Rafael da Silva | 2010-14 Performances

[Lane]

I regard next season as a make or break for him here. He has been really good last term and really bad the current one. If he can't improve and be back to his 12-13 form, it may better for us to sell him.

 

[Kag]

"Really bad" my arse. People sure love an exaggeration on this forum. A struggle with fitness and a poor January to March = "make or break."

There's nothing make or break about a 23 year old talented footballer that loves the club and wants to play here. United needs good footballers all over the park, in depth, the simple thinkers that believe selling talented players that have yet to turn 25 years of age are a funny breed.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

Some of the comments regarding the sale of Rafael are mental. We have other issues in the squad that need addressing, lets not create more problems for ourselves by over analyzing one of our most consistent and promising performers over the past 2-3 years.

 

[Lane]

"Really bad" my arse. People sure love an exaggeration on this forum. A struggle with fitness and a poor January to March = "make or break."

There's nothing make or break about a 23 year old talented footballer that loves the club and wants to play here. United needs good footballers all over the park, in depth, the simple thinkers that believe selling talented players that have yet to turn 25 years of age are a funny breed.

Pretty much same stuff led us to retaining Anderson back in 2011 or something like that. Rafael's contract is up in 2016 so next year we need to retain him or sell him. If he will play like he had this year i'd rather sell.
He was bad this season, his early form was not great either and not once in the season he could produce a three good games in a row. This year even Smalling at RB looked more assured, at least he was somewhat solid in defense. And Rafael while not being exactly reliable in defense also offered very little in the attack. I don't think Evra had a particularly good season, but even in decline this year he was above Rafael. Head and shoulders.

 

[Kag]

Pretty much same stuff led us to retaining Anderson back in 2011 or something like that. Rafael's contract is up in 2016 so next year we need to retain him or sell him. If he will play like he had this year i'd rather sell.
He was bad this season, his early form was not great either and not once in the season he could produce a three good games in a row. This year even Smalling at RB looked more assured, at least he was somewhat solid in defense. And Rafael while not being exactly reliable in defense also offered very little in the attack. I don't think Evra had a particularly good season, but even in decline this year he was above Rafael. Head and shoulders.

It did, because selling a 22 year old Anderson who had been struck down by injury could have been a terrible decision. Anderson didn't work, but we gave it a shot, and that is to our credit. It wasn't because of him that Ferguson sought to sit on geriatric midfielders and decimate the midfield.

Either way, the situations aren't comparable. One has proven he's more than good enough, the other has not. Few players are being judged by this season as far as I'm concerned, it has been an unmitigated disaster. Rafael struggling with injury and having an inconsistent 2014 is the least of our worries. The Smalling comment is odd given we all know he's the best at defending at the club. He isn't a full back, however. Getting cover and, more importantly, quality competition for Rafa is important and it should happen this Summer. If he has a similar season to this one I will be worried for a number of reasons, but I'm confident that won't be the case. It's all down to belief and getting the best out of what you have, and my faith hasn't wavered.

 

[::sonny::]

Pretty much same stuff led us to retaining Anderson back in 2011 or something like that. Rafael's contract is up in 2016 so next year we need to retain him or sell him.

Sell him, but no one will offer you more than 5 million

 

[Decotron]

I reckon ive been as critical about him as anyone but hes worth 15m at worst imo

 

[mufcwarm92]

Sell our best full back when we lack full backs. Ok.

 

[Kag]

Wankers as supporters.

 

[ThanksBoss26]

There's no way we should be selling him in my opinion. Some cover/competition for his place wouldn't be a bad thing though.

 

[Tibs]

Rafael is class

What the feck is going on here?

 

[footballgirl07]

Not sure you can judge many players on the season just gone for various reasons. Selling Rafael would be a big mistake. We saw what he can give the team when fit, happy and confident the season before the one just finished. He was our best player behind Rvp that year and was brilliant.Yeah, we need cover for sure (hopefully Valera), but selling him would be stupid.

 

[United22]

Yep , there's definitely something wrong with some of the people on these forums, this confirms it

 

[Welbeckham]

Selling him would be mental, he's 23 years old, he has shown he's good enough to be our starting right back. And his last season wasn't "very bad". I think he's underrated here, even in the worst of games he was often one of the few who showed some attitude.

