[Johan07]

He was caught ball watching in no mans land in the phase of play leading up to the goal in because he's not a defender and doesn't have defensive instincts. He doesn't know how to marshal a defense and re-adjust to slot back in with the line because he's not a defender. Valencia has to be one of the only ones I've seen consistently just ignore Smalling and what Smalling is telling him to do and do what he likes. But he is the captain, so I don't think there is much more that can be said than *shrugs* "well he's not a defender, so...?"



Erm. Pardon? Do you realize that Fred started in the opponents half? There is nothing more Fred can be doing there, a proper defender gets back into the line and tells Fred to get back and get in front of his man (or calls Pogba from the edge of the area over). Not just stands around in no mans land marking nothing and then isn't even first his man who slots it into the net (Smalling was).

Don't think you are remembering that one correctly there.

Well I watched it a couple of times to be honest. Its an interesting piece of play even if the result fecking sucked.
Yeah, Fred started in the opponents half to begin with. Because he lost the ball first and didnt track back at once. Then Pogba lost the ball again (and also jogged back) which left a big space in front of our back four. Valencia chose to cover that, which IMO was the correct decision by him.
I mean he can shout at Fred as much as he want but the area in front of the CBs needs to be covered there. At once.
Then Shaw could have done better as well, a ltb of luck as well and we were fecked.
That goal is a good example of what can happen if a few minor mistakes accumulates. I would blame Pogba and Fred firstly if blame needs to be appropionated.
But it was a good strike as well. Just dont see what Valencia did wrong here.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Presence of Antonio Valencia on the right flank combined with our complete lack of players who can play effectively as a right winger/forward have made our attack too predictable. There's zero threat coming from that right side and our opponents have been aware of it for years since they know Valencia will start every week while he's fit.

It's no use blaming the player. He's a limited player who's been giving his best. It's Mourinho's stubbornness in never dropping his favored players that's the issue.

Yep, pretty much this. We essentially concede the right side of our team in an attacking sense, mainly because whoever plays wide right basically abandons the position, that combined with the basically useless Valencia. Wing backs are so important in modern day football due to the emergence of inside forwards. When you see TAA and Robertson at Liverpool, Walker/Mendy at City, Azpilicueta/Alonso at Chelsea and Trippier/Rose at Spurs and then we’ve got Valencia and Young(although thankfully Shaw is getting game time) it’s really disheartening. Our wing backs work hard enough and I’d never question Valencia and Young’s input but their quality is abysmal and not at the level of other top teams. You see the quality of delivery from the likes of trippier, TAA, Alonso and not just from open play but from set pieces too, it’s so obvious how much it hinders us but nothing is done about it.

 

[stevoc]

Fair enough, bringing it back to Valencia he's crossed the line into full blown liability now. He's out of position defensively more often than he's in ideal position to deflect an attacking ball in or mark up a player in the box. What he was doing for the goal I have no idea, drifting inside to pick up nobody and then ultimately causing Fred to have to be miles outside his position covering when he should be the one that earlier in the phase moves back into position to pick up the man in the box who ultimately takes the shot and scores.

It's these little "yeah he's not a defender, he's a winger" things that are really racking up against him now.

Spoiler: I have no idea what he is doing.

I like Valencia but i've never been a massive fan of him at RB or convinced about his defensive ability in the position. For a time he did well defensively mostly in one on ones due to his strength and speed, but those are on the wane. He's also had spells where he has been effective going forward but never amazing. Which is crazy when you think how good a winger he was between 2009-2012. Sadly he's mostly been turn back Tony for a good 6 years now.

