Which player do you still believe in (that everyone else doesn't)?

99withaflake

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Is there anyone in the squad who the majority of fans want gone, but for some reason you still have an ounce of belief that they will come good?

I promise I'm not starting this thread to cause heated debates :D This is a safe place. You're allowed to say Phil Jones or Matteo Darmian.

For example, so many supporters wanted Fellaini out of the club, and it's fair to say he's changed a lot of opinions over the past couple of months, with many of those fans changing their minds and accepting he adds value to the squad.

Is there anyone else who seems to be "deadwood" but you personally want to stay?
 

AlecHDR

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Smalling. I've been thinking that for years. He is not the new Nesta or anything but he has been our most reliable defender for years.
 

redtony

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People hate Valencia too much imo. Aside from the fact that he has one foot, hes done well over the yrs
 

Mcking

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He’s misusing a football
He is generally off form, but we are playing him completely out of his comfort zone and using him in a very wrong way which does not help him nor us, only just highlights his obvious flaws and deprives him of his greatest strength.
 

SadlerMUFC

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Jones and Smalling were set up to be our centrehalf pairing for years to come, and I think they still can be. Of couse, that would mean Jones has to stay healthy, which seems to be a problem for him. But when he gets a good run of games he does quite well. It's when he's in and out of the first team that he starts having his brain farts. But when on form I still think that Jones is our best defender. Problem is, we haven't seen that form in quite a while. People also seem to forget how young he is as he is only 26 years old. He just seems older because he's been with us for so long...but he was bought as a teenager
 

James Peril

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He is generally off form, but we are playing him completely out of his comfort zone and using him in a very wrong way which does not help him nor us, only just highlights his obvious flaws and deprives him of his greatest strength.
He is a striker and we’re using him as a striker. What brilliant way should we use him to get him into his confort zone?
 

Kostov

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Don't shoot me, but Romelu Lukaku. I think he is better than this, and could be a good striker for us until we are able to upgrade on him.
 

Negan

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Jones and Smalling were set up to be our centrehalf pairing for years to come, and I think they still can be. Of couse, that would mean Jones has to stay healthy, which seems to be a problem for him. But when he gets a good run of games he does quite well. It's when he's in and out of the first team that he starts having his brain farts. But when on form I still think that Jones is our best defender. Problem is, we haven't seen that form in quite a while. People also seem to forget how young he is as he is only 26 years old. He just seems older because he's been with us for so long...but he was bought as a teenager
Oh they can be our CB partnership for years... but we’ll be comfortably sitting 8th-10th.
 

Kopral Jono

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Don't shoot me, but Romelu Lukaku. I think he is better than this, and could be a good striker for us until we are able to upgrade on him.
Absolutely, Lukaku is a much better player than the pub league footballer he seems to have become these days. It still baffles me how this version of Lukaku comes into being in the first place.
 

Mcking

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He is a striker and we’re using him as a striker. What brilliant way should we use him to get him into his confort zone?
There are different types of strikers though. We are asking him to start attacks from his own half. His comfort zone is in the box, but he is rarely in the box because we struggle to advance into the final third. A lot of times, he is in wide areas because our wide men play too deep. Even when he is in the box, we don't supply him with enough balls or even half decent service. We pump him long balls when he's not very good at bringing them down. Most of the time, he is isolated and expected to dribble the ball 50yards up the pitch. All this means he has to do most of his job nearer to the halfway line which is not exactly an exciting prospect for even the most build-up-loving strikers. It exposes his limitations with spectacular ease and deprives him of chances to score goals.
 

Flexdegea

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Lukaku. We are misusing him.


Lukaku are mostly self created, ranging from lack of movement, zero ability on the ball, no composure, no first touch ball just bouncing off him and a weak mentality in big games.


Not from him getting misused
 
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Ballache

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A few actually:

Lukaku, I don't think he's a target man and is much better running behind defenders.

VNL, maybe my Swedish bias is talking here but he's had a couple of good performances lately so hopefully he can build on that.

Fred, isn't playing much atm but I like his tenacity and his ball retention ability.
 

sunama

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Smalling. I've been thinking that for years. He is not the new Nesta or anything but he has been our most reliable defender for years.
Jose and LVG both relied on him the most and I doubt many disagree that he is our best CB.
 

tenpoless

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Fred, Matic, Lukaku.

I do think They need a change of scenery though, a.k.a a new manager. Matic is rather old but I still believe He can do a good job for us.
 

Annihilate Now!

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Still think Van Persie had more a lot more to give to us then just that one season.

If we'd had a better manager, or if Fergie had stay on, he'd have been great for another 2 seasons at least.
 

POF

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Ander Herrera. It seems quite certain he will leave the club soon but I love his character. He's one of the few players in the club that has the right mentality.

You can absolutely tell he was a Fergie target. Those were the days when the character of a player was as important as his ability. I'll be really disappointed when he leaves the club.