[Ekeke]

For the geniuses:http://thepeoplesperson.com/2015/03...manchester-uniteds-best-player-arsenal-81057/

Counting tackles instead of how many times he let the opponent get past him or was one of the main culprits when we conceeded a goal.

We have several posters here who do the same thing. Making 8 tackles is very nice, but doesn't make up for being the weak link and costing your team goals. The 8 tackles pad your good performance, they arent what decides whether it was a good performance and certainly not on a day when said player is constantly exposed by opponents going past him, or is completely out of position

 

[Cassidy]

Counting tackles instead of how many times he let the opponent get past him or was one of the main culprits when we conceeded a goal.

We have several posters here who do the same thing. Making 8 tackles is very nice, but doesn't make up for being the weak link and costing your team goals. The 8 tackles pad your good performance, they arent what decides whether it was a good performance and certainly not on a day when said player is constantly exposed by opponents going past him, or is completely out of position

This was the alarming thing for me, he was constantly out of position. I saw him a few times at CM, whats he doing there?

 

[Ekeke]

This was the alarming thing for me, he was constantly out of position. I saw him a few times at CM, whats he doing there?

Sometimes he was sticking with his man who got on the ball and went towards the other flank, but at some point you need to pass him on to a teammate and get back into your actual position. If you watch the video of the first goal I posted shortly after the match, the video starts off with Valencia at the top of the screen coming back from the left wing... Slowly. Most likely he's followed his man all that way and he doesnt get back in time so Smalling goes out to confront Ozil.

Rafael is a player who often stays with his man after that player passes the ball, but he doesnt take the piss like following him on to the other side of the pitch

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Sometimes he was sticking with his man who got on the ball and went towards the other flank, but at some point you need to pass him on to a teammate and get back into your actual position. If you watch the video of the first goal I posted shortly after the match, the video starts off with Valencia at the top of the screen coming back from the left wing... Slowly. Most likely he's followed his man all that way and he doesnt get back in time so Smalling goes out to confront Ozil.

Rafael is a player who often stays with his man after that player passes the ball, but he doesnt take the piss like following him on to the other side of the pitch

Nah, you're wrong. He's returning from the centre of the pitch. Not the left wing. He had followed Sanchez there (who was in possession at the time) then got back into position after the ball was moved on.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

He was clearly told to stick to Sanchez so I think it's harsh to blame him for the first goal, it's a team game and Di Maria should have spotted the danger and filled in.

 

[RikRuud]

Sanchez was very clever in the build up to their 1st goal. He dragged Valencia into the centre of the pitch where he could have no influence at all. The second goal was very silly though. He looked to be leaning back and hit the top of the ball when trying the backpass. Strangely enough had a good game apart from those brain farts.

 

[legball]

He gets picked as he's consistently better simple.

He's not.

 

[Ducklegs]

When does Valencia go from a RW being played out of position to an actual RB? He has played all of this season at RB/RWB and has played 15-20 times at RB before this season. For me he is now considered as much a RB as he is a RW, in fact he is probably better at RB than at RW. The problem is he just isn't very good at either positions.

This is the main problem with him,he isn't a very good footballer.

He was a good athlete, which seemed to be what most people praised him for, now his pace has all but upped and left you are left with a player who is extremely limited in his ability on the ball and for the most part not very good off it either.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

This is the main problem with him,he isn't a very good footballer.

He was a good athlete, which seemed to be what most people praised him for, now his pace has all but upped and left you are left with a player who is extremely limited in his ability on the ball and for the most part not very good off it either.

That's bollox. His first touch is as good as any other player on the team. Touch is a great way to judge technique.

 

[mazhar13]

I don't know about some of you, but Valencia had a very poor match at right back against Arsenal. He was being dragged all over the place by Sanchez, and he was very poor at maintaining his position and marking players. He was overly reliant on his speed and strength against Sanchez and whoever else he faced, but that over-reliance caused several problems for us as a defensive unit. He was a big culprit in both of our goals, and he struggled, overall, against Sanchez, and we could have conceded more if Arsenal weren't so hesitant when going forward against us in the second half.

This is where a proper full back would have been more useful as he would have been better at marking players and being more positionally aware.

 

[mazhar13]

This is the main problem with him,he isn't a very good footballer.

He was a good athlete, which seemed to be what most people praised him for, now his pace has all but upped and left you are left with a player who is extremely limited in his ability on the ball and for the most part not very good off it either.

I wouldn't say that he's that limited. His touches and passing are quite good, and he's very composed on the ball. He's quite good at maintaining possession and passing the ball around, but his main weaknesses are that he's a poor dribbler and a slightly-below-average crosser of the ball. It's clear that he's not really cut out to play as part of a back 4 against good sides, but his energy, pace, and discipline are useful against more limited opposition.

