Give him space to run into and he's a threat.
25
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 22
- Clean sheets
- 10
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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Really good display from him.
Thats the kind of positivity we've been missing from RB. Good to have him back.
Thats the kind of positivity we've been missing from RB. Good to have him back.
He's been missed against the shit teams especially, always willing to provide numbers in attack and being a nuisance on the overlap.
His passing is pretty underrated.
His passing is pretty underrated.
Good to see he's finally getting recognition. Right back is not a problem area for us.
Yeah, that felt like the Valencia of old!
Crossing was still rubbish though, but his best performance in a long long time (I think the last time I remember him being this good was in that UCL where he had that swollen eye and kept on playing).
Imagine if Valencia suddenly turned back into the machine from 2011 
Was his crossing rubbish though? He made a couple clever passes inside the box as well as a couple of decent crosses. Not many fullbacks deliver much more than that during a game.
Is it just me, or did he actually look faster as the game progressed? He did look a little tired at the end, understandably.
Naturally I am feeling a little bit smug at the moment.
Is that a natural state of mind of yours, or simply a reaction to something having to do with Valencia?
Erm, it is, just because he had very good game against team that finished their season earlier doesn't mean he is always like this. Plus, he is 31. and looks to have more injury problems lately, we definitely need a new RB.
Well, a pass isn't exactly a cross right ?
I meant the proper floaty crosses he tried in the second half were mostly overhit. But then again, the commentators kept saying that were weren't too many United players in the box.
Don't think he was faster. He was just not tightly marked and pretty much allowed to run into space. When he's direct with his dribbling, he's always quick.
Is it me or it seems he is in the track of getting back to his glory days again, he looks very dangerous when going forward power, speed and strength just exactly what we need. Two very good performances! I would like to see him once more play as a right winger before end of season if it is possible.
Not many players who can bounce back into fighting shape so quickly (and regularly) after long lay-offs. Model athlete.
To be honest, there weren't enough United players in the box and even our first goal sums it up. If you look at Sir Alex days we used a lot of crosses and we manage to score a lot of them due to the number of United players in the box.
He's played better in these last two games than he has done for the last two years thats for sure. It's when he plays up against talented sides with good wingers that worries me, traditionally his positioning is all over the place.
Yeah, but Valencia only really started making those crosses when Fellaini was brought on. When he came on there were comfortably quite a few players in the box. But before that, it used to be just Rashford with the rest lurking around. Not sure I had see that in previous games though, coz there always used to be 2-3 players in the box. van Gaal must have been wary of a counter and hence tweaked the tactics a little.
Most of the games this season I have seen only 0-2 players in the box. Crossing is becoming useless if there are not enough players in the box. Even 3 sometime isn't enough. To me it should be 4 if we are going to rely on crossing.
As always very consistent, for all the hate he gets i still think hes a really good RB and every bit as good as most in the league. Very fast, very strong with brilliant energy. Product could be better but he stretches the game and opens pockets for others to move into.
People just didn't appreciate what he brought to the table. It's only now other fullbacks have struggled to bring the consistency, pace and power that he has that people are recognising what a useful player he is.
The moment we start doing something like that, before you know it, this forum will be filled with David Moyes and his 62 crosses against Fulham.
I'd rather not see that. I like our wingers/forward to have those little exchanges around the penalty area before threading a ball behind enemy lines or getting it the byline before drilling a low cross in. You don't need more than 2-3 and maybe a late entrant into the box for that sort of play.
Even an early cross like the beauty Rooney provided can be really effective with the right sort of run made.
62 crosses against Fulham was over relying on cross. Sir Alex rely on crossing a lot at his days and we always had 3-4 players in the box which make the crossing effective. And it's not like crossing is the only option but what's the point crossing the ball if there are not enough players in the box, giving a less chance to get it on target and the opposition defenders will just easily clear it away.
Hes needed against teams like this due to the way he injects pace into the team. Have no issue with him being a squad player next season and used for situations like this especially at home.
