Antonio Valencia... | Will wear #25 shirt from this point onwards by request

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Godfather said:
Nani controlled balls almost shot at him. Any other player instead of him there and there wouldnt have been any counter attack at all. He was the one setting it all up but yeah go on.
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After a great first touch he plays it back to Rooney who's surrounded, forcing him to fizz it straight back into Nani - I agree no-one else would've controlled it, but then no-one else would've played that ball back either.

And if Valencia's first half was awful god knows what Nani's second half in the same position was like. One good cross and that's it.

Orton said:
Fergie didn't

He did play better and the run he made was good. If only he done it more often. He's obviously got it in him to turn on the accelerator's but he can't cross at all right now.
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Yes, Fergie looked absolutely furious with him when he came off. Just look at the venom in that pat on the back and smile.
 
He's been off form for too long. A goal or a few assists would do wonders to his confidence but it's just not happening at the moment
 
He did okay but most of his work was a bit pointless in the attacking third.
 
He really had a decent game it has to be said, also his last run before beeing subbed when he was fouled looked very good. Should've passes it tad earlier probably but still a promising performance imo
 
That run he went on in the second half shows that he's still capable of driving runs that have defenders scrambling backwards but they are few and far between these days. Not sure when, or if, he'll ever get his form from last season back.
 
Not a very good game at all for Valencia. Looks slightly better in the second, but then that wasn't hard after the first half he had. Needs to be given a break I think to regroup, fully heal up and come back fresh.
 
I thought he had some good moments and had we scored in the first half things may have gone differently for him. But he just doesn't seem to fit in as well to how we're playing atm in terms of being able to link up well and as the wide option his crossing is just poor atm. Still he's still useful as that reliable player who will work hard, keep it simple and carries a threat with his pace and I think he is building his confidence a bit.
 
When he's picked to start now, I generally feel that he's going to put in a stormer, but it's just not happening. He just doesn't fit in with the way we are going about our game now and looks quite lost the majority of the time and, scarily out of his depth.

He doesn't strike me as a player that the our most technical players want to be involved with on the pitch right now. As good as he was last season, cross after cross from him gets really predictable. At times he seemed like the only player on the pitch who our players seen as an attacking option, just booting it out to the right time and time again. Our game is now developing for the better.
 
Agree shark22, it puts me in a sort of a bind. As our build up improves, does that mean we use Valencia less? He is certainly a great option to have but each passing game, whether he improves or not, I get this increasing sense he's having trouble fitting into our more precise build-up play.
 
The thing is though if he was in any sort of form he'd probably get a lot of joy atm, he's usually got lots of room on his side and with our other players like Kagawa, nani, rooney, rvp etc linking up with shorter passes, it draws the opposition around them and then we can switch it out to him but he's just not doing anything with it.
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
What has happened to him? His appalling loss of form is utterly baffling.
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I remember hearing he's been carrying some sort of injury this season. Not sure whether that's true or not. Otherwise it's clearly mental with him. He's forgotten what made him so dangerous and is lacking confidence when he gets in those wing positions.

This is something he's gotta solve on his own.
 
When he's off form, it's hard to remember what he's like when he's good. I can't remember.
 
Given his lack of form, Nani and Young's lack of availability it's amazing we've scored the amount we have, we've pretty much been without our main creative source
 
I feel his bad form, not all of it but some part, has to do with the fact that our players have decreased the number of times they put in early diagonals, than they did before. There were times last season when almost all our attacking play went through Valencia, with either Scholes or Rooney picking him out most times and very early hence leaving him one on one with the fullback, and he had the confidence to take him on and beat him a lot of times.

Now, with RVP coming in and our play becoming a lot narrower with Rooney having a lot more options, player having some slick interchange around the box, all that has not exactly favoured Valencia's natural ability to the extent the earlier tactic did. Nowadays, many times when he gets the ball, the other team already had him well covered and gives him very less time and space to put in a cross.

Having said that, at times when he has been one on one with a lot of time and space, he has wasted the chance so it is not entirely down to the tactic, but is could definitely have an effect.
 
Just feel he needs that one performance that will put him back to to the level we have become accustomed of him. Overall today was better in a lot less of the stop and pass back. Still not beating his man but, not sure we are giving him the ball in positions, as Aldo above mentioned, to let him really take his man on - at least didn't get that many chances today.
 
One or two very good runs, decent otherwise. I think he is slowly getting there these last few games. Not saying he's playing well but that's better.
 
He is playing a bit better but the crossing is still all over the place. You just have to think he is playing on an injury or something.
 
Don't know, not watching just seen it on livescore. Was only 2/3 minutes in.
 
It looks like he is playing wide right(united's role), and he just put a decent cross.
 
Played fairly good, made some excellent diagonal passes, and crossing was finally good except one cross where ball landed on opposite stands.
And he has lost tons of pace, he was outpaced by coentrao tonight in one on one situation.
 
Think he is carrying an injury, or is not fully fit. I don't think he is as explosive as he was last season, or earlier on this.
 
Like Nani, I think Valencia's decision making in the final third is a weakness. If there's a player in space he rarely picks him out and when there's a shot on he tends to just stop dead in his tracks and panic.
 
Don't think he's lost pace. Don't confuse it with acceleration. Quite common to lose a bit of that after a leg break, especially if you broke the metatarsals.
 
Snow said:
Don't think he's lost pace. Don't confuse it with acceleration. Quite common to lose a bit of that after a leg break, especially if you broke the metatarsals.
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Except the leg break happened the year before last. And last year he was one of our best players.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Like Nani, I think Valencia's decision making in the final third is a weakness. If there's a player in space he rarely picks him out and when there's a shot on he tends to just stop dead in his tracks and panic.
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If Nani and now even Valencia's decision making is a weakness then that goes for pretty much every winger who has ever played the game. Not every cross/final ball etc can find a man, it's as though we expect perfection, anything less is a weakness in "decision making".
 
I'm always right said:
If Nani and now even Valencia's decision making is a weakness then that goes for pretty much every winger who has ever played the game. Not every cross/final ball etc can find a man, it's as though we expect perfection, anything less is a weakness in "decision making".
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You must be joking? A good winger should be finding their man with most crosses, I expect perfection from Nani and Valencia, they're at Man Utd for feck sake!
 
I'm always right said:
If Nani and now even Valencia's decision making is a weakness then that goes for pretty much every winger who has ever played the game. Not every cross/final ball etc can find a man, it's as though we expect perfection, anything less is a weakness in "decision making".
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But they both seem to slow down to a stand still and look like they have no idea what to do. Where-as last year he would simply go past him without a second thought and get a cross in.
 
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