Another assist! He was pretty good when he came on I thought. Would definitely consider starting him in the next game. He has a lot more end product than Young, but is more likely to lose the ball too. It's a risky decision to make.
7
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 32
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 13
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
Wait, he's getting criticised for today?
feck me, talk about agendas. He came on, didn't give the ball away (horrah!) and got himself (another) assist.
feck me, talk about agendas. He came on, didn't give the ball away (horrah!) and got himself (another) assist.
Yea but it was a bad assist. Or something.
Angel Di Maria is at 13 assists right now according to the stats in this thread. That means he tied Valencia's best season for the league, Beckhams second best season in 97-98 and he's one behind Nani who is at second place with 14 assist in a season. Beckham 99-00 leads the charts with 15, so Di Maria would hold the Manchester United assist record if he makes two more until the end of the season.
So even with the worst possible season as the scenario, he could still beat the record of most assists in the league in one season for a United player. Even if he doesn't play a game more he's in the top 3 with only Nani/Becks ahead of him.
I still don't think he should start and I don't expect him to either. Keep him coming off the bench to great effect at times ( 2 assists recently).
Its funny how when stats got rolled out to show how under appreciated Mata was everyone jumped on them and said stats mean nothing. For di Maria they seem to mean everything.
He has loads of assists which is great, but 2 were shots that happened to go to players who put them in, and todays was a bad cross turned into an assist by a great striker. Even last weeks chip was a poor chip that was made an assist by an outrageous volley. I can't remember many of his other assists but I think the point is stats don't tell the whole story.
Before anyone jumps down my throat i want him to do well. Personally i think he'll be off to psg this or next summer.
Even if you ignore the stats, you'd have to be blind to fail to see that di María has posed a genuine threat against every team he's played against and is significantly more dangerous than the likes of Ashley Young. For me, all this criticism about last week's "poor" assist does suggest there's some sort of weird agenda here. Yes, that was the only way Mata could've scored it first time and it was a moment of brilliance...but he could quite easily have controlled it and slotted it into the far corner or crossed it to a free man at the back post. It was a little behind him, that's it. He still created the chance out of very little. It was a very creative pass that required a quality finish - di María is the only player I can remember being criticised for something like this.
Nearly correct but the 13 assists are in all competitions, like the cross for Rooney's header against Arsenal in the Cup. I think he's on 10 or 11 in just the League but that is still a lot and you're right he might set the record by the end of the season.
Wilson v QPR
Falcao v Leicester (could count as an assist, e.g. on Fantasy Premier League it would)
He got criticised for his 'bad assist' yesterday as well. Its beyond mental.
We spent 60 odd minutes watching Young blindly cross it to no one about a hundred times, and get praised by everyone as having a great game, then Di Maria comes on, within 10 minutes has picked out Rooney to make it 2-0, and yet apparently he was rubbish. There's clearly an agenda. I was as pissed off as anyone with his work rate against Liverpool (despite a very good assist) but yesterday he was faultless. It seems like the narrative has been set though.
People are expecting more from a man we spent £60m on. The odd thing is, at his best last season, he acquired 17 assists and 9 goals, at this point, and that, too, having played far more games, in a better and more settled team.
Man Utd 14/15: 17 goals and assists in 27 apps = 0.62 G/A per game
R Madrid 13/14: 26 goals and assists in 43 apps = 0.60 G/A per game
The only criticism I have of him is that he hasn't shown enough of the effort, attitude and determination we observed during the last few months of last season, particularly in the champions league final. However, you can completely understand that he wasn't concentrating as well as he could have following the burglary incident. When you buy an offensive player for that amount of money, you expect him to create and you cannot fault him there, as his numbers are better than a large proportion of the players in the PL.
I have complete faith that he will turn out to be a great investment. He's far too good to fail. Actually it might sound strange but im not even worried about him.
Brwned has hit the nail on the head. Forget the stats, possession and what not, he poses a threat. It's something that we lack on most of our other players. Yes Young can run up and down all day long, run at players and provide good width, and he has done really well, but his acts in the final third are nowhere near to what Di Maria is capable of. We have to work towards getting that out of him consistently. Even when Di Maria fecks up in the end, it is only due to his brainfart or a wrong decision, the opposition usually have no clue how to deal with him. And those "brainfarts" or things that look bad in hindsight come with every ambitious and creative player. He tries to make things happen with every touch, and has the technical ability on the ball to execute that, better than anyone else we have. Plus, his best attribute by far, is the world class vision that he has. It's something you can't train, and even when he's not hitting the passes perfectly, the runs and movements he picks out wouldn't be picked out by someone like Young in a whole season, no matter how hard he works. He adds tremendous amount of unpredictability in our game, and he can only get better.
And of course, he has genuine scary pace, which is simply a big weapon to hold.