 

[Alex Styles]

How has a guy so out of his depth for so much of his time at United managed to play so many fecking games?

He doesn't get injured every other game like .... I don't know...Rafael!!!

 

[Sultan]

Sometimes he was sticking with his man who got on the ball and went towards the other flank, but at some point you need to pass him on to a teammate and get back into your actual position. If you watch the video of the first goal I posted shortly after the match, the video starts off with Valencia at the top of the screen coming back from the left wing... Slowly. Most likely he's followed his man all that way and he doesnt get back in time so Smalling goes out to confront Ozil.

Rafael is a player who often stays with his man after that player passes the ball, but he doesnt take the piss like following him on to the other side of the pitch

I do agree he should not have followed a player so far away from his position. However, it had happened, and with Valencia in Smalling's space - Smalling should have covered his position.

Blame should be apportioned equally.

 

[Ekeke]

I do agree he should not have followed a player so far away from his position. However, it had happened, and with Valencia in Smalling's space - Smalling should have covered his position.

Blame should be apportioned equally.

He did cover his position, which unfortunately turned out to be the greater of the evils. If you give Ozil time and space because Valencia is walking back to right back and nobody is near him, he might have hurt us but he might not have. We'd probably have got away with it if Smalling ignored Valencia's mistake.

However Valencia charges out and takes himself out of the game with a feeble tackle, so Smalling has to go back to CB duty.

Di Maria should have been tracking his fullback anyway

 

[jem]

That's bollox. His first touch is as good as any other player on the team. Touch is a great way to judge technique.

I was just thinking this the other day. For all of Valencia's annoying traits (one-footedness, indecisiveness, poor crossing, etc.) he does have a silky first touch. Not quite Berbatov or Mata, but impressive nonetheless. That being said, we really could do with an upgrade at RB.

 

[Ducklegs]

That's bollox. His first touch is as good as any other player on the team. Touch is a great way to judge technique.

I've got a great first touch, I can pull a ball out of the air on either foot, on my chest, standing or on the run.
Can get a ball under no matter how hard it's fired at me.

I am not a very good footballer though, hence why I run a parcel delivery depot.

If Valencia was a good footballer, I kind of guess he would be really good at football, which he isn't.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I've got a great first touch, I can pull a ball out of the air on either foot, on my chest, standing or on the run.
Can get a ball under no matter how hard it's fired at me.

I am not a very good footballer though, hence why I run a parcel delivery depot.

If Valencia was a good footballer, I kind of guess he would be really good at football, which he isn't.

If your touch was as good as you say it is but you're still no good at football you're either a fat feck who can't run for shit, incapable of kicking a ball straight or an utter coward. Or all three. Valencia is none of these things, hence is actually really good at football. What with playing for Manchester United and being a consistent starter under three different managers, including the best manager in the history of the game.

But otherwise yeah, excellent point. I hadn't considered that possibility.

 

[Acole9]

Fair play to him for coming out and admitting to his mistake. I respect him a lot more after that.

 

[Lawman]

Van Gaal wants the players to play, that is his MO. Granted Jones mis-controlled but the ball landed nicely at Valencia's feet and the pass was not difficult.

Yep agree with Valencia but Jones made yet another idiotic decision by trying to play when it wasn't on.

 

[caid]

Plenty of blame to go around to be fair.
I think its fair to assume he was chasing sanchez around under instructions.
Hes probably spent more time away from the right wing in that one game than he has in his previous hundred or so playing for us.

I'd give him a bit of grief for his tackle for the first goal (which was crap) but smalling and / or di maria were at fault for letting monreal go imo.

 

[mattsville]

Why is a one dimensional largely ineffective winger our new right full? Conservatism. LVG not what I expected.

 

[Dans]

Fair play to him for coming out and admitting to his mistake. I respect him a lot more after that.

Really?

I'd respect him more if I saw him make a pass with his left foot.

 

[Escobar]

Sanchez was very clever in the build up to their 1st goal. He dragged Valencia into the centre of the pitch where he could have no influence at all. The second goal was very silly though. He looked to be leaning back and hit the top of the ball when trying the backpass. Strangely enough had a good game apart from those brain farts.

Yet his brain farts cost us dearly. He really needs to sort out his positioning in case he wants to stay our RB

 

[ZDwyr]

Can someone really have a good game "aside from those mistakes." I mean, I get what people are saying but c'mon. Anyone can have a good game if you completely disregard their errors.

 

[RikRuud]

Can someone really have a good game "aside from those mistakes." I mean, I get what people are saying but c'mon. Anyone can have a good game if you completely disregard their errors.

Thiago Silva was a fault last night for the penalty but had a brilliant game. Van Gaal said Valencia was our best player on the night, which I probably agree with.

 

[Dans]

Can someone really have a good game "aside from those mistakes." I mean, I get what people are saying but c'mon. Anyone can have a good game if you completely disregard their errors.

