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2014-15 Performances

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6.4 Season Average Rating
Appearances
31
Goals
8
Assists
5
Yellow cards
6
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bosnian_red said:

He could get more involved but he didn't really play poorly, whenever he got the ball he looked pretty good. They were just constantly fouling him.
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Decent performance, the criticism I would have is that he just wasn't involved in the game enough, because when he did have the ball.. he produced good moments and looked upto the task.

This is either down to poor movement, knowing how to offer an effective option or his team mates are just by-passing him far too much. Mixture of both for me, but he is not the problem... being surrounded by Fletch and the non-existent Mata isn't going to help anyone's cause.
 
The easy pass is always out wide. Teams have no fear for the wide players at United so the midfield is always packed.

But United had lots of possession yesterday and Swansea didn't dominate United's midfield, so that is a positive.

Early signs are good for me, an inexperienced back line was the problem yesterday and not Herrera.
 
I'd love to know LVG's reasons for subbing him. He hadn't shone up to that point but he'd still been the main link between the defence and the attack. I can see the idea that Fellaini can offer "something else" but why take off Herrera to get it? I guess Mata's setpieces are a factor, but we were a worse team when Herrera went off and Fletcher didn't look like he was ready for 90 minutes out there.

Unless it was the formation change to something that players who were with United last year would be familiar that meant it had to be Herrera who came off. Anyway, I'd love to know.
 
Not worried about Herrera at all, he is a good acquisition for us and we will see the best of him in no time.
I was more agitated by the performances of both Rooney and Fletcher, with Rooney giving the ball away cheaply a few
times when we were in a good attacking situation.

Was surprised Fletcher stayed on instead of Herrera, and all our creativity
went out the window after Herrera was subbed.
 
Escobar said:
He wasn't the problem yesterday
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Of course he wasn't but everyone on here is so quick to criticise every single little thing atm it's tedious. Everything has to be perfect straight away and no one will be given time or patience to settle in and make a difference. Some of the reactions are so over the top.

I watched pretty much every game Herrera played in last season and in one of my early posts after we signed him I warned against expecting too much too soon. He won't pull off the spectacular every game but he is a very good little player who will make us play much better. He needs to be given a chance to settle in and adapt to this league and I'm sure once our other first choice players start returning the team as a collective will start playing better and individuals like Herrera will shine more in the process.
 
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Getting constantly hacked down/fouled = getting dominated apparently. Wonder how Iniesta has carved a career for himself when he gets dominated every game. Herrera didn't look the slightest bit intimidated by Shelvey yesterday, in fact at the start when he jumped back up I was worried he was going to nut him and get sent off. Would like to see him bulk up a bit further so he can get the real physical presence to match his mentality.
 
Not sure why LvG subbed Herrera, will not be surprised if Ander had some minor injury by HT. Swansea players were trying their best to kick the daylights out of him, and their fouls looked pretty deliberate. One of those games when you start missing Keano. Get a decent partner for him, and Ander will shine. Unfortunately, neither Fletch nor Carrick are suitable for that role.
 
Water Melon said:
Not sure why LvG subbed Herrera, will not be surprised if Ander had some minor injury by HT. Swansea players were trying their best to kick the daylights out of him, and their fouls looked pretty deliberate. One of those games when you start missing Keano. Get a decent partner for him, and he will shine. Neither Fletch nor Carrick are suitable for that role.
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I remember David May saying once that we don't stick up for each other anymore, as you say if Keane was in that side he would send Shelvey into row Z for kicking Herrera about like that.
In fact play Fellaini with him against Sunderland so when Catermole kicks Ander he can stick one on him. He wouldn't be a loss if he was sent off. A nice long ban, say a season would be good.
 
Water Melon said:
Not sure why LvG subbed Herrera, will not be surprised if Ander had some minor injury by HT. Swansea players were trying their best to kick the daylights out of him, and their fouls looked pretty deliberate. One of those games when you start missing Keano. Get a decent partner for him, and Ander will shine. Unfortunately, neither Fletch nor Carrick are suitable for that role.
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Joey Barton :nervous:
 
How dare he not come in and boss the game in his first match in a new league playing for a dysfunctional team. Get a grip, he'll come good.
 
Galactic said:
I think he is struggling with the aggression and speed of the English league. Hopefully I am wrong.
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He didn't even play badly. Did you not see how much worse we were when he came off?
 
Saw this being discussed in the Mata thread. Is he really better as a no 10 as opposed to a CM? He played in the no 10 role vs LA Galaxy and I think he was playing there last year for Bilbao too. If so we have another problem on our hands, Mata, Rooney, Kagawa, Herrera all being no 10's cannot be good for us
 
Yes. Doesn't mean he can't play deeper too though, just means he might take longer to adjust. It was 2012/13 when he last played there regularly and 2011/12 when he last played well there regularly, but naturally he's a number 10 and that's where he played when he was breaking through at Zaragoza.
 
