I am a little worried because at the start of the season I was saying we had 3 WC players in Di Maria, RVP and Falcao. None of them stood out for various reasons. If we get rid of them and bring in 3 more WC players who says history wont repeat itself. I think it is the centre midfielders that are the core of the problem. WC attackers need creative people to work with.
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Its as if people don´t judge him by his whole career, but only by about 20 games. That’s the problem in this debate. Your assumption, that he is worldclass beyond controversy is simply wrong. He is not. Even if you just look at his last season in Madrid (all games; not just a few), 60m was very steep. Considering that LvG doesn’t fancy to use him in his best position and that he isn´t a player, that excels in a possession based system makes things worse. The problem isn´t that Di Maria has a bad character or is in terrible form. He is just struggling in a system, where he can´t show his best.
It’s a different question whether we should sell him or not. That depends on Di Maria´s wishes, LvG´s plans and potential offers. We shouldn´t expect miracles if he stays.
When he has been this terrible then you do sack him off. Especially as he looks like he struggles in LVG's system.
Under a Ferguson system then yeah I agree you don't sell him.
I don't get why people are so certain he's going to stay. He might have said that he wants to fight for his place and van Gaal might have suggested that we want to keep him (not even sure this has happened) but truth is he was barely used in the final three months of past season and he's still a very expensive player to have on our books with no intention to ever use him. He wasn't even a rotation player between March and May, he was a fringe player who came on when we desperately needed a goal best case scenario, or not at all if we weren't chasing. If a significant bid came from the direction of PSG or any other club abroad we'd at least have to consider it, from a business point of view keeping a player who isn't used at all when we can get a lot of money for him would be sort of pointless exercise.
He will never ever be given another shot in midfield and he's not really great on the wing, never has been, so I think best option for us would be to just let him go and buy someone who suits van Gaal better. Pointless signing and I'm disappointed both with how he's been handled these past few weeks and how he's performed, especially after such promising start.
He will never ever be given another shot in midfield and he's not really great on the wing, never has been, so I think best option for us would be to just let him go and buy someone who suits van Gaal better. Pointless signing and I'm disappointed both with how he's been handled these past few weeks and how he's performed, especially after such promising start.
If we keep Di Maria, it would make sense to select a striker that suits Di Maria's early delivery, rather than RVP, or indeed Rooney, neither of whom really seemed on the same wavelength as Di Maria. I spent much of the first half of the season thinking that Hernandez would have got a lot of chances to score had he been on the pitch with Di Maria firing in early crosses and wild shots.
You could be talking about Ander Hererra there, if you changed the dates round a bit.
Players come in and out of favour, as they come in and out of form. Obviously, we'd be a lot more optimistic if his season had matched Hererra's trajectory but falling out of favour for a few months shouldn't be interpreted as falling out of favour permanently.
Yep but Herrera actually looked quite good at times before he went out of favour, in a similar position to the one he's currently occupying and will likely pin down for years. I don't think Di Maria looked good even once on the wing and the way he finished season doesn't fill me with much confidence for future in all honesty.:
Exactly this. I'm really not sure why Di Maria seems to be disliked as much as he is. The only thing I can think of (apart from his wishy washy playing form, which doesn't count really as he wasn't that loved at the start either) is that it's because he doesn't use Social Media. Seems pretty crazy but because the likes of Falcao \ Herrera \ Mata have such a social media influence that it appears to endears them more to our fans whereas Di Maria is still kind of an unknown quantity personality wise, which i'm not saying is wrong btw as he is entitled to live however makes him happy.
Where the feck did I say that? Jheeze hes clearly a level above many players in our squad thats not even up for debate.
Last season for Madrid (or should I say two seasons ago now?) He was definitely World-Class. He was a huge reason for them winning the CL and often outshone Bale and Ronaldo.
I still hold confidence he will reach that level for us with better players around him, but if we sell then we will never know.
I still hold confidence he will reach that level for us with better players around him, but if we sell then we will never know.
Assuming he stays, I anticipate a similar season, to be honest. Probably a bright start, but with another dip. Although probably not such a severe dip. His career doesn't display consistency, and he seems quite a fragile person.
I wouldn't be surprised if Memphis completely shows him up, but maybe Di Maria's doing a lot more learning behind the scenes than we suspect.
I wouldn't be surprised if Memphis completely shows him up, but maybe Di Maria's doing a lot more learning behind the scenes than we suspect.
