[noodlehair]

At least half the goals we concede are either significantly or entirely his fault.

We concede goals that other, poor or average teams never do, because Valencia doesn't know how to pay attention during a game of football.

It's not a one or two time thing and it's not a recent thing. It's been happening all season and it crops up in every game.

You can only argue that his quality on the ball compensates for his complete inability to do his job without it...but actually you can't even argue that. Every time Valencia gets the ball the game has to stop and take a break for 5 seconds while he decides what he wants to do with it.

If he played in defence for a poor side he'd get them relegated. I genuinely think he's that sub standard. The solution to having an average winger isn't to convert them into one of the most piss poor defenders in the league.

The really baffling thing is there were people earlier in the season claiming Van Gaal had improved him! He's had one decent game all season and that was in midfield against Everton at OT.

I've never known another player who gets rewarded for getting gradually worse with more and more game time

 

[Walrus]

My problem with Valencia has always been that he is such a limited player. In the current system he almost gets away with it because Mata cuts inside, giving Valencia the sole duty of just bombing up and down the wing, on the byline. He is just so predictable though. I find it laughably pathetic that a professional footballer of his age and experience, can literally not use his weaker foot to the extent that it severely weakens his all round play.

I have been saying for months that if we dont want to use Rafael, then a new RB should be priority #1 in the summer - more important than a CB, more important than a CM or winger or whatever else.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

First goal: he gets a nudge from Lukaku as he's jumping. McNair and Blind are at fault for letting McCarthy waltz through, like a bunch of school boys. McNair also had a wild lash at the ball, which provided a great assist for the goal.
Second goal: McNair initiated danger, the initial corner, from some rubbish defending. Although, Stones was Valencia's man, so he's largely responsible.
Third goal: He can't see Mirallas and follows his team mates in halting and appealing for an offside, which it was. It actually looks as if the linesman flagged from the reaction of our players. Horrible refereeing.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He seems to have a habit of forgetting that he's a right back, which is not ideal given he seems to have no recollection of being a right winger either.

 

[MadDogg]

Yep. Its rash play taking himself out of the game again. And if you watch the replay, players like Blind are running back as fast as possible while once again Valencia casually walks back.

He has absolutely no regard for defensive responsibility. He plays like its someone else's job to defend

Yep. Evra was also quite bad at this for the last few seasons he was with us and would get attacked quite often on here about it (rightfully so), but he was still such an attacking force that the positives generally outweighed the negatives. That is nowhere near the case for Valencia. There's been a number of goals or serious chances lately where he's been casually jogging (if that) back because he knows he can't get back to stop the player on the ball. Except the play has paused, it may have been passed around once or twice, and suddenly he would have easily had time to get back if he'd actually been trying. But because he's being half-arsed, we've still been a man down and that has ended up costing us.

I wish Rafa were fit.

 

[wiz4231]

Sell. Need. New. RB. X2 (Janko?). Close. Thread.

 

[pseudo_canadian]

Thought he was really poor today. Was particularly weak on the Lukaku challenge leading to the first goal, and is still virtually useless going forward. On top of that, he was out of position way too much, with Smalling basically covering for him for most of the game.

Also, getting on the ball and standing over it for 10 seconds usually isn't going to fool any defenders. Not impressed.

 

[Raoul]

I wish Rafa were fit.

He was fit for a long time but still didn't play.

 

[roseguy64]

I'd rather we had Rafael as the backup RB next season than Valencia regardless of his fitness.

 

[Dante]

He's always been shit in the air and his positioning has always been suspect. This game just highlighted those weaknesses in the most brutal way possible. There's no way he should be our first choice right back next season.

 

[jem]

Eventually, we're going to sign a proper RB, one who is capable of using both feet, putting in a cross and playing sound defence. And then we're all going to ask ourselves how we put up with Valencia at RB for so long. I love his attitude, and appreciate what he's done for the team, but he's simply not good enough anymore, either as a winger, nor as a RB.

 

[bugmat]

At least half the goals we concede are either significantly or entirely his fault.

We concede goals that other, poor or average teams never do, because Valencia doesn't know how to pay attention during a game of football.

It's not a one or two time thing and it's not a recent thing. It's been happening all season and it crops up in every game.

