Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace

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akash02 said:
Zaha has been one of our best players pre-season. Not sure how you could have come away from all those games unimpressed
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Because I see a player, who regularly in dangerous positions, screws up what he's trying to do.

Of course, there is plenty of mitigation for that, and I'm sure he will come good. But as for right now, I'm not seeing what everyone else is seeing. He has been incredibly wasteful, both with his pass and his shot - and even the dribbles have looked untidy and unimpressive for the most part I think. I see nerves, although I also see potential.
 
I can see Zaha replacing Valencia in the line up if Valencia carries on his form from last year, nothing was exciting about Valencia yesterday besides the easy goal.

Zaha isn't going to be on his game every single time, but boy when he is he'll be a real asset.
 
psychdelicblues said:
:lol: I can see that really irritates you.
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Lol, not particularly - just more a case of I think it is endearing to many others, wheras the fact is, to me, I just see a whole catalogue of 'nearly' moments. Again, the potential is there, but haven't been blown away just yet by him in a United shirt. At Palace he looked better.
 
Zaha's done well - what you seem to fail to recognise is he's tended to get in those positions due to his ability. People have recognised that. If he keeps that up then he'll do fine. He has to be confident in himself because the ability is there. Ronaldo at 18 didn't always do the right thing but he kept trying. That's what Zaha has to do. Basically, I think you've been looking for the wrong thing.
 
Rozay said:
Because I see a player, who regularly in dangerous positions, screws up what he's trying to do.

Of course, there is plenty of mitigation for that, and I'm sure he will come good. But as for right now, I'm not seeing what everyone else is seeing. He has been incredibly wasteful, both with his pass and his shot - and even the dribbles have looked untidy and unimpressive for the most part I think. I see nerves, although I also see potential.
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To be quite honest, you're just an idiot and a poor judge of football. I'm sorry if this offends you but it's true.

Whilst Zaha's shooting lacks a degree of finesse, it's not poor by any means and seems on par with most wingers in the game. His passing though is exemplary and he regularly displays an incredible talent for reading the game and acknowledging the forethought of his teammates. The weight with which he plays the ball is a sight to behold and I've no doubt that his fullback appreciates every effort sent his way.

I'm not sure religious man by any means, but if Zaha's 'dribbles' seem unimpressive to you then I'd question any claim you might make towards the possession of the soul. Yes, he can look somewhat clumsy on the ball, but when you consider his ability to weave and shimmy around – and oftentimes straight through – opponents in tight spaces then you must recognise that his long, oafish stride is but chicanery disguising awfully quick feet and acute mind. Even in such situations of high pressure he rarely loses his eye for the pass should the opportunity arise, of leading to a chance on goal for a teammate.

How many times have you seen him play exactly? I've been keeping a keen eye on Zaha for eighteen months now and let me tell you, he walked away with the POTY award in the Championship last season, there was no competition. The progress he's made from being an eighteen year old debutant is genuinely outstanding.

I know you've already demonstrated that strong penchant towards misinterpreting people, buy don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to attest here to Zaha's perfection. Though many aspects of his game are notably overdeveloped for one so young, he does need to work on his flighted crossing and to an extent his shooting also. Considering the player's attitude towards development though it is not unforeseeable that these minor shortcomings will soon be addressed.

You'll see in due time how wrong you were about this player and you'll thank me for so eloquently causing you to doubt yourself. The impact Zaha will have on the club will be immense, there's no doubt in my mind about that. My suggest for you is that you start watching football.
 
Ciderman90210 said:
To be quite honest, you're just an idiot and a poor judge of football. I'm sorry if this offends you but it's true.

Whilst Zaha's shooting lacks a degree of finesse, it's not poor by any means and seems on par with most wingers in the game. His passing though is exemplary and he regularly displays an incredible talent for reading the game and acknowledging the forethought of his teammates. The weight with which he plays the ball is a sight to behold and I've no doubt that his fullback appreciates every effort sent his way.

I'm not sure religious man by any means, but if Zaha's 'dribbles' seem unimpressive to you then I'd question any claim you might make towards the possession of the soul. Yes, he can look somewhat clumsy on the ball, but when you consider his ability to weave and shimmy around and oftentimes straight through opponents in tight spaces then you must recognise that his long, oafish stride is but chicanery disguising awfully quick feet and acute mind. Even in such situations of high pressure he rarely loses his eye for the pass should the opportunity arise, of leading to a chance on goal for a teammate.

How many times have you seen him play exactly? I've been keeping a keen eye on Zaha for eighteen months now and let me tell you, he walked away with the POTY award in the Championship last season, there was no competition. The progress he's made from being an eighteen year old debutant is genuinely outstanding.

