Darwin09
Theory of Thread Pollution
Made ESPN FC's TOTW. https://twitter.com/hashtag/TOTW?src=hash
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.Too often he and Smalling are swapping, with Smalling coming out to the right back position and Valencia to centre back. I guess this is because Valencia bombs on a lot, but we need to make sure we follow runners from midfield.
The bit where he caught Aguero and jockeyed him out was class.
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 . When the RB bombs up it's up to the DM and or CB to cover if we lose possession.
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 . When the RB bombs up it's up to the DM and or CB to cover if we lose possession.
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.
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.That's nothing other than excellent defending. The agendas in this thread are insane.
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?There was also that kung fu kick clearance later in the game. Not sure if there's a gif about.
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.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.
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.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.
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.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
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.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.
No, them doing the same thing does not excuse him from doing it.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.
The positives in Valencia's game yesterday outweighed the negatives massively.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.
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's positioning was worse yesterday, a lot worse and I don't see anything in his thread.
I have said he played well apart from that.The positives in Valencia's game yesterday outweighed the negatives massively.