Matteo Darmian image 36

Matteo Darmian Italy flag

2015-16 Performances


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5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
39
Clean sheets
20
Goals
1
Assists
1
Yellow cards
10
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I wasn't excited about him on pre-season unlike some but I think this lack of rotation has killed him.Needed to be in a top shape to defend against a top player like Sanchez (especially when the midfield two was two static 30+ yo players).His lack of attacking abilities always concern me though.
 
I still haven't figured out what it is people think Darmian is actually good at.

When he has to defend, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to attack, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to play football, he doesn't do it very well. He isn't amazingly fast, or big, or strong. So what is it people think he's good at?

I've only seen him play ok so far, and that's against non threat teams like Sunderland, where you could play a kid there and they'd look ok more often than not.

I mean fair enough it's his first season, but that's an excuse for being a bit shite, not an excuse to pretend he hasn't been.
 
Guy needs a rest, unfortunately he won't be getting that any time soon. Italy have two important games coming up, after that it's away to Everton and away to CSKA followed by City. Hopefully he picks up a tactical yellow against City so that he's banned vs Boro, otherwise there's no stopping LVG from picking him in that game.

The amount of work full backs are supposed to do is quite draining and demanding. Teams are supposed to have four proper full backs. Look at City with Zaba, Sagna, Kolarov and Clichy. It's really not Darmian's fault that he's the only proper full back fit at the moment and will remain that until Shaw is back or we sign some cover in January. Say what you want but players like Valencia, Jones, Blind and Young are not full backs.

He had a poor game but I'm not blaming him for the result. 1v1 vs players of Alexis' calibre is the death of most defenders. Our defence was quite stretched because Bastian was playing Rooney's role and the wingers weren't tracking back. Give any decent counter attacking side that much space time after time again and they will punish you regardless of how good you are.
 
When people are making judgements, they should also remembr he's new to this league. He's done well overall imo.
 
I still haven't figured out what it is people think Darmian is actually good at.

When he has to defend, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to attack, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to play football, he doesn't do it very well. He isn't amazingly fast, or big, or strong. So what is it people think he's good at?

I've only seen him play ok so far, and that's against non threat teams like Sunderland, where you could play a kid there and they'd look ok more often than not.

I mean fair enough it's his first season, but that's an excuse for being a bit shite, not an excuse to pretend he hasn't been.
:lol:
 
Darmian got roasted by Sanchez who was playing at his top level. He wouldn't have been the only RB to struggle against Sanchez in that type of form. He looked in a total panic by the 10th minute.

Let's not forget that he's new to the league, he had absolutely nothing in the way of protection from Mata (same happened on the other side with Memphis as well) and Arsenal were essentially allowed to run at the defense at will due to our Midfield two being literally non-existent.

He was awful, the entire game is a write-off and he needs to show what he's made of when he's given another chance. Perhaps Varela could be given a shot at right back? I actually think Darmian has looked better at left back if i'm honest.
 
Darmian will be fine. Evra and Vidic had a tough start as well. The guy is intelligent and will adapt. He could use a break now and then though. But our situation is what it is for the moment. No need to lose our shit over this.
 
I hope that performance yesterday hasn't knocked his confidence here long-term because it was honestly that bad. I have faith that he's a good player and early in the season he looked promising, so he needs to get over yesterday fast, learn from it and move on. Hopefully he has a couple of solid games for Italy that will build his confidence a bit again.
 
Why didn't we keep Rafael as his backup/competition ?
Because he was mostly injured? As he is now for his new club. We're therefore proper fecked until at least January to see if we can get someone else.
 
I still haven't figured out what it is people think Darmian is actually good at.

When he has to defend, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to attack, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to play football, he doesn't do it very well. He isn't amazingly fast, or big, or strong. So what is it people think he's good at?

I've only seen him play ok so far, and that's against non threat teams like Sunderland, where you could play a kid there and they'd look ok more often than not.

I mean fair enough it's his first season, but that's an excuse for being a bit shite, not an excuse to pretend he hasn't been.

He looked like a good all rounder for his first couple of league games, but other than that I agree. People were over the moon when we signed him and praising him in pre-season but he looked like the average right back to me
 
He looked like a good all rounder for his first couple of league games, but other than that I agree. People were over the moon when we signed him and praising him in pre-season but he looked like the average right back to me

I think that is a bit harsh. like someone said earlier, he passed in the ball for our only real chance of the game. The whole team bombed yesterday and he had a particularly bad day, but he's not average. He needs to improve going forward, but on most occasions he's reliable enough to be in position and get a tackle in. The way his day was going, the 3rd goal summed it up. Tackle wasn't strong enough against someone like Sanchez.

I genuinely can't think of a better right back in the league (not saying he's the best, just don't think there are many around better, they are all this pretty decent level). Bellerin is faster, but Sagna is the only one I could really say has outshone him.
 
