Timing and the power he generated in that header....wow...just wow. So unlucky not to score. Did almost everything right.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Goals
- 17
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 6
- Status
True. I just think our other experienced forwards are just too nice, and don't particularly like the hussle. As a future CF, Greenwood needs to learn this dark art if he wants to be a top one. There's no other way.
The ball from Bruno, the run and timing from Cavani, it deserved a goal.
World class effort.
I did toy with saying RVP too and of course he was a great finisher but I don’t think he was that old school striker that relied solely on his movement and could adjust his body to get a shot on target in unlikely circumstances - he was more of someone that had amazing technique and was more likely to wow with a worldie than a tap in. I am sure there are examples though so I probably am being a little harsh on him there!
Regardless, what I love about Cavani is there’s magic in the goals that look so simple. It’s a real art being a striker and the game is losing/has lost that.
I feel like we're losing a bit of touch re Cavani at the moment. I like him, he has a great attitude, he can lead the line well and seems a very likable guy but come on....you can't be serious putting him ahead of RVP for finishing and movement? He's scored 4 PL goals! RVP's whole game was based on the timing of his runs, body position, his touch/hold up play and that incredible left foot. He was never rapid, he didn't come to us as a young player either like Cavani - he was very close to the complete striker when he was here and I'd have him above Cavani (the version we have not prime Cavani) in almost every area bar work rate/pressing.
Still don't think we give him the best opportunities to score, his movement is fantastic, but apart from Bruno, no one else seems to see where he wants the ball.
I would have him on the bench v Sheffield United, and play him v Arsenal.
I would have him on the bench v Sheffield United, and play him v Arsenal.
He's doing well at the minute and I do think he's adding something we're missing in games. I agree with those who say we should rest him versus Sheffield United, but start him at Arsenal. I think he could do very well against Arsenal, and I think we should have enough without him to beat Sheffield United.
Yeah I'm not talking about Cavani only at Utd, just him in general throughout his career and the type of player he is and how I never appreciated that. I'd have RVP over him every day of the week so I don't mean that he's a better player. Similarly I'd have either Ronaldo over him and Rooney too. I'm just saying that he's an old school Striker and there aren't many of those about anymore. I wouldn't call RVP the same type of striker at all. Did he have clever movement and technique?yes absolutely. Was he all about movement and instinct? I don't think so. That's why I liken him to Ruud. I wasn't very clear I guess and it did sound like I thought he was better than Robin, which clearly isn't the case
Let’s just hope Cavani can pass on all that attacking nous onto Greenwood in the short time he’s going to be here.
Perfect role model for Greenwood to have at the club.
In terms of movement, I'd say Cavani is better but RVP was more ruthless up front and had beautiful tekkers.
No worries, both are top top players and have a very different playing style. Cavani reminds me a bit of Falcao when he was at Athletico (not just the hair!) but I see what you mean re Ruud and the way he finishes/is around the box. Let's just hope he starts adding some goals now, I feel we will be very dangerous with Martial - Cavani - Rashford front three if they stay fit.
Cavani is the first choice at 9 for me. Clear as day the difference in quality between him and Martial.
Due to late arrival and the 3 matches ban, he has not played a lot in the first half of the season. It means he would be quite fresh in the remaining part of the season, could make big impacts.
You really have to pay attention if you want to unserstand someone yapping at you in Spanish
The hand gesturing indicated he was banging on about the importance of moving in sync. In this particular case, both of them moving wide, stretching the Liverpool defence and creating a vast amount of space for Rashford to pick a pass into.
Not an extraordinary insight, but not something we execute well enough or regularly enough, not in sync nor in earnest, dragging defenders around for fun.
Massive to have him in the squad, starting or coming off the bench he adds genuine quality...United now have the players to bring on in a game and you could argue some of them improve the starting 11 when they are introduced, must be intimidating for the opposition too.
Not that I disagree on the disservice to RVP but, in fairness, he did have far better players around him: Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Scholes/Giggs on last legs but with their huge football brains, Rooney, Nani, an in-form Valencia... A settled and fully drilled side that knew what it was playing at.
I've never been entirely convinced it was him individually falling off a cliff under Moyes and not the way that side got culled affecting his output.
Ignore Wan Bissaka. Focus on Cavani's movement in the box. If AWB didn't take the extra touch to mug off Robertson we might have had another chance.
Another moment I found quite funny last night was he made a great run and the ball never came. Would have been a hard pass to execute and find him but when it didn’t come it was from one of Shaw,VDBo or McT but he started gesturing to them telling the, to put him in. Less than 20 secs after this same situation he made the run ball never came and he just glared at the player. Thought it was funny. It was a “I’m not angry, just disappointed“ look.
