Made ESPN FC's TOTW. https://twitter.com/hashtag/TOTW?src=hash
25
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Clean sheets
- 12
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 4
Sometimes on here it seems like he'd have to cure fecking cancer to get even a shred of praise. I can only think of Zabaleta and Clyne this season as better options at RB.
Best game I have seen him play at RB, well done.
Thought he had a very good game, came in here expecting praise. What i found was a set of posters bashing him. Funny the same posters wanted him out for weeks and Rafael instead. Valencia showed great passion today. I am glad he ia doing great. He is a tank, certainly deserves his place as a starting RB.
Had a great game. Both our wingbacks did.
Being up against David Silva is the hardest match a full back can have in the EPL with Hazard and Sanchez. He did respectable, like all the team City were slicing us through left and right and their goal came from the right.
I was very surprised to see him having such a good game after that though. His defensive statistics weren't far from Blind's even if Blind was more offensively successful. Very good game.
I was very surprised to see him having such a good game after that though. His defensive statistics weren't far from Blind's even if Blind was more offensively successful. Very good game.
He struggled with Milner/Silva double teaming him at the start of the game. But after Carrick dropped back to cover the channel, Valencia seemed a lot more assured. I suppose that's what you get when Mata is the winger ahead of you.
I still don't think of him as a proper right-back, mind you. But he's getting there.
I still don't think of him as a proper right-back, mind you. But he's getting there.
He is a physical beast. I am confident when he has to defend instinctively or in a 1v1 or whatever. It's just when it comes to positioning/concentration and the mental side of it that he lacks a bit. Was alright against City though, well done.
This is exactly why - there sure are a lot of people on redcafe nowadays who don't know much about football (not aimed at you) to be complaining. Valencia moves forward to overlap/overload the City LB..if a pass doesn't come off when he's overlapping and they counter, of course he'll be out of position. It is standard for the RCB to then cover for the RB who has pushed up to help attack... yet ppl are complaining that he is not there defending and Smalling has to cover
. When the RB bombs up it's up to the DM and or CB to cover if we lose possession.I would definitely take Valencia over signing Clyne but I do hope we sign a natural right back this summer and we will probably have too because it looks like Rafael will be leaving. Maybe a young RB like Fabinho who will have time to get used to the league with Valencia avalible if the new RB has any struggles.
I was pulling my hair out at him last week and the week before but credit where it's due, he was bloody excellent today.
Right up there with Carrick, Fellaini and Blind, and just behind Ander and Young as the best performers on the pitch.
Right up there with Carrick, Fellaini and Blind, and just behind Ander and Young as the best performers on the pitch.
Nobody is complaining that Smalling had to come over and cover for him. People are complaining that Valencia then almost walked back, when he had plenty of time to get back in time to put pressure on the player that ended up going through where Smalling normally would have been.This is exactly why - there sure are a lot of people on redcafe nowadays who don't know much about football (not aimed at you) to be complaining. Valencia moves forward to overlap/overload the City LB..if a pass doesn't come off when he's overlapping and they counter, of course he'll be out of position. It is standard for the RCB to then cover for the RB who has pushed up to help attack... yet ppl are complaining that he is not there defending and Smalling has to cover
Likewise, Valencia then almost let Aguero in late in the first half when he kept him on side while Smalling and the other defenders held their lines.
I think people are complaining more about how he'd push forward to press Clichy/whoever was at our right side too early, causing Smalling to go to the right, which required Carrick to go back to fill in for Smalling but for him being unsure about whether to drop back and leave the gap at the hole or keep that filled up but leave space in behind for someone to run through. This is what caused us our initial problems (and the early goal), but later on, we settled, and our shape was much better when Valencia pushed up and left his area. This was why we were also much better in the second half.This is exactly why - there sure are a lot of people on redcafe nowadays who don't know much about football (not aimed at you) to be complaining. Valencia moves forward to overlap/overload the City LB..if a pass doesn't come off when he's overlapping and they counter, of course he'll be out of position. It is standard for the RCB to then cover for the RB who has pushed up to help attack... yet ppl are complaining that he is not there defending and Smalling has to cover
that block on Aguero when he was through on goal and had other players alone to pass to them was magnificient.
