The Manchester United loanee impressed in Crystal Palace colours against City.
Opportunities have been scarce for Timothy Fosu-Mensah at Manchester United. Former United boss Louis van Gaal gave him a few chances to impress in the first team in a variety of positions, but since the arrival of José Mourinho, the Dutch defender has unsurprisingly not had much of a look in.
He was consequently loaned out to Crystal Palace. At the time of the loan deal, Palace still had Frank de Boer in charge (remember him?). The Dutch connection seemed to be a good fit for the player’s development as De Boer planned to play 3-4-3 with Fosu-Mensah as a right sided centre-back.
We all know how the De Boer experiment ended, and in came Roy Hodgson to restore order and organisation to struggling Palace.
This involved reverting to 4-4-2 and re-learning the defensive organisation that made Palace so successful under Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce. Fosu-Mensah has clearly benefited from Hodgson’s coaching. Following Palace’s 0-0 draw with league-leading Manchester City, Fosu-Mensah was named man-of-the-match.
You could see the fondness and respect Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey has for the 19-year-old as he cheered when hearing about the accolade and later hugged him. “Well done big man!” he proclaimed.
As for Fosu Mensah, he was nothing but humble.
“It was good that we were compact and put pressure on the ball; that we were aggressive and I think we gave them a good game.
“They have very very good players. Their wingers are fast and sharp. I think that’s as a defender you have to be very concentrated for 90 minutes. I’m glad that we did today. I’m young and I need to develop. So I’m learning every time.”
Wayne Hennessey and Man of the Match Timothy Fosu-Mensah react to that impressive display vs Man City. #CRYMCI pic.twitter.com/QidOiPiw8A
— eir Sport (@eirSport) December 31, 2017
The teenage defender very impressive in Palace’s clash with the usually free-scoring City, making a lot of United fans hope that they recall him from loan in January.
We surely have to get Fosu-Mensah back in January!
— TW (@TonyW_132) December 31, 2017
Fosu Mensah currently got sane in his back pocket. Get him recalled Jose
— Daniel Fletcher (@DanielFletch97) December 31, 2017
And that was just a taste of it. United have their own defensive issues to sort out, which Fosu-Mensah could help with, but we are all aware of Mourinho’s record when it comes to bringing through young players.
One fan pointed out a potential problem with bringing the Dutch defender back under Mourinho’s coaching guise.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah should be recalled back to the United squad. He is way better than Shaw. My only problem is that with the current methods by Mourinho, he could come back and end up being like the rest. #bbcfootball
— Eghosa (@daniel_osunbor) December 31, 2017
