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2017-18 Performances

View full 2017-18 profile

5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
39
Clean sheets
18
Goals
3
Assists
1
Yellow cards
9
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Man Utd 2:0 Leicester
Stretches the play so well and looks defensively solid these days. Quite remarkable how you can hit the first defender so often though with the space he earns himself due to his great running.
 
He's been a machine for us the last few seasons and one of my favourite players, but to me he is starting to decline now. Perhaps due to his knee injury having to be iced after every game. The amount of balls he has smashed into the defender this game makes me want to cry also. We really should go bid £25m for Aurier.
 
I don't think he is anywhere near as great as majority of our fans say he is. It's criminal how many good attacks he ruins with poor crossing or his lack of creativity/quality with the ball at his feet, in almost every game. It's also quite embarassing that he avoids early cross at times when opposition gives him so much space and opts for running into crowd and smashing players legs instead.

He is, IMO, one of the best right backs in the league, but I don't think that means too much. I am really surprised why we didn't go for at least RB backup this summer.
 
The rest of his game has been fine though, it's just one main issue and it's a strange one because he doesn't try to switch it up when it's not working - he just does the same thing over and over.
 
His crossing has been shocking today. Disappointed we haven't moved for Aurier if he is available for the price rumoured.
 
I can't believe we didn't go for someone like Alves on a free this summer. The amount of space and ball our fullbacks receive and how much they waste, is criminal.
 
Amar__ said:
I don't think he is anywhere near as great as majority of our fans say he is. It's criminal how many good attacks he ruins with poor crossing or his lack of creativity/quality with the ball at his feet, in almost every game. It's also quite embarassing that he avoids early cross at times when opposition gives him so much space and opts for running into crowd and smashing players legs instead.

He is, IMO, one of the best right backs in the league, but I don't think that means too much. I am really surprised why we didn't go for at least RB backup this summer.
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A lot of people says he is one of the best in the world, no way you can be the best in the world with that quality of crossing and attacking play, so many times he got into good position and then waste the opportunity, it can get annoyin if it happens 10 times in one game
 
He's having a bad game with crossing - the usual suspects are back now when they didn't have anything negative to say for a couple of years
 
He's become a very good defender, but his attacking play is quite frankly shocking these days.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
He's been a machine for us the last few seasons and one of my favourite players, but to me he is starting to decline now. Perhaps due to his knee injury having to be iced after every game. The amount of balls he has smashed into the defender this game makes me want to cry also. We really should go bid £25m for Aurier.
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Tbh, I'm not sure he has been a machine 'for a few seasons' he was pretty woeful at times under Van Gaal, and although he did an admirable job he did little more than that.

Last season was a good season for him (although even then he tailed off towards the end), but I'm not certain exactly where the narrative has come from that Valencia has been consistently excellent at RB.
 
Yeah this shin pelting isn't a new phenomenon, but with his crosses its often a case of, if you throw enough shit at the wall, eventually some of it will stick.
 
Good defensively, but seriously this attacking play and delivery can't be accepted by a MUFC fullback.
 
I can fudge a better cross than Valencia today
 
I love Valencia, but out of 5 crosses today there was only one good one that Lukaku bottled completely. Very frustrating first half from him.

Having said that Leicester do have 8 men in the box at all times, but more is to be expected.
 
Our fullbacks see so much of the ball in space but the delivery is shocking.
 
Why has Jose or whoever not sat him down and told him to use his fecking left foot, useless today.
 
'Braindead' is probably the right word. I had no confidence in him during that half.

Poor crossing and kept slowing the play down.
 
He's never been that good. It's beyond my comprehension how highly rated this guy is. He has literally two types of cross, one where he floats it over so slowly it's virtually impossible to attack, and one where he takes half an hour to decide he's just going to smash it across the box which usually results in the ball pinging back away from goal off the first defenders' shins. How low are people's standards for a RB if they think this guy is all we need.
 
Rai7 said:
I love Valencia, but out of 5 crosses today there was only one good one that Lukaku bottled completely. Very frustrating first half from him.
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Probably my thoughts too. Hope he can be better offensively in the 2nd half. Defensively he's been fine.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
He's been a machine for us the last few seasons and one of my favourite players, but to me he is starting to decline now. Perhaps due to his knee injury having to be iced after every game. The amount of balls he has smashed into the defender this game makes me want to cry also. We really should go bid £25m for Aurier.
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I'm not convinced making him captain is a great idea either. He inexplicably fell apart when he was giving the responsibility of the #7 last time.
El Zoido said:
He's never been that good. It's beyond my comprehension how highly rated this guy is. He has literally two types of cross, one where he floats it over so slowly it's virtually impossible to attack, and one where he takes half an hour to decide he's just going to smash it across the box which usually results in the ball pinging back away from goal off the first defenders' shins. How low are people's standards for a RB if they think this guy is all we need.
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It's because crossing is one of the least important attributes in the game, even for fullbacks.
 
His crossing is so shit

If Aurier is good at it then we really should sign him
 
We should go for Aurier. Hes a machine but the problem of lack of productivity has existed most of his career.
 
Does everything so well except making that final ball.
 
I think he's still trying to get used to Lukakus' movement patterns since Leicester are really packing the box and the cross has to be inch perfect. I'd like to see us play with another striker or play Martial right through the middle with Pogba playing LMF
 
Funny thing is, he's currently our highest rated player on Whoscored even though he's hasn't had a great half by his standards.

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For someone who used to be an attacking winger, his crossing and attacking output has been shockingly poor.
 
Brwned said:
It's because crossing is one of the least important attributes in the game, even for fullbacks.
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What does he offer then from the purely attacking point of view? His passing is safest you'll see on the pitch, his dribbling is one dimensional and even when he dribbles past player it mostly ends up with him crossing the ball(and we know how that ends). He is better defender these days than attacker, and he is used almost as a winger in our set-up.
 
Starting to annoy me more and more with him not crossing the ball or crossing it really terrible every time he got the ball on the flank.
 
Amar__ said:
What does he offer then from the purely attacking point of view? His passing is safest you'll see on the pitch, his dribbling is one dimensional and even when he dribbles past player it mostly ends up with him crossing the ball(and we know how that ends). He is better defender these days than attacker, and he is used almost as a winger in our set-up.
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A fullback's most important role in an attacking sense is building and sustaining pressure, by bringing the ball high up the pitch and making sure it stays there through either recycling possession or pressing high. Pretty boring stuff to analyse and it doesn't do much to override the frustration from wasted crosses, but that's the reality. Valencia's very good at that.

Many of the best fullbacks in the history of the game weren't very good crossers for a reason. Many of the best attackers in the world, decade after decade, weren't very good crossers either. It's both a very difficult skill and not a particularly productive one. The boring stuff is much more useful.

He lacks the technique and imagination of someone like Carvajal, never mind someone like Marcelo, so it's undoubtedly true that he's not at a top tier attacker. I just think people vastly overstate the number of players who are or were at that level, alongside vastly underrating the actual essentials of the role.
 
Doesn't look 100% this season, iv heard he is carrying a knock and he seems to be playing like it
 
Our worst performer today. Didn't have a stinker by any means, but he needs to do more when he gets into those promising positions, particularly as we use him there so often.
 
At times, I wonder what it is that made me believe he was one of the best full backs around

He looked so bad/average today
 
Got forward well as usual, and gave us that outlet ball, but his crossing wasn't the best today. Still so important to our team, though.
 
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