Luis Nani | 2013/14 Performances

[Tomuś]

Huh? I said it was a very good performance, but a lot of it was down to us being really crap. What's so hard to comprehend about that? We didn't turn up at all and made it very easy for them to play well. Against Barca on the other hand we were just dominated by a far, far better footballing side who would've smashed us no matter what.

Please don't alter facts so they suit you, you suggested zilch about them playing well at first, only that we were shite.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Please don't alter facts so they suit you, you suggested zilch about them playing well at first, only that we were shite.

What exactly am I altering?

It was only so good because we were so bad.

 

[Hellboy]

They were very good but we made them look a lot better than they were, and Young with Valencia were a big reason for that defensively and offensively. Yes, Valencia was good against Leverkusen but you're not as good as your last game are you ? He's been hit and miss (and I'm being very kind here) for the best part of the last 12 months. The less said about Young, the better. All in all, I would like to see Nani starting regularly for us which I think will happen with either Kagawa and Valencia fighting for the other wing spot.

 

[Giggsforever]

It's hyperbole like this which makes me ignore the Nani threads.

He played well but Young against Palace and Valencia against Leverkusen were two much better performances than this.

It was as good as those performances. Take a look at the Leverkusen game again, because the first 30 min from Valencia is the worst I have ever seen him (good for the rest of the match though).

 

[Ekeke]

If you're only as good as your last game, then Nani can only "pass the ball to players who shoot a lot. Strikers, even."

 

[TheBest]

I am never entering nani thread again. Its just same thing every time. Same people on 2 extremes.

 

[kouroux]

Nani had a good game last night but he didn't really stand out from his teammates nor from the performances of other wingers in other matches and understandably so considering his match fitness levels. Good to have him back though.

 

[acnumber9]

If you're only as good as your last game, then Nani can only "pass the ball to players who shoot a lot. Strikers, even."

That adage didn't apply when you rated Valencia against Leverkusen, why should it now?

 

[Ash_G]

Nani had a good game last night but he didn't really stand out from his teammates nor from the performances of other wingers in other matches and understandably so considering his match fitness levels. Good to have him back though.

Really? I though aside from the CL game where Valencia did look his old self and maybe the CP game although I think Youngs performance in that is pretty overrated, Nani looked to do more from outwide than we've seen in a while. It still wasn't a strong performance in terms of what he's capable of but a good one in context of the game, him coming back for his first start against a strong and sharp Liverpool team.

I thought in general though he showed more willingness to be involved than what we're generally seen from outwide which has just been largely cautious and ineffective play. I mean it would be below would our wingers would have been producing 2 seasons ago but I'd say it was one of the better wide performances for us this season so far, though not saying much.

 

[Nighteyes]

Key passes is a pointless statistic but I thought Nani looked quite good and I'd say he was at least as good as Young was against Palace.

 

[Aboutreika18]

Wait, are people bringing up Young's game against Palace? The game where he couldn't beat a defender it his life depended on it and then Januzaj came on showed him what he should have been doing for the past hour?

Noodle summed it up pretty well:

Valencia wasn't completely unmarked for the entire game and given the ball in acres of space time and time again. The reason for this is because teams know they can't afford to give him that kind of room. You could argue Young therefore has better movement, but actually most times he picked up the ball in the first half he was standing still and Palace simply weren't bothering to pick him up, where as United's other three forward players were beng allowed no room to breathe. Funny that...almost as if Palace had done their homework.

Of course you can use the fact Janujaz came on to say Young was crap. He came on, went into Young's position, and within 10 minutes Palace had to put an extra man on the left because of how much less crap than Young Janujaz was...and he still carried on being miles better than Young even when he was given more attention. It was pretty damning to be honest. An 18 year old came on and showed him up completely.

 

[Ekeke]

Because somehow it detracts from Nani

 

[Deleted 20801]

Did he even find a team-mate once with a cross? If Young/Valencia showed that sort of lack of end product from the wings they'd be getting dog's abuse, not being hailed as having put in the best performance of the season!

I thought it was actually one of the positives from his performance. He had two crosses in open play, one reached a player. However, when he got into a few positions to cross the ball, he held it up to wait for supporting players to make themselves available for the short pass creating a two-on-one situation, rather than putting a ball into an area with only one target. We've yet to score from a single cross this season in open play from any winger, but we have seen a lot of crosses into areas where there's only one or two strikers, or with crosses that aren't dangerous enough to make anything from, so it was refreshing to see Nani use his head and look for better options rather than waste possession by putting in crosses no-one was going to get on the end of. Also unlike the other two (minus Young vs Palace in the second half) he spent a lot of time attacking through the middle and giving options to strikers ahead of him, or rb/lb's overlapping.

Nani played a lot of quality football in the final third yesterday, not necessarily creating the final ball, but he was involved in a lot of the build up play and overall played quite intelligently. You also have to consider this is his first start in how long? He's not had consistent football or even featured regularly as a sub, it was a promising performance.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He's the best crosser of all our wingers. If he has a chance to get the ball into the box he should take it.

