From what ive seen about Zaha on preseason and in yesterday's match the player has loads of confidence. No doubt he will frustrate during matches but with more game time he could be the surprise package of the season.
Wilfried Zaha - Sold to Crystal Palace
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It will definitely help in games when we have genuine width on the other side too. At 1 point when he got injured they literally had 4 players around him - nobody in the world could escape 4 players looking to hack you down.
At that point though he needed to realize you cannot always take people on, and play needed to be recycled.
That will come with age and experience though, I thought he had a OK game.
At that point though he needed to realize you cannot always take people on, and play needed to be recycled.
That will come with age and experience though, I thought he had a OK game.
doesn't matter for ronnie these days because he just push the ball a few yards ahead of him and he can out sprint his marker. or just maybe spanish league defenders are poorer than premiership defenders. ronaldo might lost his dribbling ability but his speed and acceleration are much more better now.
Not at that level, but I reckon Zaha is better in passing and crossing the ball. They have different strength.
That's how he managed to jump up high in the air and stay there for second.It looks like he has wings
His more of a physical specimen.. He was always going to be less agile. He can still easily out foul any defender so i don't get this cant beat his man crap and he can match a bale for pace. So just NO.
I like the looks of the lad. Must admit I've not paid much attention to how he plays until yesterday and must say he seems an exciting prospect.
I am very excited by his potential. He will frustrate us, that's for sure but we need to be patient with him. He has the potential to be a class player, don't see why he can't become as good as Ribery for example. Can't see him becoming ad good as Ronaldo but a level below that which would still make him World class, all depends on whether he works hard on and off the pitch but he seems to have the right mentality.
What winger of Zaha's mould doesn't frustrate to a certain point? he may be young, but his game won't change an awful lot as he gets older IMO.
I don't understand the whole "frustration" people on here get out of skillful players who are willing to do things that risk losing possession in order to try and gain an advantage, sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't, the player has to believe in their ability and try. And you can't expect them to make the correct decision every single time. The only "frustration" I get in football are limited players who look lost in possession of the ball and can't maneuver to get a yard of space or ever beat their man or feck up the simple things.
I didn't mean it in a bad way, he just strikes me as the kind of player that makes you feel that something's going to happen whenever he's on the ball. And at this stage he will make many wrong decisions because he is a skillful player and flair players tend to be frustrating until they become consistent. I hope he never becomes predictable, I'll take a season or two of frustration because this guy can become very good.
Well that's silly. Wingers frustrate, don't tell me they don't. Ronaldo never frustrated you? You maintained that sanguine world view every time he step-overed himself in to a dead-end? They get the ball in what are usually promising positions, we know they have the ability to do something special, they rarely do. That's frustrating. When given time to reflect, we'll take the moments of magic that they do come up with and agree that they make up for the other stuff but I still throw stuff at the television regularly enough.
Comparing Ronaldo's performance against Millwall to Zaha's performance against Wigan is beyond ridiculous. That was Ronaldo's 40th competitive game for United. Zaha has played one. Millwall were a middle of the road First Division team who had a lucky Cup run. Wigan are the current FA Cup holders and one of the best, if not the best, teams in the First Division. They are much better than Millwall were in 2004.
I'm not saying that Zaha will ever be as good as Ronaldo (there's absolutely nothing to suggest that yet) but if you're going to use Ronaldo as a stick to beat Zaha with, at least try make it a fair comparison.
I'm not saying that Zaha will ever be as good as Ronaldo (there's absolutely nothing to suggest that yet) but if you're going to use Ronaldo as a stick to beat Zaha with, at least try make it a fair comparison.
You have to give them credit for getting into that position in the first place. And if all "wingers frustrate" then shouldn't you logically expect that by now and stop bitching?
Players who want to take the game forward face making more errors than those who play it safe. It's way more frustrating when no one is trying to break the defense down being afraid to lose the ball for a minute or two (which happens with us regularly) than a player who actually tries to do something about it. If you don't understand how performing a bit of trickery to get past a player brings the attack forward, or how trying an unexpected backheel might open the play up, then you've never played football. It's what talented wingers will try and sometimes when it doesn't come off it looks really bad, but it's that intent behind it which shows what player is clever and what player isn't, it really is basic stuff. It's just more obvious to criticize than other bad bits of play.
It's all about expectation and understanding how difficult it is to perform week in week out as a creative winger.
The comparison is between their technique, not their ability to influence games at the highest level for United. I could've picked the Bolton game and it would've made the same very obvious point - there's no comparison between them technically and never will be.
Cheers for the tutorial. All I said was that it's the nature of wingers to frustrate. As I also said, we put up with this because (at United anyway) the positives outweigh the negatives. Don't be so patronising.
Just rewatched the game in the Ronaldo thread. He went past his opponents almost everytime. What a joy to watch. I totally agree with you. It's also not fair for Zaha to compare him to Ronaldo neither.
No problem buddy.
Indeed. Above all I chose that video above all just because it's great fun. I don't think anyone realistically meant to compare the two but I just think a comparison in style is based purely on the fact he's confident and tries tricks, which is a bit silly. In every other area he's as similar to Obertan as Ronaldo I reckon.
