Matteo Darmian image 36

Matteo Darmian Italy flag

2015-16 Performances

View full 2015-16 profile

5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
39
Clean sheets
20
Goals
1
Assists
1
Yellow cards
10
Status
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How many goals have we conceded from our right side with him in the team? I think you're quickly forgetting the amount of times he is in the right place at the right time to cover for our CBs. He's just a bit tired or as van Gaal said about our players, in the red zone in terms of fitness.
 
He's very sloppy and its hard to make a case for him on current form being a better choice than Valencia... Which is extremely worrying because the bar is pretty low
 
considering how very little he charges forward, he's not even good that defensively... a fullback who stays back and doesn't need to chase back should be the best defender in the league which Darmian obviously isn't... Hate to say I told you so but he's squad palyer at best, hoping for him to turn out to be our Monreal but meanwhile we need a new RB..

just watch how Galloway, Gomez from Liverpool emerged on the scene. Surely there are some good options out there over the three best English leagues or anywhere in the world. Now it's time for scouts. We don't need to bring in a world class star or a senior figure, we need tenacity with potential. Someone like Bellerín.. or actually give a chance to underrated Varela
 
Jesus Christ, the tide turns so quickly these days.

He's a young-ish player adapting to a new league, of course he is going to have a few teething problems.

I think we've seen enough from him to be confident we've got a good defender on our hands.
 
I just don't get it, he stated the league on fire, winning every tackle and 1on1s. He's been worse than Valencia in terms of defending the past month.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
He's been great going forwards for Italy and he was perceived as an attacking fullback at his previous club, right? Has he been philosophised?
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No, not really.

I am the last one to defend van Gaal and I think few other players have been "philosophised", but Darmian never really looked great going forward for me, and he definitely looks like player who would struggle technically playing for any team when he is under pressure. His passing is average, and he panics too much when under pressure, his technique is really average. Two or three times yesterday he gave the ball away in first 15 minutes due to poor technique/passing/first touch.
 
Hopefully he'll come good but one thing I noticed from his pre United videos was a lack of mobility, something I brought up before he signed. Yet his initial performances blew any such concerns I had away.. seems so strange how his form has just dropped.

Clyne is a beast for Liverpool, we will hopefully not regret missing out on him but he looks a proper player better than Coleman for sure.
 
Not seen much of him so have no view on how good/bad he is but some people seemed to overreact to his early promise.
Trouble with that is the disappointment is greater when a player's form takes a dip.
Think some just need to take a step back and give him a bit longer.
 
Great player but confidence is shot. As LVG cranks up the pressure, some players just don't respond well to it and that's him IMO.
 
I think going forward the biggest problem is that there's no one on the flank ahead of him actually helping out. Valencia has freakish strength and pace that it doesn't matter but Darmian doesn't. Whenever he finds any space it's normally the space Mata has vacated and he finds himself with a man to beat and no one close to him. Mata's support running is also awful whenever he's actually out on the flank, he just doesn't attempt to make space wide by overlapping he just looks to drift inside. This is where Valencia is invaluable for his ability to breeze part people in the middle third and basically end up in positions where we could do with a decent player with end product. Darmian has dropped a level defensively but I think the caf is over playing this post Arsenal. He's still a much better defender than Valencia in my eyes.
 
Have to say I am concerned that he might not be good enough on the ball and not quick/strong enough to be a top full back in this league. Its not just going forward that he struggles with but in possession in our half he also looks panicky and gives the ball away. Still early days but I am hoping Valencia is fit for the next game
 
In a team playing better we could probably not be too concerned I Darmian simply stayed back and was solid in defence. Unfortunately we're in dire need of Valencia out there because despite what people think of him as an individual he is a very good team player and makes the job easier for Mata. We'll be a better team with Valencia in there.
 
Feed Me said:
Jesus Christ, the tide turns so quickly these days.

He's a young-ish player adapting to a new league, of course he is going to have a few teething problems.

I think we've seen enough from him to be confident we've got a good defender on our hands.
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Precisely. His excellent form at the beginning of the season has probably exacerbated the situation. It's a shame that people are writing him, and a number of others, off three months into the season.
 
Raees said:
Hopefully he'll come good but one thing I noticed from his pre United videos was a lack of mobility, something I brought up before he signed. Yet his initial performances blew any such concerns I had away.. seems so strange how his form has just dropped.

Clyne is a beast for Liverpool, we will hopefully not regret missing out on him but he looks a proper player better than Coleman for sure.
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He's come into form more recently but he started pretty poorly, several times he's nearly cost them by making a mistake. I personally wouldn't swap him especially when darmian regains his first months form.
 
