Valencia has been v good imo. Last season was his first bad spell. At his age getting a highly talented youngster to eventually succeed him seems perfect. Should be a good battle between the two of them this season.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 23
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 4
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It's a bit of both i think. Our players on that side don't tend to be that mobile so they fail to drag away the oppositon and thusly he get pressured. Fred may help with this.
However it's Valencia's need to come to a halt before he passes it that prohibits other potential overlap options, not only does he slow it down but he takes a while to get back up to speed.
When Mata plays on the right there's very little reason why Valencia can't play a give and go but how often have we actually seen that happen? It happens on the left fairly frequently
Really we shouldn't be putting blame on our right back for poor attacks (although i did do that in my last post) but the way we setup means it's vital.
I don't think there will be any battle at all.
Valencia is our 1st choice RB.
Darmian, if he stays is our 2nd choice.
Dallot....maybe, could get some minutes, otherwise I think Jose will prefer to put a CB in the RB position.
Time will tell, but i doubt Dallot will get 90 minutes in the league this season. Jose rarely plays 19 year olds and I think Rashford was the exception, as he was the English goldenboy, who even played for England.
That will go against the policy Jose has adopted throughout his career.
He prefers older players.
The policy to play Varane at 18?
His stats could be explained by him being our main attacking outlet. We almost always congest the left side of the pitch leaving him to stretch the pitch on the right.
I think you're miles off the mark here. I expect him to play regularly and Darmian to be sold by month end.
I think you're wrong on this, Darmian played a lot in pre-season and started the first game because we had no other choice. Based on the last few seasons he'd be nowhere near the team unless circumstances dictated that he should be. I'd be surprised if we've just spent £20m(?) on a new RB only to have Darmian as back up in his place, who I think precious few including the coach actually rate. If Dalot hadn't been injured I'd bet my house that he'd be starting in Valencia's absence.
Disagree man. He's a very good defensive fullback, bar the occasional brainfart in playing a striker on-side. His defensive stats are higher than most fullbacks of top teams because as a team we set up quite deep and defend a lot. I think he suits a Mourinho type team, hence Mourinho rates him.
However all other top 6 teams play with fullbacks/wingbacks quite high up the pitch. Their contribution is more offensive than defensive. That's backed up by stats as well. Chances created, assists and key passes per 90 mins... are higher for Walker, Trippier, Bellerin and Moses. Valencia is not very good at the offensive part. He's quite slow to get the ball out his feet and his cross delivery has regressed through the years.
He's better than most at the defensive part though. Problem with that is the offensive part of our game is where we're struggling. So the fan expectation is that we improve on that, particularly through the fullbacks playing higher and offering width to our attack. And Valencia is not the man for that, so he gets (part of) the blame.
Those differences are pretty marginal. He scores exactly the same as Walker on “key passes” for example. Admittedly a small sample size, but he was also more likely to score a goal himself than any of them. And all of this - as you - say playing for a team that sits very deep, prioritises defence over attack and didn't score many goals. You can't simultaneously claim his defensive stats are inflated by our team's overly defensive approach while criticising him for not being creative enough at the other end!
Differences quite often appear marginal per 90 mins. That's the nature of per 90 mins stats. If the differences were big then they'd be huge by the end of the season. He's bottom (or joint bottom) on all the offensive statistics. Which paints a picture. The picture is one of lower offensive contribution.
This can be due to lack of skills or due to a defensive/rigid formation. Or both. That's where observation is important to interpret the statistics. I think it's a bit of both but more of the former. While United have a fairly rigid formation, Valencia gets the most freedom out of the two fullbacks, due to the fact that Mata drifts inside a lot and opens the space up. While the LW in our system is expected to maintain a lot of width. However he also had less offensive contribution than Young. He trails him on all the same offensive stats. Young, a newcomer to the position, finished the year better and stronger than a younger more experienced in the position Valencia while playing for the same team.
As for his defensive stats, I don't believe they are inflated. Hence I said that I believe he's a good defensive fullback. I think if anything they are deflated for other players because their roles have less emphasis on the defence. Which is not a stick to beat Valencia with. But the offensive stats match a lot the observations, which indicate that he's just not that good on the final 3rd any more.
I can't back this up with anything but do think Dalot will surprise alot of people this season and has the tools to be our TAA.
He seems to be a great character to have around too (sitting with the fans and cheering us on at weekend) so he should fit in with some of the others.
He seems to be a great character to have around too (sitting with the fans and cheering us on at weekend) so he should fit in with some of the others.
Maybe it's because we're so weak at right back, but I'm absolutely itching for this kid to do well for us. I'm not expecting him to start a ton of games, but I'd hope he develops lots and is knocking on the door for a starting spot next season.
We've all know for a while that Valencia and Young are extremely limited fullbacks, they are definitely not the future, and we need better quality in these areas as soon as possible.
Of course Jose will pick his moments to give Dalot a shot (likely to be cup games or when we're winning a league fixture comfortably) but I do hope he is given those opportunities and that his improvement is a positive for us this year.
How good he actually is and how quickly he can improve, I guess we'll find out!
We've all know for a while that Valencia and Young are extremely limited fullbacks, they are definitely not the future, and we need better quality in these areas as soon as possible.
Of course Jose will pick his moments to give Dalot a shot (likely to be cup games or when we're winning a league fixture comfortably) but I do hope he is given those opportunities and that his improvement is a positive for us this year.
