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2014-15 Performances


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5.6 Season Average Rating
Appearances
35
Clean sheets
12
Goals
0
Assists
5
Yellow cards
4
This is exactly why - there sure are a lot of people on redcafe nowadays who don't know much about football (not aimed at you) to be complaining. Valencia moves forward to overlap/overload the City LB..if a pass doesn't come off when he's overlapping and they counter, of course he'll be out of position. It is standard for the RCB to then cover for the RB who has pushed up to help attack... yet ppl are complaining that he is not there defending and Smalling has to cover :wenger:. When the RB bombs up it's up to the DM and or CB to cover if we lose possession.

Spot on! We saw it with Kompany and Demichilis as well. Actually, that's how we got our third goal. Demichilis got pulled out to the right back spot, and Mata dropped into that space. Ideally, Toure would have had to fill in for Demichilis.
 
Probably down to the fact that people consider him and his future as a central midfielder. It isn't necessarily a positive on Valencia to say Blind was at a similar level, when Valencia is fighting for that RB spot in particular and should be judged whether or not he can do that job for us at the top level.

Blind can make a mistake or two and people will still realize that he's just filling in because Shaw isn't available. It is like if Herrera played LW for a game because all our options were injured, he'd not be expected and compared to Hazard/Sanchez/Silva - we'd all praise him for doing an alright job.

I think Valencia was very good yesterday overall though. Terrible defending in that scenario but I agree with the thesis that defenders(all players) will make mistakes and recovery is a lot more important than what most people wants to admit.

All defenders will make small errors here and there, the way they recover from it is what is truly important.

Clichy made a positional mistake and then he didn't make up for it by in any way disturbing Fellaini's finish and Clichy has been one of the leagues best LB this year more or less.

I do see the point of why people are targeting Valencia though, we have a hard time upgrading our positions considering Di Maria and Mata are used wide and Rooney is a certain starter for us.

People always talk about making upgrades and the RB spot has caught a lot of attention. Not because Valencia is bad but because we have new fancy signings already in most positions.
The funny thing is Blind has played as a LB far more often than Valencia has at RB. Not just in the world cup but before at Ajax and when he went on loan there before his ajax first team debut. It was on his return to Ajax that De Boer made him a DM iirc.

People in here who slate Valencia are for the msot part the same ones who disliked him as our RW even when he was ace because he displaced Nani. LvG has found a good balance. TO allow Mata to thrive on the right Valencia is more suitable than Rafael. The triangles, Valencia, Herrera an Mata play are spellbinding at times. Our left side is pace )AY) and dominating brute force (MaFel) our right is one-touch football.
 
Probably down to the fact that people consider him and his future as a central midfielder. It isn't necessarily a positive on Valencia to say Blind was at a similar level, when Valencia is fighting for that RB spot in particular and should be judged whether or not he can do that job for us at the top level.

Blind can make a mistake or two and people will still realize that he's just filling in because Shaw isn't available. It is like if Herrera played LW for a game because all our options were injured, he'd not be expected and compared to Hazard/Sanchez/Silva - we'd all praise him for doing an alright job.

As pointe out above, this is Valencia' first season as an actual RB unlike Blind who's played that position before.

Besides, I don't see a future for Blind as a CM. He's definitely not a #6 and both Fellaini and Herrera are better #8's. He's an LB for me, be it first choice or as a cover for Shaw.
 
Chelsea 1:0 Man Utd
can't believe how more brainless player can be. absolute dogshite going forward, creativity fecking zero. scared to hell to make anything but a pass backwords. Bring on Rafael
 
Want to see the goal again to see where Valencia is. Is he the one Fabregas gets past to make the pass at the start?
 
I think he's been one of our best players today, there's so much disagreement in the each of player threads so far
 
I thought he was fine in the first half, he is economical with the ball but had some good moments and has discipline.
 
Okay there's the goal again. He's ball watching. He isnt tackling Fabregas, he isnt tracking his winger Hazard. He's caught between the two and does nothing in that move
 
He's dallying on the ball, hasn't worked a single decent chance into the box and just let Hazard go past him and didn't do anything to get back. But yeah, best player.
 
Partly responsible for the goal but other than that has been superb. Patrolling the whole right flank on his own basically. Allowing Mata to roam without sacrificing our right flank.

Now if only he could put in a decent cross or two to Falcao..
 
Okay there's the goal again. He's ball watching. He isnt tackling Fabregas, he isnt tracking his winger Hazard. He's caught between the two and does nothing in that move

You're getting a bit boring. The goal wasn't remotely his fault.
 
He's dallying on the ball, hasn't worked a single decent chance into the box and just let Hazard go past him and didn't do anything to get back. But yeah, best player.
So lump him in with the other 9 who haven't created anything. Has Mata created anything? Has Rooney?
 
