Don't understand why Varela got dropped, he should be at the top of the pecking order for RB.
36
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 10
- Status
Di Maria says "Hello, its me" In fact its becoming a bit of trait of most of the squad these days. The sheer regression back to the primate stage is alarming. Soon we will have players trying to light a fire with two stones and using the corner flag as a spear for hunting. Its truly staggering what we seem to be doing to players lately.
Top analogy.
Has he regressed though or were we just giving him the benefit of the doubt that all new signings are afforded? He was very poor today and I'm not going to blame van Gaal for a professional footballers inability to beat the first man with a cross or make a simple ten yard pass
I really want this guy to be a success here but I don't know, I'm just not seeing it from him at the moment. Seems to be a common theme that players struggle more coming from Serie A than the other European leagues. Personally I would of kept Varela in today, and brought Darmian on as a sub to try and salvage some confidence.
I don't care who covers for him, we were down to 10 men and struggling to create a goal in a game we had to win. He did feck all going forward as usual. You have to take risks in games like this, he takes none while not even being that great defensively.
Since when has it became ok for full backs to offer nothing at all going forward. It's half their job, and don't bore the tits off me with any of that he's a defender first bullshit. He's not even that good defensively.
It's simple he isn't putting enough effort in to help the team offensively, i don't care why. He needs to get his fecking finger out and help his winger, whoever is playing in front of him.
He's basically the poster boy for our pathetic attacking play this season.
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Yep, sums up his reign here.
Utter wank, why drop Varela for this loser. His distribution is just plain second class, I honestly think a few of the kids are better than him.
Guardiola wanted him at Bayern apparently. He looked like a steal at the beginning of the season and was subbed a few times for Valencia because he was doing so much running up and down the line that he looked out on his feet, then came that match where he got booked and pulled at half time and seems like he's never been the same since. But as @Renegade81 mentioned there's been numerous top players now get worse gradually after signing for us. I mean he should be able to pass the ball at a minimum.
Resting Varela for the Europa League match?
And through it all lately, something still tells me he's a defender Jose would really love.
Yep, don't think installing Mourinho as the manager will see him being dropped.
Yea,you gonna tell him.
Haha...Let's hope he can develop the evil side, to compensate for his lack of aggression..
When he plays, I'd rather he just stayed back as an ultra-defensive full back. His attacking is rubbish, but he's still a good defender.
On the flipside, Varela is a very exciting attacker, pace on tap and loves to run with the ball, but his defensive positioning is garbage.
On the flipside, Varela is a very exciting attacker, pace on tap and loves to run with the ball, but his defensive positioning is garbage.
He is a good defender, but does he know how to find an open player? His attacking contribution is woeful. He contributes nothing in attack.
In the first 10 minutes, there were 3 occasions where his cross hit the first defender, and after that he started to hide and not cross anymore.
Absolutely unacceptable and cowardly.
Absolutely unacceptable and cowardly.
How has he been very average defensively. Give me some substance. A hundred RedCafe poster's saying it over and over again does not make it true.
In the air? Superb.
1 v 1 situations? On an average day, every 5 1v1 duels I say he wins 4/5 of them. He struggles against guys with pace, but with more and more Enlgish football he will defeinitely come around.
Positioning has been really good aswell. He holds his ground quite well.
I agree with you that he is weak. I think he could benefit from getting into the weight room a little bit, but that isn't what makes up a full back completely.
Darmain does not kill any play. The reason why he was great going forward at the beginning of the season was because Mata was always cutting inside all the time trying to make plays, which gave Darmian a lot of space to try and run into taking the pressure away from the right hand side;thus, creating more space. It was the same thing in Italy I believe(someone correct if I am wrong), they played a 3-5-2 which stretched the game a lot and helped Darmian aswell. When he plays with Lingard It is a different story. Lingard is right footed, and since he is offensively limited in 1 v 1s on the right side, he has to try to put in a good cross in. This makes the right side very congested and puts the onus on Darmian to have to carry on much of the attacking workload. Do you think this is something that would be easy to do in a very stagnant and possesion based system where everyone is standing around? No it would not be. Varela would work better because of his crossing ability and his speed, however, take away Lingard, and you have a championship level defender.
FYI-Bellerin and defense should never be mentioned in the same sentence.
"It is not like has has been so great defensively" " He had his bad moments in the beginning of the season"
Wait a minute, you guys are saying that defenders can make mistakes or have bad games? Wow, I never would have known.
