[dogwithabone]

I'd like to see ADM just get on the pitch and have a dozen or so simple touches to get a feel of the game. He seems to get on and immediately set off on a run that at the minute is invariably ending in losing possession. He's disrupting our flow and while I understand his keenness to impress I think he will be better advised to just get on, see plenty of the ball but keep it simple. We weren't chasing the game yesterday, we were up against ten and simple possession football should have been the remit for Di Maria.

He is the epitome of a footballer trying to hard to make up for a string of indifferent performances. Relax, keep it simple and the performance level will return - hopefully.

 

[Stobzilla]

Like so many around his age in world football, he needs a break.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Nonsense. He was our biggest threat in the second half as shown by the fact he created the first goal, created the chance for the penalty and was inches away from setting up a third for Rooney. He's a brilliant threat on the counter. The criticism about the pass for his assist too...wow. It was a little bit behind Mata, sure, but there's no-one else in the team that would've played that pass in the first place, and why not praise him for intelligently pulling off Skrtel into space and creating that opportunity in the first place?

That's debatable.

He certainly helped Liverpool pose a threat though. Almost every chance they created was on a break triggered by Di Maria losing possession cheaply.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Coming on as a sub against 10 men was like cheating.

Yet, if anything, bringing him on for Young helped Liverpool back into it.

 

[XdanielredX]

So you are saying the break in was part of his attitude problem? Makes no sense.

No I meant more like it affected his mental state.

 

[Castia]

How is his confidence low? Players lacking confidence hide from the ball and don't play the type of passes he does. They play much easier and safer. He simply tries too much and makes a lot of sloppy passes in the process. This is what he's like. I've seen it loads of times at Real. He completely lacks any patience, but the bonus is he never gives up trying to make something happen.

I'm more pissed off by his lack of work off the ball. He worked his nuts off at Real and he's been lazy here in that regard.

Genuinely think LvG must hate the amount of passes he gifts teams.

I do think its a confidence issue, yes he might show for the ball but he doesn't know what to do when he gets it, he's just blindly running into a defender or playing a sloppy pass. Those things will be cut out if he gets a few decent games under his belt imo.

 

[IwatUwat]

That was as bad a performance as I have seen from a sub.... he was woeful, would love to see his stats.

Gave the ball away, no effort put in either defensively or attacking, poor decision making. Really not sure whats happened. Looks as far behind currently as he did in front at the start of the season. Think its just a blip but wow that was bad.

He did get an assist obviously and fair enough but maybe one of the two good passes he made. The other a cross as far as Im concerned.

 

[Borys]

We can forget about him in midfield. Van Gaal won’t let it happen, and I would probably agree with him. To me he’s a player who does a lot of instinctive things excellent when his confidence is high, but at the same tame can feck up simple passes when he has time to think. Our team vs Spurs and Liverpool was very intelligent I would say, positioning and link-up play was excellent. I would say that are Di Maria’s attributes at all.

That said, I believe he will come good next season after a summer break. But now I hope Young starts over him because I’m shit scared every time he gets the ball near the middle of the pitch.

Travesty that one of the best counter attacking players around was bought for a team that plays with little pace and prefers to hold the ball.
Will always be a hit and miss player like Nani but needs to be in a fast system that plays in the counter.
He was decent today. Nice assist along with so easy dumb moments but that's what he does all the time so get used to it.

It is. He probably adds another dimension when we want to counter but he doesn’t seem to fit this possession based football.

What he should work on is a becoming a bit more solid, and learn that there are moments and places he can't take on a defender, but needs to keep it simple. He should know where and when the leash can come off.

Di Maria strikes me as a very instinctive player who needs the game to be played at a high tempo. When he has too much time to ponder he just seems to make so many careless mistakes in possession.

Exactly. It’s like he has only one thing in his mind, and that is to get the ball close to the goal as fast as possible. There is no half-measures.

People were saying the same shit about Mata and look at them now. Di Maria will be fine. What encourages me about him is that despite his poor form he's still wanting the ball and trying to make things happen.

