Different player central to out wide.
Btw stop fecking taking corners.
Btw stop fecking taking corners.
7
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 32
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 13
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
The game is too slow for him. When he was still playing in CM he and Herrera were the ones to speed up our play now there is just no one there who does it which means he and the team struggles because every team has ages to organize their defense.
He has been drifting inside and still looked average! This "out wide" thing is just an excuse.
It looks like he has taken some of van Gaal's earlier comments about not giving the ball away so much to heart and as a result is playing too conservative.
Not at all. He's at his best playing from deeper but in the middle when he has space to run through the middle. He's getting too isolated out wide.
He's still capable of much better out wide, regardless of his best position.
I agree, at Madrid, he was playing in one of the fastest counter attacking system. Now at United he is surrounded by zombies and static players bar Herrera and blind from our attack.
They told him he could become anything so he became Stuart Downing....
I'm not blaming him yet.
His best performances came as a mifielder when there was plenty of movement from Rooney, Herrera and Falcao in an around him. It gave him options to pass and created space for him to run.
As a winger he's stuck on the byline with little to no movement around him especially since our midfield played like zombies today. His only option was to cross it in where he usually had only RVP to aim for surrounded by 3 defenders. It's not making the best use of his talents IMO.
His best performances came as a mifielder when there was plenty of movement from Rooney, Herrera and Falcao in an around him. It gave him options to pass and created space for him to run.
As a winger he's stuck on the byline with little to no movement around him especially since our midfield played like zombies today. His only option was to cross it in where he usually had only RVP to aim for surrounded by 3 defenders. It's not making the best use of his talents IMO.
Needs to go back central with Herrera, Blind and Rooney/Mata.
How can he play the way he did centrally vs how he is out wide and Van Gaal then continue to play him out wide?
How can he play the way he did centrally vs how he is out wide and Van Gaal then continue to play him out wide?
I believe he's struggling to adapt to the physicality of the league. Quite often he looks exasperated and downbeat when he gets shaken off the ball.
Here's hoping it's only a temporary dip in form.
Here's hoping it's only a temporary dip in form.
Does not suit this formation, get him central in the diamond and he'll shine again.
really poor today, and he wasnt even wide all the time. Plenty of time with space through the middle, but not really his day, again.
what if next game Van persie wears Cristiano Ronaldo's face? maybe then Di Maria will find him with his crosses.
what if next game Van persie wears Cristiano Ronaldo's face? maybe then Di Maria will find him with his crosses.
So he has turned into Antonio Valencia, only more shit defensively.
Horrible match and I cannot stress enough how much I hate when he runs in a direction where we all see he'll be outnumbered and cornered but he still runs and runs. No variety in his game in this game, just running in a straight line and crossing. I think they must be clear instructions from the coach otherwise it makes no sense to me
Well he got an assist...
Shit game from him though. We need him back in the midfield 3. We'll probably stick with a 4-1-4-1 as we look better defensively, but we need him on the left center mid and Herrera the right center mid, with them actually playing as midfielders and not #10's. Either use 1 striker and the rest on the bench or just put Rooney out on the left if RvP/Falcao have to play up front.
Shit game from him though. We need him back in the midfield 3. We'll probably stick with a 4-1-4-1 as we look better defensively, but we need him on the left center mid and Herrera the right center mid, with them actually playing as midfielders and not #10's. Either use 1 striker and the rest on the bench or just put Rooney out on the left if RvP/Falcao have to play up front.
Shite today. But then again, we reverted back to that typical 'bang it out to the wingers, stand there, and hope for them to produce some magic' routine we've seen over the past few seasons.
It baffles me, though, that our last two record transfer purchases in Mata and Di Maria have been brought in for massive money, only for the guy who has sanctioned the deal to play said players in positions they don't play their best football. Moyes bought a cracking #10 in Mata, threw him out wide. Van Gaal has bought the most unique central attacking midfielder in the game and lumped him out wide, too.
The common denominator always comes down to Rooney and Van Persie, two players that two managers just don't want to drop for the good of the team. So frustrating.
It baffles me, though, that our last two record transfer purchases in Mata and Di Maria have been brought in for massive money, only for the guy who has sanctioned the deal to play said players in positions they don't play their best football. Moyes bought a cracking #10 in Mata, threw him out wide. Van Gaal has bought the most unique central attacking midfielder in the game and lumped him out wide, too.
The common denominator always comes down to Rooney and Van Persie, two players that two managers just don't want to drop for the good of the team. So frustrating.
Can't defend him today, I don't know if he's playing within himself due to not wanting to take as many risks and piss of LvG, or if he's have a bad run of form, but he's faded badly.
It's hard to create much when every other player is so static and not creating any space for you. When Herrera and Falcao were playing they were moving and giving him space + options to create. Having him on the byline with options like Carrick and Fellaini doesn't scream dynamic. His only real option was Shaw on the occasional overlap.
This. 100x this.
Put him back centrally please, he's been shite on the wing.