Bizarre reasoning. Falcao has been shit for the whole season and if you look at his performances thread, most of us wanted him out long time ago. Herrera and Mata have had good/very good seasons and you have to remember it wasn’t that easy for them in the first months.
The only thing that works against Di Maria is his price tag, but for me more important is how can a player decline like that in a few months? He was one of the best players in the world last season, now he’s being kept out of the first 11 by Ashley Young. As good as Young has been, it’s clear that Di Maria’s top lever is much higher than his. The problem is he had just a few games where he played on his level (mostly against the worst opposition), he’s been poor in other games. It’s not like he was bad in a few games (as some on here suggest), in fact he was good in a few games.
I agree hes been poor, but saying hes only been good in a few games is I think extremely harsh.
Even the game he last started (when he got sent off) he actually had a good performance up until that particular point.
I have disliked di Maria this season because I dont believe he has given 100%
I couldnt give a shit about social media
I felt sorry for Falcao because you could see he was trying his best but was still rubbish. It was a sad sight
TBH I never really got that from him much. There was the odd incident, but usually hes been a hard working player when in the team.
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Individually he is one of our best players. That doesn’t help us at all, when Fellaini and Young are starting, while he is sitting on the bench. In LvG´s system he is not “clearly a level above many players”. The reality is, that LvG won’t change his idea of football. Di Maria won’t play as offensive midfielder and he never was a world-class winger. I understand when fans still want him to stay, but he won´t be our saving grace.
Ronaldo, Benzema and Modric were more or less on par with him. He was fantastic – especially in the crucial stage of the season – but Real winning the CL wasn´t a one-man show. He was one crucial part of a system. I still don´t understand why people only look at this season and not the other three, where he played as winger.
Kicker are reporting that Bayern might be interested in him.
I actually quoted a post where someone else called him world class and I would actually agree he is anyway.
Also saying he is world class doesn't mean I am saying he is without controversy which is what you said so no its not really = is it? I didn't say he was world class without dispute/controversy did I?
Now you are the one talking in absolutes when you say he won't play as an offensive midfielder, you have no idea whether he will or not, especially if we have balance in the 2 midfielders playing behind him (which we haven't been able to do with the current squad)
The reality is this season LVG we had a massively an unbalanced squad and has had to accommodate that, Di Maria also has been poor and was rightly lost his place in the team when Young started performing very well. (Even then he still came on as a sub and contributed in games)
The reality also is that although Young has played very well (I think hes been our second best player this season), he has produced very little end product for all his good play, because in terms of quality rather than his endeavour his final ball just isn't at the level of a player like Di Maria.
The football we played this season isn't to the standard LVG wants us to play and Di Maria has all the attributes to fit into LVGs system, LVG has said so himself soooo lets see what happens.
As for being a level above many players I think he clearly is (in terms of his quality and ability to create chances) as he has shown in glimpses for us this season, just not with the consistency required.
Well my thoughts differ, you cannot judge a player on one season. Particularly one when he did, to begin with, very clearly fit into the system.
Any news on his injury?
Really hope he stays, confident we'll see the best of him in the new season.
Really hope he stays, confident we'll see the best of him in the new season.
Might be me but once that coming together happened early in the game, I said to my son, he'll be off in 15 mins. Nothing to do with an injury, the lad looks like he just doesn't want to be here. Everything in his body language and game says it.
He needs to be much stronger psychologically if he wants to succeed otherwise there is just no need to stay. He has got to be more like Alexis Sanchez in that regard, a guy who never stops fighting and running, even if his attacking performance is bad. When things don't go his way (losing the ball easily, crying for a FK the referee didn't give etc etc ..), Di Maria loses his football entirely.
Not really
Apparently Bayern want him 
It's weird that we have to say this because at Madrid he was exactly the player you are describing. His work rate was one of the top features of his game - the guy never stopped fighting and running.
I havent seen this in him. I see a player who has found both the league and life in England a lot tougher than he expected and is a bit lost in trying to adjust.
This is for me the most frustrating thing about him. I can understand not being settled into the foreign life, football and feeling difficult to play with new teammates. I'll never understand how a player can at times give so little in terms of fighting and courage. I'm not asking Di Maria to be crazy like Phil Jones obviously, just less lazy and lethargic when attacking and specially losing the ball.
He needs to play with World Class players to get back to his old self,he needs the run of games.
