Antonio Valencia image 25

Antonio Valencia Ecuador flag

2014-15 Performances


View full 2014-15 profile

5.6 Season Average Rating
Appearances
35
Clean sheets
12
Goals
0
Assists
5
Yellow cards
4

Sam

New Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
31,585
He's an absolute fecking coward. Can't stand him.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

Full Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2014
Messages
21,693
Location
Copenhagen
Supports
Time Travel
I don't know if it was down to watching the triple death trap of Fletcher, Cleverlessly and Young today but Valencia actually looked decent. Sure he could have taken on the left back more in one on one situations but when he did he produced the one good chance of the game for us. He did however go ahead and screw himself up with his mistake on the corner that led to their goal.
 

Annihilate Now!

...or later, I'm not fussy
Scout
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
49,947
Location
W.Yorks
On the plus side, he's one of our few players who possesses this magically thing known as a "first touch" and so can actually control the ball.

The problem is he normally does feck all after that point... and the one time where he actually attempted do something that could be considered slightly dangerous (i.e take his man on), we scored a sodding goal... which you might have thought would be the catalyst for him to try it more often... but no, he just reverted to passing it backwards 5 yards from then on in.

Still, at least he passed it reasonably accurately.
 

bugmat

Full Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
2,741
Location
Caribbean
Thought apart from the mistake for their goal, he was actually OK defensively. There was one moment in particular when Sunderland would have been in on goal and he got an important touch away. His strength was good and held off people, shielding the ball well.

Offensively he was poor though, the assist aside. Yorke was right when said that it should have given Valencia confidence but he looked afraid to take on the left back as though he'd forgotten there was no Rafael to bail him out.

Not a good performance but Young, Cleverley and Fletcher were worse by some distance in my opinion.
 

Nights

Full Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2012
Messages
1,227
Location
Australia
Today the LB sussed him out, showed him to his left and Valencia crumbled every time. He has 0 belief in himself.
Every LB has him sussed out. Two years ago. All anyone has to do is push him onto his left, and 99.9% of the time it'll result in a short back pass infield.

He's been unable/unwilling to work on a solution, hence the completely inept performances.
 

In Rainbows

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
6,759
He and Young need to start making runs behind the defense. They're making it much harder on the midfielders. The fact that they don't dribble either means it's too easy for them to focus on the front 3.
 

Rykker_4united

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
3,734
Location
Canada
Supports
Keep Rodgers at Pool.
This guys found out. unfortunate but he's had an epic fall from grace. I have lost any sentimentality I held for some of our players. How he was given a new contract is beyond me. We desperately need rid of players like him.
 

ZDwyr

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
7,318
I don't think I have ever seen such a one-footed player. It is remarkable the way he refuses to use his left foot, and remarkable that he made it to Manchester United being able to only use one foot.
 

kouroux

45k posts to finally achieve this tagline
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
96,084
Location
Djibouti (La terre des braves)
My favourite moment of the game today was when Cleverley played a long ball out to him on the wing, and then because a defender was close to him, he moved away from the wing and pretended the pass was too high for him, even though it bounced about half a metre before it went off the pitch.

Surely when you do things like that you must feel like the world's smallest man?
I really remember this too, I was like "wtf, the ball wasn't that high, he could have controlled it"
 

khoazany

Full Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2012
Messages
6,518
Location
Singapore
He was ok defensively yesterday but if he continue to put in performance like this offensively I wouldn't start him ahead of Lingard let alone Rafael.
 

MoskvaRed

Full Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2013
Messages
5,232
Location
Not Moskva
He's not a coward. Tom Cleverley is a coward, Valencia is just shit.
He's lazy - a professional footballer with nothing else to do all day can work on his wrong foot to the point where it is at least functional. Quite why a supposedly elite club hasn't forced him to do so is another question.
 

Nighteyes

Another Muppet
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
25,467
He makes Young look like Luis Figo.

He makes me want to claw my eyes out.
 

ottosec

Full Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
6,550
Why are people saying he was good defensively when he was the man assigned to mark Rodwell?
 

Shark

@NotShark
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
26,506
Location
Ireland
New season, same Valencia. To think we all once viewed him as a major asset. Now I wouldn't even play him in our 2nd string team. He's fecking useless.
 

Nighteyes

Another Muppet
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
25,467
New season, new Valencia. In new, I mean that we all once viewed him as a major asset. Now I wouldn't even play him in our 2nd string team. He's fecking useless.
He's worse than useless. He's been a fecking liability going forward for 3 seasons running now and still gets in the team.
 

ZDwyr

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
7,318
He was solid defensively apart from the mistake that cost us a goal.
 

Ixion

Full Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
15,275
Whenever he is on defensive duties his positoning almost always leads to a chance for the opposition at some point.
 

ZDwyr

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
7,318
Whenever he is on defensive duties his positoning almost always leads to a chance for the opposition at some point.
He does have this issue. A drawback considering he has played as a winger for basically all of his career though. Luckily his pace means he can recover most of the time.
 

Bobcat

Full Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
6,388
Location
Behind the curtains, leering at the neighbors
Let us put aside all emotions and prejudices for moment and let us look at him objectivley. I talkes with some mates who are Gooners this weekend, and while they don't particularly care for United, they are usually fair when assesing rival squads.

Basically, they both said the current Valencia was one of the if not THE worst winger in the league. Never mind his awful "stats", his contribution to our build-up and general offensive play is also beyond depressing.

I know bashing players after a dissapointing result seems childish, but this guy has been a liabilty for two years now.
 