Adam-Utd said:
He's come into form more recently but he started pretty poorly, several times he's nearly cost them by making a mistake. I personally wouldn't swap him especially when darmian regains his first months form.
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I personally would. . Clyne is fantastic going forwards. He practically runs that right flank by himself, very good on the ball and fantastic recovery pace.. decent positioning too.. not great but solid. Darmian will hopefully recover his form but even then.. going forwards he doesn't have the same influence as Clyne.
 
Raees said:
I personally would. . Clyne is fantastic going forwards. He practically runs that right flank by himself, very good on the ball and fantastic recovery pace.. decent positioning too.. not great but solid. Darmian will hopefully recover his form but even then.. going forwards he doesn't have the same influence as Clyne.
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That's the problem though he relies on his physical attributes too much. He's basically a slower weaker Valencia with more technique. He goes sleepy especially on cross field passes, a little like Rafael used too.
 
Adam-Utd said:
That's the problem though he relies on his physical attributes too much. He's basically a slower weaker Valencia with more technique. He goes sleepy especially on cross field passes, a little like Rafael used too.
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Nothing wrong with relying on physical attributes, Dani Alves without pace would be shite.. his physical ability enhances his impact as a player. Darmian might be the more intelligent player but unless he can't demonstrate the ability to handle the physical nature of the league and keep up with the faster wingers he'll not make it. I think he does have the pace as he showed in the first few games, its the general fitness which is an issue .. he needs to be able to play at a high physical level consistently. That should come with time.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
He's been great going forwards for Italy and he was perceived as an attacking fullback at his previous club, right? Has he been philosophised?
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He's actually a wing back ie hes used to defend less. It will take him time to adapt in a flat 4 defence
 
devilish said:
He's actually a wing back ie hes used to defend less. It will take him time to adapt in a flat 4 defence
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Not a good excuse at all. He's frequently played in a back four for Italy and his offensive play has been far, far worse than his defensive play. Except the one time he played left back, oddly enough. His best trait is his positional play and sensing danger - it's only his 1 on 1 defending that needs refinement, for me.
 
Brwned said:
Not a good excuse at all. He's frequently played in a back four for Italy and his offensive play has been far, far worse than his defensive play. Except the one time he played left back, oddly enough. His best trait is his positional play and sensing danger - it's only his 1 on 1 defending that needs refinement, for me.
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I'm not interested in excuses. If he keeps playing shit than he should be shown the door. All I'm saying is that he's used to a different formation to the one we use. Also there's not many wingers in the serie a
 
devilish said:
I'm not interested in excuses. If he keeps playing shit than he should be shown the door. All I'm saying is that he's used to a different formation to the one we use. Also there's not many wingers in the serie a
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He should be playing like a wingback for us, though. Like Valencia does. Rojo plays like a hybrid between a third centre back and a left back in the same way Brown did on the opposite side in 2008. That's what gave Evra the licence to motor forward constantly. Darmian has the same responsibility and he fails to do what's asked of an attacking wingback. So I don't see how tactics has anything to do with it.
 
I think people writing him off are doing way too soon. Now I'm not trying to say he's been great recently because he's looked ropey for sure. I reckon it's just a confidence thing, he looked very solid to begin with. I'd back him to get back to form. He's still adapting right now and definitely has the potential to get better. I don't see any room for Valencia to get better in that position.
 
Feed Me said:
Jesus Christ, the tide turns so quickly these days.

He's a young-ish player adapting to a new league, of course he is going to have a few teething problems.

I think we've seen enough from him to be confident we've got a good defender on our hands.
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Yeah, pretty much this. I don't understand opinions, sometimes. A hefty amount of people feel that van Gaal needs more time to embed his philosophy into the team, yet aren't willing to give his players that same leniency.
 
Started very strong, but has started to wobble. But the good we have seen from him is enough to convince me that he is a good player suffering a bit of a dip. In the first few games, he looked unbeatable. Pretty much nobody got past him with the ball. Looked solid in one on one situations. Good in the air too. In those opening games, the general consensus was essentially "what a difference a proper right back makes", and he did make a difference from the off. There was a collective hard-on for him around here.

He starts to wobble, which coincides from the whole team underperforming, and he's shit all of a sudden.

We sure do ride the form rollercoaster here, eh? You're either Paolo Maldini incarnate, or you're not fit to lace the boots of William Prunier. Zero middle ground.
 
