Mentioned this to
@jackodiamonds last night then this morning I read a comment from Gary Neville about Dan who reckons that currently Dan should be about 4th or 5th choice out wide for United. This is more or less the feeling I've had for a little while now. We all know that he burst onto the United scene with some goals and assists but that is firmly in the past now.
I watch a lot of United because of Dan and I've noticed that recently he's usually the one to be subbed for Mata or Greenwood etc. Imo, he's just not performing. From being an important part of their attack by taking on defenders, using his pace and cutting in to shoot, he's now become just a cog making up the numbers. He gets a pass and almost always looks to lay it off instantly instead of trying to beat his man and do something dynamic in the game. He's just there, you know, and not making a telling impact. We see far fewer of those exciting bursts down the wing that he used to make for us and, for me, he's now become something of a plastic player and phoning in his performances.
Okay, I get that he's now at a higher level playing against better defences but, imo, he's not even trying to make things happen these days and I wonder about that. Granted it's not our problem now but I'd still like to see the young man do well for himself and his country and there's no question that his game has gone off the boil. In fact it seems to have slipped off the stove entirely. Poor coaching? Tactics not suiting? Confidence disappeared? Don't know but I do know he'd better start shaping up or United might think that Neville's got a point and stop starting him.