[Phil Duck]

In an attacking midfield role? He might be more attack than defensively minded, but we're not going to risk conceding a goal anymore than we are at the moment. He's our best player, and we have to try and use him to full effect.

Real Madrid always looked in extremis with him on that role, he brings unbalance to the team when playing as a central midfielder.

 

[Cheesy]

Real Madrid always looked in extremis with him on that role, he brings unbalance to the team when playing as a central midfielder.

Yeah, but I think most are suggesting he should play a more advanced, attacking midfield role.

 

[CuCullhan]

Lets get one thing straight...
He was not crap or anywhere near crap. He played fine in general play, defending, simple passes and such like things. It was when he tried his little bit of magic or what he gets the big bucks for, if you prefer. It didn't work out for him. And its was well below the form we have seen from him in all the previous games. I have suggested on another thread that it was just one of those games for Di Maria. Happens from time to time to ALL players. Not a major cause for concern or anything like it... Little backing and all will be back as it was by Sunday.

 

[Walrus]

Last two games he hasn't been particularly impressive. Seems ineffectual in a wide role.

 

[Borys]

Lets get one thing straight...

He was not crap or anywhere near crap. He played fine in general play, defending, simple passes and such like things. It was when he tried his little bit of magic or what he gets the big bucks for, if you prefer. It didn't work out for him. And its was well below the form we have seen from him in all the previous games. I have suggested on another thread that it was just one of those games for Di Maria. Happens from time to time to ALL players. Not a major cause for concern or anything like it... Little backing and all will be back as it was by Sunday.

Oh he was crap, there's nothing wrong in admitting it. It's just there are obvious reasons why it went so bad, and it's not a cause for concern at all.

 

[bosnian_red]

He was nowhere near his best, but he wasn't crap. He created loads of chances still and put in plenty of dangerous crosses. The stuff we saw last season, that was crap. For his very high standards he was poor, and his set pieces were poor, but general play he still got on the ball a lot and ran at defenders, drew fouls, and put in dangerous crosses.

 

[CuCullhan]

Oh he was crap, there's nothing wrong in admitting it. It's just there are obvious reasons why it went so bad, and it's not a cause for concern at all.

Its not all about the flash. Did the bread and butter stuff really well. Just bad by his own high standards. Show me any mistake he made where it cost us yesterday?

He was nowhere near his best, but he wasn't crap. He created loads of chances still and put in plenty of dangerous crosses. The stuff we saw last season, that was crap. For his very high standards he was poor, and his set pieces were poor, but general play he still got on the ball a lot and ran at defenders, drew fouls, and put in dangerous crosses.

Yep I'd agree with this in the main.

 

[matherto]

Lets get one thing straight...
He was not crap or anywhere near crap. He played fine in general play, defending, simple passes and such like things. It was when he tried his little bit of magic or what he gets the big bucks for, if you prefer. It didn't work out for him. And its was well below the form we have seen from him in all the previous games. I have suggested on another thread that it was just one of those games for Di Maria. Happens from time to time to ALL players. Not a major cause for concern or anything like it... Little backing and all will be back as it was by Sunday.

Second half he was definitely crap. Aside from the ball for the equaliser I can't remember a time where he didn't give the ball away in the second half.

If Rojo wasn't a car crash he would've been our worst player on the night.

 

[Raoul]

Thought he had a down day relative to his previous performances. Could be related to a combination of a slight knock and a bit of exhaustion after his travels. He will no doubt be back to terrorizing the opposition shortly.

 

[Amar__]

I think we are better both attacking and defending wise with current formation than we were with the diamond, altough diamond probably suited di Maria more. I would stick with current formation and just try di Maria in different positions to see which suits him more or just give him more freedom in his wide role and play more defensive oriented players in midfield. With Rooney and Herrera back we'll probably be much better defending wise anyway.

 

[Raoul]

Also, thought Willian did a pretty fecking good job marking him. No doubt an astute tactical move by Mourinho given his knowledge of Di Maria.