I agree with you. What it only goes to show is how poor the rest of them were if a guy who's errors cost us the game is singled out as our best player on the night by the manager.

Damning.

 

[Tibs]

Really?

I'd respect him more if I saw him make a pass with his left foot.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Can someone really have a good game "aside from those mistakes." I mean, I get what people are saying but c'mon. Anyone can have a good game if you completely disregard their errors.

When someone has a poor game, it's usually based on more than one or two errors. They'll generally get something wrong almost every time they touch the ball. You can definitely judge a performance in isolation from one really bad error. And he only made one really bad error. You'd have to be completely clueless to make him the main cuplrit in the first goal.

 

[Dans]

I thought barring the back pass he was quite excellent and I love that he's adapted so well to this new role.

It's ironic really, because Valencia's greatest attribute is to pass the ball backwards rather than forwards.

That makes his error all the more unforgivable really doesn't it?

 

[Acole9]

Really?

I'd respect him more if I saw him make a pass with his left foot.

Yeah really, footballers are very egotistical people so for him to come out and apologise for his error is very surprising.

 

[Dans]

Yeah really, footballers are very egotistical people so for him to come out and apologise for his error is very surprising.

Get the feck out.

 

[Acole9]

Get the feck out.

Why? It's true, I've worked at football clubs in the past so I've seen it first hand. Or do you just not like the fact I've called your heroes egotistical?

 

[sunama]

He was a good athlete, which seemed to be what most people praised him for, now his pace has all but upped and left you are left with a player who is extremely limited in his ability on the ball and for the most part not very good off it either.

Less than 1 year ago, this article was written.
http://www.footballgate.com/2014/06/18/the-10-fastest-players-in-the-world-according-to-fifa/
According to that he was one of the fastest players on the planet.
I dont think he has lost his pace and is still one of the fastest players in the league.

 

[Dans]

My heroes? You mistake me for someone else. Someone about 30 years younger.

Frankly, that you have more respect for a guy who admitted to a mistake because he admitted to the mistake says so much about the world today, or, my age - take your pick.

 

[bugmat]

Less than 1 year ago, this article was written.
http://www.footballgate.com/2014/06/18/the-10-fastest-players-in-the-world-according-to-fifa/
According to that he was one of the fastest players on the planet.
I dont think he has lost his pace and is still one of the fastest players in the league.

How people can say he's lost pace despite seeing him run up and down our right flank as both a wingback and rightback all this season, just solidifies my opinion that half the people who post on forums don't watch games and just state blanket recycled opinions for some secret windup pleasure.

 

[Ducklegs]

Less than 1 year ago, this article was written.
http://www.footballgate.com/2014/06/18/the-10-fastest-players-in-the-world-according-to-fifa/
According to that he was one of the fastest players on the planet.
I dont think he has lost his pace and is still one of the fastest players in the league.

According to those kind of articles Phil Jagielka is an Olympic standard sprinter.

The only evidence you need is your eyes and observing how he is unable to get past most left backs in the league.

This is just going to be one of those things where some people are not going to realise just what we are missing until we put someone else in his position.

 

[berbatrick]

I just don't see how people are saying he had a good game. He was constantly out of position - it was obvious for the goal, but he was getting dragged around by Sanchez a lot. Maybe he was under instructions? I don't think so.

1. I've seen him being dragged out in many games other than this, every time a diagonal is switched to his flank, he is always scrambling back to defend.

2. And he was also leaving his spot in the backline to contest many many headers, not just against Sanchez, and not just winnable ones. He lost a few of those and was out of position. So it couldn't have been instructions (He could not have been asked to simultaneously mark Sanchez and also contest every single header in his very general region)

I have never seen him, in any single game, demonstrate that he understands the concept of a backline, how spaces must be filled, how he has to position himself with respect to other players, etc. He plays very reactively to the opposition, gets caught out by almost any runs beyond him, and always needs his pace to get back into position and his power to try and muscle his opponent of the ball. His one-footedness and lack of confidence means it is impossible to play out from the back on his side unless there is a literal straight line of space open in front of him which he can run into and then pause (and then repeat the process). Offensively he is quite impotent. I don't get it, what Moyes and LVG see in him at RB.

 

[JPRouve]

So I watched the first goal against Arsenal, at the beginning Valencia is pressing his player, Alexis Sanchez, he do not commit himself to much which is good, and Smalling covers him.
Since Smalling covers him and Arsenal are still on the ball, Valencia takes Smalling's place, and it is Smalling(and Di Maria) who ignores Monreal not Valencia.

 

[iBoss]

Wouldn't Monreal be di Maria's man?

 

[Pexbo]

Wouldn't Monreal be di Maria's man?

We zonal mark so it's subjective to other players positioning.