Wait a minute, you guys are saying that defenders can make mistakes or have bad games? Wow, I never would have known.
He was absolutely outstanding the first 4/5 games of the season, a proper little gary nev clone.
Now he makes Andre Santos look like Cafu. Hopefully its just a write off season and he comes back stronger.
Now he makes Andre Santos look like Cafu. Hopefully its just a write off season and he comes back stronger.
I must have missed those games earlier in the season, because i don't think i have seen one game from him which i could describe him as great going forward. Ok perhaps but not great.
I was saying even after his first few games when he defended and generally played very well that he needed to offer more going forward.
As the season has gone on he has got worse to the point where his attacking contribution is virtually non existent. Bar a few games before his recent injury notably at Anfield where he defended well. He has been pretty poor defensively as well since that early patch of good form.
Hes never been great going forward.Craig Dawson, a CB, looking like fecking Roberto Carlos today compared to Darmian and Rojo for that matter. Its no coincidence that we actually play some good football with some fullbacks who actually offer something in possession and go back to shite with Darmian. We would have been better off with no one while in possession than Darmian and Rojo. He is completely inconsistent defensively too, hes been destroyed on a number of occasions. I'd hardly say he was even good defensively today either, a pylon could have done a job against Chester, another CB, and Sessegnon who has to be the laziest fecker in the league.
You are completely missing the point. Yes he has looked awful going forward, but there are reasons for it that are not entirely his fault!
I would say he has been very well defensively throughout aside from maybe 2 or 3 games here and there. Do you think he was bad defensively this game and why? In fact nevermind why do I even bother. Lets get Varela out there and bench Darmian. That way when we get an actual right winger in the summer and Varela gets exposed for the non entity on defense he is, we can then crucify him aswell.
#TheUnitedWay
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Craig Dawson, a CB, looking like fecking Roberto Carlos today compared to Darmian and Rojo for that matter. Its no coincidence that we actually play some good football with some fullbacks who actually offer something in possession and go back to shite with Darmian. We would have been better off with no one while in possession than Darmian and Rojo. He is completely inconsistent defensively too, hes been destroyed on a number of occasions. I'd hardly say he was even good defensively today either, a pylon could have done a job against Chester, another CB, and Sessegnon who has to be the laziest fecker in the league.
This statement is the exact thing that is wrong with certain United fans nowadays. Credit can never be given to our players.
If they defend well today, then we get "oh the guys he was up against where absolute crap anyways he should have been doing that from the start"
If they don't they get crucified.
We honestly don't deserve to have the best players out there when we are so damn spoiled and unappreciative of the players we have already have. I have no problem with people calling out the reality of the situation, but to be on the extreme negative side of things just baffles me. No sense of perspective at all.
Cant see a player with worse first touch than his in our team maybe Rooney. Hope this was just a rotation than anything and Varela will come back to the side next game, I'd like to give the lad a chance next season but I don't see potential there, you can adjust to the tempo of the game but ability to dribble is very hard to train up over short time. That's why I believe Varela can be better fullback easily than him. I said it from the day one Darmian is just not United quality, that was a real nonsense to send younger and twice better Rafael out. The Brazilian also never struggled to get into form after injury. Darmian seems to lack any kind of confidence..
You sound livid. Which is surprising because most of us are resigned to players completely regressing under LVG. I liked him so much at the beginning of the season and thought it was actually prudent letting Rafa go. Man Rafa would have busted a gut yesterday and would have taken out a couple of WBA players' legs with him.
Joe Riley >
I can't really be arsed pulling up stats etc. I know from what I have seen with my own eyes that he's extremely average defensively, that's really not hard to see. As I said, the fact that he is indeed average defensively, means that he doesn't make up for his horrible offensive work with the defensive aspect of his game.
Have you watched any of our matches? He basically kills every single attack when he touches the ball. His first touch is shocking, he is ponderous in possession and he rarely manages to get the ball into the box. If you are happy with him / this form, then feck me, you have very low expectations from what a fullback should be.
FYI - Bellerin is a far better defender.
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Hes very good defensively. The only thing he struggles with is getting his body shape right, which leads to fast wingers getting a yard on him. Tackling, heading and positioning is all generally good. He needs to improve offensively but he has shown glimpses when his confidence has been up and it doesnt help when all our attacking talent is down the left. Ill judge him next Christmas when hes had a pre season and a few games under his belt.
