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Because they were playing with no wingers. Rashford was cutting off the angle for Cahill to pass to the left back. Hazard I think was closely marked inside. So why was Valencia so far away from the left back? Why was he not cutting off the obvious wall pass?
LOL letting the pass that started everything comes in when it was 100% preventable and he does nothing wrong?
You want him to turn his body to face the player he's marking and not look at the ball?
My initial post was he makes mistakes then after you started I then posted he make 2-4 mistakes a game. These are not always leading to goals but a few of them lately have. He made 2 mistakes within 30 seconds yesterday (switching off then not going with the runner) he made another glaring one later on, he also made mistakes versus pool that nearly cost us. Stoke he was at part fault for the goal. City he was at fault for two of them. It is a catalog of errors with this guy, yes he's nice and composed on the ball but defensively in my opinion he's a mistake waiting to happen.
So which 1 is it?
As a right back, your starting position is in line with your centre backs. That's fairly obvious. Valencias starts the game in line with his defense... as play progress, he doesn't move out of defense because he has no need to. He is not man marking the left wingback, that would be daft. As play builds, you can see Rashford is occupying the wing back anyway (which, was literally the job for him and Lingard - to pick up their wingbacks) - so Valencia again has no need to push up onto the wingback. As Cahil has the ball, Rashford moves away from the wing-back to close down Cahill... at this point Valencia immediately moves towards the left wing back. However, the wingback plays a first time ball so unless Valencia was a) man marking him or b) the fastest man who ever lived, he has literally zero chance in cutting that pass out. Not only that, but even if he had been tight, he probably wouldn't have cut out the pass as again - it's first time and it's high and across the pitch... cutting out that pass would make Antonio Valencia a mind-reader... and thus he's wasted as a professional footballer.
It's impossible to know for sure, but you can take a guess... don't be a smart arse.
Ok dude, fair enough, we will leave it there, agree to disagree
That's why Chelsea dominated the first half. There's always a player free. It was the same with Blind on the other side. Many times I saw him confused not knowing if he should come out to press or not. The team did not seem well prepared. Which is strange for Mourinho.
You don't need to be a mind reader to play football. That's a myth. You just have to see there's a 3v2 situation in front of you, and you have the chance to make it 3v3. If you're close enough, even if the opponent did manage to pass the ball, it would be much less accurate and dangerous.
Okay.
You literally can't do this. You can turn your head, you will still be half a second behind. Then how do you catch him? What if you start at the same time and yet he's still faster than you? Do you have to be a mind reader and start running even before he does?
LOL if it's impossible to tell that it can't be safe to say is it? You're just guessing. My guess is Pedro will trip if De Gea doesn't come out.
I'm out. I think aportioning any blame to Valencia for the first goal is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on on this forum, and demonstrates a complete lack of basic football knowledge... and that is further compounded by the idea that defenders are unable to know where both ball and man are at any given point, which is such a basic fundemental of football that arguing against it is just a waste of everyones time.
I would urge you to share this great knowledge with everyone here who I'm sure 99% has never been coach professionally in any sports. Obviously basic knowledge is not so basic to us.
Where else did he faulter in big games? Individual error against City is all I can think of. His performance against Chelsea wasn't anywhere near as bad as Smallings. Blind played extremely well in most our big games (Liverpool included). Picking two out of the 5-6 he's played in doesn't make it frequent enough to make such a generalisation.
I highlighted a number from last season. This is nothing new...got discussed a lot back then.
Last year he was good in most games though. The Spurs away the Watford home and west ham away games.game is the only one I can think of where he was very bad. That's nothing though. Even 80% good games over a season is pretty good rate and having played 56 games or so, he certainly hasn't had more than 8 or 9 bad games and the actual number can't be more than that.
You're arbitrarily saying "I remember one CL game, one error in the Chelsea fixture last season". Its quite a subjective view and not exactly much to go by.
I would urge you not to share your knowledge with anyone on this one Dr Pavel. Think you should listen to annihilate now he is clearly trying to tell you how the situation should have played out but you are coming over as a smart ass with opinions on defending that demonstrate a complete lack of understanding. Sorry to be so Frank but I'm done with this thread. So instead of being a sarcastic and try to throw it out there I'd try and learn from him if I was you. I'd happily go into your points for you but your tone dissuades any discussion.
Yep Smalling had a nightmare and was involved in every goal conceded but that's one game where as the point I think Cheesy is making is with Blind it's a very regular occurance rather than an off day like Smalling. That is far more of a problem.
Valencia is nothing to do with the goal. His job is to push up if they settle with the ball but to push up before the ball is received is asking for them to run in behind him.
But it's not anywhere near as regular as he claims.
Either you explain yourself or you don't. Quit whining.
I simply disagree with you. Valencia is partly responsible for the goal because he had the opportunity to prevent it but did not. Either because he wanted to play it safe, or because it was the manager's instructions. But the pass would not have been made had Valencia been standing 5 yards up the pitch.
Yeah basically you literally cannot look in 2 directions at the same time. Blind's job was much harder than either Valencia's, Smalling's, or De Gea's. Yet they all fecked up much more spectularly than he did.
Jesus Christ, are you serious?
He probably is.
Agree with both. Think the first one is habit. Ajax does it and LvG does it. A very "total football" approach to step up as CB.
Ye its you. He was fantastic for most of last season with Smalling next to him.
Yup, he's a squad player at best. In no way should he be a starter.
