Ritchie De Laet enjoyed his home début in a friendly against Valencia last night, putting in a good performance from right-back in our 2-0 win.
After the game he reveals he only found out he was playing at the last minute but Rio Ferdinand helped settle his nerves.
“I only found out I was playing when the boss did his team talk,” said De Laet. “It was short notice but I’m a professional and you need to handle that. I felt nervous in the first few minutes, but when you do a couple of good things and you’ve got Rio Ferdinand telling you you’re doing well, the nerves go down and you get on with the game. I’m really enjoying myself at the moment and it’s a dream to play in front of this crowd every week with a United shirt on. But I’m under no illusions – I need some experience. I know you only get experience by playing so whatever the boss says, I’m ready for it.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Quality playerrr…..rafael and fabio need to up there preformances or this boy going to take one of there places
Great Player. He is better than anyone at the club for the right back role. He will become a legend. Da silva brothers, you guys should start picking it up else you’ll never play.
same lines jack.
I like this kid. I like him a lot.
He better be on Pro Evolution next year, along with the Twins, Kiko and Evans.
Really impressed with him so far, could be a masterstroke by Sir Alex. What was he, £500,000?
@mufc the religion..agree can’t wait:D
He looked really good when he played last season and he was impressive against Valencia, so its looking good for the lad he seems to have the right attitude aswell so good luck to him i can see him doing well here.
The progress the kid has made is amazing. It’s not long ago that he couldn’t even crack the Stoke reserves, being sent out on loan to various lower-league teams. Now he’s banging on the door for our first-team squad. All credit to the club for finding a diamond in the rough and bringing him along nicely.
We just need to remember to keep our expectations in check. I’d be shocked if he saw any time with the first-team this season, outside of the Carling Cup.
I think he’s wasted as a right back – his defensive reading of the game is very, very suspect. He was caught out of position too often and while it didn’t cost the team last night against opponents who were playing to get in shape, fullbacks are primarily defenders and need to know how to read the game. BUT he’s a very good player with a terrific engine and some skill. He was very good driving forward and his crossing was also very good.
FWIW, I’d like to see him used as a holding midfielder, because he has all the characteristics of Owen Hargreaves. And, before you question the consistency of this suggestion in light of my earlier comments – the key difference between a holding midfielder and a fullback is that the latter is often “left on an island” and absolutely MUST not get beaten whereas the team is much less vulnerable when/if the midfielder makes a mistake or is caught out of position.
But, whether or not my suggestion has any life to it – and not getting too bent out of shape by his one-game performance – the key point is that when everyone is healthy Ritchie de Laet is probably fourth- or even fifth-choice at right back = behind Wesley, John O’Shea, Rafael, and maybe even RedNev. Even Rafael is a better defender than de Laet.
@MUFC The Religion:
Pro Evo is shite. FIFA FTW !!1
who said arsene can only pick up kids. look what we got. our kids will beat ur first team anyday, anywhere. oh god i cant wait to see all these kids playing together. wot a team SAF dreaming for another 10yrs. kiko, twins silva, da laet, cleverley, wellbeck, evans, lajic, hmmmm many more to come. we will b there another 15yrs dont worry. reds marching for another 15yrs. loosefools will wait another 15yrs. LOL
Great how people make a full assessment of a player when they play a 90 min Prem league game against a Hull side who put no effort in and an appearance in a pre-season friendly.
What football genius’s we have on this site.
@Redrooney think brown should keeep the rb spot for now though, legend, been here all his carear and stayed loyal, great role model, keeps quiet, carear been recked by injurys and a quality player when fit but i think we should give da laet alot of chances next season
Evans, the da silva brothers etc are in the pro evo update already also u can transfer ritchie from stoke in the game
Guys sorry if i am wrong.. But isnt he a natural CB??
@ Tobbe
FIFA has better graphics but Pro Evo gameplay is a lot better in my opinion, although FIFA10 gameplay is supposed to be as close as you can get to the real thing.
I get both games anyway. I just want updated squads.
@Tufty- fuck off. How cunTevez doing. Injured ain’t he.
Tufty you are smug twat sometimes.
@denton davey, I don’t know what game you actually saw because the lad was immense at both ends of the pitch. I remember him making a number of good tackles and his positioning was good at one instance to head the ball to concede a corner. His by far an assured defender than both of the DaSilvas. I don’t agree with your assesment as well for him to be a fourth or fifth choice for right back. If he keeps this level of performance then why not? ability counts far more greater than experince which he can achieve by playing regularly. Look at Inter Milan’s Davide Santon who dispalced stablished internationals to be the first choice left back why can’t this happen at United? we should not put too much emphasis on staying at the club longer instead foucs has to be on ability.
