the ability. We know Nani has. We hope he can rediscover it.

I'm not sure he's a Louis player though, doesn't necessarily do as much tracking back as Louis would like, I'd imagine.
 
Like I said before, He had a decent game against Inter, all those who were negative prior to that posted nothing, not so decent game....all come out of the wood work. People are posting who didn't even see the game.........
 
Its obvious that we'll have to agree to disagree, you must have been watching a different game to me. The idea however that Pepe isn't a top defender is an absolute joke. Just because you have a negative view of Zaha, doesn't mean you have to make ridiculous statements in order to back your argument up.

Aye, we'll have to leave it here. I think that at the moment there's no neutral ground when it comes to Zaha, one's over-positive and the other's over-negative. And as said, he'd have to play more-skilled and tougher defenders in the PL.
 
Aye, we'll have to leave it here. I think that at the moment there's no neutral ground when it comes to Zaha, one's over-positive and the other's over-negative. And as said, he'd have to play more-skilled and tougher defenders in the PL.

How many of those defenders have played for or Real would buy tomorrow if they are on the market? How many have champ league and world cup experience and medals?
 
How many of those defenders have played for or Real would buy tomorrow if they are on the market? How many have champ league and world cup experience and medals?

We're derailing this thread now but how is that relevant? Want to tell me that because Anderson has CL medal then we should consider him top, top midfielder ? But since you're asking, two that come from the top of my head are EBJT and Cahill.

And seriously, world cup and Pepe shouldn't be mentioned in the same line.
 
If were not gunna play with what we call traditional wingers, he should go. But I'd rather loan him out, than get less than £8m.
 
Like I said before, He had a decent game against Inter, all those who were negative prior to that posted nothing, not so decent game....all come out of the wood work. People are posting who didn't even see the game.........

Wow, his game against Inter was classed as decent?

I thought he was clumsy on the ball, clumsy with his passing, he ran down blind alleys on numerous occasions and made very little positive contribution.
 
On topic, I believe that if LVG decides that he wants to give Adnan, Zaha, Jesse Lingard more playtime then he'll switch to 4-3-3 from time to time. It's manageable with COC and FA cup and he himself said that players are familiar with 4-3-3 so it wouldn't be too much of a problem I believe.
 
Wow, his game against Inter was classed as decent?

I thought he was clumsy on the ball, clumsy with his passing, he ran down blind alleys on numerous occasions and made very little positive contribution.

I think quite a few thought it was decent. I guess those who generally have a negative view will always think differently. The games about opinions I guess.....Fortunately there's only one persons at mo that counts. If he thinks he's not good enough, he'll be gone like many others.....
 
Fair enough, I can see where you'd get the hope from. I just personally don't see it - yes, he has good athleticism, but his decision making is pretty poor from all the times I've watched him. Hopefully I'm wrong on that front.

Nani is still relatively young. My thinking with him is that we have certainly seen him deliver over the course of a few seasons, all we can do with Zaha is hope that he has the ability. We know Nani has. We hope he can rediscover it.

I'm not sure he's a Louis player though, doesn't necessarily do as much tracking back as Louis would like, I'd imagine.

I don't think that you're wrong at all. I agree that one of his main problems atm is his decision-making, hopefully this can be improved with experience and guidance from a great manager.

Nani isn't really the player in his way either, as there are 3-5 players who are most likely ahead of him in the pecking-order atm so even if Nani leaves he's still in a tough place.

I'm sure that he'll track back as much as the Van Gaal asks him to. He might be a bit thick but I don't think that he'd disrespect the manager, especially not Louis.
 
I don't think that you're wrong at all. I agree that one of his main problems atm is his decision-making, hopefully this can be improved with experience and guidance from a great manager.

Nani isn't really the player in his way either, as there are 3-5 players who are most likely ahead of him in the pecking-order atm so even if Nani leaves he's still in a tough place.

I'm sure that he'll track back as much as the Van Gaal asks him to. He might be a bit thick but I don't think that he'd disrespect the manager, especially not Louis.
The only thing is, would LVG and his coaches want to spend the time and effort on trying to improve a player who hasn't displayed any of the basic natural traits of a top class striker? You need to be better than good to play as a striker for United, you need to be international class. Personally I haven't seen anything from Zaha that suggests to me he could become an international class striker.

For his own sake he needs to go somewhere he'll be played regularly in his preferred position of winger and develop his career there. I just don't see him ever making it at Utd if he stays.
 
The only thing is, would LVG and his coaches want to spend the time and effort on trying to improve a player who hasn't displayed any of the basic natural traits of a top class striker? You need to be better than good to play as a striker for United, you need to be international class. Personally I haven't seen anything from Zaha that suggests to me he could become an international class striker.

For his own sake he needs to go somewhere he'll be played regularly in his preferred position of winger and develop his career there. I just don't see him ever making it at Utd if he stays.

It's certainly going to be difficult for him. But the goal for van Gaal is probably to play a 4-3-3, which is a system that Zaha would have a bigger chance to feature in. It might not be our dominant system this year but as van Gaal has shown in the world cup he'll want a very tactically capable squad who can change systems in games. For that he'll also need different types of players such as more natural wingers.