If anyone deserves a pass for yesterday, it's Darmian.
 
Put Sanchez against any defender one vs one and he'd destroy them. You have to double up on him and I saw none of that yesterday. Disappointed really.
 
Too many overreaction about his performance versus Arsenal. He should have done better with our first goal, but I doubt many other fullback would have done that much better against Sanchez in that form.
 
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I still haven't figured out what it is people think Darmian is actually good at.

When he has to defend, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to attack, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to play football, he doesn't do it very well. He isn't amazingly fast, or big, or strong. So what is it people think he's good at?

I've only seen him play ok so far, and that's against non threat teams like Sunderland, where you could play a kid there and they'd look ok more often than not.

I mean fair enough it's his first season, but that's an excuse for being a bit shite, not an excuse to pretend he hasn't been.

Agree with this to an extent.

I think his defending at times has been good e.g. Spurs, Villa, Wolfsburg but has also had some truly dreadful games at PSV, Southampton and Arsenal.

I think he is a decent defender but so average on the ball. Looks panicky when he receives it and chooses the easy option, first touch poor and has surrendered possession multiple times by not having the confidence to take a touch.
 
Id rest him perhaps for Everton , and start Valencia. Seeing as Italy have already qualified(I think), a word with Conte to give him a rest wouldnt hurt. But he is a good defender, and he was good on Wednesday. It was a terrible day at the office for him though against Arsenal.
 
Did he have any other bad games besides the last one?
 
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think he might be getting overworked, partly due to intensity of the premier league. he's played the full 90 in the 12 games he played this season didn't he? started a long string of games before the soton game as well.
 
He is definitely deteriorating by each game. Need to start with Valencia for a few games. The problem is that if Rojo is also out, we would then need to play Young as the other full back, which is far from ideal.
 
It might have but it would have taken a well timed run and pass. Valencia's failure to step out meant they had a huge margin for error on both elements. It was horrible defending all round, really. All the more frustrating because it involved four players usually known for their defensive smarts (Blind, Smalling, Schneiderlin and Darmian) If any of them had done their job a bit better then Valencia's naivety would have been much less of an issue (still an issue though)

The comment about "some people" wasn't aimed at you btw. @Nobby style has been a fervent defender of Valencia for ages (sometimes with good reason, sometimes not so much) which seems to have translated into a desire to constantly belittle Valencia's replacement, Darmian. Who's had a couple of ropey displays but has generally been excellent (i.e. better than valencia)

The thing is, Valencia is measured by milimetrics for everything negative, and usually completely ignored for anything positive, whereas Darmian is completely measured the opposite. For anything right, his balls are polished to a beautiful sheen, and not many people notice his feck ups. I´m just going to measure Darmian equally. The guy has been at fault on four goals in this young year already, been skinned several times, has been yanked off at halftime for being shite, and provides basically zero offense, which for a Manchester United fullback is a sin, yet by reading the praise of him, you would think he's the second coming of christ. The guy is usually decent and has very good moments defensively, but he is massively overrated in response to the bandwagon of hate for Valencia.

Sooo, tell me I wasn´t absolutely spot on on my criticism of Darmian. I´m not making this up just to "belittle Valencia´s replacement."

Let´s continue to evaluate his play once again. It´s only fair to measure with the same microscope that is on Valencia.

At fault for goals . . . . yep, add two more to that tally after that embarrassing display at the Emirates. That´s about 6 now, and we´ve barely begun the year.

Another yellow card . . . . yep, to save himself from being skinned again he resorts to clumsy fouls ending in dangerous free kicks. How many yellow cards already? 4? 5? Same thing over and over. Careless fouls to make up for shite defending.

Zero chemistry with Mata . . . once again mata turned to shit as they have no understanding. Mata looked better when Tony came on, and seems to be one of our best players with Valencia behind him making runs and giving him width.

Replaced at halftime for being shite . . . the second time now in 8 PL matches. In other words, he´s been so bad in 1/4 of our PL matches he´s needed to be replaced by Valencia who has shored things up. On what footballing planet is a defender considered good when he´s yanked up for being shite 25% of the time? And if you look at our two CL matches, he was absolute crap against PSV, allowing goals and all, so he´s been shite in 50% of our CL matches as well.

Taking on a man . . . . I don´t think I´ve ever seen him take on a man. Ever! This is a Man United fullback we´re talking about. Absolutely indefensible.

Going forward, creating chances . . . . I think he´s the worst offensive Manchester United fullback I´ve ever seen going forward. We can´t judge his crossing cause it´s such a rare occurrence, and they usually suck when it happens. As we´ve seen with the criticism of Valencia, completely unacceptable for a United fullback.

Defending against elite wingers
. . . raped by Sanchez, raped even by Tadic, probably the second best winger he faced. Pathetic.