You can only argue that his quality on the ball compensates for his complete inability to do his job without it...but actually you can't even argue that. Every time Valencia gets the ball the game has to stop and take a break for 5 seconds while he decides what he wants to do with it.

If he played in defence for a poor side he'd get them relegated. I genuinely think he's that sub standard. The solution to having an average winger isn't to convert them into one of the most piss poor defenders in the league.

The really baffling thing is there were people earlier in the season claiming Van Gaal had improved him! He's had one decent game all season and that was in midfield against Everton at OT.

I've never known another player who gets rewarded for getting gradually worse with more and more game time

Agenda right here folks! He's had about 3 bad games ( counting today, Arsenal in the cup and one or two others) in a entire season.

 

[bugmat]

First goal: he gets a nudge from Lukaku as he's jumping. McNair and Blind are at fault for letting McCarthy waltz through, like a bunch of school boys. McNair also had a wild lash at the ball, which provided a great assist for the goal.
Second goal: McNair initiated danger, the initial corner, from some rubbish defending. Although, Stones was Valencia's man, so he's largely responsible.
Third goal: He can't see Mirallas and follows his team mates in halting and appealing for an offside, which it was. It actually looks as if the linesman flagged from the reaction of our players. Horrible refereeing.

Agreed - he was basically fouled on the header attempt and mcNair should have actually attempted a proper tackle..a fould would have sufficed to stop the first goal.

2nd goal is his fault for losing his man.

3rd goal is poor refereeing - Lukaku is interfering by drawing the attention of our entire defence. It's a stupid rule and it's made worse by inept officials half the time.

 

[Raees]

Played like a defender in attack, and an attacker in defence. Woeful.

perfect

 

[Hal9000]

Problem with Valencia is how often does he drift out of position. He's a right back he spends most of his time ball chasing towards the center of the park.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Problem with Valencia is how often does he drift out of position. He's a right back he spends most of his time ball chasing towards the center of the park.

He does it while on the ball too. And that's because of his one-footedness; he gets shunted infield because of his inability to beat his man or use his left foot for a pass. An added result of this is our play that gets congested in the middle and we're left unable to stretch it wide.

 

[Cina]

Never mind him being a rubbish winger these days, he even looks rubbish from an attacking perspective as a full back. If you convert a winger to a full back then you can maybe forgive them for their defensive inadequacies from time to time, but they're wingers for feck sake, they should at least be able to do something in attack. He's so hopeless with the football when he has it at his feet. He may as well take a book out of his pocket and read a chapter from it while we're waiting for him to decide what to do, at least that way he'd be more productive.

 

[Insanity]

I know I'd be called a "spoilt fan" or "a glory hunter" for this but we won't get a better opportunity to offload Valencia, Young and Fellaini than this upcoming transfer window. Their stock is a high at the minute and we should cash in. It'll only fall from here on in.

They won't be starters next season and I would rather have some younger, more hungrier players, as back-ups next season.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Absolutely fecking mental that people are trying to make him responsible for their first goal. Absolutely fecking mental, yet entirely predictable.

Second goal he can be blamed for but it was superb run and header by Stones. Absolutely no reason to think that any other right back in the same situation would have cleared the ball.

Third goal was a cluster-feck all round but yes, Valencia ultimately cost us by not tracking his man.

Overall he was crap. One of his worst games of the season. He's been looking a bit leggy in recent weeks and I was all in favour of giving him a spell on the bench with Rafael taking his place. I think I suggested something similar a week or two back. No chance of that now, though, because guess what? Rafael is injured.

 

[dasty]

I do not understand why Valencia is always the first name on the team sheet. He had been average at best and mediocre often. I get that some people like players who work hard, but he is so lacking in quality that no amount of hard work can make up for it. Even when the whole team is in form I hardly find him playing well at all.

If we have higher ambitions than just top 4 we should bin him this summer. Can't believe we went through the whole season without a decent RB (or at least playing one).

 

[Mali_Zeus]

I know I'd be called a "spoilt fan" or "a glory hunter" for this but we won't get a better opportunity to offload Valencia, Young and Fellaini than this upcoming transfer window. Their stock is a high at the minute and we should cash in. It'll only fall from here on in.

They won't be starters next season and I would rather have some younger, more hungrier players, as back-ups next season.

Who would those players be?

