The amount of CBs we've had in the time he was away that aren't fit to lace his boots is pretty depressing
35
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 25
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 2
Superb half when we really needed him. Love him.
I think he'll stay and one of Varane or Maguire goes, he still has a role to play here coming on a 3rd CB in the last 10 minutes if we want one, starting cup games and being a cheap CB option, and we'll buy a pair of CBs along with a DM, and a ST.
Lisandro-LCB
RCB-Maguire/Varane
Evans as the 5th guy
Lindelof sold to Serie A to pay for the backup LCB (an actual left-footer who can also cover LCB and hit a ball more than 15 yards up the line).
Also buys a year for Kambwalla to go start in Ligue 1 or the Champo and get a year under his belt and ideally be able to replace Varane (or Maguire if Varane goes, though I'm not sure why we wouldn't just sell Maguire for a decent fee and keep Varane for another year even at fairly large wages, it's not like Maguire is on peanuts).
Been solid every time I have seen him. With us now playing a game a week, he should be starting with Varane till Martinez is back.
He changed the game after coming on in the game. His composure, passing and general defensive intelligence made such a big difference. No wonder we had so much better control of the game in the second half then we did in the first.
I'd keep him another year. He's been excellent when called upon, clearly still a very good player and plays calm, composed football too. He is a Red.
Should never have been sold. LVG stupidity. Another year and then coaching team.
Thanks Louis
Completely decimated our squad - Nani, chichrito, RVP, Rafael, Evans, Zaha.
LVG highly rated Johnny because his passing and composure were much better than Phil and Smalling. His injury record was awful unfortunately. Not really fair to blame Van Gaal for that
For those reasons, he's the worst manager since SAF.Thanks Louis
Completely decimated our squad - Nani, chichrito, RVP, Rafael, Evans, Zaha.
Lvg was an egotistical knob headThanks Louis
Completely decimated our squad - Nani, chichrito, RVP, Rafael, Evans, Zaha.
Exactly that.
A very honest player who always gives his best. He uses his experience well and a great squad player. Very good signing.
I never quite understand this argument: look where they ended up and how their careers turned out after leaving United. RvP in particular was finished after that 2014 world cup.Thanks Louis
Completely decimated our squad - Nani, chichrito, RVP, Rafael, Evans, Zaha.
Evans was great yesterday but he was in bad form in the Moyes/LvG era. It's not as if he went to Juventus or Bayern and won many titles on leaving here.
In van Gaal's defence, the Smalling/Blind duo he eventually ended up on is probably still our best defensive partnership post-SAF.
Yeah, I like your ideas. It does seem like this is Lindelof's last season at United and it should be even though I rate him as decent player and squad option.
Its somewhat funny seeing him occasionally so far up the pitch pressing.
We'd have been in much better shape if we had Rafael, Nani and Zaha starting every week rather than Darmian, Depay and Fellaini.
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They were never world class players. But I do feel they would've been useful squad players to us (except RvP) for another 4-5 years perhaps. They were young(ish) players but already with experience of winning trophies and titles under Fergie. Seemed like van Gaal decided to just get rid of most of them and replaced them terribly. Out of all signings he made I'd say Romero and Blind were good ones. Martial too, though even he's been ruined by injuries these last 3-4 years.
Love to know the story behind that one
Those players finished 7th the season before and Zaha has never made the big jump to a big club. Darmian and Depay were disappointments for us but one is a recent champions league finalist/regular starter and Depay's career hasn't been that bad.
LVG's reign was disappointing but he was right to get rid of a lot of those players and where they ended up justified that decision. Where he/the club went wrong was the players he brought in.
Massive shaft.
I think he's proved a lot of people wrong on here to be honest. Solid back up this season. I didn't expect him to play this much, and hoped he didn't, but he's been pretty decent.
Yeah he’s still class.
Zaha would have obviously made the jump to a big club had he not signed that daft long-term contract with Palace when he was in his prime which priced him out a move.
Under a different manager, I'm sure Evans, Rafael and Nani were good enough to have had a few more decent years at United. The same can't be said for the likes of Rojo and Darmian. The latter being a recent CL finalist doesn't change that.
Easily.
I had high hopes for the Martinez-Varane combo and they did have some periods where they were great, but a combination of too many injuries (to both of them) and them being on the end of a few embarrassing losses makes it hard to rate them as the best.
In theory at least, Evans-Smalling should have been quite a good combo for most of the last decade. Not best in the world or anything, but better than what we've had for the majority of that time.
Rojo was shit when played out wide, but he was actually quite good when used at centreback until he did his cruciate at the end of 16/17. He'd been our best defender that season up until that point.
Speaking of Blind, that's another player I still feel we shouldn't have sold.
Has to be Martinez backup for the rest of the season, neither of the chuckle brothers is up to it.
Man City 3:1 Man Utd
New
Surprised to see no comments. Thought he had a good game. Kept Haaland quiet for the most part with some good front foot defending. Started a few counters stepping up and nicking the ball. Looked considerably more shaky after he went off and Lindelof moved central.
He did well considering its Evans against City. And he was better than Varane thats for sure. But he's obviously not good enough to be starting games like this one and neither are most of our other options for CB
Yeah, he was good — as good as you can be when your team is more or less sieged for the entire 90+ minutes. We missed him after he came off.
Well, he's proved he is good enough and none of the City goals were on him.
He played very well, again. Marshalled Haaland really well and started a few counters too. Big organisational hole when he went off as well.
Haaland missed a sitter for a start. He's good enough for you who would manage us into a relegation battle
Thought he was excellent today. Could see him organising, both he and Varane are fantastic defenders and it's a shame about their age/injuries
That was as good a display as you could expect from him. Definitely a huge loss to the shape and organisation of the defence when he went off.
He's been one of our best performers this season. I'm not saying he should play every week but he hasn't let us down and should be an adequate squad player.
Hes been okay compared to other CBs at the club who have also been poor, Varane, Lindelof and Martinez pre 2nd injury. Maguire is our only CB who has had a good season and he's more injured for us than he used to be
Yea, I thought both Evans and Varane were good today.
This. It’s a massive credit to him that he’s probably our player of the year, and he didn’t have a club 6 months ago.