Patrice Evra....

kietotheworld

I'm a bit reluctant to praise any of our defenders, given the almost unprecedented amount of goals we're conceding this season with no obvious cause, but he's certainly looked a lot better this season than he did in the last two. I always felt the World Cup debacle, subsequent punishment and the Suarez controversy were somewhat to blame for his poor form in the last two years, it's glad to see him back at something approaching his best.

kouroux

Some great stuff there.This season he has improved all aspects of his game in comparison to last one, he's better at crossing the ball whether in the air or on the ground.

fishfingers15

Did Evra lick our crest on the shirt? Found an email in F365 Mailbox mentioning it, but never saw any pics.

I'm always right

Patrice Evra....

post 1803

OGkush

love the guy
United through and through he is.

Shark22

Yeah, like a boss.

fishfingers15

Well apparently he did it again this weekend

It's boss, but slightly disconcertingly boss.

Shark22

He's a mad fucker, but he has everything you'd want in a United player. I'll openly admit that I thought that he was on the major decline after last season. How wrong was I?

Rossa

Last year he had lost a lot of pace; some of his runs, particularly where he was destroyed for pace against Lennon, showed that. That was explained by Ferguson as he played with injuries.

This season we are witnessing a fit and injury free Evra, and that is just about world class. I certainly wouldn't trade him for Baines. Evra has pace, technique, aerial ability and offensive contributions that beats that of most rivals.

This year I think he has done much better defensively also. I agree though, with I'm Always Right that he wasn't as bad last season as some would argue. He was unjustly made scape goat for most that happened, goals that were conceded after he conceded a free kick at the middle of the pitch etc. Not his fault that Evans decided to rugby tackle Rio Ferdinand who went for a header!

Amar__

Yeah, I forgot to mention that last season it did look like he lost some pace, but this season he seems fresh again.

Brightonian

Still the best fullback in the world except Marcelo in terms of dribbling at and around players. And he runs the Brazilian pretty close.

fishfingers15

Probably because of extra rest due to Buttner's signing.

Crackers

There was an article today about how the squad are concentrating on themselves rather than their noisy neighbours as of late,Evra been quotes saying that they're more concerned with themselves this season compared to worrying about City last season.
Change in mentality, and Evra seems to be full of desire this year - the man wants a trophy haul.

lunchforthesky

He's been quite a bit better this year, but nothing like he was at his best.

Swaters16

I hope all of our players are after a trophy haul after pissing away their chances a few times last season. The champions league, the league cup, the FA cup and the premier league. You tell me we couldn't have done better in all of them.

Rossa

He was better at his best, but to say he is nothing like his best is absurd. Arguably, he offers more going forwards and has more assists and goals. His defending looks sharp too. Some of his passing is sublime also, like the one to Kagawa (those who said Kagawa lacked pace by the way, should seriously take a look at that gif!)

Jimy_Hills_Chin

He is better in an attacking sense, end product wise, than he has ever been, much better! The defensive mistakes are still there though, he gives away a lot of stupid freekicks too. On balance he has been very good for us this year.

Regarding the other recent points in this thread:

I think that Marcelo is a class above in an attacking sense. That pass to Kagawa in the GIF above wasn't very good either, it put him under a lot of pressure in a dangerous area.

Brwned

Agreed. I still think he's a bit dozy and complacent defensively and he plays it out from the back too casually every now and then but when he's such an attacking force going the other way it doesn't bother me at all. Same with Rafael. They inject so much energy and drive into our attack.

The other pass to Kagawa was pretty fantastic though.

Annihilate Now!

I think our whole team can be guilty of that occassionally... but perhaps it is to be expected when your a side that generally insists on passing your way out of danger/tight spots?

But yeah, I agree, he's still prone to the defensive mis-haps (though having said that, I think some of it is way exaggerated... people on this forum for example have said he was dodgy defensively against Liverpool, but he hardly put a foot wrong all game bar one loose pass), but he's brilliant going forward so I find myself forgiving more often then not.

Brwned

Yeah you're probably right. Can remember Evans doing it a few times and Rio's slipped back into all-round dozy mode for a few months now. Rafael's probably the tidiest one of them all in that sense and he still takes risks. We've definitely been playing it out from the back more often this season than any time in the past few years so it's probably being encouraged with us trying to move to a more possession-based game.