He’s not like Mata though. Mata wasn’t very influential but he wasn’t losing the ball time and time again. He kept it simple, what is the exact opposite to what Di Maria is doing now. I do believe he will come good, however I don’t expect it to happen this season.

I'd like to see ADM just get on the pitch and have a dozen or so simple touches to get a feel of the game. He seems to get on and immediately set off on a run that at the minute is invariably ending in losing possession. He's disrupting our flow and while I understand his keenness to impress I think he will be better advised to just get on, see plenty of the ball but keep it simple. We weren't chasing the game yesterday, we were up against ten and simple possession football should have been the remit for Di Maria.

He is the epitome of a footballer trying to hard to make up for a string of indifferent performances. Relax, keep it simple and the performance level will return - hopefully.

Agreed 100%, that’s how I see it. He knows he hasn’t been good this season, so he’s trying too much to impress. In a result he loses the ball a lot and it becomes even worse.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

Read somewhere that he went straight down the tunnel and didn't stay on the pitch top clap the fans?

 

[ivaldo]

Nonsense. He was our biggest threat in the second half as shown by the fact he created the first goal, created the chance for the penalty and was inches away from setting up a third for Rooney. He's a brilliant threat on the counter. The criticism about the pass for his assist too...wow. It was a little bit behind Mata, sure, but there's no-one else in the team that would've played that pass in the first place, and why not praise him for intelligently pulling off Skrtel into space and creating that opportunity in the first place?

Some would say that's a foul but it is still a contact sport after all.

 

[ivaldo]

Yet, if anything, bringing him on for Young helped Liverpool back into it.

Yet he created a goal and had a massive hand in winning the penalty which should've killed Liverpool off completely. The only goal they scored was from a mistake from Carrick, not DM.

 

[Cnaiür urs Skiötha]

I really really hope LvG can turn him around. Him back in his best form together with Herrera and Mata behind Rooney would be massive. With Fellaini adding some steel and Blind/Carrick behind we could have a great mix of creativity and power we have missed for some years now.

 

[Bwuk]

Nonsense. He was our biggest threat in the second half as shown by the fact he created the first goal, created the chance for the penalty and was inches away from setting up a third for Rooney. He's a brilliant threat on the counter. The criticism about the pass for his assist too...wow. It was a little bit behind Mata, sure, but there's no-one else in the team that would've played that pass in the first place, and why not praise him for intelligently pulling off Skrtel into space and creating that opportunity in the first place?

Exactly.

I don't understand the hate for di Maria at all. It's like people buy into the he doesn't want to be here newspaper nonsense.

 

[Escobar]

Exactly.

I don't understand the hate for di Maria at all. It's like people buy into the he doesn't want to be here newspaper nonsense.

Me neither. I guess it's either fickle or impatient fans. Let him settle down and continue working with LVG and once he hits top form again, he will be our top player no doubt. People need to chill and be less picky

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Exactly.

I don't understand the hate for di Maria at all.

He seems to provoke nothing but admiration and annoyance, there's nothing in between, with every single touch. That's the kind of player he is, in the beginning of the season the annoyance was overshadowed by the admiration, allthough he made a lot of stupid passes to, and now it's the other way around.

The solution is quite simple, by training the annoying moments should be limited. Limited in numbers, and limited to parts of the pitch and moments in the game. But we must allow a few, because that's the kind of player he is. When 100% keeping of posession is demanded, he'll probably lose his sting.

 

[mu77]

Nonsense. He was our biggest threat in the second half as shown by the fact he created the first goal, created the chance for the penalty and was inches away from setting up a third for Rooney. He's a brilliant threat on the counter. The criticism about the pass for his assist too...wow. It was a little bit behind Mata, sure, but there's no-one else in the team that would've played that pass in the first place, and why not praise him for intelligently pulling off Skrtel into space and creating that opportunity in the first place?

he was wasteful and i did post it was inventive if you read the post. he was also a div for catching that ball. he also wasted the chance to put rooney in. he gave it away over and over again. he was a threat but didn't do enough v 10 men. that's why the only reason he came on was an injury to young. and right now mata and young are ahead of him. that pass was behind mata and without a wonder goal from him we aren't talking about it.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