And of course, he has genuine scary pace, which is simply a big weapon to hold.
Everyone needs to chill out. Despite the decent stats, he's not been at his best. That said, he's not been hopeless either, there've been plenty of signs of a very special player even in amongst some of his poorer performances, and his productivity has been decent. He'll settle down properly in the summer, get a good pre-season in, sort out the situation with his family, and we'll soon be seeing the best of him.
It's easy to forget how good he was at Real. I reckon next year he's going to step up and we will see the old Di Maria again.
Yep, even when he's clearly not at his best, he looks like the most likely player to create something when he's on the pitch. Has that X factor about him. With his ability and pace, he'l always create problems for teams the way Young cant.
That said, I feel the equation between him and Young gets much more balanced when it comes to the left wing role as Di Maria isnt as good there. Should play either centrally or on the right but Mata has done brilliantly on the right and deserves to keep his place while our current CM options mean Fellaini will start in the middle.
Next year would be a much better one for him. Other than all the factors mentioned, us getting a proper CM would help everyone play more in more natural positions.
For me, we should be starting him in every game for the rest of the season. He's a top player who figures to be a key part of our side and I don't think he's fully acclimated to the squad and league like Blind has for example. If nothing else, we should be using these last games to get him going. Remember, he's off to Copa America in the summer and will probably not play any part in our preseason.
feck, I completely forgot about Copa America. That's annoying.
Had no idea the Copa America took place this summer, that won't help at all... He could come back gassed.
Well after another spending spree, I doubt he's going to be main man next year anyway. So if anything he will probably have more room to breathe.
Copa America is really bad news. I forgot about it, but now i remmeber that it is in Chile. feck, really wanted him to be fresh for the season.
Highly doubt we'll see a spending spree like we had this past summer. No way we're spending near 150m again.
If anything, it seems as though this summer will most likely consist of a few tweaks to the squad - as opposed to buying half a new squad like last summer.
We might end up spending north of £100m again but the number of players might be lower - we signed 5 (6 if we count Falcao loan) last year, I think we'll sign 3-4 this Summer but they might be more expensive in total. If we got Hummels it's £35m gone already, then Depay would probably cost another £20m and we might buy a £40m midfielder on top of that too (although when it comes to midfielders I feel it's more like a question of £60m it'd cost to bring someone special, say Pogba, and £20m to bring a talent).
some of his assists have been like that in the league this season
Fellaini v West Brom
Mata v Crystal Palace
Rooney v Aston Villa
Mata v Liverpool
That and his famous miss hit shot/pass trick.
We are definitely spending at least £100m in this current climate.
Amazes me to see people not give him credit for that assist to Mata against Liverpool. Who cares if it was a little behind Mata, most players wouldn't attempt that pass, that is not an ordinary pass to make.
Exactly. Seems a lot of posters have an agenda against him for whatever reason.
di Maria and Mata are the only two in the team who'd try that.
Suddenly he's a fortunate assist maker...
Assist is an assist.
Sure he could do better but some people go overboard with criticism.
Assist is an assist.
Sure he could do better but some people go overboard with criticism.
He's quite consistent been our most creative player this season (and by some distance) but there's no need to exaggerate. All of Blind, Rooney and Herrera are more than capable of such passes.
No one has an agenda. I love the fact that he keeps on trying to create things even when we were playing shite. But there's no harm in admitting that he's been struggling for a bit of form lately. I'm sure he'll be back in the team soon enough.
Not suddenly - he has been fortunate with a fair few of his assists this season. But that's not a bad thing/complaint... just an observation. What's that saying about buying a ticket for a raffle?
You don't get consistently as lucky as he does. He releases the ball accurately and early and gives players the best chance of scoring they can, that's not fortune.
It's also why Valencia has suddenly become as threatening as damp cotton wool.
It's also why Valencia has suddenly become as threatening as damp cotton wool.
Dont know.
Think he'll come on and show his class today...
Man Utd 4:2 Man City
Unless he absolutely rips City apart, assuming he comes on later, he won't be starting much; Ashley Young has been superb.
Shows how much he can't wait to leave when celebrating our goal on the bench 
Yeah, he was so quick to leave his seat, shows he wants out!Shows how much he can't wait to leave when celebrating our goal on the bench
Don't expect to see him starting the next few games. He seems to think he has more time on the ball than he actually does.
What the heck is this? We were down to ten men and didn't need to take any risks. Against Liverpool, when he looking to make things happen and losing the ball, he was crucified; now he's looking to keep hold of the ball, you're so how managing to criticise him for that.
Exactly. Not one player can be criticised today, was a fantastic team performance all around.
That's not really what he was saying. He sometimes dwells on the ball too long and ends up being dispossessed while trying to make something happen, not while trying to protect the ball. He's right and I'm sure it's a confidence thing.
- Status