We seem to love the kids but what about when Borthwick-Jackson cost us a game by sitting half a mile behind the offside trap, or when Luke Shaw went charging upfield early in the season and left his flank wide open against Swansea? They are all young and/or learning to cope with the fastest and most physical league on the planet.
Nope, for me he's certainly not very good defensively and he's absolutely atrocious offensively. For me, he's just not a very good fullback at all. I was impressed with him initally but feck knows what's happened to him since. As I said previously, I wouldn't sell him this summer and he deserves more time. But if he played like this next season, I would be happy to see the back of him.
He's been awful going forward no matter the formation, who's playing in front of him or even the opposition (he was crap against Sheffield United). So yes it's fair to say it is his fault for the most part. He's just not willing or able to contribute in the oppositions half. He looks to me nothing more than a decent-ish CB playing at RB.
He was alright but we were playing fecking West Brom, they were playing fairly defensively even after we went down to 10 men. And lets be fair here the cross for their goal came from his side. He wasn't there of course, great positioning indeed.
Yes Valera isn't a top defender by any stretch but he hasn't been bad defensively either while offering us much much more than Darmian does going forward.
And don't start with that United way bullshit. Top fullbacks can defend and attack for their team. Darmian is alright at one (sometimes) and woefully crap at the other. People are going to notice and comment on that glaring deficiency in his game.
To be honest mate i was livid. As bad as it has been watching this team this season. One of the worst parts for me has been watching Darmian plodding up and down the right barely getting over the half way line and offering us nothing. And generally looking not arsed or knackered most of the time.
As much as a lot of players have regressed under LVG, i don't think it's the case here with Darmian. I just don't see how this guy is ever going to be good enough going forward, i just don't think he has it in his game. As i said earlier he looks like a converted CB to me.
Bringing in a new first choice RB was definitely the right move (though we should have kept Rafa to rotate), we just got the wrong guy.
It would be harsh to blame Darmian for the goal, but I´ve always thought his awareness and reactions are that of a League One defender. Watch him on the goal. He´s like a lost little boy, and by the time he´s gained some awareness of what´s happening, the cross passes right in front of his face and he has zero reaction. Goal for Rondon.
And by the way, what is the due date for the never-ending parade of excuses for why Darmian is shite? It´s getting a bit old. I´ve never seen a United player who needs so many tired excuses. That´s what I love about about Varela. A twenty two year old with zero PL or top level experience, he slots right in, plays tenacious defense, bombs forward, crosses and sets up goals . . . and needs no excuses!
And by the way, what is the due date for the never-ending parade of excuses for why Darmian is shite? It´s getting a bit old. I´ve never seen a United player who needs so many tired excuses. That´s what I love about about Varela. A twenty two year old with zero PL or top level experience, he slots right in, plays tenacious defense, bombs forward, crosses and sets up goals . . . and needs no excuses!
You'd think his performances might make people appreciate Valencia more but apparently not.
Valencia last season vs Zabeleta 13/14, Azpilicueta 14/15 and Bellerin this season.
Valencia last season vs Zabeleta 13/14, Azpilicueta 14/15 and Bellerin this season.
Tony has been a HUGE miss.
I thought he was the top right back in the league just before he got hurt, and I don´t think there were many better worldwide either.
Darmian was following/marking Sessegnon, it was Rashfords man who put the cross in. Unfortunately he tucked in far too much trying to close off space, but really there was no danger there. He gave the LB far too much room to pick a nice cross, then Blind lost Rondon trying to anticipate where the ball was going.
Either way you can't really blame Darmian for that goal.
As I said, I was´t really blaming him, I just think his play awareness and reactions are very very poor. He could´ve done better. He has this rep as a great defender, no doubt from his excellent one on one play, but in general I think he´s crap. Poor marking on set pieces. Often out of position. Skinned constantly by pacey wingers. Stupid, dangerous fouls to make up for poor defending. Slow. He has been at fault, or at least suspect, on an inordinate number of goals this year.
And one of the worst offensive fullbacks I´ve ever seen at United. I think even John O´Shea offered more going forward. He does´t even have an assist this year.
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How? How the fecking hell is he supposed to mark two people at once. It was clearly Rashfords man was it not? Is he supposed to go help a footballer carry out basic team concepts that were taught to them since the age of 6? Give me a break.
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