He seemed to be a bit more daring in attacking his man and actually trying to take them on tonight. That coupled with his usual work rate (basically running the entire right flank on his own) made him my MOTM.
It's been a long time since I have even considered him for such an accolade.
He is definitely our best option at RB if Mata is playing RW but I just wish he would trust his left foot for basic five yard passes rather than contorting his entire body to hit it awkwardly with his right.
It's been a long time since I have even considered him for such an accolade.
He is definitely our best option at RB if Mata is playing RW but I just wish he would trust his left foot for basic five yard passes rather than contorting his entire body to hit it awkwardly with his right.
Yeah, Ideally a mix up of play is best. But even in SAF's days I remember so many CL goals scored with basically just the one striker in the box. It's nothing new. It's just about the execution. Valencia I don't think can hit a moving ball with a vicious curve or any degree of accuracy. I do think he's decent at crossing when the ball is at a standstill though. Obviously having 3-4 players improves your teams chances, but like I said, I think van Gaal probably made a tactical tweak to prevent a counter since I remember we had bodies in the box for the Villa and West Ham game.
Perfectly fine as a complementary player but with our limited attack, he doesn't have the defensive skills needed to be our #1 RB. I do wish he'd do a better job of picking out a target, whether it be a man or empty space for trailing runners to attack. The likes of Rooney and Mata could/should be running onto crosses like that if they're playing further back.
You are very right. Also, his short passing and first touch are excellent.
I don't know what kind of 'many CL goals' you watched but SAF loves to play 442 so it's surprised me to see someone think that we scored so many CL goals from crossing when we only had one striker in the box.
What's the point prevent a counter attack by reducing players in the box from crossing chance if at the end they still can launch a counter attack because their defenders clear the ball away.
I've always liked valencia 
Erm, it's not really. We also have darmian, varela and TFM (talent) that can fill the void
Plenty. Especially in the three years we got to the finals, we usually used to play 4-5-1 (or whatever iteration of it you wish to call it) away from home and most of the time it used to be a lone Tevez/Rooney etc in the box with late runners or wide players coming in. We never used to play 4-4-2 in those important CL games away from home. And I needn't tell you how important those away goals were.
Erm, if they clear the ball long to someone like Adebayor who is pretty decent at holing up the ball, he can easily lay it off for someone Like Zaha or the other winger (Don't even know who it was tbh), and counter. The point would be for someone besides Schneiderlin especially Rooney to cover in such cases. Moreover, the average positions our full backs took up was very high, so a counter was very much on the cards.
Besides, all of this is really moot. We din't really play a crossing game in the first half. We obviously used the width the full backs provided to get to the byline and then looked for passes for the late runners or tried to play intricate stuff around those areas.
It was only after Fellaini came on that we tried more crosses.
Darmian is shit, Varela doesn't look anything special either and TFM played around 3 games.
Darmian isn't "shit" he's struggled often in his first season in a difficult league. I guarantee you tfm will be a quality player. Varela is also potentially a very good right back. I don't remember a right back needing to be special, look at Danny Simpson he's in a team winning the league
Darmian is shit, I am not sure even Büttner was poor as him. Just because it's his first season doesn't mean he'll be much better next season.
Well shit mate I don't think a player starting for United and Italy is "shit". The guy is a quality defensive player. Just needs to find the form of early season where he was immense. Also captained he's last team I believe
One bad season also doesn't mean he'll stay shit.
There was no "form". He had about 4 good games and then it went down hill fast.
Even those good games were overplayed by a combination of hope and confirmation bias.
Since when is 4 good games not good form? And I disagree he was very very good at a time we were conceding no goals as well. He's attack is often disappointing for sure but he's a defender first and foremost I don't expect him to be brilliant on the ball.
Off season should be all about crossing form him
Would be the best winger in the leagueImagine if Valencia suddenly turned back into the machine from 2011
But doesn't bode well when he's been that shite
Who is the best right winger, Mahrez? There aren't many good candidates - that's for sure.
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