James Wilson was handed a surprise start last night by Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal.
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal caused a few eyebrows to rise when he selected James Wilson to start in attack against Stoke City last night, but the youngster repaid his faith giving glimpses of his obvious potential.
Serious doubts over the fitness of Radamel Falcao kept the Colombian confined to the subs bench and Wilson was let off the leash to inject some pace and energy into the United attack.
He didn’t get on the score sheet, with Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata scoring the only goals, but he nearly scored one of the goals of United’s season putting a shot just wide after a fine run through the Stoke midfield.
It was a judgement call from the boss which initially caused confusion but Wilson has been working hard throughout the season in the club’s youth ranks to get a chance to improve on the brace he scored against Hull City at the end of the last campaign.
Wilson provides van Gaal with the luxury of not having to sign a fourth striker for his first team squad because he’s willing to step up and be used from the youth ranks whenever the manager needs him.
What’s important for the youngster is that he continues to work hard and doesn’t get complacent in terms of his relationship with the first team and LvG.
He needs to try and improve on that fourth choice striker label and that means adding goals to his game when he is called into the first team setup by United’s Dutch boss.
He’s also going to be targeted and challenged by opposition sides more effectively than Stoke managed last night and that means he needs to also work hard physically, making himself a more difficult striker to brush off the bal and bully.
Here’s what Manchester United fans on Twitter made of his performance last night.
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