Da Laet was great going up, but got caught at least three times coming back
Still… looks a fantastic prospect
Having no positioning sense hasn’t stopped JoS or Wes!! Plus I think Smudger is right, wasn’t he a CB originally?
@Tufty
Hahaha, remind us how Tevez got injured again!! Falling over in the bath the Argie cunt
@boolman
From where I was sitting Da Laet got caught a few times but the striker sprinting past him out the outside, it normally came to nothing but one occasion the striker got into the box. Full credit to the lad though as he recovered to make the tackle.
I agree with Stephen.
brilliant prospect.rafael fabio evans and da laet the future looks bright.plus da laet can play anywhere in defence.we hve seen he is great at both the wing positions. @micky.dats okay mate.inspite of being experienced evra still gets caught so many times.in fact any wing back does but it is the ability to recover dat is more imp.
Frm what i have seen, i hav liked Ritchie but still would prefer Rafa over him.
As we are likely to revert back to the traditional 4-4-2, the overlapping full backs will play a really crucial rule in terms of crossing and attacking, n dare i say, Rafa is the best ‘forward’ going full back we have at are disposal. He does have his flaws defensively, but that will be rectified playing regularly and alongside Rio n Vidic. n lest we forget hes just turned 19 last month.
@MUFC the Religion : couldn’t agree more on Fifa09 and PES. i always prefer PES but play both of them.
PS , we should be getting a chant ready for our Ritchie cause he is going to storm into the 1st team.
Look like a really good player to watch. You can’t say he’ll be a legend from two matches with the team, but certainly he made a hell of impression. Yes, he made some mistakes yesterday, but the rights were waaaay better than his wrongs.
The kid had power, skill, and can read the game well. With guys like Brown, Nev, Rio, Vida and Pat he could really develop. Not to mention he could be tested in DM with Hargo showing him somethings…
Let’s see, I’m really excited.
***Does anyone know the code for the RoM fantasy on the premier league?
He really impressed me against Hull actually.
That’s the same Hull who were fighting to avoid relegation in front of their home fans so probably actually WERE putting a decent bit of effort in…
I dont rate him higher than Rafael. I have seen him play many of times in the reserves and he has been good, outstanding in fact in some games but he is suspect at the back but he makes it up through his great tackling ability.
We cant really compare him with anyone at the minute, he has not played a competitive first team game. Fair enough he played at Hull the last game of the season but there was nothing to play for on our part, Hull needed to win to safeguard them from relegation but they didnt threaten us at all and DeLaet was under no pressure at all and well last night was only a friendly.
Its a big step up from the reserves to the first team, the games are harder, faster, rougher and more technical, so until he is in the thick of the action in the first team and seeing how he fairs with the pressure of 76,000 fans every week, i am not going to compare or heap too much praise on him. He definitely shows alot of potential, even in reserves but if we start comparing him to rafael and other members of the team, it will only make the job harder for him and in return he will be under more pressure to compete for us and might end up losing his nerve and concentration!
Remember too, its not only just DeLaet we have in reserves that have potential to compete in our defence. We still have Danny Simpson, Corry Evans (can play basically anywhere), Craig Cathcart, James Chester, David Gray………. the list goes on!!
But we are all managers and coaches lol
the lad looked good. Positioning is summat to work on. Don’t think he’ll be established first choice by end of season but he’ll get few appearances.
looked decent. couldnt be better considering he didnt even play for Stoke before joining and that left most of us wondering what on earth is this fellow capable of.
its good to have competition for RB. I guess we’ve seen the best of Brown already, and I think the next season should belong to O’Shea and Rafael, with Gary Neville still playing once in a while.
I agree with Denton Davey. Would like to see him given a run out as a Defensive CM. He’s quick, strong as F in the tackle and he looks comfortable on the ball. It’d be worth a punt I reckon.
Unfortunately I doubt it will happen though. Just like my pipe dream of playing Fabio on the left wing won’t ever happen either…
That’s right, Drew, SAF knows better than we do ! Who’d have thunk it, eh ?
Haha sometimes I wonder though… =)
Tufty – Do you ever come on here with anything other than a shit attitude? Arrogant cunt.
I thought that this guy played better than rafael. Anyways rafael and fabio in the same team makes the defence too lightweight
I think the kid looks promising, not going to go over the top yet, just hope he keeps it up and he’ll get his chance just like Evans, Kiko and Wellbeck have.
Also, Pro Evo is the shit, FIFA game play is too slow IMHO.