Jay Spearing

[banditos]

Key to Man Utds success down the years has been the availability of decent squad players who have come through their academy. They are happy to sit in reserve and don't rock the boat moaning about a starting place. When they have an injury they come in and do a job. They don't pull up trees, but they don't let anyone down.

I don't see why Jay Spearing can't be that type of player for us. He's not on mega wages and he's also HG. Many positives. Is he top class? No. Is he ever likely to challenge for a first team place on a regular basis? No - We need better.

But squad players are key during a long hard season and Jay showed today that he does have a chance of being one of those players for us.

[Mostar]

It was a performance that Mascherano would have been proud of!

Goes to show how unpredictable game performances are. Until Sunderland committed that error and J found himself in the right place at the right time and earned us a penalty he was average to say at least.

I remember Carroll and Suarez linked up once and he's the one who wasted a chance by not passing the ball to wide open Suarez in the goal scoring opportunity and Suarez just went ballistic.

After the penalty kick his confidence soared and he was completely different player for the rest of the game and could have easily scored his first even for L4 if it wasn't for an exceptional goalkeeper save.

[Rudo]

I think we've been too quick to write Spearing off tbh guys, myself included.

I've been calling for him to start in certain games but at the same time i haven't had a great deal of faith in him.

Now every dog has it's day and we can't go OTT but Spearing's performance today was very encouraging. He kept us ticking over and sprayed the ball around nicely. Confidence grew as the game went on.

Should see more action between now and the end of the season, for sure.

[Darth Marty]

When todays performances are the norm rather than the exception I will say yes.

[RichC]

I think we've been too quick to write Spearing off tbh guys, myself included.

I've been calling for him to start in certain games but at the same time i haven't had a great deal of faith in him.

Now every dog has it's day and we can't go OTT but Spearing's performance today was very encouraging. He kept us ticking over and sprayed the ball around nicely. Confidence grew as the game went on.

Should see more action between now and the of the season, for sure.

Happy to see Jay as a squad player for us, no real need to move him on and hopefully he could fill gaps as and when needed

[Mattshark]

Happy to see Jay as a squad player for us, no real need to move him on and hopefully he could fill gaps as and when needed

Problem is we should be having far better than him as reserve. If we have to play him against better opposition we will be in **** because he is very limited.

[Rich]

Problem is we should be having far better than him as reserve. If we have to play him against better opposition we will be in **** because he is very limited.

Not if he plays like he did today.

[Rudo]

Key to Man Utds success down the years has been the availability of decent squad players who have come through their academy. They are happy to sit in reserve and don't rock the boat moaning about a starting place. When they have an injury they come in and do a job. They don't pull up trees, but they don't let anyone down.

I don't see why Jay Spearing can't be that type of player for us. He's not on mega wages and he's also HG. Many positives. Is he top class? No. Is he ever likely to challenge for a first team place on a regular basis? No - We need better.

But squad players are key during a long hard season and Jay showed today that he does have a chance of being one of those players for us.

Agree with that, every squad needs a mixture of first teamers and squad men.

If Spearing continues to play like he did today, then who knows, he could have a role to play in the future.

Think the problem with Spearing is he's 22 and we've all knew about him for a fair few years now from the Reserves, hence we're wondering why he hasn't featured more in the first team by now if he's so good.

Still, you can't knock him for his performance today.

[RichC]

Problem is we should be having far better than him as reserve. If we have to play him against better opposition we will be in **** because he is very limited.

we should, we don't at the moment though.

short term at least it makes sense keeping him.

[el matador]

when we had alonso and mascherano in the middle every time he played he looked limited compared to those two. but when you compare spearing to poulsen and meireles his all round game doesnt fare too bad. he uses the ball better than poulsen and hes more agressive than meireles.

hes english, hes ok as a squad player but im not sure how much talent this kid has got. i dont think he'll be good enough at the highest level but you never know because some players develop late.

one thing is certain we definitely need a couple of decent midfield players come summer.

[Mattshark]

Not if he plays like he did today.

If he plays like he did today against better opposition, that still isn't good enough.

[Mattshark]

we should, we don't at the moment though.

short term at least it makes sense keeping him.

Yes, well we can't sell or buy at the moment, we should in the summer and he should be replaced with a more capable player. We need to improve the squad in the summer and he seriously needs improving on, 1 decent game doesn't change that. We will need to control midfield and when he plays we can't do that because he simply isn't good enough.

[Mostar]

Problem is we should be having far better than him as reserve. If we have to play him against better opposition we will be in **** because he is very limited.

[RichC]

Yes, well we can't sell or buy at the moment, we should in the summer and he should be replaced with a more capable player.

he's a squad player at best - how many players do you think we'll be able to bring in?

We need players to come straight into the first team, replacing squad players like Spearing isn't going to be a priority this summer, and it shouldn't be either.

I have no problem with Spearing in the squad to come in if really needed during the season when and if our enhanced squad of first team players need a rest or are injured.

[Mattshark]

he's a squad player at best - how many players do you think we'll be able to bring in?

We need players to come straight into the first team, replacing squad players like Spearing isn't going to be a priority this summer, and it shouldn't be either.

I have no problem with Spearing in the squad to come in if really needed during the season when and if our enhanced squad of first team players need a rest or are injured.

I would have a problem with that, today he was decent because our centre backs were excellent, but we didn't control the game.
We need to improve the squad as a whole, we have shown recently how much we lack in depth and having the likes of Spearing as our reserve midfield option is evidence of that problem. Against a well organised team (as Braga were) he serves no purpose at all.