How good he actually is and how quickly he can improve, I guess we'll find out!
Valencia and YOung as converted full backs have done very well and in my opinion get harshly criticised, bohth have done a good job. Saying that it is probably there last season or two and exciting the thought of two young talented full backs that have the opporunities to succeed them during this season if they perform.
Shaw is perhaps in his last chance season of doing so but he is a very talented young full back with flaws (positionally for sure). Hope he can get opportunities and take them when Young is back.
Had never head of Dalot but from reading about him and his youtube clips, excited to see if he is as good as a lot of Portugese people seem to say and can break through this season, could be a massive signing for us.
Shaw is perhaps in his last chance season of doing so but he is a very talented young full back with flaws (positionally for sure). Hope he can get opportunities and take them when Young is back.
Had never head of Dalot but from reading about him and his youtube clips, excited to see if he is as good as a lot of Portugese people seem to say and can break through this season, could be a massive signing for us.
He will not be playing a CB at RB ahead of Dalot. Dalot will push for game time ahead of Darmian.
If that somehow manages to happen.. I will get down on my knees and call Mourinho a genius.
In reality Shaw will get dropped the second Young returns and Dalot will be the second coming of Varela.
As it stands, Young is levels above Shaw, unless some miracle happens. So I don't see what merits starting Shaw over him.
How so?
As crazy as it would have sounded in May it might actually happen....
Young will not come in until Shaw has a bad game or two. I wouldn’t actually mind seeing us rotate the full backs in the way Spurs do. Valencia especially cannot be playing as many games as he has. Dalot is far, far more talented than Varela and it will be disappointing if he isn’t at least pushing for a starting place next season.
I doubt Mourinho or any top managers would be going with a back four of Dalot-Bailly-Lindelof-Shaw if they have serious ambitions of winning things. I imagine that would be by far and away the youngest back line in the league. It’s not hard to see why Mourinho wanted some experience in there when you look at what else we have.
Don’t you think “miracle” is a bit of an extreme way to describe a talented youngster with a lot of potential eventually getting his shit together and delivering on that potential?
He isn’t. I’d want to see Shaw start a lot more so he can develop into a better player. He’s got the hunger.
Not really. It seems like he's been here forever, and I don't really believe he will ever realise that potential tbh. Young is an England international and I don't see any signs of him slowing down anytime soon.
I don't think he will get ahead of Young often.
He's just a much better player currently in that position, imo. We can dream that Shaw will realise his potential. I think it will take a lot for him to displace Young. We will probably even get another LB before Shaw gets to claim that position.
Re-watch a few of games from last season and it's blindly obvious.
Overall Young is better at defending, crossing, attacking, reading the game, being consistent.
Shaw has had a handful of good games in a United shirt, I think he can become the first choice for RB but I've not seen him do anything that makes me think Young wouldn't be able to do.
Young is not better at defending at all. He was a liability defensively against most of the big teams.
Don't think Young is better defensively at all, thought that was his biggest weakness last season.
Agree with @limerickcitykid and @AltiUn here.
Young`s defensively positioning is not good.
And his crossing is irritating, cause he has to stop and go inwards to cross and then the runs in the box has stopped by then. Making it hard to be direct many times.
Young`s defensively positioning is not good.
And his crossing is irritating, cause he has to stop and go inwards to cross and then the runs in the box has stopped by then. Making it hard to be direct many times.
Defensively he is not great...but he is still better than Shaw.
I think you just don’t rate Shaw, which is understandable, but given enough chances this season he could really become a good player. We’ll see anyway. We simply can’t stick with Young all season.
He could, but I don't know, I just don't think it's likely.
The only thing currently I would say that Young has over Shaw is confidence and experience. I think Young isn’t afraid to shout at the likes of your Pogbas and Sanchez and tell them to get back and help him. That is a big thing at this level, but defending and attacking i’d Probably sway Shaw’s way if I’m honest. Young’s ability to adapt in game is better than Shaw’s but that again is kind of experience.
I just don’t think there is as big a gap between them as you’ve indicated in terms of ability. Which one is more effective I guess we’ll see over this season, or at least hope so. Hopefully Dalot will get a few runs out as well.
It's unfair to say that Young's in the team just because of confidence and experience, there's more to it than that. Young is also a very good professional who seems to follow his manager's instructions down to the letter. He's in the team because he's been better for us than Shaw has, if Shaw wants his place in the team back then he has to earn it with consistent performances showing he's capable of being better than Young. I've had my complaints regarding Young over the years but you can never fault his commitment to the club, which is a rare commodity at United these days to be honest and something I'd wager Mourinho values quite highly.
It's exactly what happened in January - Shaw was playing well over Dec and Jan and got benched the second Young came back from suspension.
Also it's a bit early to call Dalot far more talented than Varela when none of us have actually seen him play and he's played about 10 games in a top flight league in his career so far.
Young had been playing better though before his suspension. Literally won us a couple of games. He was better than Shaw throughout the season and that's why he play. Shaw was average at best when he was playing and was saying as much at the time.
Dalot is one of the highest rated prospects in his position. He'd been on the radar of every big club in Europe and Porto fans were crazy about him. This is not true of Varela. From what little I've seen of both there is no comparison, at this stage in his career at least.
That is fairly obvious.
Imagine if we had a functioning right flank... Imagine what our games would be like 
I've got hopes for this kid.
I've got hopes for this kid.
Was waiting for someone to come out with that dead joke.
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