It was very poor to get so out of sync with the rest of the back 4, but what a bonus having such blistering pace in the team. It wasn't the first time he saved our skin and it wont be the last. In the absence of us somehow finding the best RB in the league from somewhere I'm happy with him there.
25
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Clean sheets
- 12
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 4
I always sympathize with defenders. Apart from keeping your concentration levels in tact you play your heart out, run like mad for the whole game chasing opposite players, risking an injury every time you slide in at a full pelt then one mistake creeps in and you're the villain. Gks can have it even worse. Striker will have a stinker for 90 minutes, then scores a fecking tap and he's a hero.
Or that moment when he waltzed through Samir Nasri like he wasn't even there.
Spot on! We saw it with Kompany and Demichilis as well. Actually, that's how we got our third goal. Demichilis got pulled out to the right back spot, and Mata dropped into that space. Ideally, Toure would have had to fill in for Demichilis.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.
The funny thing is Blind has played as a LB far more often than Valencia has at RB. Not just in the world cup but before at Ajax and when he went on loan there before his ajax first team debut. It was on his return to Ajax that De Boer made him a DM iirc.
People in here who slate Valencia are for the msot part the same ones who disliked him as our RW even when he was ace because he displaced Nani. LvG has found a good balance. TO allow Mata to thrive on the right Valencia is more suitable than Rafael. The triangles, Valencia, Herrera an Mata play are spellbinding at times. Our left side is pace )AY) and dominating brute force (MaFel) our right is one-touch football.
As pointe out above, this is Valencia' first season as an actual RB unlike Blind who's played that position before.
Besides, I don't see a future for Blind as a CM. He's definitely not a #6 and both Fellaini and Herrera are better #8's. He's an LB for me, be it first choice or as a cover for Shaw.
Chelsea 1:0 Man Utd
can't believe how more brainless player can be. absolute dogshite going forward, creativity fecking zero. scared to hell to make anything but a pass backwords. Bring on Rafael
Want to see the goal again to see where Valencia is. Is he the one Fabregas gets past to make the pass at the start?
I think he's been one of our best players today, there's so much disagreement in the each of player threads so far
I thought he was fine in the first half, he is economical with the ball but had some good moments and has discipline.
Okay there's the goal again. He's ball watching. He isnt tackling Fabregas, he isnt tracking his winger Hazard. He's caught between the two and does nothing in that move
He was our best player.
He's dallying on the ball, hasn't worked a single decent chance into the box and just let Hazard go past him and didn't do anything to get back. But yeah, best player.
He ran up and down the line a couple of times..
Partly responsible for the goal but other than that has been superb. Patrolling the whole right flank on his own basically. Allowing Mata to roam without sacrificing our right flank.
Now if only he could put in a decent cross or two to Falcao..
Now if only he could put in a decent cross or two to Falcao..
You're getting a bit boring. The goal wasn't remotely his fault.
So lump him in with the other 9 who haven't created anything. Has Mata created anything? Has Rooney?
He was not at fault for the goal (though I have no idea who he was marking, he was just ambling around) but he's to blame for the DDG handball situation. He just threw himself in front of his own keeper, what on earth could he be thinking?
Apart from his winger scoring on his side, as he does nothing
Herrera was on Hazard if i recall. Keep trying.
Hes been excellent. Im actually at a loss that people are criticising him today, I expected even his harshest critics to be holding their hands up and saying well done.
Do people realise that it's absolutely not his job to risk dribbling past players? If he's dispossed trying to beat a man we're completely screwed. It's just not up to him to do unless other players are ready to cover him, which is pretty much never.
Do people realise that it's absolutely not his job to risk dribbling past players? If he's dispossed trying to beat a man we're completely screwed. It's just not up to him to do unless other players are ready to cover him, which is pretty much never.
Very good first half
Has anyone said Mata is our best player today? Or Rooney? If they have, please point me in their direction.
He hasn't had a lot of help on that side to be fair. The left wing we've continued with that triangle (Young, Fellaini and Blind switched for Shaw), but on the right Herrera isn't there as an option because he's playing the holding role. Mata naturally drifts inside to influence the play and exploit the space Chelsea are giving us by dropping deep which means Tony often has two men to take on.
He should've closed down the space between Fabregas and Hazard initially. Rooney had a go at him after the goal.
Just watched it again. He could've done better at closing down space, but it was morso a miscommunication between Val, Smalling, and Herrera.
Very similar to what happened for the first goal against City.
Hazard is the left winger. Valencia is the right back.
Valencia isn't in the correct position when Fabregas turns and passes, and he cant get back into the right position to track his winger
If he was in the correct position in the first place, a CM doesnt need to track the left winger. Its Oscar that Ander might have been able to do better with, Hazard is all on Valencia
No but why is our right back derided for not creating chances when our attackers haven't done it either. He's playing the right flank on his own. He gets criticised for following Hazard and not keeping his position and now es criticised for not following Hazard ino the middle while Hererra watchable him run past him. Much like he did with Silva last week.
Two weeks running Herrea has just let players run away from him in the centre of the pitch. The nuetrals have picked it up I wonder why people here can't.
Which suggests there's a bit of miscommunication going on. Hazard was in midfield with Herrera on him.
He's being criticized because he has had the ball in semi-dangerous areas many times and does nothing except go back or pass it infield. He doesn't have to beat his man but he isn't even putting in any crosses from those deeper positions. Fullbacks are as important to attacks as anyone imo, the best cross into the ball has been from Luke Shaw.
And he will be criticized for not following runners because that is also part of a full backs job. They have to see danger as they are looking across the line and have the defensive awareness to cover.
I felt he faded a bit in the second half but a decent all round performance.
On the ball I won't talk about because it does bad things to my blood pressure.
Off the ball defending today he was better, but
1. The whole de Gea handball thing - what was he thinking????
2. Hazard had gone infield for the goal so he can't be blamed much, but he was doing absolutely nothing wandering about when players were streaming past on either side of him.
Off the ball defending today he was better, but
1. The whole de Gea handball thing - what was he thinking????
2. Hazard had gone infield for the goal so he can't be blamed much, but he was doing absolutely nothing wandering about when players were streaming past on either side of him.
I thought he was mostly okay aside from the goal and the miscommunication with De Gea. He did make a couple of good tackles like normal
He was very good today - actually used his pace well.
I dont understand the hate he gets at all, Very good touch and control, good passes, very strong, very disciplined, runs all day long. Really a dream player for a team
I used to hate him for last 2 years when he was supposed to be a winger, as he totally lost his attacking instinct, but now hes a fullback, and thats not his main job anymore, and he usually delivers a 7/10 performance in almost very match
I used to hate him for last 2 years when he was supposed to be a winger, as he totally lost his attacking instinct, but now hes a fullback, and thats not his main job anymore, and he usually delivers a 7/10 performance in almost very match
He absolutely did not.
He most definitely did. Absolutely not at fault for the goal.
Agenda posting at it's finest.