He kicked the ball with his left foot...on two occasions. Why does he only use his left foot at West Ham? He set up Rooney there in 2011 with his lefty. Bring it to Manchester!
Antonio Valencia... | Will wear #25 shirt from this point onwards by request
- Thread starter NextSeason
- Start date
- Status
He's in a pretty terrible run of form but at only 27 you have to think there's no way he'll not return to normal at some point. Who knows what the problem is. You'd say rest him but with Nani's injury that just isn't possible at the moment.
I don't know anything about Zaha other than the odd game or two but maybe bringing in someone like that for cover could help Valencia out.
I don't know anything about Zaha other than the odd game or two but maybe bringing in someone like that for cover could help Valencia out.
How so? I don't remember any season when they played more together.
Yep, and in the match thread too.
I think it's pretty clear to everyone that he is going through an over extended bad patch, but why beat the man when he is down? I bet there is no harsher critic of Valencia, than Valencia himself and he is probably beating himself up over his current form. I have no doubt he will make certain posters eat their words, but it's still fecking upsetting to see posters call him a cnut. The funny thing is, those posters was probably blowing smoke up his arse not too long ago.
Undoubtedly a poor cameo from him today but it was noticeable with how much more urgency he played with than recent games. He didn't stop and look at a defender for ages at a time, he actually got the ball and attempted to take the defender on.
The resulting crosses were hopeless but it's encouraging to see him actually try something again. He'll be fine soon.
The resulting crosses were hopeless but it's encouraging to see him actually try something again. He'll be fine soon.
Playing shit at the minute but he'll come good. Memories are very short around here.
How has his crossing gone so bad? He used to smash in magnificent crosses. It seems weird.
What the feck is this drivel? Nobody really fecking cares about shirt numbers. Michael Owen wore number seven for two years, was he a disgrace as well?
It was like watching Bebe play today though, can't believe how atrocious he's got. Thought he was showing signs of improvement a couple of games ago but it's like a never-ending slide into pure shiteness. Hope it ends soon.
I'm not going to be too hard on him as a player, that miss was a shocker though. Shame he never really has been a goal threat for us like some of our other wingers over the years. Was a great chance.
Yes, this pleased me as well. It wasn't a very good performance, but at least he seems to have been told he can also use his left foot and he tried. Hopefully he'll keep trying, which would make his game less predictable for defenders.
He crossed using his left foot twice...
This
Isn't that what people said about Hernandez last season?
It's a stupid theory IMO. Valencia was tearing teams apart at the back end of last season.
Tony v - woeful at present. Maybe he needs a sports psychologist to sort it out? Physically, he seems ok, but his lack of confidence is pretty obvious. Seems to me to some mental block of some kind.
I've been noticing that too. He's usually not the most emotional person on the pitch, he doesn't tend to celebrate that much even when the team scores, but lately the visible signs of frustration are noticeable.
Maybe he just simply got found out in the league with his one-dimenional play? Opponents seems to know how to shut him down on the flank.
It's porobably a bit off everything -- no competition for place, him being a bit one dimensional to begin with and him seemingly combining better with Berbatov/Rooney than he does RVP/Hernandez.
Time to the man... he has not been THAT terrible this season at all. First let him recover his old fitness form back. For me he doesnt look at his 100% yet. He still one of our best players and his presence on the right flank always give me confidence, and to the rest of the team for sure.
Patience!! he will be very important for us on the last 1/4 of the season.
Patience!! he will be very important for us on the last 1/4 of the season.
Was shocking but I think he realized the pressing need to get balls into the box that overrode his right footedness, perhaps guilty of trying too hard to make a difference - apart from the bebe moment didn't think he was that bad
He is not playing well at the moment - but to call him a disgrace is well - disgraceful. He has been one of our best players since joining the club - and even if he is struggling a bit now, he will be back to his best soon enough
Maybe he's still having problems related to this injury that was in the papers mid December.
