But that's ridiculous, with him on one side and Shaw on the other, we'd be so much better, surely.
It would be more than ridiculous it would be idiotic. Just like when glancing through this thread and in among the praise for prob the best rb in the league you read these clowns slating him for being injured.
We saw Mata drifting wide centrally on the right a lot against Burnley <or whover else weve played sadly>only to lay the ball to the ineffective Valencia to do what he does best for 3 years,feck all.
Rafael,and Shaw on the otherside,are absolutely essential,when going forward,to supply that extra runner to compensate for the lack of pace our front 3,more vanP and Mata rather tha Rooney,offer.
I dont see a problem with vanP,Rooney and Mata in the same team,they will work,and with players like Herrera/Carrick/Blind who are possession orientated,if we are going to try and pass teams to death we need that to have those few players that can burst and explode with movement and do away with our zombie nation passing.
Raf/Shaw/diMaria in theory offer the change this team has been crying out for.
Think we will see a change to a 4-1-1-2-1-1<really a 442> after the break to suit the panel.2 cbs,rb,lb,dm,cm,ram,lam,ss,striker.
--------------dave-------------
-------Jones-------Rojo--------
Raf-------------------------Shaw
------------------Blind----------
---------Herrera-----------------
Mata--------------------diMaria
---------Rooney-----------------
------------------VanP-----------
We can split to a 3 at the back when we having a go,move into a diamond, or drop diMaria into a 3 in midfield and Rooney when covering or under pressure.