The most ideal thing for me, if we decide to loan him out, would be if a team such as Everton would take him on, but we'll see what happens.
 
It's certainly going to be difficult for him. But the goal for van Gaal is probably to play a 4-3-3, which is a system that Zaha would have a bigger chance to feature in. It might not be our dominant system this year but as van Gaal has shown in the world cup he'll want a very tactically capable squad who can change systems in games. For that he'll also need different types of players such as more natural wingers.

The most ideal thing for me, if we decide to loan him out, would be if a team such as Everton would take him on, but we'll see what happens.

The ability to change systems requires intelligent, adaptable players - not qualities zaha has shown much evidence of.

As far as a loan to Everton - why on earth would they want him? He couldn't get on the field regularly for the worst team in the league last season - what would a team chasing a top 4 position do with him? Wait a minute - aren't we chasing a top 4 position?
 
The ability to change systems requires intelligent, adaptable players - not qualities zaha has shown much evidence of.

As far as a loan to Everton - why on earth would they want him? He couldn't get on the field regularly for the worst team in the league last season - what would a team chasing a top 4 position do with him? Wait a minute - aren't we chasing a top 4 position?

I think that you're being a bit harsh on him, he's done alright playing in the striking position even van Gaal said that he did well vs Inter.

A club SUCH as Everton, a club that with talented managers who play good football. The've used a big part of their budget on Lukaku and might still want/need someone to replace Deulofeu so it's not completely unfeasable. But it's completely hypothetical.
 
I think with time LVG could get a lot out of him, but the attempt will be at the expense of other young players like powell and henriquez. We just have too much young attacking talent and only 2/3 spots where they can play.

Still though, we can see that Zaha has some physical girls and great ability to beat a man. Plenty of people saying he can't beat a man off the back of two half performances, I don't think that trumps a few years of him walking past players while being a teenager. He has some amazing tricks but needs to get his head right and his confidence back. I actually think if we can get him one on one with a defender often enough he will be extremely dangerous. Probably will suit LVGs counter attacking style in that regard
 
I think with time LVG could get a lot out of him, but the attempt will be at the expense of other young players like powell and henriquez. We just have too much young attacking talent and only 2/3 spots where they can play.

Still though, we can see that Zaha has some physical girls and great ability to beat a man. Plenty of people saying he can't beat a man off the back of two half performances, I don't think that trumps a few years of him walking past players while being a teenager. He has some amazing tricks but needs to get his head right and his confidence back. I actually think if we can get him one on one with a defender often enough he will be extremely dangerous. Probably will suit LVGs counter attacking style in that regard
Only problem is, he plays striker like a winger. He's simply not a natural finisher and he doesn't possess the striker's instinct. That can't be taught.
 
Only problem is, he plays striker like a winger. He's simply not a natural finisher and he doesn't possess the striker's instinct. That can't be taught.

I agree, I think LVG has already made his mind on Zaha, and playing him as striker on tour is just giving him the rope to hang himself.
 
I think with time LVG could get a lot out of him, but the attempt will be at the expense of other young players like powell and henriquez. We just have too much young attacking talent and only 2/3 spots where they can play.

Still though, we can see that Zaha has some physical girls and great ability to beat a man. Plenty of people saying he can't beat a man off the back of two half performances, I don't think that trumps a few years of him walking past players while being a teenager. He has some amazing tricks but needs to get his head right and his confidence back. I actually think if we can get him one on one with a defender often enough he will be extremely dangerous. Probably will suit LVGs counter attacking style in that regard
Powell plays in a completely different position, he's not a striker. He's a central midfielder/attacking mid hybrid - basically plays both.
 
Powell plays in a completely different position, he's not a striker. He's a central midfielder/attacking mid hybrid - basically plays both.
He played second striker and lone striker all last season from what I can tell, I know fergie said he looks like a good CM a few years back but I'm not sure how valid that is these days
 
He played second striker and lone striker all last season from what I can tell, I know fergie said he looks like a good CM a few years back but I'm not sure how valid that is these days
Because Wigan had injuries and a lack of quality, and he started there because he was scoring. He is not a striker.
 
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I can't believe no PL clubs are interested in him


'Interesting' choice. Hard to see how that benefits him or the club really. Even if he does really well, what do we learn from it? We already know he's really good at Championship level.
 
'Interesting' choice. Hard to see how that benefits him or the club really. Even if he does really well, what do we learn from it? We already know he's really good at Championship level.

It's not that simple though, he would be getting game time to work on being a bit more consistent in everything he does. Again, I don't think Pearce will help him much in terms of his runs and movement but at least he would get games.
 
'Interesting' choice. Hard to see how that benefits him or the club really. Even if he does really well, what do we learn from it? We already know he's really good at Championship level.

Perhaps Forest will use him as a striker and we'll see whether he can cut it with the new role or not.
 
In the last few weeks, Forest have signed two right wingers and spend £5.5m on a centre forward. I'd be surprised if they're in for him.
 
Palace chairman says LVG hasn't decided what to do with Zaha yet
 
Really wish he stays. I really do think LvG will get the best out of him. Real shame that he hasn't actually been given a chance. Certainly think he would have become a decent player for us with the right guidance.
 
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