According to whoscored, our worst passers from yesterday:

Young: 68.8%
di Maria: 73.9%
Fellaini: 74.1%
Blind: 74.2%
Rooney: 77.9%

Created Mata's goal, nearly put Rooney in (who should have collected the pass, regardless) and put Blind in for the penalty. It's a myth that we turned bad when he came on, as he wasn't the one who instigated our decision to sit back and let Liverpool come at us. Definitely not the worst player on the pitch.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

According to whoscored, our worst passers from yesterday:

Young: 68.8%
di Maria: 73.9%
Fellaini: 74.1%
Blind: 74.2%
Rooney: 77.9%

Created Mata's goal, nearly put Rooney in (who should have collected the pass, regardless) and put Blind in for the penalty. It's a myth that we turned bad when he came on, as he wasn't the one who instigated our decision to sit back and let Liverpool come at us. Definitely not the worst player on the pitch.

Nah, that was just a crap pass. Mata was lucky that a similarly misdirected pass was slow enough that he could adjust and strike a ball that was behind him.

Good pass in the lead up to the pen though.

 

[finneh]

Nah, that was just a crap pass. Mata was lucky that a similarly misdirected pass was slow enough that he could adjust and strike a ball that was behind him.

Good pass in the lead up to the pen though.

Very harsh. To dig that out from a standing position over a couple of player's heads in a short 10 yard distance is very, very difficult. I think every player on the pitch apart from Di Maria and Mata himself would have held onto the ball for 3-4 seconds and opt for the easy square ball to Blind. Even if Mata decided the ball was too difficult to attempt the spectacular, he could have volleyed it over the top in the direction of Fellaini at the far post, which would have been a decent chance.

 

[11101]

That said, I believe he will come good next season after a summer break. But now I hope Young starts over him because I’m shit scared every time he gets the ball near the middle of the pitch.

Agreed. I think he will have a few moments of brilliance this season but next year, we will see him out wide in a 433 with (whisper it) Nani on the other side, or a new signing, and he could be devastating.

Hes a bit of a liability at the moment because we're still playing with caution, and he seems incapable of that approach.

 

[thegregster]

Agreed. I think he will have a few moments of brilliance this season but next year, we will see him out wide in a 433 with (whisper it) Nani on the other side, or a new signing, and he could be devastating.

Hes a bit of a liability at the moment because we're still playing with caution, and he seems incapable of that approach.

What about Mata?

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Nah, that was just a crap pass. Mata was lucky that a similarly misdirected pass was slow enough that he could adjust and strike a ball that was behind him.

Good pass in the lead up to the pen though.

The thing with the pass to Mata is that, had it been a "better" pass, Mata, most likely, would have been forced onto his right foot, and the opportunity to score may have disappeared. In my opinion, the movement from di Maria was brilliant, he's the quickest to react to Mata's movement; makes himself available for the exchange of passes, and is probably the only person on the pitch who would have attempted to chip the ball back towards Mata. Ok, it probably wasn't as he intended, however, it directly led to the goal and we can't ask for more.

I have to watch the pass to Rooney again, although he screwed it up, Rooney may still have scored, had he put in more effort to retain the loose ball.

His pace was a massive threat, and without him, we wouldn't have even had a penalty.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Very harsh. To dig that out from a standing position over a couple of player's heads in a short 10 yard distance is very, very difficult. I think every player on the pitch apart from Di Maria and Mata himself would have held onto the ball for 3-4 seconds and opt for the easy square ball to Blind. Even if Mata decided the ball was too difficult to attempt the spectacular, he could have volleyed it over the top in the direction of Fellaini at the far post, which would have been a decent chance.

I think he could have easily have put the ball into Mata's stride. Which was, presumably, what Mata was expecting.

All's well that ends well, though. So I'm not really complaining. Just pointing out that the pass was slightly behind its intended target (ditto the pass behind Rooney, referred to above)

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The thing with the pass to Mata is that, had it been a "better" pass, Mata, most likely, would have been forced onto his right foot, and the opportunity to score may have disappeared. In my opinion, the movement from di Maria was brilliant, he's the quickest to react to Mata's movement; makes himself available for the exchange of passes, and is probably the only person on the pitch who would have attempted to chip the ball back towards Mata. Ok, it probably wasn't as he intended, however, it directly led to the goal and we can't ask for more.