Putting my hands up saying I was really annoyed at the club for the deadline day signing, thought it was a real desperation move. The guy was available for so long and even if it was backup option to Sancho, if he was properly considered then surely we would got him earlier.
Now all I can say is what a genius signing he is turning out to be. His intense scowl playing for PSG / Uruguay always put him in what a twat category but, when it's been for us, love it. His movement, his intensity, tenacity and quality is brilliant for us. Think he would have had a say in the game against City in the cup - bloody FA.
Sincerely hope our other forwards just take on as much as they can from him, especially Martial. The move for the header against Liverpool and even the one against Fulham, not to mention the Southampton goal - and so many other movements in games so far. Just class.
Now all I can say is what a genius signing he is turning out to be. His intense scowl playing for PSG / Uruguay always put him in what a twat category but, when it's been for us, love it. His movement, his intensity, tenacity and quality is brilliant for us. Think he would have had a say in the game against City in the cup - bloody FA.
Sincerely hope our other forwards just take on as much as they can from him, especially Martial. The move for the header against Liverpool and even the one against Fulham, not to mention the Southampton goal - and so many other movements in games so far. Just class.
Did any foresee how much of a perfect fit he would be stylistically?
I honestly didn't - he seems like the perfect foil for the rest of best players and I can't think of many strikers in world football that would be better suited..? Haaland perhaps but he is young so we would lose the experience that Cavani brings... Benzema maybe?
I love how Cavani has seemed to embrace the fact that he is an experienced member of a young team too and really enjoy seeing the moments where he is dishing out advice or guidance to his teammates - he can take some credit for Bruno's FK apparently!
I honestly didn't - he seems like the perfect foil for the rest of best players and I can't think of many strikers in world football that would be better suited..? Haaland perhaps but he is young so we would lose the experience that Cavani brings... Benzema maybe?
I love how Cavani has seemed to embrace the fact that he is an experienced member of a young team too and really enjoy seeing the moments where he is dishing out advice or guidance to his teammates - he can take some credit for Bruno's FK apparently!
I’m sure Cavani has had an positive impact on the other players, both on and off the pitch. He shows character and really great mentality on the pitch.
For Martial though, it seems like the incoming of Cavani was the wrong medicine. I feel a little bit sorry for Martial because of that.
I’ve said it before, but we observed pretty much the same when Zlatan arrived and also how Martial blossom when he finally was told he was our first choice nr.9. Off course also Jose vs Ole played a role here, but it seems like Martial need a certain kind of guarantee or trust to really believe in himself and deliver on the pitch. Any wrong signal in this regard, example competition from Cavani or Zlatan make him doubt himself.
Maybe I’m complicating to much. He probably only need one goal or two to be back on track
For Martial though, it seems like the incoming of Cavani was the wrong medicine. I feel a little bit sorry for Martial because of that.
I’ve said it before, but we observed pretty much the same when Zlatan arrived and also how Martial blossom when he finally was told he was our first choice nr.9. Off course also Jose vs Ole played a role here, but it seems like Martial need a certain kind of guarantee or trust to really believe in himself and deliver on the pitch. Any wrong signal in this regard, example competition from Cavani or Zlatan make him doubt himself.
Maybe I’m complicating to much. He probably only need one goal or two to be back on track
Martial is so much better outside the penalty box for me, but there is similarly no comparison inside it.
Tough one.
I didn't expect him to be a great stylistic match because let's face it, Bruno only arrived one year ago and Pogba's form was atrocious. We were a rather one dimensional kick and run side not too long ago.
I did think he was a good fit/addition given our systematic inability to carve an opening against tight defences not giving us the space for that style to work.
With Monday's paper, he is a good stylistic fit for us to evolve, whether we wanted to or could was anyone's guess. Still have some way to go, but surely it's showing us what the right path is.
Now, my mates here who know Cavani well but only had an occasional exposure to us (thus not invested in X, Y or Z) all saw it very clearly: "No brainer signing, you don't have a centreforward".
Imagine if we went for him instead of Lukaku 4 years ago 
I don't think many expected what we've had from him so far. I for one didn't expect to see him pressing and running as much as he does, he doesn't stop.
What I did expect is a no 9 with a proper no 9's positioning and a player who has excellent movement. That's what I always saw from him at previous clubs, I never noticed the pressing side to his game and I love that about him. He sets a brilliant example to the youngsters.
I only wish we had him 5 years ago! He's been an incredible striker, shame he wasted his peak in Paris.
I have a feeling Martial's main issue with this all is wanting the ball to feet while we are gradually and somewhat haphazardly moving towards ball to the space you should move to.