Well that's a lovely surprise for my fantasy team
He's just out of form and out of confidence. It happens. He'll be back.
Di Maria looks lost out wide. When he was able to come inside and influence the game he did e.g. the one two for Mata's goal. However, when you leave Di Maria isolated and without the angles available for triangles and one twos its a waste actually having him on. If we persist with playing this 4-2-3-1 I'll start to wonder what the point of buying Angel actually was. His best form has been in the past two years on the left hand side of a midfield 3. That's where we should be playing him as shown against Everton not so long ago...
Spot on. Its so bleeding obvious.
If he's going to play outwide, why isn't it from the right, so he can cut in on his left, like he did at Madrid before he moved into midfield? He looks like Valencia when he plays on the left, as his only option seems to be to stay on his strongest foot. Putting him on the right seems to give him more space to attack.
I'd still rather see him in a midfield 3 or diamond though.
I'd still rather see him in a midfield 3 or diamond though.
I think the problem is that LVG wants to ensure we're giving as many of our good players as possible game time, and that means putting Di Maria out wide. But Di Maria is the best outfield player we have when he delivers, so I'd be happy to sacrifice anyone else in the team to ensure that we've got him in his best position, especially considering how much we paid for him.
There was no point in paying the amount we did for Di Maria if we're just going to play him in a position where he clearly isn't as good. He isn't worth that fee as a winger, something a fair few people pointed out before we signed him.
Unfortunately the lack of balance in our squad is such that we may be forced to continue playing like this....
Unfortunately the lack of balance in our squad is such that we may be forced to continue playing like this....
I don't think it does at all - playing the diamond gives our best players game time and it puts Di Maria in his best role.
The only possible player that didn't fit into the diamond was Januzaj, but even then it seems clear that he could play as either a #10 instead of Mata/Rooney, or as one of the front two.
Januzaj also played his best football for us on the left wing... make much sense a switch. At least to try.
Perhaps...just perhaps..he plays better with world class players around him with pace....
for 60M i expect him to take the bull by the horns if shit is not working around him. with or without world class players around him.
So hopefully not. hah
Let's not forget he never scored more than 11 goals in a full season (52 matches), he's always been inconsistent. He's still assisting goals. And I remember spells for Mourinho where he was equally bad as today for weeks, only to turn up at vital times with brilliant stuff. He's entering his prime and with his qualities you'd expect him to be the best player on the pitch every match, but it's his first months in England. New team with a lot of changes, days are getting darker, winter is coming, he might need to settle in a bit more. He'll probably come good around at Christmas, considering he's an Angel and all.
Pretty poor again today. People can't keep moaning about him being on the wing, but that's the position he grew up playing, and arguably made the best individual performance I've seen in a long time playing there against Germany a few months back, so it's not like he's got no experience playing there.
Granted he's not as good on the wing as he is in centre mid, but that doesn't excuse him doing too much and losing the ball - most of his dispossessions coming from when he was in the middle of the park.
He needs to step it up, because I can only see him playing on the wing for us long term anyway.
What Van Gaal said about Di Maria:
Now we have five No 9s and four No 10s and we don’t have wingers to play attacking width, not at the highest level, of Ronaldo or Di Maria or something like that.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/m...layer-like-di-maria-mail-on-sunday-interview/
Granted he's not as good on the wing as he is in centre mid, but that doesn't excuse him doing too much and losing the ball - most of his dispossessions coming from when he was in the middle of the park.
He needs to step it up, because I can only see him playing on the wing for us long term anyway.
What Van Gaal said about Di Maria:
Now we have five No 9s and four No 10s and we don’t have wingers to play attacking width, not at the highest level, of Ronaldo or Di Maria or something like that.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/m...layer-like-di-maria-mail-on-sunday-interview/
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So true. We all know he's better there, but it's a cop out. He's capable of better than he's shown.
I really hope not but it's certainly heading in that direction. Let's face it you're bound to play much better when you've got the likes of ronaldo, modric, marcelo, benzema playing alongside you.
If we had actually put di Maria in the positions that Januzaj was taking up I swear he would be so much more effective. Basically played in the same right flank position for Real Madrid and Argentina before.
Januzaj needs to be on the left wing to be at his most comfortable. Di Maria for me is capable of wrecking havoc but we need to get the ball to him in positions where he can whip in a dangerous cross or take on a defender one on one. Centre of the park is too crowded for him. The fullbacks also need to strike up a better understanding with our wingers but this will come in time.
Januzaj needs to be on the left wing to be at his most comfortable. Di Maria for me is capable of wrecking havoc but we need to get the ball to him in positions where he can whip in a dangerous cross or take on a defender one on one. Centre of the park is too crowded for him. The fullbacks also need to strike up a better understanding with our wingers but this will come in time.
True, he should be doing better.
In the long term though playing him on the wing is a big worry. As a winger he simply isn't worth the fee we paid and we would probably have been better off pursuing other targets if that's the way we plan to use him.
- Status