What happened to him between 2011/12 and 2012/2013 is the question, from our POTY to bang average in the space of basically one summer. Can't really question his commitment but given he's only had one good season since then he can consider himself lucky to have lasted as long as he has.
What's happened to Antonio Valencia?
- Thread starter AkaAkuma
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Do you actually believe that ? The guy is ripped, he puts most 23 year olds that think they have the bodies of Greek Gods to shame with his physique.
Physically finished.
He looks more like a wrestler than a footballer. Overweight doesn't just mean fat.
I'm sure he's very impressive on the bench press, but he's clearly out of shape.
Hes been a great player for the club for many years. I remember a game a few years ago (fergie days) and in the post match analysis the MOTD pundits described him as an unplayable force. He could beat defenders for fun with his pace and power.
Age waits for no man, hes 33 now and his prime is well behind him. Hes lost the pace and the ability to beat his man, he always choses the pass back or sidewards now rather than taking on the fullback to get to the by-line.. sadly his times up imo. He can still do a job but not to the standard We need to compete with the best.
Thanks for the memories Tony.
Age waits for no man, hes 33 now and his prime is well behind him. Hes lost the pace and the ability to beat his man, he always choses the pass back or sidewards now rather than taking on the fullback to get to the by-line.. sadly his times up imo. He can still do a job but not to the standard We need to compete with the best.
Thanks for the memories Tony.
Good player. Never a great player.
https://goo.gl/images/uZPVqfYeah, he's a ringer for Giant Haystacks
Looks more like a modern day wrestler.
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Absolutely.
Great servant of the club, but his legs have gone. This is the right decision.
We need replacement. Dalot is not the man we can rely on at the R.B.
Love the guy. Great servant of the club.
Probably the right time for him to move on though.
Probably the right time for him to move on though.
Was excellent as a winger in his first couple of seasons. He always seemed to make the right decision, and was a massive contrast to Nani, who had a much higher skill ceiling, but often made dreadful choices.
Then he got a terrible injury, and after that seemed to do a statue impression, just stopping dead half the time, or utterly destroying full back's shins with his smashed low balls.
It's quite something watching how many assists he had for Rooney that season Ronaldo went though. So many great crosses and headers.
Very solid at full back for a few years, but every player has a time, and if not now it was the end of the season at longest
Then he got a terrible injury, and after that seemed to do a statue impression, just stopping dead half the time, or utterly destroying full back's shins with his smashed low balls.
It's quite something watching how many assists he had for Rooney that season Ronaldo went though. So many great crosses and headers.
Very solid at full back for a few years, but every player has a time, and if not now it was the end of the season at longest
I think after his leg break he came back to a level almost as good as pre injury. Sadly it didn't last long and somewhere down the line, he stopped trying to cross accurately and weirdly resorted to smashing full backs' shins.
Surprised me, so I dug out the video.
I make it 6, but still less than I'd remembered.
Others in the next seasons of course, and I remember thinking he scored a lot of headers from Valencia crosses when watching the whole vid of Rooney goals throughout
He's just burnt out imo. Can't keep up anymore.
I like the dude, but he's no captain material. Sometimes the captain needs to be in the referee's face, and he never did that.
I like the dude, but he's no captain material. Sometimes the captain needs to be in the referee's face, and he never did that.
He deserves respect for what he has done for the club but needs to leave room for younger players who can perform more but also for economic reasons.
I don't think he works as a captain anymore, especially not for the younger players. If it's true that he defended Mourinho at the end, it's probably hard to get their full respect.
He seems to be a professional player in every way, if he wants, he can certainly make some years in a smaller club where the requirements are a little less. Hope he can finish his career in a good way, he is a nice person and has earned it.
I don't think he works as a captain anymore, especially not for the younger players. If it's true that he defended Mourinho at the end, it's probably hard to get their full respect.
He seems to be a professional player in every way, if he wants, he can certainly make some years in a smaller club where the requirements are a little less. Hope he can finish his career in a good way, he is a nice person and has earned it.
The curse of #7 weighed heavily on his shoulders. Now it seems the captaincy is doing the same, coupled with injuries taking their toll. Hopefully Newcastle or Fulham give us a fee during the next couple of days!
Wasn't it when he liked the post, talking about "Jose Out", which saw him no longer player under Jose? That was the beginning of the end - Solkjaer has basically continued with what Jose was doing, ie. marginalising him.
Comparing Valencia to a an animal which has been (walking) wounded for 5 years.
That is cruel. You wicked, wicked man.