I have to watch the pass to Rooney again, although he screwed it up, Rooney may still have scored, had he put in more effort to retain the loose ball.

His pace was a massive threat, and without him, we wouldn't have even had a penalty.

This is true. Like I said, all's well that ends well!

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

We can forget about him in midfield. Van Gaal won’t let it happen, and I would probably agree with him. .

In that case it made no sense paying £60m for him on the back of a great season in midfield. As a winger he has always been inconsistent and sometimes frustrating (and not a £60m winger!)

 

[finneh]

I think he could have easily have put the ball into Mata's stride. Which was, presumably, what Mata was expecting.

All's well that ends well, though. So I'm not really complaining. Just pointing out that the pass was slightly behind its intended target (ditto the pass behind Rooney, referred to above)

Agree with the Rooney pass, but think it's very harsh on the pass in question. To get the ball to Mata with that type of ball in that tight a space from a standing start was impressive enough. To expect it to be inch perfect as well would be highly critical, I think Di Maria would have expected Mata to side foot volley it to the back post for a Fellaini header, Mata had other ideas though .

 

[hbgreg]

I think he needs a break. Have him acclimatise to his new surroundings in the summer and come back fresh with CL football next season.

Think the fact that he still doesn't speak English good is another big factor. Yes there's people who speak Spanish at the club, but living in a country where you don't speak the language is probably very difficult for someone.

 

[Escobar]

He came on when we were already struggling. It was impossible for him to change that but of course, didnt really help much either. Still, he had 3 good passes at least and due to his pace brought the ball forward and deep into Liverpool's half. It wasnt vintage di Maria but also not as horrible as some say (who think he was responsible for our poor 2nd half)

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

He came on when we were already struggling. It was impossible for him to change that but of course, didnt really help much either. Still, he had 3 good passes at least and due to his pace brought the ball forward and deep into Liverpool's half. It wasnt vintage di Maria but also not as horrible as some say (who think he was responsible for our poor 2nd half)

There was a difficult 15 minutes in the 2nd half. Liverpool was getting back in it and DiMaria's loss of posession encouraged them. The smart thing to do was to keep posession and slow the game down, smother the fire. Later on he could have a few go's and risk loss op posession but not there and at that moment. That's a matter of reading the whole game, not just tactics and positions.

 

[Adebesi]

The criticism about the pass for his assist too...wow. It was a little bit behind Mata, sure, but there's no-one else in the team that would've played that pass in the first place

I think this is a little far fetched. I doubted myself when I first read this but since watching MOTD last night I have to say, no, the pass was not that visionary, Mata was in space and it was the right pass to make, other players would have seen it as well. Really it is quite remarkable that Mata managed to make anything of it. Not criticising Di Maria for the pass, it wasnt easy and it at least found its man, but Ive read so many comments on here that this pass was something special and I just dont see it. The finish was special, the pass was just as pass.

 

[Escobar]

There was a difficult 15 minutes in the 2nd half. Liverpool was getting back in it and DiMaria's loss of posession encouraged them. The smart thing to do was to keep posession and slow the game down, smother the fire. Later on he could have a few go's and risk loss op posession but not there and at that moment. That's a matter of reading the whole game, not just tactics and positions.

On the other hand, he wanted to show the manager that he should be starting and therefore played to risky. Not an excuse but an explanation. In addition, he had 3 quality balls which should have resulted in 2 goals at least

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Not criticising Di Maria for the pass, it wasnt easy and it at least found its man, but Ive read so many comments on here that this pass was something special and I just dont see it. The finish was special, the pass was just as pass.

This is correct. Many have called the pass a bad one, which it, most definitely, wasn't. If a pass leads to a goal, then it was good enough to create the goal. The pass may not have been special, however, di Maria's movement, speed of thought and vision was very good, in the lead up to the goal.

 

[11101]

What about Mata?

He can move into the middle and Rooney becomes lone striker. LVG loves to tinker and i dont think we will see a set 1st XI but rather a 13-14 who rotate regularly.