It's know you've already demonstrated that strong penchant towards misinterpreted people, buy don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to attest to Zaha's perfection. Though many aspects of his game are notably overdeveloped for one so young, he does need to work on his flighted crossing and to an extent his shooting also. Considering the player's attitude towards development it is not unforeseeable that these minor shortcomings will soon be addressed.

You'll see in due time how wrong you were about this player and you'll thank me for causing you to doubt yourself. The impact Zaha will have on the club will be immense, there's no doubt in my mind about that. My suggest for you is that you start watching football.
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Didn't even read past the first line, but go feck yourself anyway.
 
Rozay said:
Because I see a player, who regularly in dangerous positions, screws up what he's trying to do.

Of course, there is plenty of mitigation for that, and I'm sure he will come good. But as for right now, I'm not seeing what everyone else is seeing. He has been incredibly wasteful, both with his pass and his shot - and even the dribbles have looked untidy and unimpressive for the most part I think. I see nerves, although I also see potential.
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Young tricky wide players tend to be wasteful. That's usually the common denominator whether the player is very talented or not. You seem to be looking for the finished article and need productivity to be impressed by him whereas for the rest of us it's his talent that needs to be impressive at his age.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Young tricky wide players tend to be wasteful. That's usually the common denominator whether the player is very talented or not. You seem to be looking for the finished article and need productivity to be impressed by him whereas for the rest of us it's his talent that needs to be impressive at his age.
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I'm pretty sure somebody has raised this above, to which I have corrected this view. This is actually common with the caf tbh, once people interpret something one way, that really is it.

Again, I do not require the finished article to be impressed, hence why I have acknowledged that I have seen Zaha's potential in more than one post today. The fact that he has been generally wasteful, in addition to, in my opinion, technically a bit messy and wobbly - is the reason why I don't think he has been quite as good as some seem to think for us. That said, even in his wastefulness, I have seen enough to show that he is on the trajectory I expect him to be on, and will in time develop into a very good footballer. What I have not seen, is evidence that he is a child genius who is already our best wide player right now. In order for me to declare that, I would have to judge his performances and contribution right now against what I would expect from our other senior wide options. Based on such criteria, I would not put Zaha first.

The impression that I have gotten over the course of pre-season is that Zaha is ready right now to 'tear teams a new one' (and other variations of). From my own observation, he has a lot of work to be done, although he has enough promise to eventually tear such teams aforementioned 'new ones'.

Hardly controversial to be honest.
 
Genius Me! said:
I can see Zaha replacing Valencia in the line up if Valencia carries on his form from last year, nothing was exciting about Valencia yesterday besides the easy goal.

Zaha isn't going to be on his game every single time, but boy when he is he'll be a real asset.
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Moyes won't pick the team on what he thinks is exciting. When Valencia is up to speed he'll start because he's a better player.
 
Decotron said:
Why don't you both just slap each other with your massive handbags
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Well I didn't come in here to fight anybody, and there was no aggression in my posts. Just Cider deciding to come and live up to his tagline, despite probably not being anywhere near qualified to take such a tone towards me tbh.
 
acnumber9 said:
Moyes won't pick the team on what he thinks is exciting. When Valencia is up to speed he'll start because he's a better player.
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I didn't say he would, but you took the word exciting out of context. Substitute it for underwhelming, I think Moyes would certainly leave out player who continue to perform to levels lower than expected.

I'm not writing Valencia off but he needs to perform much much better than last season to keep Zaha out of the side.
 
Genius Me! said:
I didn't say he would, but you took the word exciting out of context. Substitute it for underwhelming, I think Moyes would certainly leave out player who continue to perform to levels lower than expected.

I'm not writing Valencia off but he needs to perform much much better than last season to keep Zaha out of the side.
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You're making the assumption he'll play how he did last season rather than what we've seen for the majority of his time at Man Utd and seem to be drawing conclusions based on a performance last night from a player who has barely played all pre season. If we're going to do that then Bebe will be above Kagawa in the pecking order.
 
acnumber9 said:
You're making the assumption he'll play how he did last season rather than what we've seen for the majority of his time at Man Utd and seem to be drawing conclusions based on a performance last night from a player who has barely played all pre season. If we're going to do that then Bebe will be above Kagawa in the pecking order.
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To be honest, this is a bit of an issue with regards to our attack in the early games of the season. Rooney hasn't played one minute of course, Nani has played about 20, Hernandez hasn't featured at all, and Valencia has also hardly had any football.

