Your statement is factually wrong, sorry. The player who interrupted De Gea's run of 4 POTY awards was Herrera. If you're referring to the player's POTY, De Gea won that 3 times and that was interrupted by two players: Valencia and Smalling.
35
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 25
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 2
Ok he broke within a series of 3 then
He was very clearly the best CB from 2013 to Martinez, including in many physical battles with strong and fast players including Kane, and was great in the air. I don't think it's a coincidence that the embarrassing derby scorelines have become so common after he left.
Well. If you depend on a CB to move the ball forward, instead of both (or three) of your CMs, then it's a pretty stupid team setup.
I would argue that Blind and Varane were better CBs during that period.Ok he broke within a series of 3 then
He was very clearly the best CB from 2013 to Martinez
We can all cherry-pick metrics to suit our opinions, eg I don't think it's a coincidence that the only time we got back to back top 4 finishes was after Smalling left. It feels slightly reductionist to say that, as there are other factors that lead to those outcomes, however the position we finished in the league table is obviously a better metric than derby games that occur twice a year.
If they'd stayed fit they might have, but they both missed way too many games to overtake Smalling-Blind in 15/16. As it was they only started 16 league games together. Indeed, we conceded 25 goals in those 16 games, although the 7 against Liverpool and 6 against City obviously make a huge difference. Of course, being the partnership at the back for both those games isn't a good look in itself.
Chelsea 4:3 Man Utd
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He played well for the few minutes he was on the pitch.... not even a joke. Short performance but an excellent block and multiple good defensive moments too.
He did but we need to play Kambwala now. We’ve got nothing to play for so we might as well see if he’s good enough.
He’s been one of our best players this season. No jokes. Reliable and gives 110% every time
It’s actually funny how much better he is than all the other useless bastards we’ve been playing in the same position.
Seems like we would have been better off just keeping Evans instead of throwing away all the money on players like Maguire, Rojo, Varane and others. Varane is a better player but i dont think our results would have been worse with Evans in the team instead.
Totally agree. May as well use the rest of the season to look forwards
Shame he's on his last legs. Should never have been sold. The fact LVG sold him makes it an even stranger move.
That said, can't remember too many at the time - myself included - having much of an issue with the decision.
That said, can't remember too many at the time - myself included - having much of an issue with the decision.
Yep, which probably could be said about Nani, hernandez, Rafael... We've spent so much money and hardly had huge upgrades.
LVG well and truly fecked us
It’s a major pity that Father Time is destroying Johnny at the minute. Our most reliable defender this season. His body isn’t no longer built for the 30 odd games he has played this season.
He maintained a clean sheet.
Absolutely. 20-minute cameo but he was one of our best players, by far the best defender. Actually think it was two or three crucial blocks and he probably won all his duels.
Didnt concede with him on the pitch. The Jonny Evans effect!
What a situation it is when an ancient Jonny Evans looks one of the more viable options in our defence.
It's partly credit to him that he's looked after himself and still has good ability, but it's a very sad indictment on the likes of Maguire and Lindelof who have never convinced and the rather pathetic Varane.
We've been unfortunate with missing Martinez this season, huge loss as this lot aren't up to it.
It's partly credit to him that he's looked after himself and still has good ability, but it's a very sad indictment on the likes of Maguire and Lindelof who have never convinced and the rather pathetic Varane.
We've been unfortunate with missing Martinez this season, huge loss as this lot aren't up to it.
Will Jonny be at United next year then? Assuming Varane is leaving ...
From our point of view, there's really no reason not to keep him as a cheap backup if he wants to continue. Based on his performances this season he's still capable of playing that role, and he's almost certainly a great presence in the dressing room and good influence on the youngsters. Even if his lack of pace means that he's not ideal for the style that INEOS wants going forward, I expect his professionalism and history under Fergie would see them wanting him to stick around.
So it'll probably depend on him. If he wants to play more games (hopefully he wouldn't play so many with us as he has this season) I wouldn't be surprised if a team at the lower end of the ladder tries to get him. Alternatively he might feel it's time to retire. Personally I think he'll most likely still be with us for at least one more season.
I'm not sure why we thought selling him and Smalling was a good idea.
The players we brought in, at massive expense, simply weren't as good.
The players we brought in, at massive expense, simply weren't as good.
Yep. Evans did have one bad season under LVG which is why he then got sold, and the idea was that we wanted to bring in defenders more comfortable on the ball than Smalling. But in hindsight, an Evans-Smalling defence would probably have been our best defence for the last decade. Hopefully Martinez gets over the injuries and becomes a clear upgrade, but we have to go to the transfer market again to find a second (unless Kambwala really steps up).