It sure can play a role, not just physical fatigue but psychologically too. He has more pressure at Utd to carry us than he did at Madrid when he was a support player.
7
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 32
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 13
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
It sure can play a role, not just physical fatigue but psychologically too. He has more pressure at Utd to carry us than he did at Madrid when he was a support player.
The sun is always shining when Di Maria walks onto the OT pitch. How anyone can even moan about this guy is incredible. He's playing very average along with all our attacking players this season give or take the odd spark. This is no time to judge any of them IMO. The manager needs to get the right players in first for the set up his see's and then we can judge. If was just Di Maria then fine but its not. Likewise Falcao, RVP etc all class acts looking like Championship players. Its not their fault.
Au contraire. Is is their fault. With mitigating circumstances. I think RvP is just getting old. He's been in a steady decline now under two different managers. Falcao has to get over a sever injury and acclimatise to a new league. So he might come good. He might never get back to his best though. Sometimes a serious injury like that can finish a player. As we saw with Vidic. Di Maria's been discussed to death in this thread but I refuse to blame the manager for any player getting the basics of passing and decision-making as wrong as we've often seen from Di Maria this season. Of course, he's in the Falcao boat of adjusting to a new league. With the additional pressure of the price tag and expectation that comes with it.
“I’ve been happy ever since I arrived at Manchester United.
“Hopefully I can stay here for many years.”
Hopefully people will stop saying he wants to play for PSG
Read more at http://www.squawka.com/news/angel-d...ted-for-many-years/317952#QUBzzwFYGIkPUk0w.99
“Hopefully I can stay here for many years.”
Hopefully people will stop saying he wants to play for PSG
Read more at http://www.squawka.com/news/angel-d...ted-for-many-years/317952#QUBzzwFYGIkPUk0w.99
Glad LvG defended him today in his press conference and didn't make a big deal of his last performance!
Sánchez is hardly destroying the league. He won some games on his own and he's difficult to handle but teams are more on to him now and the winter period seems to have affected him like it usually does to new players.
Rooney in Costa's place, I'd expect similar numbers. I really would. He's just doing the job that a good forward is supposed to at a top club. Like RvP has done for us in the past, what Andy Cole did, Ruud and many others. He's a tough bastard and a pain in the ass but he isn't a magnificent player destroying the league. He's a very good player in the team that's walking through the league.
Di Maria's best performances haven't come out of a diamond or playing with 3 at the back and wing backs. You say he's poor yet his contributions is on par with a much better Real Madrid team from last year. He doesn't control his transfer value so it's pointless talking about it. The cost of a player is an upper management burden and has little to do with players or managers.
I don't know why you expect these performances from him. The manager is so inconsistent in his tactical and personnel choices and because of that its very hard for players to be consistent. Try showing up for work an every week on Monday morning your desk isn't in the same place. It's been moved. Or better yet, you have to start your workday by moving it before you move it and next week you don't know if it will happen again or not. You think your productivity or job performance wouldn't suffer?
It was the 2nd game that United played with a diamond. The previous game was QPR at home.
The back line consisted of Rojo-Blackett-Evans-Rafael. Rojo's and Evans' 2nd game of the season. Rafael's third. Blackett's first season and he isn't really good. Together they had played once before where they weren't even tested. Not only that but after 30 minutes a change had to be made because Evans got injured.
The goals were easily preventable. It's by no means a normal game to go by. Leicester also didn't start to play well before the conceded thrice. No matter how you play, if you're 3-1 up you shouldn't lose 5-3. Even if it were Cambridge beating Chelsea 3-1 with 30 minutes to go I would consider it extremely poor of them to lose a game like that.
Yet players you don't rate seem to be, if anything, improving on last season's performances (which were the exact opposite, in terms of consistency of tactics and approach) Players like Valencia, Young and Fellaini. Why do you think that might be?
I personally think that in Fellaini's case and Young's case that their performances are overrated. Valencia hasn't really improved. He's playing further back. It's a simple role for a simple man. He sticks to what he knows and he'll be fine. He's still the same in attack.