 

[hbgreg]

I saw Ashley Young was hobbling yesterday during the match in the 2nd half. That's why Di Maria went on. 99% sure LvG was just being cautious and taking Young off. Sorry if this is obvious but I've seen people post that this sub was bad but it was done out of necessity.

 

[Sam]

His effort, or lack of it, yesterday was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. There was one moment where he was just walking back from an offside position, all the while Mata/Herrera/Rooney et el were busting a gut to get back into position.

I can take bad performances, mis-placed passes, poor shots etc etc It happens. But not even trying is just criminal, and unforgivable, especially in a game like yesterdays. If he wants to carry on like this then he can stay on the bench as far as I'm concerned.

 

[berbatrick]

That's debatable.

He certainly helped Liverpool pose a threat though. Almost every chance they created was on a break triggered by Di Maria losing possession cheaply.

Other than a goal, and probably half the others. Exaggeration doesn't help here.

Overall he was so off his game it was crazy. Yet he spotted Mata's run and had the vision and technique to play that pass, the pass to Blind was inch perfect (outside of the boot) and if Rooney had waited for a second/di Maria passed it a little in front, he would have ended up with 2 assists and a pass that lead to a penalty. If we can get him in any sort of form this team will be deadly.

 

[Maroo]

feck the assist - I gave him a rating of 3. He gets those smart moments, but the fact that he was so careless in possession when the need of the hour was to recycle the ball clearly shows that his mind is just not on the game anymore. He nearly cost us the game with his ridiculousness. Its unfortunate, because he was never so callous at Madrid. Yes, he did have long range shots and extravagant passes at times; but he knew when he had to maintain possession - he was an intelligent player there. When the game was screaming for some calm, he tried to be oversmart.

 

[Sam]

He's quite simply lacking confidence. He's not a lazy player, some of his best attributes are his work rate and constant tracking back; something he demonstrated brilliantly, last year.

This season should be his settling in season, even though his stats are very, very impressive. We seem to be clicking, and he'll play a massive part in the next few games.

Thats what I thought too. But yesterday he was the laziest player on the pitch, despite having just come on.

Its unacceptable. At one point he was just blatantly just not trying.

 

[Shimo]

Oh come on, who here wasn't hoping for us to slaughter them once Gerrard went off and when ADM came on, hoping that he'd cause them nightmares. I certainly wasn't thinking, oh look here comes ADM, he'll help calm us down and just hold onto the ball. Instead was hoping he'll help us drive them back. Which he tried to do and my guess is that he was sent out with those instructions.

We'd already conceded the impetus prior to him coming on and was not the sole or even primary reason for Liverpool looking more threatening with 10 men. ADM's problem was not that he didn't take care of the ball by playing the safe passes, it seemed to make the wrong choices on a few occasions in attacking and that I put down to him just wanting too desperate to make things happen. I think we are going to see the best of him very soon with the whole team playing well, he'll be a little more patient when needed because he can be, he won't need to be the one does everything.

 

[berbatrick]

Oh come on, who here wasn't hoping for us to slaughter them once Gerrard went off and when ADM came on, hoping that he'd cause them nightmares. I certainly wasn't thinking, oh look here comes ADM, he'll help calm us down and just hold onto the ball. Instead was hoping he'll help us drive them back. Which he tried to do and my guess is that he was sent out with those instructions.

We'd already conceded the impetus prior to him coming on and was not the sole or even primary reason for Liverpool looking more threatening with 10 men. ADM's problem was not that he didn't take care of the ball by playing the safe passes, it seemed to make the wrong choices on a few occasions in attacking and that I put down to him just wanting too desperate to make things happen. I think we are going to see the best of him very soon with the whole team playing well, he'll be a little more patient when needed because he can be, he won't need to be the one does everything.

Agreed. It was a good sub from LVG telling them that we weren't going to sit on our lead, and he helped with the assist for the 2nd.
It was like he was under instructions to make something happen every single time he got the ball (Or he was desperate to make an impact), but mixed with that he was also very careless and not on the same wavelength as the rest.