We were actually fairly average in the first half. Nani did stand out though, for the wrong reason. He either puts in a brilliant performance or an absolutely shite one, and overall he was shite against Milan, although he had a few good moments. It's so infuriating because he has the potential to be a class player.
Nani will reignite our charge to the title
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Whenever Nani's playing he always gets to take set-pieces ahead of Rooney.
The set-piece pecking order seems to be Giggs, then Nani, then Rooney, then Carrick.
Rooney gave the ball away a lot but most of the team wasn't poor.
Nani was poor, Rooney (goal aside) was poor(ish) and Evra wasn't great but the rest of them played very well.
What another fantastic assist.
Think it was a little fortunate to get through to Rooney, but he had a great game today. On the left.
Two times his done it at the start of the 2nd half. More of that please.
He was very lively today.
Seemed like every single attack United had the first 75 minutes came from the left wing.
Seemed like every single attack United had the first 75 minutes came from the left wing.
Thought he played well. A couple of time he was trying to be too cute, but for the most part, he did well.
one of his better games. His decision making was spot on today just some poor execution. Fluffed a good chance on the volley and maybe his corners werent the best but he was up and down the field, quick layoffs and linked well with evra.
more of the same and his confidence will grow.
more of the same and his confidence will grow.
It was bright play to set up the second goal. What foxed the defence was how quickly he got it out of his feet and fed it in towards Rooney, players didnt have time to set themselves to attack the crossed ball and it was perfectly into Rooney's path.
I think Valencia was seem by Fulham as our predominant outlet and was targeted as such which left us a bit more room on the left. Nani took advantage of that and played very well, making a number of splendid crosses.
I thought he was better against Milan in all honesty. Maybe I'm weird.
His brain seems to be functioning better and better with more games, a couple of wayward shots aside which was still acceptable. On the left I feel he should try to cross it with his left peg more rather than cutting inside all the time which he can do as seen from one early cross. But overall he's been growing into that left wing role which is good to see.
He was excellent, definitely our best player in the first half.
Amazing that he was actually still getting stick from spastics like Raees in the match day thread today. Some people can't see past their dislike for the lad. Embarrassing really.
Amazing that he was actually still getting stick from spastics like Raees in the match day thread today. Some people can't see past their dislike for the lad. Embarrassing really.
Yea agreed, I usually only go into match day threads at HT but I was following it a bit today and some of the posts about Nani (as well as Berbatov) were ridiculous. I'm starting to think Ekeke might be right about some people just hating him.
I've agreed with that theory for months. The lad has been frustrating to watch for 3 years and made some daft decisions, whilst still looking like he could end up good. People obviously became divided on him, I hoped he'd come good whilst some just completely dismissed him. It seems like the people who dismissed him just can't see that he's clearly transformed recently.
I think he's steadily showing signs of maturing. If he keeps it up at that rate until the end of the season and into the next one, then he'll definitely have a future at united. Come on Nani!
Excellent performance by him today, delighted to see that he can recreate his right wing's performances on the left wing also. I maybe over-reacting a little but I seriously can't think of a better wing pairing in Europe than Valencia and Nani apart from Ribery and Robben for Bayern.
The thing is I can understand people reaching the 'I've had it with him' mentality over the last few years, but how they can still make such comments after how he's played overall this season is what I don't get. He's a United player, we should all be overjoyed that he's turned himself around, not being more concerned with having been wrong on the internet.
Not just Valencia and Nani, but Giggs and Park who some top clubs would be quite happy with as their first choice wingers - age not considered. Our pool of wingers at the moment is simply better than anyone's. People always go on about having 4 quality strikers like '99. At the moment we have 4 quality wingers who have all produced very good form at times this season.
Good post.
Brilliant game for nani. Follow the same path and he'll be looking at a big future with us that was first predicted than an exit.
It may also be that he just doesnt look natural on the left like most left footed wingers and some right wingers who have made the role their own, like Ribery.
So even when he plays very well on the left and creates goals for us with good play, people may still feel a bit funny about him because he just doesnt look quite as natural there as they'd want from their left winger. Which could give the impression that he's not the solution in that position, even though he's clearly got so much talent and he can play well there. Again, it's about patience. Over the years he should start to look more natural there - but he has played there quite a lot now and he doesn't really look more natural than in his first season when we played him there. Its not a deal breaker at all though when he can still play very well in the position.
good game by Nani today
Agreed. It's amazing how at the start of the season, we were still relying on Ryan Giggs to provide us some magic from the wing but now with Nani and Park's resurgence and Valencia settling into the side, our wing play has been excellent for the past month. Long it may continue
I would hope that people would draw their conclusions based on what a player produces, rather than how he looks whilst he's doing it, but having read some of the comments on him recently I'm wary I might be giving some people too much credit by assuming that.
I don't know what it is he needs to do to bring some people round, but there were people in the match day thread saying we need to sign a left winger and that he'd be getting a bollocking at HT etc, it's just unreal. He was brilliant today and I don't understand United fans not being happy for him.
Presumably you don't consider Kaka and Ronaldo, Henry/Iniesta and Messi as wingers then?
I would consider strength as one of Nani's strengths now. Doesn't seem to fall down as much as before.
It's much harder in games like today when the opposition defence is solid and compact. He still managed to squeeze in that brilliant pass to Rooney.
played very well today despite the disrespect he gets from the match commentators. hearing them take shots at him and berb gets really tiresome.
He was our best player for long spells yesterday...everything went through him on the left, and he was the driving force behind getting us forward. Well played
Just because it isnt as big a weakness as before doesnt mean its now one of his strengths. Really the difference is balance.Kaka hasnt really done the business for Madrid. Iniesta rarely does the business when played left wing and Henry has lost his form this season. Ronaldo and Messi are brilliant obviously.
Kaka and Ronaldo are not playing as wingers this season. Yes really!
Henry and Messi are inside-forwards not wingers, even if that is a debatable topic, Karn M's post doesn't deserve your sarcasm
Excellent again today. feck all you haters, you know who you are.
I'm not being sarcastic, a lot of people consider the players who play off one striker in a 4-3-3 to be wingers.
Missed that. He played pretty well today too though
He was though. Every time we went forward is was through Nani and Evra, and almost all of our chances in the first half were courtesty of him...then he created the goal in the first minute of the second. Dropped off a little in the last 20 minutes when Berbatov started to liven up and suddenly everyone has their cocks out for him.
I was just taking the piss that you wrote 'yesterday' mate
very very good today, well done Nani
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