 

[Deleted 20801]

There's little point in doing that if there are no real options ahead of you, or if you're aiming for one player who is being marked heavily - the City match is a nice reminder of that with those terrible floated crosses into Rooney who was marked so heavily he couldn't do anything with them. The time he did put the cross in was when he had three players in the box. That's not to say there were no opportunities to put balls in, but the times he didn't, he at least held the ball well enough to bring others in and increased our numbers in attack, so it wasn't a negative for me. Had he consistently lost possession in those areas or wasted it by crossing with little chance of anything coming from it, then yeah it would have been annoying.

 

[Raees]

Dress it up whichever way you want re: statistics but Nani is by far the better and more useful player to this United side than Valencia. He can bring the best out of RVP and Rooney, make us better to watch too... definitely worthy of a regular 1st team spot. I finally managed to watch a United winger without wanting to shoot him for the majority of the game. I'm thankful to him and he can only get better in comparison to that performance as it wasn't anything special.

 

[Ekeke]

Needs an absolutely perfect cross to find Hernandez in the box Vs. 3 CBs who are all pretty good in the air. Far more likely to set up a chance with a pass

 

[Sassy Colin]

Have you got any point here?

My point was that you appear to be jumping on the anti-Nani bandwagon.

He's had a decent run out, his first start since I can't remember when & you are expecting some sort of perfection from him or something? When he's had a run of starts it will be fairer to judge his overall performance. Surely you can't tell me you'd prefer to see Young (particularly) or Valencia picked ahead of Nani, can you?

 

[The Man Himself]

My point was that you appear to be jumping on the anti-Nani bandwagon.

He's had a decent run out, his first start since I can't remember when & you are expecting some sort of perfection from him or something? When he's had a run of starts it will be fairer to judge his overall performance. Surely you can't tell me you'd prefer to see Young (particularly) or Valencia picked ahead of Nani, can you?

Read my post again where I have mentioned that comparing with Young can hardly be used as a yardstick. Surely it implies that I don't want Young in first XI? I don't think there was any anti-Nani bandwagon going on at that moment. Most were very pleased, but my point was, we can't get carried away and those aspects of Nani's play which have been frustrating, there were still glimpses of it. Will we markedly improve with him as a part of front 4? It remains to be seen but obviously he deserves few outings in first team in league (something which I have already agreed upon in one of my 2 earlier posts on this topic since yesterday).

 

[Sassy Colin]

Just give the poor man a chance, ffs!

 

[Stack]

Nani ahead of Young any day of the week for me. Not even close.

 

[Goooose]

I'd have a midfield 2 of Carrick and Fellaini, with 3 in front consisting of Kagawa, Rooney and Nani. Those 3 can all switch with each other and be a nightmare for defenders. It would only work with those three though.

 

[Annahnomoss]

-------------------DDG------------------
Rafael----Smalling----Evans-----Fabio
---------Carrick---------Fellaini--------
----Zaha-------Kagawa-------Nani-----
-----------------Rooney-----------------

We need to get confidence in our offense and this is the perfect time to try and find that.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Getting games consistently is feckin huge to any player.

Tevez looked a shadow of what he can really do in his last season with us. Why? DING DING DING, he wasn't getting consistent games. And when he did play he was trying too hard and over thinking.

Even World Class players like Tevez (ok well close to World Class if you don't agree) need to get their timing, fitness and touch sorted by playing all the time.

Some players are too good to not play. RVP, Rooney, Vidic, Carrick and Nani are these players.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

-------------------DDG------------------
Rafael----Smalling----Evans-----Fabio
---------Carrick---------Fellaini--------
----Zaha-------Kagawa-------Nani-----
-----------------Rooney-----------------

We need to get confidence in our offense and this is the perfect time to try and find that.

I dont think Zaha will be going into any starting line up whatsoever.

Why no Hernandez if your first statement is to be believed?

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

Nani and Valencia re our stroinfgest wingers, but I would like to see more of Zaha and Janujaz, sometimes younger players have more to prove...

 

[ghaliboy]

Even World Class players like Tevez (ok well close to World Class if you don't agree) need to get their timing, fitness and touch sorted by playing all the time.

World class? Turn it up.

 

[antohan]

Nani and Valencia re our stroinfgest wingers, but I would like to see more of Zaha and Janujaz, sometimes younger players have more to prove...

One issue is three of those are best used (or any use) on the right. Then add that none of our wingers can do what Valencia can when he does perform. Unfortunately, Valencia's one-footedness doesn't only mean Nani moving left to coexist but also that the scope for wing-swapping is gone (which is one upside for Nani to pair up with Welbeck or Kagawa once fit). That also works against Zaha getting much gametime and will result in Januzaj getting the lion's share of the available minutes to blood youngsters.