 

[Lawman]

Brilliant player though just wished he'd stop some of his Roy of the Rover attempts on goal when other stuff on.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Yesterday's game was never going to be easy for our wingers. Di Maria started the game on the right wing as an inside forward and swapped positions with Januzaj at some point in the game. Well, Luis and Ivanovic aren't exactly the FBs you can dribble with ease, the strongest aspect of their game is that they are excellent in 1v1 situations. If you add to that the fact that Willian and Hazard kept Shaw and Rafael from making many runs forward you will understand why both Januzaj and Di Maria didn't have the best of games. Nevertheless, i think Di Maria worked very hard on the pitch and won enough corners and fouls in dangerous areas. I know it's not much but it's good enough considering that we didn't have many ways to get the ball into Chelsea's box.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Real Madrid always looked in extremis with him on that role, he brings unbalance to the team when playing as a central midfielder.

True that's why they were perfect with to tremendous balanced player like Alonso and Modric. And the fact that CR7 goes always through the middle makes easier for ADM to play wide. 4-3-3 defensively and 4-4-2 offensively with Angel changing position

I think that unless we have one top CM this January, or this summer, ADM should play (the big games) on a wing, because his offensive potential would be better suited than his capacity to run after the ball. The team is still not balanced enough to play him inside.

And the biggest problem would be who will play on the wing if not him ?

 

[Borys]

Its not all about the flash. Did the bread and butter stuff really well. Just bad by his own high standards. Show me any mistake he made where it cost us yesterday?

I remember him being dispossessed a few times, there were no consequences but that’s not the point is it? That’s the kind of performance Nani would be criticized for, to be fair. Anyway I don’t think we should be discussing how crap or not he was so let’s leave it here. We won’t see a display like that from him for a long time I’m sure.

 

[Trizy]

'I have these amazing feelings about having moved to Man Utd,' Di Maria told the Sunday People. 'I'm so proud of myself, you know. It's hard to explain it and put it into words.

'I truly wanted to move to United. I wanted to wear this shirt. (The number seven shirt) was worn by some of the greatest players in the club's history and I do know that it is a huge thing for all Man United fans.'

The Argentinian has scored three times in his first seven appearances for the Red Devils, and team-mate Marcos Rojo went as far as touting him for the Ballon d'Or in a recent interview.

'I think people here are happy with me,' Di Maria continued. 'So I must honour this shirt. I must confess that I had all these expectations - but Man Utd have exceeded my expectations. It has all been perfect for me so far.'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Maria-denies-Man-Utd-money.html#ixzz3HNE1W0VG

 

[PvsNP]

Bacca won the award for the best South American player last season over Di Maria. What the heck?

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Bacca won the award for the best South American player last season over Di Maria. What the heck?

Something to chew on.

 

[The Azzurri]

Can we change our corner kick taker, cos our current one delivery of the corner has been absolutely dreadful

 

[Welsh Wonder]

Can't remember the last time we had a consistently decent delivery from corners. Not even good, just decent.

 

[Bestie07]

Can't remember the last time we had a consistently decent delivery from corners. Not even good, just decent.

van Persie a couple of seasons ago? Rooney also takes good corners. We should have RVP take the corners again, it's not as if he is scoring many headers from the corners.

 

[Cassidy]

Brilliant player though just wished he'd stop some of his Roy of the Rover attempts on goal when other stuff on.

I personally prefer it, Ronaldo used to do the same and so did Nani (when he was on form). These players bring a level of unpredictablilty which distabalises the opposition defence, as quite frankly they don't know what to expect. That unpredictablilty has been lacking from our side for a few years and thats one of the reasons we have been so easy to defend against.

 

[Samid]

Valencia should take them.

 

[Chaky_Best]

Di Maria is great at taking various free kicks, but he's awful at corner.


I thought that Robin and Wazza should take it, and maybe Mata when he plays


Overall, I thought that he didn't played well on the wing the last two games. He was for sure surrounded by 3 players but he should have done better.


It will be important, vastly, hugely important that he's on top Sunday at City. The team will defend deep and we'll need his pace and his passing ability to do the job.


Don't blame me for the comparison, but 2 years ago we went to City with Young and Valencia down the wing. Valencia had his job on the right but behind Zabaleta's back, Young did a terrific job going forward and coming close to RVP when Wazza played deep.


I think that we should use that way to play, and Angel should be at his top in a big game

 

[Cassidy]

Put him back in CM please!!!!

 

[Ash_G]

I thought he was wasteful with some of his cross but I think the way we let the cm's push up bar blind/carrick really doesn't help our wingers at all (been a problem for a few seasons imo). The ball gets worked out wide when there's still a fair distance to go and then everyone piles in to the box looking for an aerial cross which if we're honest we're not prime candidates to win. Where as if the midfielder stayed a bit deeper it would draw one of the opposition away from Di Maria/Januzaj and let them advance more easier as well as making it simpler to play a one two to actually get closer to the box.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Di Maria is great at taking various free kicks, but he's awful at corner.