He was not at fault for the goal (though I have no idea who he was marking, he was just ambling around) but he's to blame for the DDG handball situation. He just threw himself in front of his own keeper, what on earth could he be thinking?
 
Hes been excellent. Im actually at a loss that people are criticising him today, I expected even his harshest critics to be holding their hands up and saying well done.

Do people realise that it's absolutely not his job to risk dribbling past players? If he's dispossed trying to beat a man we're completely screwed. It's just not up to him to do unless other players are ready to cover him, which is pretty much never.
 
So lump him in with the other 9 who haven't created anything. Has Mata created anything? Has Rooney?
Has anyone said Mata is our best player today? Or Rooney? If they have, please point me in their direction.
 
He's dallying on the ball, hasn't worked a single decent chance into the box and just let Hazard go past him and didn't do anything to get back. But yeah, best player.

He hasn't had a lot of help on that side to be fair. The left wing we've continued with that triangle (Young, Fellaini and Blind switched for Shaw), but on the right Herrera isn't there as an option because he's playing the holding role. Mata naturally drifts inside to influence the play and exploit the space Chelsea are giving us by dropping deep which means Tony often has two men to take on.
 
He should've closed down the space between Fabregas and Hazard initially. Rooney had a go at him after the goal.

Just watched it again. He could've done better at closing down space, but it was morso a miscommunication between Val, Smalling, and Herrera.
 
Just watched it again. He could've done better at closing down space, but it was morso a miscommunication between Val, Smalling, and Herrera.

Very similar to what happened for the first goal against City.
 
Herrera was on Hazard if i recall. Keep trying.

Hazard is the left winger. Valencia is the right back.

Valencia isn't in the correct position when Fabregas turns and passes, and he cant get back into the right position to track his winger

If he was in the correct position in the first place, a CM doesnt need to track the left winger. Its Oscar that Ander might have been able to do better with, Hazard is all on Valencia
 
Has anyone said Mata is our best player today? Or Rooney? If they have, please point me in their direction.
No but why is our right back derided for not creating chances when our attackers haven't done it either. He's playing the right flank on his own. He gets criticised for following Hazard and not keeping his position and now es criticised for not following Hazard ino the middle while Hererra watchable him run past him. Much like he did with Silva last week.
 
Hazard is the left winger. Valencia is the right back.

Valencia isn't in the correct position when Fabregas turns and passes, and he cant get back into the right position to track his winger

If he was in the correct position in the first place, a CM doesnt need to track the left winger. Its Oscar that Ander might have been able to do better with, Hazard is all on Valencia
Two weeks running Herrea has just let players run away from him in the centre of the pitch. The nuetrals have picked it up I wonder why people here can't.
 
No but why is our right back derided for not creating chances when our attackers haven't done it either. He's playing the right flank on his own. He gets criticised for following Hazard and not keeping his position and now es criticised for not following Hazard ino the middle while Hererra watchable him run past him. Much like he did with Silva last week.

He's being criticized because he has had the ball in semi-dangerous areas many times and does nothing except go back or pass it infield. He doesn't have to beat his man but he isn't even putting in any crosses from those deeper positions. Fullbacks are as important to attacks as anyone imo, the best cross into the ball has been from Luke Shaw.

And he will be criticized for not following runners because that is also part of a full backs job. They have to see danger as they are looking across the line and have the defensive awareness to cover.
 
On the ball I won't talk about because it does bad things to my blood pressure.
Off the ball defending today he was better, but
1. The whole de Gea handball thing - what was he thinking????
2. Hazard had gone infield for the goal so he can't be blamed much, but he was doing absolutely nothing wandering about when players were streaming past on either side of him.
 
I thought he was mostly okay aside from the goal and the miscommunication with De Gea. He did make a couple of good tackles like normal
 
He's dallying on the ball, hasn't worked a single decent chance into the box and just let Hazard go past him and didn't do anything to get back. But yeah, best player.

Ridiculous.

He's a RB and did his job excellently. No more to it.
 
I dont understand the hate he gets at all, Very good touch and control, good passes, very strong, very disciplined, runs all day long. Really a dream player for a team

I used to hate him for last 2 years when he was supposed to be a winger, as he totally lost his attacking instinct, but now hes a fullback, and thats not his main job anymore, and he usually delivers a 7/10 performance in almost very match
 
He most definitely did. Absolutely not at fault for the goal.

Agenda posting at it's finest.
He's partly at fault, not entirely.

Valencia is one of those players, youll only see how much better you could have when you actually finally get somebody better.

He's neat and tidy, strong and fast, that's it.

He wouldn't or shouldn't be a starting RB for a team that wants to be challenging for the title and champions league. It's really not a surprise that that is a position Van Gaal seemingly can't wait to improve.
 
It feels like every other goal we concede is due to some sort of error from this guy.. :(

I don't understand how he is remotely at fault for this goal though... I mean, he could have maybe closed down Fabregas a bit faster, but that's hardly the biggest crime.