Needs to get his act together!! If Nani played like this week in week out imagine the outrage
The good thing about him is that he can deliver defensively, and will give you all he has got during a game. So there really isn't such a big risk involved letting him play himself into form.
Like someone said earlier in the thread, it's a bit like playing with 11 men when we are defending and 10 when we are attacking (which is obviously meant to an overstatement).
That said, I am looking forward to getting Nani back as an alternative. If Nani finds his form then he is even better than an in form Valencia, IMO.
Like someone said earlier in the thread, it's a bit like playing with 11 men when we are defending and 10 when we are attacking (which is obviously meant to an overstatement).
That said, I am looking forward to getting Nani back as an alternative. If Nani finds his form then he is even better than an in form Valencia, IMO.
Yup, mentioned this a couple week back. Looks clear too me he's playing with an injury resulting in him dropping a yard or 2 of pace. In turn, his confidence is shot.
Why is the constant criticism of Nani, even when he's not playing, acceptable but criticism of Valencia's poor form unacceptable? The thing about Valencia is if he weren't so one-dimensional it might be less noticeable when he goes through a bad patch.
Usually when Valencia plays he helps out defensively but yesterday, he was slow to track back for some reason.
So how do you explain his form before December then? And if that's the case, why was he brought on instead of Young yesterday? If Valencia is playing through an injury that Fergie knows about, it seems unlikely to me that Fergie would throw him on when he has another winger available who is not injured. It's an excuse.
Valencia has failed to give defensive cover consistently throughout this season. In fairness to Tony its not just him we haven't had good cover on the flanks in a lot of our games and we've let far too many crosses into the box.
But this is yet another element of his game that has gone south this season and its left me wondering why? Valencia simply is not doing the things he did last season.
One thing I have always liked about Valencia has been that you know what you're getting with him: He goes down the line and fires in crosses. He's your classic Aaron Lennon, Shaun Wright-Phillips style right winger but with the power to go with the pace to get around people and until recently he's tended to be more reliable than those guys.
I'm at a loss to explain why he's playing the way he's playing and that's why I suggested he might be injured or have off field issues playing on his mind.
Maybe the medical team think it's something he needs to play through. Or maybe Fergie saw it as a good opportunity for him to build a bit of confidence. We don't know.
He's clearly slower than he was last season though. I don't see how simply confidence would cause that.
The latter may be true and in part, I am not totally against the idea that Valencia is playing through an injury but an opportunity to build confidence seems far fetched to me. We were a goal down in a game that perhaps wasn't a must-win in the grand scheme of things, but it was a must-win if we want to progress, and his form has been abysmal lately. It's not like we were away to Aldershot or something where he could quite easily have drifted through their defence on his lonesome. West Ham have been solid and organised at the back, having only conceded 24 (league) goals this season, there's no way subbing Valencia in was ever going to be a confidence building exercise.
I never said it was mate. I don't agree with that too, but that is another thread, this one is about Valencia, no?
I'm a bit worried about him because he's been terrible for a while now. Hope something changes quickly!
Funny that the OP went from having a point, to looking a complete idiot, to having a point again 
No need to be too harsh about yesterday, he wasn't on the pitch anywhere near long enough.
No need to be too harsh about yesterday, he wasn't on the pitch anywhere near long enough.
He was on the pitch far too long, he should never have been brought on.
So is this possible then? He either was, or thought he was, going to lose his place to an incoming player and lost confidence in his position at the club? Or just nonsense?
I have a theory and hear me out.
It is the cold weather. Come March, he will be good again.
It is the cold weather. Come March, he will be good again.
It must be asked: Valencia...or Walcott?
Feck me has it gotten this bad? No offence Ruud but get a grip here, seems to be a lot of people who have short memories on this forum.
This.
Some posters need to get a grip. A player like Valencia doesn't turn to shit overnight. He'll have a stormer soon and people won't hesitate to call him the best winger in the league again after a run like the back end of last season.
- Status