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The hyphenated one

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rurikbird

Part of the Furniture
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Looks a player, doesn't he? I highly recommend everyone to watch the video above – there were a few very clever passes there that I missed during the game, like the floated pass towards Sturrdige from inside the Plymouth box that was headed over by a defender. Based on what I've seen from him so far (in this game and others), he already seems like one of the sharpest and most positive passers we have in the team, at any age level. It's good to know Clyne has a quality understudy and we won't need to spend to shore up this position, but one thing to keep in mind about TAA is that he is not just a right-back – his skill-set translates just as well to central midfield and I think that's where he played the majority of his games in the reserves in previous seasons(@gkmacca or anyone else who watches U23 regularly, please correct me if I'm wrong).

His range of passing would actually make him a candidate for Henderson's position at the base of the midfield as well – now that's something a bit more exciting than a back-up right-back! Or he might eventually settle as the right-sided player in the midfield triangle, which would neatly combine his midfield and wing-play skills, but will require more offensive contribution. Either way, it's been some time since a local lad came up through the ranks with such promise, all the best to him.
 
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I actually thought his primary position was as a CB.
Either way, he certainly looks a great prospect.
 
I think that whilst Sunday showed he has huge potential, it also showed that he's massively outclassed at this level, Martial had the beating of him from the off, that's no slight on TAA, ones an 18 year old making his first start, the others a player who was signed for £50million.

With that in mind, whilst he might have the attributes to play the Henderson role in the U23s, the thought of him lining up in that position for the first team gives me an anxiety attack, he'd get absolutely destroyed, the position is of extreme importance, and gets little to no protection unlike when he was at right back and he got a degree of cover when he got beaten by a player.

This all sounds very negative to the kid, it's not meant to be, he's clearly got a very exciting future and I'm a big fan, but for the next year or two it can't be anything more than backup right back, or maybe the right sided midfielder position you mentioned, but certainly not the Henderson role, not yet anyway.
 


he is not just a right-back – his skill-set translates just as well to central midfield and I think that's where he played the majority of his games in the reserves in previous seasons(@gkmacca or anyone else who watches U23 regularly, please correct me if I'm wrong).

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Yes. As you say, more last season than this, because there was an obvious need to prepare him for his first team role, but like a lot of the under 23s, he's been moved around quite a bit. (With some of them I'd argue the policy goes on a bit too long, because we've ended up with a glut of youngsters who can do a bit here and a bit there without much sense of where they should be heading.) With him, that's just sensible because he's got several strengths that are blossoming as a player and it would be mad to block any of them by sticking him rigidly in one specific role. I doubt he's destined for RB (and I don't know what it is about that position - clear and simple duties? High energy game? - but it seems the one that's most likely to give a kid a good eye-catching start in the first team - remember Stephen Wright as well as Martin Kelly and Flannagan?). It probably depends on how he develops physically, but right or central midfield strikes me as the likely mature position.
 
I think that whilst Sunday showed he has huge potential, it also showed that he's massively outclassed at this level, Martial had the beating of him from the off, that's no slight on TAA, ones an 18 year old making his first start, the others a player who was signed for £50million.

With that in mind, whilst he might have the attributes to play the Henderson role in the U23s, the thought of him lining up in that position for the first team gives me an anxiety attack, he'd get absolutely destroyed, the position is of extreme importance, and gets little to no protection unlike when he was at right back and he got a degree of cover when he got beaten by a player.

This all sounds very negative to the kid, it's not meant to be, he's clearly got a very exciting future and I'm a big fan, but for the next year or two it can't be anything more than backup right back, or maybe the right sided midfielder position you mentioned, but certainly not the Henderson role, not yet anyway.

Not sure the bit about Martial is correct. It may have been the case for the first 10 minutes or so, but after that I thought he dealt with him very comfortably.
 
A bright future ahead for TAA. He has all the attributes and working under the right manager.
 
Not sure the bit about Martial is correct. It may have been the case for the first 10 minutes or so, but after that I thought he dealt with him very comfortably.
I agree with Mystic on this one. The only reason Martial was quiet after the first 10 mins was because of the obvious issue TAA had with containing him and so he received a lot more support, basically we were double or even triple teaming Martial.
 
Not sure the bit about Martial is correct. It may have been the case for the first 10 minutes or so, but after that I thought he dealt with him very comfortably.
It was longer than 10 minutes, but certainly in the second half it was reduced, but that was due to the issue being identified and extra support being provided as Froggy mentioned, and also because later in the second half Mourinho bizarrely replaced Martial with the vastly inferior Rooney on that side. Martial got a lot of joy out of TAA, but thats to be expected to be honest, he's an incredibly exciting prospect, and gave a good account of himself considering the occasion, but no way in hell is he anywhere near ready enough to play such a vital position as Henderson's, we saw how badly a much more experienced played like Can crumbled in that position, TAA would get murdered there.
 
Yeah I wasn't for one second suggesting he could cover for Henderson at the moment.I didn't see the game live but watched it back on recording and I just thought that, considering the circumstances of his inclusion last Sunday, he did very well against Martial.
 
I was not suggesting that he is ready to play in Hendo'a position at the senior level already, clearly his path to the first team right now lies through right-back. However, in a few years as he physically fills out and gets more experience, we could try him there - his positive passing, speed and defensive sharpness would be assets in this position.
 
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Yeah I wasn't for one second suggesting he could cover for Henderson at the moment.I didn't see the game live but watched it back on recording and I just thought that, considering the circumstances of his inclusion last Sunday, he did very well against Martial.
Considering the circumstances 100%, but in my opinion he's a long way off being ready to do anything other than cover the odd game for Clyne, he will develop and fill out very quickly over the next year though, well I'd hope anyway.
 
He's very good. He was founding wanting a few times against United but that's to be expected. He hasn't been thoroughly tested defensively apart from that so there are a few questions to be answered but I'm confident he's going to be a very good player for us. Let's hope he remains injury free and continues to progress.
 
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