In Manchester United's four-goal defeat to Liverpool's double red club, the most scrappy player is probably the young hannibal Mejebry who came off the bench. The Tunisian international, who only appeared in the 84th minute, has long been unable to affect the outcome of the game, but this did not prevent him from playing hard, putting down Jordan Henderson, flying shovels Nabi Keita and shrugging off Robertson's pushing and shoving, which made him recognized by the coaching staff.
The "The Athletic" report revealed that the Manchester United coaching staff was quite satisfied with Hannibal's active participation in the game and following the coach's instructions without playing for a few minutes. Manchester United star Gary Neville also praised Hannibal's efforts.
"United actually need a little kid to show other team-operatives how to challenge each other and compete for the ball, but I'm proud of him. Maybe he doesn't like the way Liverpool players pass the ball, and I hope other Manchester United players will think the same way." Neville said, "Because of his performance, I was a little unprofessional in my comments. When I mention being proud of this kid, it's fair to say he's kicking people everywhere. But he showed something and he didn't want to be teased by Liverpool."
In the following match, Manchester United did not include Hannibal in the Premier League squad away to Arsenal, instead he took part in The Manchester United's under-23 youth team at Old Trafford the day before the match.
The 19-year-old Hannibal, who has made 12 appearances for the Tunisian national team, will play in the Qatar World Cup at the end of this year, and interestingly, the team's group includes Hannibal's birthplace of France. In 2019, Manchester United spent 10 million euros to sign 16-year-old Hannibal from Monaco.
Tenhag may reuse young players after coaching, but Hannibal may not be able to play too many games. Therefore, for him, the new season of rental workouts is the best choice, just like "new Carrick" James Garner, after two years of training in The Championship's Nottingham Forest, now has better capital to establish himself at Manchester United.
In the final moments of last summer's move, Hannibal turned down Reading's loan offer, but now he needs to gain experience. In the Double Red Society, his scrambling action certainly shows fighting spirit, but it also reflects inexperience, and the only end is to retaliate against his opponents in this way. He was also cut off after receiving a bizarre cross from Maguire, causing United to concede a 4-0 goal. These are all areas that need to be improved by playing more games.
Another Manchester United '92 squad star, Savage, who is known for his fierce kicking but rarely received a red card, reminded Hannibal: "I can understand Neville's post-match assessment, but I disagree. It's good that young players get the opportunity to show themselves and dare to show themselves. But on another night, if the referee had been harsher, Haniba had already been sent off, and that wouldn't have been good. The new coach, Tenhag, will be in charge of the team this summer, but the club's standards have dropped too much, which is the saddest moment in 30 years. We've gotten to the point where we're excited about a 19-year-old playing a guy in a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool."
Savage added: "In my memory, this situation was only seen in 1986 when the first game of The Ferguson coached against Oxford United. As then, the culture of the entire club has been completely reset, back to the values that the Old Lord brought 36 years ago. Teams must be more important than individuals, and teamwork needs to replace individual performances. At that time, Fu Jue knew the answer."
Even if he is regarded as the "new prince" of Manchester United's youth training, Hannibal should be brave enough to go out and prove himself in the more fierce Championship matches, rather than staying at Manchester United, eating the dividends of youth players and sitting on the cold bench more.