I´ve also noticed that in the last two matches, not only were all the goals scored coming from Darmian´s side, but that both Wolsburgh and Arsenal were always attacking Darmian´s side. You would think with United playing two converted wingers as fullbacks, opposing sides would be attacking them. However, Wolfsburg was running through our left side like water through a sieve, and Arsenal attacked the right side when LVG moved the Italian over there with embarrassing results.

I still haven't figured out what it is people think Darmian is actually good at.

When he has to defend, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to attack, he doesn't do it very well. When he has to play football, he doesn't do it very well. He isn't amazingly fast, or big, or strong. So what is it people think he's good at?

I've only seen him play ok so far, and that's against non threat teams like Sunderland, where you could play a kid there and they'd look ok more often than not.

I mean fair enough it's his first season, but that's an excuse for being a bit shite, not an excuse to pretend he hasn't been.

Totally agree with this. He isn´t even in the same league as a Luke Shaw.
 
Weren't you guys slagging off Evra in his first season too? He came good in the end, as will Darmian.
 
I think we won't see consistency from Darmian until next season. It's a whole new level of intensity for him. We were exposed at Arsenal mostly because Van Gaal put 2 granddads in central mid instead of having the defensive energy of Scheiderlin in there and that gave Arsenal a free license to rip us apart......And Arsenal will rip you to pieces if you give them that opportunity......So the whole defense looked awful against Arsenal as wave after wave of attack came at us.......I think Darmian has showed that there is a wonderful defender in there to be developed but it all depends on whether he settles well into living in Manchester. If he settles long term then he will be great in big games starting from next season......But he has absolutely shown in some games that there is a lot to come from him if he can stay injury free and settle in Manchester
 
Other than the Southampton and Arsenal games, he has been very solid. Go back in this thread and see the glowing praise for him.

You're only as good as your last game is how it goes here though. Forget everything good he's done. He got butchered by Sanchez and Monreal because they doubled up on him and he hasn't figured out how to be two people at once. Sell him.
 
Can't believe all the hate Darmian's getting. You guys are crazy. The gulf in quality between him and Valencia is enormous.
 
The Caf becomes unbearable after a loss. Can't wait for the next game.
 
I know Darmian's had a few bad games but ill be shocked if hes not the best in the league in the next season or two... I think everyone's over reacting a touch in here. As we seen by his first 5 or so games he's your typical italian defender. The only place I forsee him lacking is in attack.
 
Seems more like that it´s become unbearable to some to shine the light on some very serious defending and attacking issues.

How many full backs in the league would do well 1 v 1 with Sanchez in a game as ridiculously stretched as it was due to our poor pressing and cover through the middle?

It was daft not to have schneiderlin there to help the defence out.
 
Nobby style said:
Sooo, tell me I wasn´t absolutely spot on on my criticism of Darmian. I´m not making this up just to "belittle Valencia´s replacement."

Let´s continue to evaluate his play once again. It´s only fair to measure with the same microscope that is on Valencia.

At fault for goals . . . . yep, add two more to that tally after that embarrassing display at the Emirates. That´s about 6 now, and we´ve barely begun the year.

Another yellow card . . . . yep, to save himself from being skinned again he resorts to clumsy fouls ending in dangerous free kicks. How many yellow cards already? 4? 5? Same thing over and over. Careless fouls to make up for shite defending.

Zero chemistry with Mata . . . once again mata turned to shit as they have no understanding. Mata looked better when Tony came on, and seems to be one of our best players with Valencia behind him making runs and giving him width.

Replaced at halftime for being shite . . . the second time now in 8 PL matches. In other words, he´s been so bad in 1/4 of our PL matches he´s needed to be replaced by Valencia who has shored things up. On what footballing planet is a defender considered good when he´s yanked up for being shite 25% of the time? And if you look at our two CL matches, he was absolute crap against PSV, allowing goals and all, so he´s been shite in 50% of our CL matches as well.

Taking on a man . . . . I don´t think I´ve ever seen him take on a man. Ever! This is a Man United fullback we´re talking about. Absolutely indefensible.

Going forward, creating chances . . . . I think he´s the worst offensive Manchester United fullback I´ve ever seen going forward. We can´t judge his crossing cause it´s such a rare occurrence, and they usually suck when it happens. As we´ve seen with the criticism of Valencia, completely unacceptable for a United fullback.

Defending against elite wingers
. . . raped by Sanchez, raped even by Tadic, probably the second best winger he faced. Pathetic.

I´ve also noticed that in the last two matches, not only were all the goals scored coming from Darmian´s side, but that both Wolsburgh and Arsenal were always attacking Darmian´s side. You would think with United playing two converted wingers as fullbacks, opposing sides would be attacking them. However, Wolfsburg was running through our left side like water through a sieve, and Arsenal attacked the right side when LVG moved the Italian over there with embarrassing results.



Totally agree with this. He isn´t even in the same league as a Luke Shaw.
What's with all the raping, pal? I'm genuinely concerned.
 
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