OnlyTwoDaSilvas said:
Started very strong, but has started to wobble. But the good we have seen from him is enough to convince me that he is a good player suffering a bit of a dip. In the first few games, he looked unbeatable. Pretty much nobody got past him with the ball. Looked solid in one on one situations. Good in the air too. In those opening games, the general consensus was essentially "what a difference a proper right back makes", and he did make a difference from the off. There was a collective hard-on for him around here.

He starts to wobble, which coincides from the whole team underperforming, and he's shit all of a sudden.

We sure do ride the form rollercoaster here, eh? You're either Paolo Maldini incarnate, or you're not fit to lace the boots of William Prunier. Zero middle ground.
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Not everyone has been on this rollercoaster. There are those of us who thought we was bang average from the beginning regardless of the group think bandwagon. Imagine bigging up a Manchester United fullback with no attacking ability? Madness!

Anyway, this checklist is becoming more and more familiar and depressing.

Yanked off early for being shite . . . check! Imagine having to bring on Ashley Young as a defensive necessity?? Just how shite are you? Credit to Ashley though, he seemed to handle Zaha without much problem and actually gave us something offensive.

Put a decent wing against him and he´s a disaster . . . check! You could almost see Super Alan licking his chops for the second half to set loose Zaha against Darmian.

Yellow card (and suspension) to make up for shite defending . . . check! Again he resorts to embarrassing fouls to save himself being skinned again, getting yet another yellow. That one on Zaha just outside the box (not the yellow) was the stuff off league 1 football. The suspension may be a positive thing at least.

Nothing offensively . . . check! I would´ve graded him less than zero for his attacking contribution. It´s Palace for fecks sake, get yourself up there, old bean!

Zero understanding with Mata or Herrera . . . check! Funny how Mata becomes like our best player with Valencia behind him. I wonder why? And who´s forgotten those interesting triangles with Valencia and Mata and Herrera we started seeing last year? This is almost argument enough for Valencia being above him.

Adding to his tally of goals allowed . . . ok, they didn´t score off him this time. We´ll give him that. But not for lack of trying. He almost gifted them like three goals in the first ten minutes, and if LVG hadn´t yanked him off, it was only a matter of time before Zaha would´ve either scored or set something up. It was getting downright embarrassing. Shame we can´t play Sunderland every week, and get the best out of this guy.

Or is the poor lad just being "philosophized" by that evil LVG? Jesus! Get well soon, Tony. Please! Darmian may well be our future at right back, but that future is defo not now. He´s been absolutely awful.
 
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He really hasn't been "absolutely awful". Look at the threadmarks. Barely anything resembling a bad word said about him up until the Arsenal game. Quotes from LvG praising him as the best signing, column inches from pundits praising how good he has been. He made a number of the Soccer Saturday bunch's Team of the Season so far a few weeks back.

He's been fine, often very good, but he's had 2 or 3 poor games.
 
He has done very well. People don't seem to take into account that he is new to the league. He'll be flying for next season.
 
He is in a new country,league,team...its called adaptation,ah forget it,sell him in January.
 
He was absolutely horrible against Palace. Nowhere to be seen in the tricky situations. fecked the ball around on the pitch and could hardly control it himself. What the hell is happening when all the guys in the team is suddenly starting to lobb the ball to each other all of a sudden??? just what the feck?

Darmian, I forgive you for this one bad game. Please try to be a bit quicker next time will ya.
 
OnlyTwoDaSilvas said:
He really hasn't been "absolutely awful". Look at the threadmarks. Barely anything resembling a bad word said about him up until the Arsenal game. Quotes from LvG praising him as the best signing, column inches from pundits praising how good he has been. He made a number of the Soccer Saturday bunch's Team of the Season so far a few weeks back.

He's been fine, often very good, but he's had 2 or 3 poor games.
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Do you bother reading threads or watching matches? Read (or watch the match) about him vs PSV and at fault for both goals. What about Southampton where he was so wank and was being skinned so badly by Tadic (Tadic!!!) that LVG yanked him off at halftime and resolved that issue. This has been going on for a while. And thank god Valencia was available for City and Sterling! Can you imagine?
 
Nobby style said:
Do you bother reading threads or watching matches? Read (or watch the match) about him vs PSV and at fault for both goals. What about Southampton where he was so wank and was being skinned so badly by Tadic (Tadic!!!) that LVG yanked him off at halftime and resolved that issue. This has been going on for a while.
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Tadic is a good player.
 
Nobby styles' painfully see-through agenda is pretty embarrassing. It's like he's absorbed all of that equally embarrassing Valencia abuse and channeled it all into one bizarre attack on Darmian.
 
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