I think both the Nani lovers and haters are way OTT here. He should probably be starting most games if fit, but there are clear cases where Valencia on the right or Welbeck on the left would be preferable.

It's the persistence with Young that I find bizarre, can't see how he can realistically start ahead of Welbeck if we want workrate (or effectively Hernández upfront on Sunday), or Nani (and Kagawa once he gets closer to fitness) if we want some creativity and flair.

If you look at rotation considerations I would much rather use the gametime towards Januzaj's development, let alone free up some for Zaha at all.

Basically, he is a backup and shouldn't even be on the matchday squad when everyone is fit. And no, I have no beef with him nor will I call him pathetic, I just don't see the point at all considering the other options available.

 

[Stack]

One major reason for wingers swapping sides is that they can cut in and shoot with their strong foot. Valencia could easily swap wings. Wide players arent only used to provide crosses.

 

[antohan]

One major reason for wingers swapping sides is that they can cut in and shoot with their strong foot. Valencia could easily swap wings. Wide players arent only used to provide crosses.

Of course, but there's only one thing worse than Valencia being predictably going to turn to his right and hoping to get a good cross in and that would be Valencia predictably cutting in from the left hoping to shoot and having no hope of resorting back to his left peg. On that basis you may as well play Young ahead of him.

Proof of the pudding is, have you ever seen Valencia switch to the left flank? Guess why not.

 

[Aboutreika18]

There was a game against Birmingham in 2010 where we had Giggs playing on the right and Valencia on the left but apart from that he's never played there for us.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

From a neutral's point of view I would much rather see Valencia/Young on the opposition team sheet at the expense of Nani.

Nani is a much better player than both of them when he's on form, but I suppose that's the issue to begin with.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

From a neutral's point of view I would much rather see Valencia/Young on the opposition team sheet at the expense of Nani.

Nani is a much better player than both of them when he's on form, but I suppose that's the issue to begin with.

It is but if we're talking about form right now most of us would take Mr. Inconsistency over Mr. Nonexistency. I'd stick with Valencia on the right, myself.

 

[antohan]

Yes, long as we have persisted, I wouldn't give up on Valencia just yet but we do need to mix it up here and there.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Very good from nani the other day. Shooting was a bit off but his general passing and movement and ability to keep the ball was quality. Start him ahead of Valencia and young.

 

[kouroux]

From a neutral's point of view I would much rather see Valencia/Young on the opposition team sheet at the expense of Nani.

Nani is a much better player than both of them when he's on form, but I suppose that's the issue to begin with.

Wouldn't a neutral fan wanna prefer to have the most "spectacular" players on the pitch ? Therefore Nani would be the choice.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Nani needs to play to get into form though, does he not?

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Wouldn't a neutral fan wanna prefer to have the most "spectacular" players on the pitch ? Therefore Nani would be the choice.

Whoops, by neutral I mean opposition.

I think Nani is a better player than the other two by a margin when he is in form.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

One issue is three of those are best used (or any use) on the right. Then add that none of our wingers can do what Valencia can when he does perform. Unfortunately, Valencia's one-footedness doesn't only mean Nani moving left to coexist but also that the scope for wing-swapping is gone (which is one upside for Nani to pair up with Welbeck or Kagawa once fit). That also works against Zaha getting much gametime and will result in Januzaj getting the lion's share of the available minutes to blood youngsters.

I think both the Nani lovers and haters are way OTT here. He should probably be starting most games if fit, but there are clear cases where Valencia on the right or Welbeck on the left would be preferable.

It's the persistence with Young that I find bizarre, can't see how he can realistically start ahead of Welbeck if we want workrate (or effectively Hernández upfront on Sunday), or Nani (and Kagawa once he gets closer to fitness) if we want some creativity and flair.

If you look at rotation considerations I would much rather use the gametime towards Januzaj's development, let alone free up some for Zaha at all.

Basically, he is a backup and shouldn't even be on the matchday squad when everyone is fit. And no, I have no beef with him nor will I call him pathetic, I just don't see the point at all considering the other options available.

Agree with most of that, except the bolded part. Could you explain this? I don't know if I misunderstood it, but Zaha (although prefers the right) has played on the left I believe, and I don't believe he is as one footed as Valencia...

EDIT: And although I realise the benefit of wingers being able to switch, is it essential every game now would you say? As if not, Valencia and Nani could play smaller games without the need to interchange.

 

[finneh]

Nani has always been a player that requires several games to hit top form. It is no coincidence that the years he's played 40+ games and been a regular starter have also been the times where he has been one of our best players.

The performance on Wednesday was a positive in that respect. When he's been out of the team he always tries the spectacular, presumably as he thinks unless he scores a couple he'll be dropped. The main things to take from the performance was his positivity on the ball, his first touch and his link up play with Rafael and our forwards.

I personally would play the same attacking 4 vs West Brom as on Wednesday (there is an argument for bringing Valencia back, but I think the Rafael/Nani combination is far more lethal, and the former can't play on the left).