 

[Ekeke]

Well I watched it a couple of times to be honest. Its an interesting piece of play even if the result fecking sucked.
Yeah, Fred started in the opponents half to begin with. Because he lost the ball first and didnt track back at once. Then Pogba lost the ball again (and also jogged back) which left a big space in front of our back four. Valencia chose to cover that, which IMO was the correct decision by him.
I mean he can shout at Fred as much as he want but the area in front of the CBs needs to be covered there. At once.
Then Shaw could have done better as well, a ltb of luck as well and we were fecked.
That goal is a good example of what can happen if a few minor mistakes accumulates. I would blame Pogba and Fred firstly if blame needs to be appropionated.
But it was a good strike as well. Just dont see what Valencia did wrong here.

Its amazing that people can talk about a shot from the edge of the box and not mention our DM at all.

 

[Jojo <3 Mou]

I was so frustrated with Valencia on Saturday, I don't think it's wise to depend on him anymore. He is predictable and contributes nothing in attacks. We can only hope and pray that Dalot comes good or that the ever young Ashley can do a job. Valencia is ineffective.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

I like Valencia but i've never been a massive fan of him at RB or convinced about his defensive ability in the position. For a time he did well defensively mostly in one on ones due to his strength and speed, but those are on the wane. He's also had spells where he has been effective going forward but never amazing. Which is crazy when you think how good a winger he was between 2009-2012. Sadly he's mostly been turn back Tony for a good 6 years now.

I'd much prefer him to go back to playing as a winger and I still think he could do a serviceable and capable job on the right if the manager were to rip the cord and just let him loose on the right flank with no responsibility defensively (or after terrorizing opponents shins for a few games he'd be dropped). Considering the type of striker Lukaku is we're crying out for a direct ball and all runner in on the right flank who gets in behind and creates dangerous match-ups for Lukaku to exploit.

You are correct in saying that he has relied on his speed and athleticism to act as a barrier defender but the nuances of playing a role like a fullback is catching up with him as his athleticism wanes and our style has moved beyond the rigid conservatism of Van Gaal's "keep the ball to defend" style, into the more personal responsibility of taking action and being accountable for your football style of Mourinho. The pressure of responsibility has clearly effected his attacking game in my opinion.

Low key take here, but why on earth is he captain? It feels under the radar that the lack of responsibility culture that looks apparent in the squad might be emanating from him. He seems like he doesn't know how to rev a team up, marshal a defense in an important role as captain and fullback or even hold down the responsibility on the right flank at the very least. Just such a weird scenario for a manager like Mourinho and a club of our size.

But meh, who knows *shrugs* "he's a winger? So why should we ask him to be a high IQ defender at fullback..?" It always comes back to this for me.

 

[buckooo1978]

he's a converted winger yet I don't remember him trying to beat his man at the weekend

always looked for easy safe option in contrast to Dalot v Young boys who beat his man and delivered quality a few times

that right back for Young Boys would actually be a,decent replacement for Valencia

 

[Chaky_Best]

Tony V has been an excellent solider since he came to our club. We paid him 25M I guess and he was always very good for us until that injury. Then LVG turned him into a solid RB but now at 33 I really think that his end is near.

Near because he doesn't provide anymore what a top RB should.

Just look at Thomas Meunier with PSG, Walker or Mendy at City or Carvajal at Madrid. They are not only defenders or forward players. With their technical abilities they can help the block to get off a high pressure and they can basically beat a man.

We have issues when teams are pressuring us (cause we are poor technically) and we don't have anything against low blocks.

I do think that wingers and full backs have the key to modern football, but unfortunately neither Valencia or Young are good enough to taking us to the next level.

I don't have much hope in Dalot as I only saw him once, but let's hope that for once we can have a good full back

 

[#07]

Mourinho’s talked about his knee, not sure if he’s playing injured but he ain’t doing enough.

 

[Adam-Utd]

He's playing safe these days, which is not a good thing for the team.

You can see he isn't comfortable attacking players anymore, he gets them into a 1v1 situation and isn't confident, so he just passes backwards.

He's still defending fairly well but the way Jose plays without wingers the fullbacks HAVE to be effective. We've seen Shaw step it up recently but Valencia just isn't giving us enough anymore.