Valencia ok, but we can keep Young and Fellaini cause we'll need a bigger squad to compete on 3 fronts.

 

[ivaldo]

Agenda right here folks! He's had about 3 bad games ( counting today, Arsenal in the cup and one or two others) in a entire season.

BOOM! The A bomb has been dropped.

 

[Bwuk]

He just isn't even remotely good enough.

 

[Timdbro]

Absolutely fecking mental that people are trying to make him responsible for their first goal. Absolutely fecking mental, yet entirely predictable.

Second goal he can be blamed for but it was superb run and header by Stones. Absolutely no reason to think that any other right back in the same situation would have cleared the ball.

Third goal was a cluster-feck all round but yes, Valencia ultimately cost us by not tracking his man.

Overall he was crap. One of his worst games of the season. He's been looking a bit leggy in recent weeks and I was all in favour of giving him a spell on the bench with Rafael taking his place. I think I suggested something similar a week or two back. No chance of that now, though, because guess what? Rafael is injured.

Fair enough, but it's not like the run from Stones was a particularly difficult one to predict, or stay with. A better defender might well have put in more of a challenge by staying closer to his man, making the header more difficult. Hardly the main reason to point the finger though, I agree.

 

[matt23]

Very poor yesterday, but he'll probably be on the bench next season and is a pretty decent option to have around the club in my view.

 

[DanNistelrooy]

He is good at defending when it comes to one on one tussles, his strength is immense.

His issue is his ball watching/lack of concentration and general poor positioning. Its cost us about 3/4 goals this season.

My other big gripe is how wasteful he is when he gets into an attacking position, he just seems to put a half-hearted dink into the box and hope that someone meets it. I think I've seen him beat a man once this season (Rooney goal vs Liverpool). He just seems devoid of any creativity and even that burst of pace that he used to have when attacking appears to have vanished

Has done a decent job for the most part but if Rafael can't get back to fitness and regain that RB spot then we need to invest, won't be challenging for league titles with Valencia as a fullback

 

[caisenma]

He just isn't even remotely good enough.

his thread isn't even good enough to be in the mains. there should be a sub-forum for players who are this poor.

 

[Escobar]

He's just making too many mistakes that are costing us. For all his effort and love, it's not good enough. He can be a good back up but not more

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Sunday just reinforces how much we need a quality, and consistently fit, right back. We can't possibly go into next season with Valencia as a starter and hope to win anything.

He's probably just about worth keeping as a backup right back but even then I don't know.

 

[ZDwyr]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Shame Rafael got injured as he may have had a chance at getting some games. I expect Valencia to be pretty determined to bounce back and perform though.

 

[Walrus]

The unfortunate thing is that Valencia has a great attitude in the squad, has great physical attributes and has shown himself to be very grounded and level headed. He sacked his agent because he wanted to stay at the club, he never complained about being benched/lack of gametime, and physically he is an absolute tank.

If he was just a better footballer then he could be practically the ideal player.

 

[surf]

The unfortunate thing is that Valencia has a great attitude in the squad, has great physical attributes and has shown himself to be very grounded and level headed. He sacked his agent because he wanted to stay at the club, he never complained about being benched/lack of gametime, and physically he is an absolute tank.

If he was just a better footballer then he could be practically the ideal player.

Agree. Physically he's the best athlete I've seen play for United other than Ronaldo. You would think he could have been coached out of some of his shortcomings after 6 years here. Maybe the injury affected his confidence but he seems recovered physically so it's a bit of a mystery.

 

[Raoul]

Just clearing a bit of whinge space before the match starts.

 

[Bojan11]

That goal was his fault. Just doing that now, so I don't have to type that later.

 

[Kag]

Sell him.

Offside but he got away with it, so all he had to do was cross it into the six yard box on a plate. He's fecking atrocious.

 

[ha_rooney]

What the feck was that after the van Persie shot?

 

[snk123]

At fault for the goal. Atrocious.

 

[limerickcitykid]

All I can say is at least I learnt today that Valencia isn't the only PL footballer who doesn't know how to take a throw-in. I counted at least 3 from Dawson.

 

[Godfather]

No idea why he starts week in week out. Under every fecking manager. Guy needs to be a monster in training

 

[saivet]

What did he do wrong for the goal? Not seen any replays