would explain his performances. Has this been confirmed at all by he club now?
Antonio Valencia... | Will wear #25 shirt from this point onwards by request
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Would explain a fair bit but where is that info from?
Pure revolutionism regarding Valencia last season as seems to be the case on here these days. Valencia since he joined the club has a habit of stopping, even slowing to a stand still when he thinks nothing is on, it not something new he's comes up with this season.
The only difference between Valencia now and last season is that last season he'd smash past his full back a few times per game whereas this year, whether through low confidence or better defending against him, he isn't really doing that.
Hasn't Valencia had a surgery regarding that? I am not sure the exact month, but Fergie did say that Valencia would be missing a couple of games because of an hip injury, and I thought he did undergo an injury. It was October I think, not sure.
And this season instead of slowing down when nothing is on like 30-40% of the time. He does it 90% of the time, and even when something is on :P
Don't get me wrong - he is great, but he really isn't on form this season and is pretty much a waste of time having him on the pitch - it has been true of most of our wingers all season except a patch where Young did alright and Giggs when out wide did alright.
I can't wait to get our wingers back on form and suppling our forwards properly!
Often Valencia slowing down, or Nani for that matter, is the right thing to do, wait for more options. Our fans are idiots though and think that standing still means they have no clue. Take the Hernandez goal from last week and just listen to the boos Nani gets from his own crowd as he "stops" on the ball.... in the end it leads to waiting for Rooney and creating a goal.
@2:25
I agree regarding Valencia's form by the way, it hasn't been good this year and he is doing the play backwards thing way too much and isn't being positive enough in games. I'm merely saying that he's always done that, probably 70% of the time actually, but he's been dynamite in the other 30%. Difference now is 90% backwards, 10% dynamite.
what's your problem?Still not at his best but he was quite good today. Did a great job for the team. He looked a bit fitter and quicker in his movement as well. Makes you wonder if he has been hampered by injury.
Much better! Good to see him running into the space.
Great shift. Not much final ball but we could use that against Ronaldo on Wednesday.
A lot of his best work came in his own half, but it is encouraging to see him put in a good performance for the team.
Worked really hard today and did his bit defensively....one slight criticism is his crossing is still not good enough!
He played much better today, without really putting in any dangerous crosses or that but Baines couldn't cope with his physicality and movement.
He was very good today. Encouraging performance.
Fantastic header to set up our first goal.
Typical Tony regaining form in the last stretch of the season. Excellent timing.
Play him against Madrid to keep track of that right side with Rafael.
Play him against Madrid to keep track of that right side with Rafael.
His best match in ages
He's become so dull to watch. No longer beats his man for pace and on the rare occasions he does manage to get in behind, he puts in a poor cross.
You can't fault him for effort though and he does always put in a good shift; although he did let Baines get away from him a couple of times in the second half that could have proved costly.
You can't fault him for effort though and he does always put in a good shift; although he did let Baines get away from him a couple of times in the second half that could have proved costly.
He's slowly but surely getting back to himself. Decent game from him.
almost like the old Valencia.
perfect timing to regain his form.
perfect timing to regain his form.
His best performance for ages and ages. He seems to like roughing up Baines.
Not as optmistic as the rest of you lot. I thought he was very average today. Put in a good shift and kept his defensive responsibility, but offered very little to the attack and the crossing was lacking. Haven't seen him beat a fullback since forever..
Good game. Crossing still poor but
Finally seeing him push the ball down the line and bulldoze after it. Heaven knows why he hasn't been doing that up until now.
He's been doing that for a good month now and, no offence to anyone, I don't think this game was any different to his last few outings. Good shift defensively, mostly smart short passing (if too cautious) and a couple of his famous runs. He can't cross it properly, though atm.
His form was generally terrible till the last 5/6 games, since then he's been decent. A good platform to rebuild your confidence.
don't care what he does offensively, that's not his game, we have nani for that. for me it's his defense and toughness. anything on the o side is icing on the cake.
Very good performance by him tonight.. whether he suits playing against Madrid - really don't know due to his predictability, but he did what he normally does to an excellent level, welcome back Valencia.
Slowly but surely turning into a purely defensive winger. Offering nothing going forward except decent link-up with Rafael. Lost his ability to beat a man and crossing is rubbish, and of course he carries absolutely no goal threat. But I thought it was a great shift from Valencia and him and Rafael comfortably had the best of Baines and Pienaar, who have had good seasons.
Very good performance considering he was up against Baines.
Did really well neutralising Everton's best attacking threats down their left. However, he hardly went past a player or got in any decent crosses.
So you don't care what a winger does offensively, more about what a winger does defensively? Right.
He played pretty well today, end product is still non existant but it'll come.
People are so (understandably) desperate to see him get back to the 'old' Valencia that any half decent game where he doesn't do anything glaringly bad, is now deemed as 'good game' or 'that's more like the old Valencia' when in truth, its nothing close to it. The 'old' Valencia was a genuinely fantastic winger, who could beat a man for fun, score a few goals, and whip in some beautiful crosses. Yes, he had his flaws (use your left foot!) but he was very very good going forward. He wasn't just a hard worker.
If he put in a performance like today (i.e work really hard but ultimately add very little to the team as an attacking unit) during his 'form' seasons, people would be in this thread saying, 'Val was a bit quiet today', 'Worked hard but didn't offer anything going forward', 'Rare off day' etc etc
I guess its just a sign of how poor he's been this season that a game where he was distinctly average is now viewed as a good game for him. Its actually really sad as, like I said, he used to be a bloody good winger. Hope he gets back to the real 'old' Valencia.
If he put in a performance like today (i.e work really hard but ultimately add very little to the team as an attacking unit) during his 'form' seasons, people would be in this thread saying, 'Val was a bit quiet today', 'Worked hard but didn't offer anything going forward', 'Rare off day' etc etc
I guess its just a sign of how poor he's been this season that a game where he was distinctly average is now viewed as a good game for him. Its actually really sad as, like I said, he used to be a bloody good winger. Hope he gets back to the real 'old' Valencia.
Seems more confident to go past defenders but as some have already mentioned, his crossing still needs work.
If today was a good performance then God help us. He was shocking as usual.
This isn't American Football. As a winger, he has to contribute to the attack.
Are you on a wind-up? Thought he was pretty good today.
He was decidedly average but hardly shocking.
Does anybody else think he is carrying an injury?
There were times when the burst of pace he usually shows when chasing for the ball was missing.
I wouldn't be surprised if its announced in the summer that he needs an op.
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