 

[DWelbz19]

Sell him? His season has been plagued with injuries and has played through some of those for weeks, exemplifying the issue. This whole 'he's a ticking timebomb' is a farcical hyperbole that has really gained weight due to the Liverpool game. And the funny thing is he played the Liverpool game on the back of being up all night as his wife was giving birth... He proved how good he was last season when he was arguably the best fullback in the league, but in a season in which he has been nowhere near the most culpable for failure, he should be sold? Outrageous. Fans love to badger on about how much we shouldn't be like City or Chelsea and not replicate their mercenaric mannerisms but they want to get rid of a lad who clearly loves and understands Manchester United? Who do we bring in to replace him? A player on the eve of his career wanting a big paycheck? Absurd stuff. Truly is.

 

[Minimalist]

I must be honest, I'm on the side of those who can't quite grasp where the 'Rafael needs replaced' lot are coming from. Such a bizarre area to be looking at with the gaping areas like Midfield and Left back needing addressing.

Still one of the best young full backs in Europe and we should be nurturing his talent, not getting rid of it.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Sell Rafael, sell Carrick, sell rooney, sell RVP.

Are we keeping anyone?

 

[Dargonk]

Wait people actually want to sell Rafael. That is laughable. With so many other positions we need to fix, selling our only decent RB doesn't strike me as a great idea

 

[LR7]

The ones who want to sell Rafa are the worst.

I love him to bits and hope he stays here forever.

I hope the less physical training might help some of our more injury prone players like Rafael and RvP.

 

[ivaldo]

This is ridiculous. I wouldn't want to replace him for any right back. He's shown he's good enough for us and is only 23! He might be a little rash but that will be coached out of him. Destined to be the best in the world.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Give Rafael a remote chance under Van Gaal and see how he'll exceed the current fitness from his new training methods mainly based on variety.

Working under rules of team's unity, may benefit the Brazilian more in his decisions on the pitch, rather than just this narrow, physically biased methods from the stone age that made Van Persie go back to Netherlands to fully recover from this torture chamber or whatever that was, season ago...

 

[ThanksBoss26]

There's no chance that he'll be sold.

 

[mazhar13]

Sell Rafael, sell Carrick, sell rooney, sell RVP.

Are we keeping anyone?

Yep. Just de Gea, Januzaj, Mata, and...that's it, I guess.

Seriously, though, Rafael's had one bad season when many except for the players I just mentioned have had bad seasons under Moyes, and people want him gone, straight away?

 

[Count Orduck]

The problem with Rafael is that he spends half of every season injured. Someone slightly less talented (but still good) who can actually consistently play all season would be better for the team than a guy who is great when he's on form but misses half of our games.

 

[Crackers]

Wankers as supporters.

Supporters can be wankers.

 

[Kag]

The problem with Rafael is that he spends half of every season injured. Someone slightly less talented (but still good) who can actually consistently play all season would be better for the team than a guy who is great when he's on form but misses half of our games.

Ah, but we move on from Jurassic Park. We will use the balls in training now, ho ho. But seriously, it's worth the invested time. He's proven he can stay fit for a season before, let's wait and see. Getting in some genuine cover is imperative, though.

 

[Brightonian]

Injuries are indeed his only real problem, despite the media's insistence on not noticing that he's pretty much totally cut the mistakes out of his game over the last two seasons.

And luckily, he's young enough that we can probably expect him to shake off this injury curse that he has at the moment. Lots of younger suffer from repetitive injuries around the 19-24 sort of age bracket and then grow out of it as their bodies finish toughening up and they learn to manage them better on and off the pitch. It's the ones who start developing injury problems around 24 that you need to worry about.

Am I right that he was able to play pretty much a full season in 2012-13? Hopefully he can repeat that next season.

 

[mazhar13]

Am I right that he was able to play pretty much a full season in 2012-13? Hopefully he can repeat that next season.

Yes, you're right. He was still out due to injuries, but those weren't common, and Rafael played more often than he did in the past seasons. I remember that season when Man. Utd. fans were talking about how he and Zabaleta were two of the best full backs in the Premier League.

 

[Brightonian]

Yes, you're right. He was still out due to injuries, but those weren't common, and Rafael played more often than he did in the past seasons. I remember that season when Man. Utd. fans were talking about how he and Zabaleta were two of the best full backs in the Premier League.

Yep, and it was true. The rest of the world managed to miss it and still think he's the work-in-progress Rafael of 2010.

 

[mazhar13]

Yep, and it was true. The rest of the world managed to miss it and still think he's the work-in-progress Rafael of 2010.

To think that the work-in-progress Rafael nullified Ribery...his loss really screwed us over as we lost on away goals of all things to the finalists, that season........

 

[Count Orduck]

To think that the work-in-progress Rafael nullified Ribery...his loss really screwed us over as we lost on away goals of all things to the finalists, that season........