Young creates about one chance per game. His defensive stats are worse than Valencia's and his attacking stats are worse than Di Maria's. I think I've even explained it to you specifically in another post. Basically, Young looks dangerous up front but he really isn't effective. Definitely better as a wing back where there is less focus on you than as a winger. He sits deep, isn't close to the full back. Players like Rooney or Mata or Di Maria pass into the space left by the full back who's more concerned with the three forwards that are always playing. That makes for many instances of Young with the ball and a full back that's not in position to be properly prepared. Was it effective though? I don't think so. His passing and crossing has been more about passing into certain spaces in the box rather than finding players and it's a number game that he hasn't won many bets on.
Fellaini isn't playing any better for us than he did for Everton. He was a scapegoat and I think it affected him. No pressure on him now and the only way for him was up. Doesn't help when the manager employs tactic that basically revolve around his strengths.
I also think all three look better by comparison because of different expectations. If you view them from a neutral perspective with no expectations you would just think they do alright. Nothing more than that.
What does that even mean? I'm simply comparing their own performances this season and last. It's not about absolute level of performance, just meeting their own expectations as footballers.
If constantly changing team selection and formations was as big an issue as you imply, chances are they would play worse this season and last. Both Fellaini and Young have played as a wingback and fullback, looking decent in both positions. Fellaini's played in at least three different positions. All three of them have played about as well as we could expect them to play. They certainly haven't performed far below expectations, which is what Di Maria is doing.
Obviously, he is adjusting to a new team/league. So that's a good excuse. I'm not buying the excuse that he should be uniquely forgiven for under-performing because of inconsistent team selections and formations. Especially when he's played, at most, two games in an unfamiliar position.
Are redcafe's stats correct? Because 10 assists in 23 appearances is quite a remarkable stat
Hes doing alright in terms of assists and chances created. Its his overrall game that has declined. Also he got the vast majority of his assists etc earlier in the season.
EDIT: Given the sitters certain strikers have missed too, he would have quite a few more assists, he'd likely be closer to Fab.
Two of those "assists" were scuffed shots too.
The thing is, he's clearly a bloody good player. So he's being held to higher standards than most other footballers. Which is a little harsh for someone in his debut season. It doesn't help that it's a season where Sanchez, Costa and Fabregas have all racked up amazing stats, mind you. In most other seasons there wouldn't be three such high profile debutants all having such a storming season.
The thing is, he's clearly a bloody good player. So he's being held to higher standards than most other footballers. Which is a little harsh for someone in his debut season. It doesn't help that it's a season where Sanchez, Costa and Fabregas have all racked up amazing stats, mind you. In most other seasons there wouldn't be three such high profile debutants all having such a storming season.
You don't need to be a genius to understand why. LVG keeps changing his role from CM to LW and now RW. We've also got two of the laziest and most static strikers I've ever seen which is a bit of a problem since you can't afford having 2 players who produce no workrate for the team. FFS Falcao and RVP make Inzaghi look like Gattuso in his prime AND on steroids. Nearly everyone is struggling at the moment not just Di Maria.
Sanchez, Costa and Fabregas play with top clubs and have a well balanced + quality setup. Di Maria is playing with a team who ended 7th last season. Can we just stop comparing us with Chelsea? There's a massive gap between the two clubs whether we like it or we dont.
Well, Sanchez is the obvious comparison. Last time I checked we were a whole one point behind Arsenal in the league. Hardly a "massive gap".
Sanchez was always a regular scorer something di maria isnt. Also arsenal with its limits has a balanced and well settled side with most of the players capable of playing 3-4 games without falling into pieces
Sanchez hasn't exactly been that great laterly anyway. However hes been better than Di Maria, hes more of a goal scorer though tbh.
Di Maria despite not having a great season is still the second top assister in the league isn't he?
Di Maria will be fine. He's clearly a world class player, and the fact that he has a good assists tally tells you that he's doing something right. The whole team needs to continue to be improved / changed to van Gaal's liking, then we will see the best out of Di Maria. Let's be honest, going from playing with Modric, Alonso, and Khedira to Blind, Herrera, and Fellaini in midfield is a bit of a step down (though Blind and Herrera are good players and perfectly fit the team).
I know it's beaten like a dead horse in here, but balance in midfield really does matter and can affect how a creative player like Di Maria performs. Buying a proper box-to-box midfielder will really help Di Maria be unshackled and begin to revert back to his Real Madrid form.