It's a pity our preparation hasn't gone a bit smoother in that department.
 
He hasn't even played in a competitive game for the club yet and already redcafe has doomed him to failure if he doesn't live up to being as good as Ronaldo.
 
acnumber9 said:
You're making the assumption he'll play how he did last season rather than what we've seen for the majority of his time at Man Utd and seem to be drawing conclusions based on a performance last night from a player who has barely played all pre season. If we're going to do that then Bebe will be above Kagawa in the pecking order.
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Well I think it's fair to assume that, he hasn't shown for a while that he can get back to what he was. If he does then fair enough, but I'm not holding my breath. I hope he proves me wrong and goes on to be back to his best, but if he does carry on last years form this season then yes his place is up for grabs and I can see Zaha taking it from him if he carries on his form.
 
I think people need to stop comparing him to Ronaldo/Nani/Robben as he isn't the same type of player. Zaha's brilliance comes in his ability to mix great final balls, decision making and good dribbling. He isn't nearly as good of a dribbler as Nani/Ronaldo but he is already pretty complete.

His main ability is that he doesn't NEED to completely beat the opponent with a dribble, just getting a yard is enough for him to whip a cross in or make a great pass. I think this makes him pretty unique, someone like Ribery is at least kind of similar.

They may not be THE best dribblers, but their ability to deliver a great final ball makes them incredibly efficient. Of course both Ribery and Zaha are great dribblers, just not in the league of the absolute best dribbling wingers.
 
If Zaha can find his scoring boots and become a bit more precise and accurate with his shooting then he could become a goal scoring machine. He gets into the positions and he creates the opportunities, he just needs to find that extra 10-20% and he could be a force.

He deserves time though, because as you saw against AIK it won't always be plain sailing.
 
Genius Me! said:
I can see Zaha replacing Valencia in the line up if Valencia carries on his form from last year, nothing was exciting about Valencia yesterday besides the easy goal.

Zaha isn't going to be on his game every single time, but boy when he is he'll be a real asset.
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He'll be a great to bring off the bench against tired defensed. His trickery and pace can be interesting in that way. He has the potential to earn his place in the starting eleven, he'll have to work really hard to get it as wingers and attacking players isn't what the club lacks the most.
 
lem8sh said:
There is two extremes, those you have mentioned and those who think he is destined to turn into a world beater.
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True enough. Bizarrely, we in the caf mirror our team...plenty of bodies on both ends of the spectrum but conspicuously lacking in bodies in the middle.
 
noodlehair said:
He hasn't even played in a competitive game for the club yet and already redcafe has doomed him to failure if he doesn't live up to being as good as Ronaldo.
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Don't see anyone to have done it, to be fair. Just people who are questioning other people who are saying that he is already great, our best winger etc, which I think is a perfectly valid question. He probably has been our best player in pre-season but that's not much considering how poor most of our players (especially senior players) have been. At the moment, IMO he is like Jones in many aspects, has a lot of potential but still wasteful and not ready to be a starter.
 
Rozay said:
To be honest, this is a bit of an issue with regards to our attack in the early games of the season. Rooney hasn't played one minute of course, Nani has played about 20, Hernandez hasn't featured at all, and Valencia has also hardly had any football.

It's a pity our preparation hasn't gone a bit smoother in that department.
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It's my biggest concern ahead of the season. Even Van Persie's pre season hasn't been ideal and he hasn't looked as sharp as he'll need to be.
 
Terrible first half, slowed down almost every attack we had(altough we haven't had them too much) with his tricks, just to pass is backwards after that. Much much to improve, but he'll end well, I'm sure, but he will have to realise he isn't playing for Crystal Palace anymore.
 
Well he wasnt good that's for sure.
I normally love players that try to go 1 on 1 and try to pull off their tricks. Problem is that the only one Zaha is fooling with his trickery so far is himself.
 
Good showing from him. Still would like to see him express himself more, even at the expense of bad decisions and mistakes. The similarities between him and Ronaldo are eerie.
 
He looks promising but I think that the people who were proclaiming that he should be our first choice winger after a couple of friendly games were jumping the gun a bit.
 
DevilRed said:
Good showing from him. Still would like to see him express himself more, even at the expense of bad decisions and mistakes. The similarities between him and Ronaldo are eerie.
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I would rather he kept the mistakes down and recognise when to express himself. Sometimes keeping it simple is what is required, rather than ceding possession needlessly. He can pick a pass aswell so he doesn't need to take people on continuously to be effective.

Don't think the Ronaldo reference is accurate really....Cristiano was far superior at running with the ball at the equivalent age.
 
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