I thought that Robin and Wazza should take it, and maybe Mata when he plays


Overall, I thought that he didn't played well on the wing the last two games. He was for sure surrounded by 3 players but he should have done better.


It will be important, vastly, hugely important that he's on top Sunday at City. The team will defend deep and we'll need his pace and his passing ability to do the job.


Don't blame me for the comparison, but 2 years ago we went to City with Young and Valencia down the wing. Valencia had his job on the right but behind Zabaleta's back, Young did a terrific job going forward and coming close to RVP when Wazza played deep.


I think that we should use that way to play, and Angel should be at his top in a big game

Nobody's any good at taking corners. The best one we've had recently is van Persie, but he needs to be in the box.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29634200

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The only consistent element in all the United corner-takers I've ever watched is that people complain about them.

 

[gooDevil]

Put him back in CM please!!!!

P-p-p-p-please!!

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

The only consistent element in all the United corner-takers I've ever watched is that people complain about them.

Robin took some mean corners, didn't he? I remember his deliveries being better than we've had for a while. We scored from a good number of them when we last won the league.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Robin took some mean corners, didn't he? I remember his deliveries being better than we've had for a while. We scored from a good number of them when we last won the league.

The usual pattern is their first few corners look amazing and we all go "Finally! Someone who takes a decent corner!" then it's all downhill from there.

Basically, exactly what happened/is happening with Di Maria.

 

[Brightonian]

Corners are one of those things where you remember your own side's wasted ones but only ever see any other side's successful ones. Unless your team specialise in scoring from them, they're always going to be predominantly frustrating. We've never been a big side in my lifetime, and the peak Ronaldo+Vidic years were the only time I can personally remember that we've been a consistent threat from corners.

So our corner-takers often look shit because the usual whipped ball aimed somewhere in front of either the front or back posts just won't be much good when the defenders are all bigger than you. So we seem to end up taking a lot of 'clever' corners, i.e. whipped in low for someone at the front post to flick on, or lofted long for someone beyond the back post to nod back into the danger area. Personally I'd rather we just kept it simple with the normal percentage deliveries, but it happens so often that it must be a deliberate strategy.

Anyway as I say, if you don't have lots of big guys in your side, there's not that much the corner-taker can do with it. When we play Fellaini things change a bit, because he's one of those rare one-man set-piece threats. But without him we just have to sit through all those pointless corners and score from open play instead.

 

[Firstouch20]

Can't remember the last time we had a consistently decent delivery from corners. Not even good, just decent.

You have a short memory then. Van Persie's delievery was exceptional when he was our first choice set piece taker. I still think he should be taking our corners.

 

[Deleted member 78215]

Something to chew on.

Your username, that joke... That opportunity must be rarer than a solar eclipse.

 

[Devil may care]

Are you guys aware that putting him in midfield represented a huge risk for Real Madrid defending wise? Everytime he played on that position Real Madrid was always in the danger of conceding a goal.

Right now is not the best time to try him on that position.

That's not true at all, his defensive workrate for Real was excellent and we played a midfield 3 against Chelsea pretty successfully that contained Mata, a player much less defensively suited than Di Maria.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I agree. Di Maria will be wherever you need him to be. He's a bit wiry, but when he's defending, he has a knack of wriggling away from opponents with the ball.

 

[Welsh Wonder]

You have a short memory then. Van Persie's delievery was exceptional when he was our first choice set piece taker. I still think he should be taking our corners.

I have a serious drug problem.

No but yeah, I forgot RVP. My bad.

 

[LR7]

5 key passes on an 'off day' is pretty good.

I think RvP and Rooney (alternating) are our best corner takers. Di Maria's are a bit more miss than hit.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

You have a short memory then. Van Persie's delievery was exceptional when he was our first choice set piece taker. I still think he should be taking our corners.

We don't have many tall players and he is one of the few who is over 6 foot. No matter how good a corner delivery is, height is important hence why RVP has to be in there. If we had more presence, particularly from midfielders able to attack corners, then sure he probably should be on corner duty.

 

[DWelbz19]

We should work some cool training ground routines for our corners. Besides from Fellaini, there's nobody else to aim at.