Well, if by "nullified" you mean "couldn't handle him, got himself sent off and cost us the tie" then, yes, he did great.

 

[DWelbz19]

I wouldn't say he handled him, he held his weight with an elite winger at the age of 20 - the game was very to and fro between Rafael and Ribery. He was then sent off by some pretty petty play from the Bayern squad, who targeted the young lad as a weakness.

 

[mazhar13]

Well, if by "nullified" you mean "couldn't handle him, got himself sent off and cost us the tie" then, yes, he did great.

I don't recall Ribery being a threat against us until Rafael got sent off. Rafae; was great in that match, and Ribery had to go as far as trying to convince the referee to book Rafael at the pulling incident when he wasn't even that impeded. In fact, I remember those sort of challenges not even getting bookings at many other moments, particularly when penalties are awarded because of it.

 

[Count Orduck]

I don't recall Ribery being a threat against us until Rafael got sent off. Rafae; was great in that match, and Ribery had to go as far as trying to convince the referee to book Rafael at the pulling incident when he wasn't even that impeded. In fact, I remember those sort of challenges not even getting bookings at many other moments, particularly when penalties are awarded because of it.

Rafael pulled Ribery, and earnt a second yellow card. He didn't impede him much, but he did pull him. He was on a yellow card, and should have known better, but he did it anyway, got sent off, and we went on to lose the game.

So no, he didn't "nullify" Ribery, because in the act of trying to mark him, he got himself sent off for two yellow cards. It's not a big deal -- he was a "work in progress", after all -- but let's not re-write history to suggest Rafael was flawless in that game and then the innocent victim of malicious refereeing. If Rafael hadn't fouled Ribery, he wouldn't have got the second yellow. But he did.

 

[Brightonian]

Rafael pulled Ribery, and earnt a second yellow card. He didn't impede him much, but he did pull him. He was on a yellow card, and should have known better, but he did it anyway, got sent off, and we went on to lose the game.

So no, he didn't "nullify" Ribery, because in the act of trying to mark him, he got himself sent off for two yellow cards. It's not a big deal -- he was a "work in progress", after all -- but let's not re-write history to suggest Rafael was flawless in that game and then the innocent victim of malicious refereeing. If Rafael hadn't fouled Ribery, he wouldn't have got the second yellow. But he did.

Yep, this. They had a good battle, but ultimately Ribery's experience won that battle for him. But that was only one of a number of difficult players he came up against - he completely nullified Bale a fair few times when most teams just couldn't deal with him.

And anyway, as you say, that was the 'work in progress' Rafa. Those of us who actually watched him last season (and whenever he managed to play this season) can see that he's patently a very different player now. Picked up a lot of experience, ditched the rashness, and become a top-draw full-back who is only going to keep getting better if he can just shake off this injury issue.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Hopefully he has a good rest over the summer, gets over any injuries and has a good pre-season. I expect him to be back to his best under van Gaal.

 

[bugmat]

Is it Rafael's turn to take the blame? The state of some of you supporters/fans. If it was up to some of you we'd be playing with DDG in goal, Mata up front and no one else!

 

[goldenstatesplash]

Rafael pulled Ribery, and earnt a second yellow card. He didn't impede him much, but he did pull him. He was on a yellow card, and should have known better, but he did it anyway, got sent off, and we went on to lose the game.

So no, he didn't "nullify" Ribery, because in the act of trying to mark him, he got himself sent off for two yellow cards. It's not a big deal -- he was a "work in progress", after all -- but let's not re-write history to suggest Rafael was flawless in that game and then the innocent victim of malicious refereeing. If Rafael hadn't fouled Ribery, he wouldn't have got the second yellow. But he did.

The first yellow card was absurd. He was hacked down in front of the assistant, then Ribery went over Rafael's feet clutching his ankle writhing around from minimal contact (was up and jogging up field literally 2 seconds later) and the ref ran in from about 50 yards away and booked him. How on earth the assistant missed that but deemed the minimal contact on Ribery afterwards a yellow was justified in being the victim of malicious refereeing. Lets not re-write history to suggest otherwise. The tug was stupid, I still maintain the referee was backing away from Ribery making gestures that he wouldn't be booked before he was swarmed by players and sheepishly brought out the cards.

It was dumb pulling him back on a yellow. Granted.

 

[MoneyMay]

Rafael season review:

 

[Bojan11]

The ones who want to sell Rafa are the worst.

I love him to bits and hope he stays here forever.

I hope the less physical training might help some of our more injury prone players like Rafael and RvP.

He was injury prone before Moyes got here.

Worrying that all our defenders currently besides Evra are injury prone.