Superb second half. Had a very nice burst of speed, good ball control and crossing, and he's already bulked up!
Exciting player. Seems to have good footballing brain.
Exciting player. Seems to have good footballing brain.
Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace
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Ok i am well and truly excited! For multiple reasons...he showed bottle, tough away game and really came into the game in the second half. Was double and even triple teamed up at times but rarely lost the ball. Not afraid to use a bit too much skill...he was flicking his way out of things even in the last 7-8 mins...imo this isnt a bad thing. As someone just said...cocks out 
Yeah he does. Unfortunately he suffers from Beckham voice syndrome.
When I saw him live he was actually pretty skinny, good strength for his size but I think it's more determination than actual muscle.
So, did he do anything?
Talented messer. Needs to understand he doesn't have to do a trick every time he gets the ball. I don't think he'd be much of an asset to United as is. All depends on his learning curve really.
Really. Maybe because he doesn't have that Welbeck lanky-ness look (at 20 y.o.). He does look ready for PL game, body strength-wise.
Palace have played him up front too
I don't want this to come across like I am basing my opinion on Zaha off of one game and youtube clips, but I can't agree with that.
Sometimes Nani, Valencia and Young all seem to run out of idea's and go on a stretch of bad form. If Zaha can transfer some of that to the Premiership, he will be a huge asset and a sure fire starter.
Premier League teams (West Ham and Bolton from memory) were trying to bring him over a couple of years ago, so he's clearly judged to have the talent to play at the top level.
#1 He did not do a trick every time he had the ball. Plus, I hope you give Nani the same treatment, because he does more tricks than Zaha when he has the ball.
#2 Way too fecking early to have that opinion of thinking he won't make it at United. He hasn't even arrived here yet. I know you said "think", but it's still a pathetic opinion to make.
He clearly has the talent, and I've seen worse players succeeding at United. Apologies if it seems I've just shat on your opinion, but I just get annoyed when fans completely write off a player when he hasn't even touched a ball for us yet.
I assume he meant by 'as is' that he's not quite ready to make an impact for us yet, which is perhaps proven by him being sent back to the palace on loan. He didn't write him off at all, just implying that he still has a lot to learn, which is obvious given that he's still a kid.
feck! Apologies! OK, to be fair he did say "as is". Completely ignored that.
In that case, fair enough. Although, he could very well do a better job than our wingers at the moment to be fair
In that case, fair enough. Although, he could very well do a better job than our wingers at the moment to be fair
We see so many instances where players prove people wrong. I think we just have to wait and see. Playing with better players can improve a player. Weren't we willing to let Ronaldo stay at Lisbon but he wanted to come straight away? Even people right there find it difficult to know 100% but there's no harm in giving players like him experience. Zaha is still at Palace because they wanted to keep him and that wasn't a deal breaker for us.
Ronaldo wasn't ready at 18. Folks will say he was but what I mean is, he was raw. We accepted that because the potential was there. He took the piss with step overs and he was learning the game. Same as Zaha. Players of this nature are like wildcards and I think he'll be used from the bench quite a lot next season if all goes well
I'm confuse lads. I left my house with him being compared to Heskey and now people have their cocks out. Can somebody summarise his performance?
He did ok and that's about it, he's clearly Palace's best player as almost every attack went through him, he could of got an assist for the winner but Phillips fluffed the chance
If you were giving him a score I reckon 7/10 would be generous
He did pretty much as well as you can when you're the teams focal point and you're getting double, even triple, marked.
He wouldn't look out of place starting on the wing for us in your average league game.
He wouldn't look out of place starting on the wing for us in your average league game.
Was barely involved first half, second half he came alive and set up chances as you'd expect. A few good moments on the ball and feeding a teammate for a chance
Watching that video he looks promising. Plenty of trickery and looks to be able to beat his man. Will be interesting to see if he can do the same things against better quality defenders. Raw talent at least looks to be there. Lots of polishing required though
Great young talent glad we signed him has a touch of the John Barnes about him. If he can get remotely to that level we'll have a superstar!
United-fans not getting excited by having this guy in our side should find another sport
Comsmit and Will Absolute are great at judging talents.
The thing I liked the most was his directness, no messing about as soon as he got the ball, he was running at the defender putting them under pressure.
Yes the lad still has rough edges but that's what fergie enjoys.
All I know is that if we can improve him we will have a great prospect on our hands.
He reminds me of a weird mixture of young ronaldo and Danny welbeck
Yes the lad still has rough edges but that's what fergie enjoys.
All I know is that if we can improve him we will have a great prospect on our hands.
He reminds me of a weird mixture of young ronaldo and Danny welbeck
that boy is sex (opinion based on one game against us in the FA cup and the video above).
I agree with Will actually, too many needless tricks. I reckon he'll be hugely frustrating in his early United career.
Hopefully he'll learn, just like Ronaldo, to use them only when he needs to.
No doubt about that. We should be able to iron the needless ones out of him hopefully over time
So much to work with there from a coaching perspective, even if he doesn't make it at the price we brought him at he's worth the punt imo.. United staff must be salivating at the prospect at making him the complete player. He's either going to be sensational or a flop, no middle ground but I think be patient and this kid's got alot of raw ability which can be harnessed into something special.
Close to the box or when running at speed, he makes good passes, his tricks usually come off more often than not and he uses them to beat players rather than just do a step over for the sake of it. Am excited to see how far he can go, a far more sensible signing than a Bebe.. so stop whinging and just wish the lad the best.. after seeing the likes of Valencia and Young this season, it's refreshing to see we've signed a potential entertainer.
Aye, I was surprised by how much end product there was and I liked his movement. He seems quite an intelligent player beneath all the tricks. However there is a big difference between the Championship and the Premier League.
Dare I say it but for some reason he reminded me of Nani, he backs himself to take defenders one-on-one even if it slows down the play.
Zaha is looking like a fool, trying to pull tricks and losing the ball.
Made this comment after the first half of the English U21 game and couple of people didn't particularly enjoy it.
He has the tools but they need to be honed. Next season will about settling in and learning to be a United player.
He actually toned it down in the second half and some of his decision making was good.
And ofcourse he's gonna be honed but there's loads of ability there.
Well isn't it obvious because he is young?
That is something young players do and that's why they are trained out of it through experience and coaching.
My concern based on what I've seen of Zaha so far is that he looks to have talent, but at the same time seems very much a player thriving off the confidence of being the best player in the team. I just wonder whether this will transfer over to United whereby he will have some of the best players in the world around him who will be absolutely furious if you lose the ball needlessly, and a crowd and manager who are expecting to see a win every week.
I am a bit unsure how good he will be without this sort of freedom and confidence. Still, his mentality may be absolutely top notch and this could not be a problem for all I know.
I am a bit unsure how good he will be without this sort of freedom and confidence. Still, his mentality may be absolutely top notch and this could not be a problem for all I know.
We've got anew Nani-like player, whom a lot will love and a lot will dislike.
Nani still hasn't signed that new contract - who knows, this guy might be his replacement.
I actually thought he'd be more frustrating, judging by his youtubes and some of what I read about him. Every now and then he shows he understands the value of releasing it quickly and most of his tricks are at least somewhat constructive. I'd much rather have a young winger who's too confident in his ability to take players on than one who isn't confident enough.
In all fairness sending him back to Crystal Palace for the rest of the season was the only way to get this deal done now.
He wasn't sent back because he's not good enough (although I doubt he'd be played much), he was sent back to Palace because they need him if they hope to get promoted to the PL.
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