I know it's too early to say this and I may regret this, but in my opinion he's just not going to play well for us and will be one of the biggest flops (considering how much we paid for him) in five or ten years. He just doesn't feel okay in England (especially after the burglary), in the league and will end up in Juventus.
Di Maria this season reminds me of Giggsy on a bad form. There's a stretch some years ago where he was just shite, losing the ball, looks like lacking effort, but Fergie kept him on the pitch to the point where some idiots boo him. But then one day he came on against Juve in CL and tore them a new one.
Fergie had the luxury of keeping Giggs on the pitch because the other players can pick up the slack. Van Gaal couldn't do it with di Maria this season because the other players are inconsistent and there are no room for error, so he went with the most in form players
He can be brilliant for us, he's too talented not to be given the chance to prove it
Fergie had the luxury of keeping Giggs on the pitch because the other players can pick up the slack. Van Gaal couldn't do it with di Maria this season because the other players are inconsistent and there are no room for error, so he went with the most in form players
He can be brilliant for us, he's too talented not to be given the chance to prove it
I guess there was no endearment before social media then, I guess the likes of Januzaj and Smalling should have also had the same problems as they just recently joined social networks, Falcao also seems to be "disliked" as you put it and he is very active on social media.
People react to what they see on the pitch more than anything else, Di Maria has looked out of place since he got here, his body language,facial expressions etc. It always seemed like a forced move, and that type of thing doesn't sit too well with fans, we really didn't give a shit in September and early October - when he was undoubtedly the best player on the team - then he became average at best and stayed like that for the remainder of the season, which led fans to start to criticise him, it's not a personal vendetta or anything like that..I really don't think anyone hates Di Maria, he is just heavily criticised because he is supposed to play like a WC player not Nani 2.0.
People are usually quick to throw the agenda card like its personal, I don't think any one wakes up to a picture of Di Maria on his/her dart board every morning, I don't think people think about Di Maria or anything like that, the reactions/criticisms are about 2 things -his average performances and his body language/attitude.
Paul Scholes was socially awkward as a player and he still has fans who are willing to commit murder for him on here.
He needs a good pre season to sync with his new team mates.
I agree, I wonder if he will be available for the US tour with him playing Copa America this summer...
Not if he's injured.
I said in the newbies "If you didn't like Nani, you won't like Di Maria". I still believe this is the case, even at his best. I'm not particularly concerned about him, if he stays, he'll discover his form, but he'll still be frustrating, he'll still give the ball away needlessly and he'll still have those annoying elements about his game. If we decide to sell him then we absolutely have to replace with top quaity, someone like Griezmann would be fine, and is someone I wanted us to sign last summer anyway.
I don't want him injured of course. However I'd prefer him with the team instead of at the Coppa America TBH. Don't forget that the Argentinian manager's scope is to win the trophy at all cost. He doesn't care if he sends Di Maria tired, out of shape or even injured.
It just seems like a case of a player who has won everything at Real Madrid, come to United in the opinion of it being a step down, and has lost a bit of his ambitious personality that he had previously.
Which is the reason why I hate the idea of spending huge money in order to take players of Bayern, Real or Barca's teams, as players will most likely come to United with the same attitude.
Whether we like it or not, it's going to take us winning a few UCLs in order for foreign players to think we are on the same level as those 3 clubs.
I'm not saying this is the case for Di Maria, but we should be signing players who really want to join our club rather than ones who are being forced out of their current club and looking for someone who can match their wages.
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Di Maria needs more mobile players in front of him and willing runners to stretch the opposition, unfortunately for us and him we haven't had that in the team and possession football does not suit his game. Our best games of the season were against Tottenham, Liverpool and City, in those games we had runners, quick passing, a lot of triangles and Di Maria assisted the goal of our season. Then we just switched off again, I would like to keep him because with him in the team we will play better more incisive football. Fellaini has been great for us this season but was sussed out from the Chelsea game onwards and LVG's refusal to accept this made our results suffer and I can't help but feel Di Maria would have won us more games if he started. He is a better footballer and you need to have the best players on the pitch for the longest periods in order for you to reap the rewards.
I still reckon he needs to be played consistently on the wing. He gives it away too much to be played CM. If he gets a good pre season under his belt he can hit the ground running in August. A front three of ADM, Mata/Depay, Rooney has so much potential.
He needs to get his head together, not being able to pass and bad decision making are nothing to do with playing positions, systems or other players.
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