Just rewatched the whole game after watching it "live" on shit stream, and I think he had a really good game, it was surprising to see van Gaal subbing him off because I thought he was easily our best player while he played, it was Moyesesque decision.
Plus pretty much every player who was supposed to help him had shit game(Fletcher, Mata, Rooney) so fair play to him. Really exciting to see how he'll do this season, can't wait for Carrick to return, I think those two might be excellent together. Carrick is defensively better than our any other midfielder, and our best passer, pretty much ideal partner to Herrera IMO.
 
United22 said:
Saw this being discussed in the Mata thread. Is he really better as a no 10 as opposed to a CM? He played in the no 10 role vs LA Galaxy and I think he was playing there last year for Bilbao too. If so we have another problem on our hands, Mata, Rooney, Kagawa, Herrera all being no 10's cannot be good for us
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Wasn't LVG on about this? Hardly a revelation.
 
Amar__ said:
Just rewatched the whole game after watching it "live" on shit stream, and I think he had a really good game, it was surprising to see van Gaal subbing him off because I thought he was easily our best player while he played, it was Moyesesque decision.
Plus pretty much every player who was supposed to help him had shit game(Fletcher, Mata, Rooney) so fair play to him. Really exciting to see how he'll do this season, can't wait for Carrick to return, I think those two might be excellent together. Carrick is defensively better than our any other midfielder, and our best passer, pretty much ideal partner to Herrera IMO.
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He did well. The team performance and result will mean that a lot of people will be critical.
 
United22 said:
Saw this being discussed in the Mata thread. Is he really better as a no 10 as opposed to a CM? He played in the no 10 role vs LA Galaxy and I think he was playing there last year for Bilbao too. If so we have another problem on our hands, Mata, Rooney, Kagawa, Herrera all being no 10's cannot be good for us
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It's debatable. Herrera certainly thinks of himself as a #8 rather than #10, so I suspect that's where we'll nearly always see him played.
 
United22 said:
I never said its a revelation, just that the club might have completely fecked up again because he hasn't really been impressive as a #8
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He's played one competitive game for us, and was one of our better players.
 
sullydnl said:
It's debatable. Herrera certainly thinks of himself as a #8 rather than #10, so I suspect that's where we'll nearly always see him played.
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Yeah and Fellaini thought of himself as a "defensive midfielder" in some interview when he signed for us: when in reality he is a #10 behind the striker who is fit for a hoofball system at West Ham
 
He doesn't struggle with the pace of the premier league, he struggles with the pace of our own team.
 
United22 said:
Yeah and Fellaini thought of himself as a "defensive midfielder" in some interview when he signed for us: when in reality he is a #10 behind the striker who is fit for a hoofball system at West Ham
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Yep, but Herrera actually played far more regularly as a #8 as far as I'm aware. I think it was just last season where he was used as a #10, so there's no real reason to think he can't perform in that role.

Or to put it another way: when we were trying to buy him last season it was as a #8, so I'm not sure why we'd suddenly have a new role in mind for him now.
 
All his attributes point to being a #8 which is where he has played for the majority of his career, hell play there for us too.
 
sullydnl said:
Yep, but Herrera actually played far more regularly as a #8 as far as I'm aware. I think it was just last season where he was used as a #10, so there's no real reason to think he can't perform in that role.

Or to put it another way: when we were trying to buy him last season it was as a #8, so I'm not sure why we'd suddenly have a new role in mind for him now.
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It wasn't just last season he played as a number 10. He's only played 2 seasons of his career as a number 8, and when he was starting his career it was a 10.

Like I said a few weeks ago, I wouldn't read too much into his interview saying he's a number 8, given he's also said in the past he prefers playing further up the pitch closer to the strikers. It's more likely he just says whatever he knows the manager wants from him.

ivaldo said:
All his attributes point to being a #8 which is where he has played for the majority of his career, hell play there for us too.
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Played more as a 10 actually.
 
Funny thing is, while Herrera might stuggle to settle in his first few months, he'll still be by far our most competent midfielder.
 
Did you really expect Herrera to play at his best on his premier league debut? It took Silva close to a full season to reach the level he played at in the Spanish league.
 
People forget far to easily how long it takes some players to adapt to everything, not just the football. Look at two players who just left, Vidic and Evra, really struggled to begin with but went on to have great careers. Really embarrassed by many fans this week.
 
He was easily one of our better players, and anyone watching the game would surely notice the issues were more how he fit into the team during such a slow and lethargic performance more than any issue of ability or know how.

One of our biggest issues was getting the ball to Rooneys feet, yet the only player who did it was Herrera and he was let down 3 times by a shit return ball from Rooney. Then people moaned he was out of position, despite his job being to carry the ball and link with the attackers.
 
Is he really a central midfielder or one that plays better at 10 but can also do a job a bit deeper? Leave it to us to sign another semi-cm-ish player who really plays better further up the pitch.
 
He isn't a #10 in the slightest. His skill set is so obviously suited to central midfield and I'm pleased with his progress so far.
 
He played well. Taking him off for Fellaini was the single biggest contributing factor in us not getting at least a point, imo.
 
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