You can see how most players are surprised how strong and fast a man can be.
Had a great game yesterday and at the moment he's probably the best right back in the Premier League.
At least we can now see how far behind the line he was in the first place after Smalling stepped up. Augero was further out than I thought but better touch and a simple square pass to Silva and its a goal.
That's nothing other than excellent defending. The agendas in this thread are insane.
It's a fantastic recovery for sure but even in that gif you can see how laughably out of position he is in the first place. It's a real weakness, but obviously somehow goes unnoticed for most people. I have no problem saying he had a good game but it's hard not to take issue when people say he was contender for motm or had an amazing game, when he so obviously didn't when taking the first 30 minutes into account. His doziness literally cost us a goal and almost two if Aguero hadn't totally bungled that second touch and played in Silva.
We've now gone from 'we need someone who is better at link up play' (which Valencia is and always has been very good at) to 'he is poor at throw-ins'. Add posters who note every single imperfect bit of action, that happens constantly to every player, usually even more frequently than in Valencia's case and it's really become laughable.
There were people in the matchday thread (skipped through it today - I regret!) who could tell you in which minute he apparently made some mistake that I have to admit after re-watching the game - didn't happen at all!
Good number of posters were hell-bent on slating him since the word go, i don't know if it's the usual service in matchday threads but shame on them. Some hideous abuse. The first goal, which he was to be blamed for among others, only added fuel to the fire. Was great afterwards, especially that recovery and his second half performance for which -surprise surprise- he still got bollocked for by some. Madness.
I actually thought it was good defending to just make a decision to deal with it and not try being clever with the offside. Looking at that video though, he's a bit lucky with Aguero's touch. Really should've seen Silva in acres
There was also that kung fu kick clearance later in the game. Not sure if there's a gif about.
How is he lucky with Aguero's touch when in reality, a better infield touch would only get Aguero's path closer to Valencia's? The moment Aguero got the ball Valencia caught him so quickly he didn't even have an angle for a pass to Silva as well. There's nothing lucky about that. It's just pace and decisiveness.
Not a fan of Val but he grew whith each passing minute. Top defending
The one with his backheel that cleared the ball from under Aguero's head, another goal-saving tackle. He produced two most spectacular and last moment bits of defending since that McNair goal-line clearance. Not bad for a winger playing right-back, is it?
Played well yesterday for the most part, but was guilty of schoolboy defending when he played Aguero onside.
A different day and that's another game changing chance at goal he would of been guilty of, you cant afford that at this level, you cant have your defence giving up chances like that on a regular basis.
A different day and that's another game changing chance at goal he would of been guilty of, you cant afford that at this level, you cant have your defence giving up chances like that on a regular basis.
And Blind got blitzed for pace naively early on which Navas should have capitalized on and Smalling went for a surging run, losing the ball still in our half with City having more men attacking than we at the back and Jones played a hospital ball to De Gea and Young got exposed for their 2nd goal. Sure you'd find other blunders. That's whole defence + Young with critical mistakes in the very same game.
Everyone makes defensive mistakes and you got on with it but somehow can't when it comes to him. 'you can't have defence giving up chances' should read you 'can't have Valencia as a RB because he's prone to make the odd mistake' at least be honest about it.
I thought the same yesterday, but Aguero should've done better with that and he and Silva know it. Once he closed the space down he did really well though.
its no secret he has to improve his positioning and I think he is improving despite that mistake yesterday! He had a good game overall
Blind's positioning was worse yesterday, a lot worse and I don't see anything in his thread.
There are clearly several posts highlighting how he got caught out twice in the opening minutes by Navas.