I know it's beaten like a dead horse in here, but balance in midfield really does matter and can affect how a creative player like Di Maria performs. Buying a proper box-to-box midfielder will really help Di Maria be unshackled and begin to revert back to his Real Madrid form.
It means looking at it without objectivity and pre-considered notions.
It's not really science Pogue. You know, a team can be playing really well and still lose because 1 player messed up or a team can lose and a player can play well. There are many different reasons for it. I'm pinpointing the tactics and personnel change as they are one of the least consistent aspects of the game. Not just within the season itself but also by looking at previous seasons. These are new tactics for the most part.
Just have a look for yourself. How many players are playing worse, how many are doing better, how many are performing about the same. Personally, I feel a lot more players are not playing as well.
You can compare him with Sánchez but the difference it that Arsenal have used the same tactics the whole season, tactics that Sánchez is used to. He's played with freedom to do what he does best in his favored position. None of this applies to Di Maria. He had never played as a midfielder in diamond before. Also, when he played in midfield he had, get this, midfielders playing with him. Shocking right. Playing with people in their best positions is the way to go.
No, I blame the manager for most it and I do it because of what he has said compared to what he has done. He said he plays entertaining football. He hasn't done that. He said he doesn't shoehorn players in the side but rather builds a formation around what he's got. Hasn't done that. He says he usually starts slow. Has done that. Great. Of all the things he has said, only his faults have come true. Also, from what I can gather from his interviews and player interviews, is that he kind of stifles creativity. The way the players play certainly doesn't disprove that.
He also said one thing, which I agree with, that players usually start of slow when they are new to a team or a league. That's definitely true. For every Sánchez and Costa there's an Evra and Drogba and more.
If he's below your expectations then that's your own fault.
Heh. That last line is a classic. Precisely what sort of expectations should I have for the most expensive footballer in the history of top flight English football?
Although he usually talks shit, Phil Neville tweeted some sense about ADM. He said when he gets the ball he is always trying to be positive with it.
I kind of agree with him on that. His end product has been pretty shocking really but I don't recall him going sideways or backwards just forward. He's not afraid to run at players and attack the space when he's without the ball.
I can't wait for him to get in his groove because he is getting the space, he is attempting runs and always gives an option. His distribution and shooting will come with confidence.
I kind of agree with him on that. His end product has been pretty shocking really but I don't recall him going sideways or backwards just forward. He's not afraid to run at players and attack the space when he's without the ball.
I can't wait for him to get in his groove because he is getting the space, he is attempting runs and always gives an option. His distribution and shooting will come with confidence.
I'm not disputing it was a freak result, and I'm not saying that we'd concede 5 goals every game either if we went out and played it. But the evidence is there; we have a leaky defence and concede one goal pretty much every game we play, and that's when we're playing as safe as possible. With the way our strikers are performing anyway, would you trust them to get the goals we need to win games if we committed to attacking football? I know I wouldn't.
Newcastle 0:1 Man Utd
Done well so far. Though this is the type of performance that if he's on form, people will say its a good game, but off form and the moaners will moan. Hes given it away a few times but he's created a few chances as well and dribbled past his defender plenty of times, looks dangerous which is important
He's been lively and certainly better than he's recent lethargic performances. Still lacking in his end product and his decision making could be better.
He had a woeful start to the game, but he's managed to pick it up in the past 15 minutes or so and has put in some decent crosses while looking a bit more lively.
I swear to god he wants to make everything into the hardest thing in the world... like that pass to Rooney, it's a simple 5 yard pass, with either foot, yet he has to hit it with the outside of his left foot... why?! It's not necessary in that situation at all, so why show-off? Again, it's like he needs to prove he's World Class with every single thing he does.
He's been poor again.
All their counters have come by him losing the ball.
Come on angel ffs
Yeah, he loses the ball far too often.
Confidence isn't low, it's in the negative levels.
He's absolute garbage. Shockingly bad. I don't know what he has to do to get dropped. Not cost £60million, I suppose.
Yeah, I think he's been really poor actually. Given the ball away so many times.
Something isn't right with him.
Something isn't right with him.
He badly needs to strap on a pair and start taking some responsibility.
he looks utter muck atm.
You always defend Di Maria
can we move him to the side of the field he's best on please? Put Young on the right, he is right footed, so it's not an outrageous idea!
Needs a goal.
- Status