Last edited:

Escobar

Shameless Musketeer
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
30,210
Location
La-La-Land
Did ok defensively but offered not much going forward except for the assist. Just not good enough for United anymore
 

Amethyst

It's banter lads, inn't?
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
9,383
Location
In an apple vacuum...
The most frustrating thing for me about Valencia s that people say 'he's got no left foot' because of his refusal to use it (he'll do a 360 just to avoid it). However, the rare times he's used it from memory it's been perfectly fine. Against Villa last year when he was on fire he put in a dangerous left foot cross that Giggs nearly got on the end of early on, then played that quality reverse through ball Welbeck using his left also. In the past, I'm sure he's even got assists with it, so why doesn't he use it more often? His whole game for us up to 2012 was going past a man and firing in a cross along the 6 yard line (like he did yesterday) but obviously now full backs show him inside. If he could just show the opposition a decent left foot cross they'd be more chance of space opening up on the outside.
 

Ole90+3

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
5,954
Location
Paddy's Pub with the gang
Every LB has him sussed out. Two years ago. All anyone has to do is push him onto his left, and 99.9% of the time it'll result in a short back pass infield.

He's been unable/unwilling to work on a solution, hence the completely inept performances.
But the most annoying thing is that he doesn't even attempt to take on his man. When he does square up in an one-on-one situation, he tends to look rather dangerous.

It's obvious that Van Gaal has told the players to pass it square if there is nothing on, which is why Valencia hasn't even tried to take on his man in the first 2 games, apart from the one time, where we scored. But surely that should be one of the winger's duties - to take on their player when 1 v 1, and create something using technique and pace.

He was ok defensively yesterday but if he continue to put in performance like this offensively I wouldn't start him ahead of Lingard let alone Rafael.
Nah, he was caught napping a few times. Jones did a terrific job making up for "wing-backs'" mistakes.
 

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,717
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days
The most frustrating thing for me about Valencia s that people say 'he's got no left foot' because of his refusal to use it (he'll do a 360 just to avoid it). However, the rare times he's used it from memory it's been perfectly fine. Against Villa last year when he was on fire he put in a dangerous left foot cross that Giggs nearly got on the end of early on, then played that quality reverse through ball Welbeck using his left also. In the past, I'm sure he's even got assists with it, so why doesn't he use it more often? His whole game for us up to 2012 was going past a man and firing in a cross along the 6 yard line (like he did yesterday) but obviously now full backs show him inside. If he could just show the opposition a decent left foot cross they'd be more chance of space opening up on the outside.
Errr people aren't literally saying he doesn't have a left foot, they're saying he doesn't use it...
 

Welbeckham

Full Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
1,553
I honestly thought he was one of our better players yesterday, doesn't deserve the hate he gets here. I'm not saying he was good, but certainly better than Cleverley, Fletcher, Rooney and RVP. Arguably not worse than any of the others.
 

Nighteyes

Another Muppet
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
25,467
LB's didn't suddenly figure out how to stop him. The trick to stopping him has always been apparent but he was still good enough to go past them. For the last 3 years though, it's like someone has sliced his balls off. He could be 1v1 against his full back and he'll still around 180 and pass it back to Rafael.
 

Amethyst

It's banter lads, inn't?
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
9,383
Location
In an apple vacuum...
Errr people aren't literally saying he doesn't have a left foot, they're saying he doesn't use it...
OK fine. The point is, he only needs to show the left back he can actually produce something when shown inside on his left and they'll be more space for him to exploit on his stronger foot.
 

Tibs

Full Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
13,768
Location
UK
We sent Nani away and kept this shit on a stick
 

Dante

Average bang
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
25,280
Location
My wit's end
His positioning is fine. He's just shit in the air. Always has been. I remember when people were talking about converting him to right back a year or two ago - I was saying the same thing then.
 

FromTheBench

Full Member
Joined
May 3, 2014
Messages
10,479
I think honestly people are expecting too much attacking contributions from the wingbacks because the midfield and front 3 didn't cobble up one chance together. Also due to lack of control The ball went to them without even having a running start on the fullback most of the time.

Once the midfield is controlling the match and we have front 3 moving around playing short passes intricately then it becomes less of a problem as they can be supplementary attackers and arrive on the scene once there is a opening like it happens for Juventus for example.

Or we could go defensive and have a attacking outlet centrally like a Robben play on the counter.

We could ofcourse upgrade their as well and find a Cafu, Roberto Carlos but finding the right balance is becoming a problem.
 

El Zoido

Full Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
12,355
Location
UK
This thread title. :lol:

I've never been a huge fan of Valencia. He's just such a boring player, and for a club that prides itself on exciting attacking footballers, especially wingers, it makes me wonder how he's lasted this long.
 

Walrus

Oppressed White Male
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
11,165
It baffles me that any player can play for a top club whilst being quite so one-footed as Valencia. I have never seen such a one-footed player in my life.

Valencia does have some good attributes, he has power, pace, work ethic, but his technical attributes leave a lot to be desired.
 

Ringo 07

Full Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
5,615
Location
Schweiniesque
Valencia has wonderful pace and power still so he's a decent squad player to have....If he can find relearn how to beat his man and get those low crosses in then he can be of benefit to us but yesterday he just opted for the easy option nearly every time yet even though he ws very average - compared to the likes of Cleverley, Fletcher and Mata at least Valencia showed a little balls
 

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,717
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days
His positioning is fine. He's just shit in the air. Always has been. I remember when people were talking about converting him to right back a year or two ago - I was saying the same thing then.
He's just a massive oaf. For someone so quick he's got a terrible leap and usually prefers to barge them in the back and concede a freekick.