There was a move yesterday that underlined it when Pogba skipped a ball that Martial should have been at the end of and one on one with the keeper... but he instead had jogged out of the box expecting Pogba to pivot it back out for him to shoot from the edge. Pogba looked the moron, but it was actually a clever dummy.
RVP was a joy to watch. I recently rewatched a game from Fergie's last season and RVP was everywhere. In his peak years he had everything. The touch, movement, finishing, his vision, he was the complete forward for that season we won the league.
Cavani can affect the game in his own way, but you can't compare his battling qualities to the class and style that RVP oozed, with his ability to drop deep and dictate the game, and suddenly be finishing off a move in the opposition area. That season he scored away against City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, he was phenomenal. If we find someone who can come close to reproducing those types of performances in the coming years, we will be a force.
Cavani has a "footballing brain" that is often talked about, some strikers at our club dont have that. Similar to a Sheringham, not blessed with immense pace but the speed of his brain is well ahead of many on the pitch.
He would have struggled with LvG in charge and the squad not in great shape.
Wish he was five years younger is what I should have said really.
I find Cavani's hold up play just as good to be honest. He doesn't dribble more than necessary, he's not really one to take on players so it's a different type of style. But he often plays the right pass or picks out the right player to go through. That's great for balance, as he will always has a youthful quick player to his left or right to play in.
Some of you guys make Cavani sound like he's just a work horse that scores goals. Go watch him at Napoli and PSG or even Uruguay, he's scored a lot of amazing goals that are just as good as any of RVP's best goals. He hasn't had a chance to show everything he can do here yet (partly because the team just hasn't adapted to his style or fully understand him yet). Watch his first goal against Portugal in the 2018 world cup, the guy sets up that goal with an amazing inch perfect 40 metre pass to Suarez. He's got more than "battling" qualities.
He is just technically far inferior to me. He can’t keep hold of the ball in all situations, his passing and link play is not as advanced either. He doesn’t have the same quality of touch. For Cavani to be at his best, he needs to ideally be taking a shot within his first one to three touches on the ball. Ideally his first. He looks a more and more average player as that number increases, whereas Martial can look a top player well into 6-10 touches I think.
Edi’s strengths lie in his movement and instinctive finishing, but I don’t think he’s comparable to Martial in any other aspect of his game.
Not sure I’d agree. Martial is technically better, but Cavani presses so much better and has a better work rate. Him pressing from the front is so important.
Cavani's strength, work rate, off the ball movement, vision, heading and finishing are all superior to Martial's
Yeah Eddy has certainly made some of the media doubters eat some serious humble pie
Cavani isn’t stronger than Martial, and I’m assuming heading and finishing are the same thing here. And tbh, he’s not a better finisher than Martial anyway in my opinion - but his movement affords him far more opportunities to score. And yes, he has a better workrate. Don’t know about vision, looks like something that’s just been added here to create the ‘list’ factor. He’s not renowned for his vision at all.
Ultimately, he is a better goalscorer and traditional centre forward than Martial I think, but in terms of technical quality, he isn’t as good at all. Which doesn’t make him the inferior striker, but it just is what it is really.
Yea, I’m happy to add better work rate to better in the penalty box for sure. Little argument with that.
Interesting.
I always thought one of the best things that Ole was doing was bringing the identity back and shaping it to look like a Man Utd team again. As much as I appreciated the trophies that Mourinho delivered, he wasn't doing in the 'united way' and not with players that would be typically associated with the club, for example as much as I appreciate Lukaku's goals he just wasn't a fit for us in numerous ways..
Martial and Rashford, though sometimes not even as effective as Lukaku etc, were always seen by me as being the right mould at least - and if they achieved their potential it would be not only successful but brilliant too. My ideal player to finish that front three (Greenwood still too young) had to be a better finisher than both, but also flexible enough positionally to allow Rash/Tony to roam centrally when the situation allows - an interchangeable front three with pace, trickery and movement.
I just never knew that Cavani was that player! From our strikers in the last 20 years or so - I think he reminds me of Rooney, Tevez or Saha just in terms of how much better he seems to make the whole team play, as opposed to coming in and just making a great individual contribution (might be unfair but I see Zlatan's involvement at Utd as more like the latter, or more so than Cavani so far anyway..).
It's like the biggest retrospective no brainer of all time from my point of view! I think some of it does boil down to being truly spoiled in SAF/Ronaldo era where I didn't pay as much attention/respect to many other world class players in the world (Ribery is another that I criminally undermined for years) and just never watching him that closely (playing in France couldn't have helped).
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