Pure speculation but I think it was more losing mental edge than physical. First 2 seasons under Mourinho he played with a real hunger that has been absent the few times he has played this season. Maybe personal life struggles, maybe mental health issues, I'm only speculating of course.
good tryDid the trick though, didn't it?
You have seen it, Valencia has seen it, Mourinho has seen it and now Ole has put the final nail in. Come on it's not absurd to see that he's completely lost his legs.
33 might not seem that old but he got some annoying injuries in the past year and you can tell he's lost the motivation to keep in shape judging by his body now a days.
Let him go with dignity. His past few games for us have been painful to say the least
33 might not seem that old but he got some annoying injuries in the past year and you can tell he's lost the motivation to keep in shape judging by his body now a days.
Let him go with dignity. His past few games for us have been painful to say the least
Great servant to the club and hope he gets the respect he deserves with a decent send off.
Pretty much this, he gave us years of great service but the time has come for him to go. I wish him the best wherever he ends up, I think a league like the MLS will be good for him at this stage of his career.
He's due a testimonial this summer and we're telling him to leave half way through a season? How is that treating a stalwart with any regard?
Unless he's done something wrong behind the scenes, our treatment of him, in light of him being a few months short of the hallowed 10-stretch, is pretty grim.
Unless he's done something wrong behind the scenes, our treatment of him, in light of him being a few months short of the hallowed 10-stretch, is pretty grim.
His football relied purely on his physical. He had limited tactical and technical ability that he used his physical ability to compensate but as he got older he could no longer depend on his physical ability to save him from his shortcomings. Just my small take.
Yeah, his last season under Fergie (bar the odd game, e.g Chelsea) and his season under Moyes were atrocious. Exactly the same thing happened to Young during those years too. To both their credits they’ve put in some good years of service since then.
I like Valencia a lot and you know that he always gave maximum effort even when things weren’t going well. Wish him the best of luck.
Funny how he is a “great servant to the club” but players that have been similar time with the club we just need to get rid. Valencia has just been 1 more season than Smalling and 2 more than Jones, but you won’t see anybody arguing they are “great servants to the club”.
That argument is non sense, he is not good enough anymore, and hasn’t been for some time. He and us should move on, it seems we are talking about Giggs, Scholes or Rooney, is bloody Valencia.
I don’t mean to be disripectful but not many will remember in 10-15 years time.
That argument is non sense, he is not good enough anymore, and hasn’t been for some time. He and us should move on, it seems we are talking about Giggs, Scholes or Rooney, is bloody Valencia.
I don’t mean to be disripectful but not many will remember in 10-15 years time.
Valencia's delivery is never tip top, does he? What he can offer, is his energy and constant run down the sideline. If this drops then you need to question his ability to perform, whether as 1st team or bench warmer. Young showed you what an ageing player can offer, even at 3 games a month.
The "great servant" line is just a cliche, and certainly not warranted for Valencia.
He's been incredibly lucky to have survived. It's mad that some of you are now be wanting an average player to stay a little bit longer to give him testimonial when he should have gone at least 5 years ago.
He's been incredibly lucky to have survived. It's mad that some of you are now be wanting an average player to stay a little bit longer to give him testimonial when he should have gone at least 5 years ago.
Great news that he is available to go, not good enough, hasnt been for a along time. I hope a few others follow him out of the door in the summer.
We are not a charity shop. Get rid. I quite like this ruthless approach first with Mourinho and now this. Been needed for a long time. Next up Rojo, Darmian, Jones and Young.
Rojo, Darmian and Young haven't been our POTY, have never captained Utd (young a few times) and haven't played as many games as Antonio Valencia. He deserves a proper send off and it doesn't mean we're a charity shop - it just means we regard players who have given their all for us the past 10 years
I swear anyone who says he had no technique probably sucks at football and is only good at Fifa. Just have a look at his first touch, passing, link up, shooting and ability to carry the ball and drive with it. He held our right side alone at times.
Which ain't bad considering the guy played most of his 90+ caps for Ecuador as a central midfielder.
Who cares. He has been very well paid during his time here and can live a life of luxury that most of us can only dream of. If the club want to give him a send off let him come on for the last 10 mins versus Burnley and let the crowd say thank you. He has been a good player over the years, not a great one though and nobody in 10 years will be saying ah remember the days when we had Valencia at RB. Move on. He is done
He's a big guy (for a footballer), very muscular and he's 33 now. For the layman 33 doesn't mean anything but for professional footballers, it's typically an age they're decling at. Maybe his decline is more obvious because he's also in poor form. Either way, time to part ways.
I'm pretty sure we are not pushing him away. We are just saying if he wants to leave, we are willing to facilitate it. He has 6 months left, not going to cost anything. He's a great professional, he wants to play.