Oooooh. Harsh.
I was still talking in terms of style there!
Too late.
I think he's looked quite nervous in his last two games, what with them being his first for United at OT and Wembley. He was slow to react and spot the space at times. His touch was much better earlier in preseason.
One thing he's got over Ronaldo is the fact he's still agile despite being as muscular as he is. I may be remembering it wrongly, but I don't think Ronaldo retained the same ability to jink around players as Zaha does now, when they both had a similar physique. Zaha's strengths are different to both Bale's and Ronaldo's in that respect so I see his style developing a little bit closer to early Giggs than either of the other two.
One thing he's got over Ronaldo is the fact he's still agile despite being as muscular as he is. I may be remembering it wrongly, but I don't think Ronaldo retained the same ability to jink around players as Zaha does now, when they both had a similar physique. Zaha's strengths are different to both Bale's and Ronaldo's in that respect so I see his style developing a little bit closer to early Giggs than either of the other two.
Wigan paid Zaha a big compliment by putting 2 or 3 players on him when he got the ball. They wouldn't have done that with Young. Zaha is clearly a danger man to opposing defences and they know it.
Absolute rubbish - take for example his head.
It's refreshing having a new player who can get out of tight situation with something unpredictable. I'm not saying he's Ronaldo or anything, but he's got the same way of trying to get away from 2 or 3 defenders as Ronnie did, which will help us massively against teams who play for the draw and close up their defense.
His obsession with getting past a player is bizarre considering he has a very good pass/cross on him. There's times when he does it there's completely no room to do so.
Poor tonight, unfortunately. Couple of way overhit crosses, and a couple of times he tried to be too clever. Did play a nice ball across that Lambert should have scored from.
He'll learn from these mistakes though, so not too fussed.
He'll learn from these mistakes though, so not too fussed.
I was shouted down and called an idiot by an idiot the other day for daring to suggest he hasn't been that impressive thus far. Reading back last few posts, I'd say Brwned also captures my views similarly.
Personally, I can see potential in him, more so based on what I've seen in a Palace shirt as opposed to this summer. So far, his technique and touch has seemed extremely untidy, and it almost seems as if he is a lot better in his head than he is in reality, based on the things he attempts. Since joining us, I'd pluck a random figure out and say that probably more than 80% of everything he has tried has not come off - that is in terms of final pass, trick, shot.
Once again, I will add that this is something I expect to improve, as he appears to be playing almost nervously when he has the ball to me, he doesn't seem calm. As he gets more games, that will change. My general point is, I think he is being talked up prematurely and is still a way away from contributing positively on a regular basis for club and country. It will be the very odd flash I think, and general wastefulness other than that.
Personally, I can see potential in him, more so based on what I've seen in a Palace shirt as opposed to this summer. So far, his technique and touch has seemed extremely untidy, and it almost seems as if he is a lot better in his head than he is in reality, based on the things he attempts. Since joining us, I'd pluck a random figure out and say that probably more than 80% of everything he has tried has not come off - that is in terms of final pass, trick, shot.
Once again, I will add that this is something I expect to improve, as he appears to be playing almost nervously when he has the ball to me, he doesn't seem calm. As he gets more games, that will change. My general point is, I think he is being talked up prematurely and is still a way away from contributing positively on a regular basis for club and country. It will be the very odd flash I think, and general wastefulness other than that.
he fecked a few crosses up, and then made a goal making cross also that Lambert messed up.
To me right now he is your typical flairy player, very hit and miss.
Consistency SHOULD come with age though.
I think last night the game was at a very high tempo and hard to get into straight away, but he did more than Walcott did in 10 minutes than most of the half!
To me right now he is your typical flairy player, very hit and miss.
Consistency SHOULD come with age though.
I think last night the game was at a very high tempo and hard to get into straight away, but he did more than Walcott did in 10 minutes than most of the half!
Hopefully he doesn't get the shit Nani does, he's gonna be hit and miss but with time it will come. At the moment he should probably start but if Valencia and Nani are on form I'd like him off the bench.
He won't, because he's English.
The thing with Zaha, he's shown he does have an end product in him. That's pretty rare for a winger of his age. It's all about giving him playing time now and fast, just like we did with Ronnie, experience is key. Dave seems to be throwing him in at the deep end which is an encouraging sign.
I think it will, Oxlade-Chamberlain is pretty similar, in that respect and he gets an awful lot of leniancy. I think people are just happy to see an English winger who doesn't punt the ball 10 yards infront of them and run after it.
Yeah you're right. He does get himself into position and does create chances. If he's able to get to a level of consistency and be able to become more accurate with his shooting he could be prolific.
To be fair, Oxlade Chamberlain has an intelligence on the field even at his young age that Zaha lacks. Very rare to see a teenager with Oxlade Chamberlains awareness, I know I'm willing to give him more leniency because he so rarely makes the wrong decision, in addition to his other abilities.
Ive a feeling he wont start tomorrow. Based mostly on Rafael missing out.
I think it would be a bit of a risk starting him against a side like Swansea. Great option to have as a sub though.
I think it would be a bit of a risk starting him against a side like Swansea. Great option to have as a sub though.
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