Dalot showed in 1 game more than Valencia has for a while, and I think it won't be long that Dalot takes his place. Valencia should be 2nd choice now.

 

[DanNistelrooy]

He was so poor on Saturday, to the point where I am convinced he must have been either carrying an injury or just deliberately not trying. He had the entire right hand side to run into and didn't do it once. The lads around me in the Stretford End (myself included) were absolutely fuming when even in the 75th minute he still wouldn't make a run.

Have been a big fan of him at RB under Mourinho but if that is going to be the new standard then we are going to need Dalot to step up a lot faster than we had anticipated.

 

[11101]

Its amazing that people can talk about a shot from the edge of the box and not mention our DM at all.

Because it wasn't his fault. Valencia completely left his man and screwed the whole defence. Fred was in the correct place, but when he realised there was a man totally free on the 6 yard box he had to go there. It was the most dangerous position and looked the more likely pass.

Unless you mean Fellaini, in which case he was where he was supposed to be, covering the runs into the box from the other side.

Valencia's positioning has been poor for years but its really showing now his pace is declining and we are sitting further and further back in a game.

 

[youngrell]

Think we've run him into the ground the past few years. He's had to cover much of the right hand flank single handedly for a good few seasons and at his age, it's starting to ask a bit much.

It's frustrating to see him not getting forward into the space ahead of him, but when he has the job of getting back all by himself should the ball get lost while he's high up, it's no wonder the guy is getting more and more reluctant to push on.

He's still one of our better players when it comes to retaining possession and dealing with a high press, but he needs some support on the right flank or he will have nothing left to give.

 

[sunama]

How poor is Valencia?
He is so poor that some fans want Dalot to start playing ahead of him.

Perhaps Valencia has reached the end of the line and now needs to be put to pasture.

Previously, G.Neville played a match and after that match, he went to the boss and told him, "I'm done".
Last season, when Ibrahimovic played a few games for us, he went to the boss and said, "I'm not ready".
I think it's time for Valencia to also do the honourable thing.

 

[stevoc]

I'd much prefer him to go back to playing as a winger and I still think he could do a serviceable and capable job on the right if the manager were to rip the cord and just let him loose on the right flank with no responsibility defensively (or after terrorizing opponents shins for a few games he'd be dropped). Considering the type of striker Lukaku is we're crying out for a direct ball and all runner in on the right flank who gets in behind and creates dangerous match-ups for Lukaku to exploit.

You are correct in saying that he has relied on his speed and athleticism to act as a barrier defender but the nuances of playing a role like a fullback is catching up with him as his athleticism wanes and our style has moved beyond the rigid conservatism of Van Gaal's "keep the ball to defend" style, into the more personal responsibility of taking action and being accountable for your football style of Mourinho. The pressure of responsibility has clearly effected his attacking game in my opinion.

Low key take here, but why on earth is he captain? It feels under the radar that the lack of responsibility culture that looks apparent in the squad might be emanating from him. He seems like he doesn't know how to rev a team up, marshal a defense in an important role as captain and fullback or even hold down the responsibility on the right flank at the very least. Just such a weird scenario for a manager like Mourinho and a club of our size.

But meh, who knows *shrugs* "he's a winger? So why should we ask him to be a high IQ defender at fullback..?" It always comes back to this for me.

Don't think he would be great at RW personally, but then again he would be better than Mata so why not. Won't happen though, we should actually give Young a run on the right wing.

As for why Valencia is captain well Mourinho seems to think the role has no meaning beyond tradition. He just assigns it to whoever has been at the club the longest. Which is the opposite of how SAF did it. None of Cantona, Keane, Neville, or Vidic were the most senior player when they were made captain. But then Ferguson probably had some crazy idea about leadership qualities and the ability to speak English being important traits for a captain.

 

[stepic]

he's been pretty terrible for the last few seasons, yet he's still here.

horrible management.