Say Ashley Young recovered from his mistake for their second goal and somehow managed to get back and block the cross with a sliding tackle. Do you lambast him or praise him for getting the job done, even if he does that later than we'd have liked? You praise him because ultimately he does his job. Same should apply to Valencia even if you are positive it was his mistake with the offside trap. He wasn't lucky but he recovered, made a decision and got the job done better than any of us thought he could at the time.
Blind was lucky because he didn't atone for his error at all but had De Gea behind him, Jones was lucky with the backpass as De Gea was sharp and Smalling was lucky others got him out of jail. Which is the aim of this sport. We made 5 bad mistakes in the first half but others or the same player himself atoned for the error on 4 occasions. You will make mistakes but you have to minimalize them and to our credit, we did in the second half.
Blind was lucky because he didn't atone for his error at all but had De Gea behind him, Jones was lucky with the backpass as De Gea was sharp and Smalling was lucky others got him out of jail. Which is the aim of this sport. We made 5 bad mistakes in the first half but others or the same player himself atoned for the error on 4 occasions. You will make mistakes but you have to minimalize them and to our credit, we did in the second half.
Till the very moment Aguero gets the ball, Valencia waits if he's going to play Silva and is more or less in line. Say Aguero touches the ball infield or keeps it closer to his feet, Valencia would have been at him in a blink of an eye instead pursuing him when he saw Aguero bearing down on goal. It would take a marvelous chip pass by Aguero to beat Valencia and it would have to be played literally the second he received the ball.
It (gif) actually looks better each time you could argue that even if Aguero lobs it to Silva, Valencia being then midway in between them would fancy his chances to catch Silva who is way further from goal than Valencia at that point.
It wouldn't take a perfect chipped pass at all because Silva has 15 yards of space but we'll agree to disagree.
Its a 2 on 1, no matter how you want to put it if the right decision is made then Valencia has no chance, as with any other player in the world.
No, them doing the same thing does not excuse him from doing it.
In case you didnt realise, this is the Antonio Valencia thread, opinions about Smalling, Jones and Blind will be being discussed in their respective threads.
The positives in Valencia's game yesterday outweighed the negatives massively.
Probably down to the fact that people consider him and his future as a central midfielder. It isn't necessarily a positive on Valencia to say Blind was at a similar level, when Valencia is fighting for that RB spot in particular and should be judged whether or not he can do that job for us at the top level.
Blind can make a mistake or two and people will still realize that he's just filling in because Shaw isn't available. It is like if Herrera played LW for a game because all our options were injured, he'd not be expected and compared to Hazard/Sanchez/Silva - we'd all praise him for doing an alright job.
I think Valencia was very good yesterday overall though. Terrible defending in that scenario but I agree with the thesis that defenders(all players) will make mistakes and recovery is a lot more important than what most people wants to admit.
All defenders will make small errors here and there, the way they recover from it is what is truly important.
Clichy made a positional mistake and then he didn't make up for it by in any way disturbing Fellaini's finish and Clichy has been one of the leagues best LB this year more or less.
I do see the point of why people are targeting Valencia though, we have a hard time upgrading our positions considering Di Maria and Mata are used wide and Rooney is a certain starter for us.
People always talk about making upgrades and the RB spot has caught a lot of attention. Not because Valencia is bad but because we have new fancy signings already in most positions.
I have said he played well apart from that.
Its there in black and white.
What I have said is true is well, you cannot give up those kinds of chances regularly, once in blue moon every player is going to slip up, not step up, miss a header, lose his man or whatever, you simply cannot have it have it happening nearly every game.
In Valencias case, its because he isnt a fullback, nothing is going to change that, in the others case its because they are either a fill in player (Blind, same problem as Valenica not a dedicated fullback) or developing (Jones and Smalling).
Fullback is just as specialized position as anywhere else on the pitch, yes you can have players fill in, but the difference between a dedicated rightback and a converted/fill in player is night and day.