Definitely agree that some of the criticism is way OTT and I find that a bit bizarre given he's a fans' favourite. Same with Valencia. You know you have a pretty good squad if Evra and Valencia are the scapegoats in the side. He's taken his attacking game up another level this year so that's either taken away some of the focus on his defensive lapses or he's much improved in that sense too because I hardly ever worry about him these days. Every now and then you'll see him doddling about 2 yards in front of our centre backs while the fullback/winger's crossing it in unchallenged and that pisses me off but that's pretty much it. Certainly looks much better 1v1.

100

I'd be all for starting someone else against Lennon in the future, he was ripped apart again.

Nate Dogg

When he got the yellow early on i thought "oh no..he is either gonna be sent off or Lennon will attack him more in the 2nd half"

Isotope

Basic defending against pacey player is showing him on one direction, with your body and legs ready to sprint. What Evra did was facing Lennon with his body and legs parallel against the opponent, and all Lennon had to do just to knock the ball forward and left Evra on his arse.

It's so basic, I don't know how Evra couldn't understand it.

akash02

It's not just him being raped by Lennon but he is too lazy at times for me. I counted 3 separate occasions when we had Carrick at LB covering for Evra who was nowhere to be seen

Godfather

He just can't defend Lennon

DevilRed

More of the same from him and lennon. Not his worst match he has played against him mind you.

I'm always right

Evra was always tucked inside on those occasions, he wasn't "nowhere to be seen".

Struggles against Lennon though, just that turn of pace he finds hard.

Sojiro

yea that what I was thinking. Lennon was causing problems all over the pitch. Combined with the Spurs waves of attack didnt think Evra was at his worst

Amar__

That's two games in a row where he is our worst player against Spurs. One year ago, I was one of those who were saying that Evra never really struggled against Lennon and that all that was just a myth, but now it's obvious he doesn't like playing against Lennon.

Minkaro

There was one point in the game where he tried to take the ball past Lennon and go on a run. Left the ball with Lennon, and ended up halfway up the pitch having to sprint to get back.

Hannibal

When Ashley Young is not playing, we don't have a winger who covers Evra effectively. It's a bit harsh to put Evra against Lennon and expect him to shut Lennon down. Evra is not 22 like Rafael.

KingEric7

I think we just have to accept that Lennon is pretty much Evra's kryptonite. Even at his best when he was in the form of his life shitting all over every right sided opponent he came up against, Lennon repeatedly had him for breakfast.

Amar__

What would you expect from him if he had Ronaldo playing alongside him today? Carrick was covering him all day long, so that's not an excuse.

Brwned

He's had much worse games against Lennon than today. Quite a few.

Amar__

Which is odd, I rarely see any fullback having major problems with stopping Lennon, who is mediocre player btw.

Shimo

When Lennon plays well he is hard to stop - maybe it's a confidence thing for Lennon coming up against Evra where he plays well and on the flip side perhaps Evra gets a bit nervous as well having been torn a new one a couple times.

Yesterday was a good example of what Lennon can do he does the things he is capable of - often though he doesn't, which is why he can be stopped by a lot of fullbacks and also why he is considered mediocre. Can burn the best fullbacks but, does it rarely.

Amar__

Yeah, that's the thing, I know he can do that, but it's a rare rare thing to see, but when he is against Evra that's inevitable.

Shimo

Ronaldo at his peak had his kryptonite in Ashley Cole - for whatever reason it was he seemed to just not do well against him regardless of what his form had been like.

What I found more confounding as the game wore on though was that it didn't matter if it was Evra or Carrick on Lennon, we kept letting them get caught 1v1 against him. Was expecting to at least getting him doubled more than a few times and the help just never came.

100

Rafael pushes high up a lot to deal with Bale and not give him any time on the ball. Evra seems to do the opposite to Lennon, it's a while since I've seen him get turned as easy as he did for the Defoe chance/Ferdinand block.

Amar__

Lennon is mediocre player, while Ashley Cole during Ronaldo years with us was excellent fullback, so that's not really good comparison tbf.

I agree on second part of the post.