 

[Adisa]

Very happy to see him dropped completely. Should never have been allowed to go into the season as our first choice RB.

 

[rooneyberbatov]

Apparently he’s not on speaking terms with Jose. No idea if true, because it’s the Daily Mail.

Reports have emerged this morning that club captain Antonio Valencia is now ‘barely speaking’ to Mourinho.

Here’s what the Daily Mail allege:

“It has emerged that he criticised Antonio Valencia for not attending last week’s Carabao Cup defeat by Derby County in his role as club captain before dropping him for the trip to West Ham.

“Mourinho is understood to barely be on speaking terms with skipper Valencia having stripped Paul Pogba of the vice-captaincy in his ongoing fallout with the Frenchman.

 

[Aint gota Kalou]

I have it in my head that Valencia doesn't speak to anyone anyway.

 

[Red_toad]

Apparently he’s not on speaking terms with Jose. No idea if true, because it’s the Daily Mail.

If that were true he’d no longer be captain. Yet more media bs as a player isn’t in the team due to form it’s obviously as Jose has personal issues with them...

 

[Kopral Jono]

An absolute joke of a footballer. If he has an ounce of shame he should do what Gary Neville did after West Brom away in 2011 right now.

 

[Black Adder]

Great servant to the club and all that but should bench him for Dalot. He's done.

 

[Slevs]

Done at this level. Great servant but time to move on.

 

[Kostov]

Dreadful tonight, left our defense exposed couple of times.

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

The MLS is beckoning

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

He's been finished for a long time. When Correa destroyed him when we played Sevilla last season should have showed that. This time Guedes.

 

[Giant Midget]

dogshit

 

[Amar__]

Can someone explain what the feck is point of him? What exactly is he doing on the pitch that anyone else in the team in his position wouldn't do any worse?

 

[Sanchez7]

Has lost his pace which was unfortunately his key attribute. If Dalot isn't ready, maybe we should try Jones at RB? He played in that position quite a few times under Fergie.

 

[Verminator]

Infuriating performance.
Shit defensively and two left footed crosses, the only thing to show in their half.
Mata could have played rb tonight, and been an improvement.

 

[Name Changed]

Done unfortunately.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Here's a riddle for you:

Valencia is an attacking RW, converted to RB but who doesn't get forward and yet leaves gaping holes at the back. Explain.

 

[Kopral Jono]

Here's a riddle for you:

Valencia is an attacking RW, converted to RB but who doesn't get forward and yet leaves gaping holes at the back. Explain.

A redundant protoplasm is what he's become as a footballer. We'd have played better tonight with ten men instead and I'm being completely serious. Valencia at right full-back these days is not even Championship level.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Me and @Adisa aren't surprised by this

Anywho let's all hope Dalot starts against Newcastle ❤

 

[DocRockter]

Got NO help from Alexis, so shut up about his "dogshit".. Stopped everything in the 2nd half when the midfield couldn't come back fast enough and Guedes and Gaya got forward. Also, it was his first game back. Overall a decent performance and will get better if he stays fit.

 

[Kopral Jono]

Got NO help from Alexis, so shut up about his "dogshit".. Stopped everything in the 2nd half when the midfield couldn't come back fast enough and Guedes and Gaya got forward. Also, it was his first game back. Overall a decent performance and will get better if he stays fit.

 

[Adisa]

Worst captain I've ever seen at this club. Stealing a living.

 

[Kostur]

I love this moment when he's right down the wing and stands in a spot doing those little bounces before he hoofs it because he's got no other idea. He'll just run with the ball, stop, bounce a little and then hoof it. Like a clockwork.

 

[MadMike]

Him, Mata and (dare I say it) Sanchez seem done. Youngsters of dubious quality look better than them at their respective positions and so do most EPL level players. Even if Mourinho leaves I don’t see them surviving here past next summer.

 

[Devil may care]

He made one good interception near the end but was overall awful, Guedes had so much space to run into where he should have been.