What are you rambling about man?
Finneh said; "In my opinion it'd be like buying Jagielka to replace Jones."
What are you rambling about man?
Finneh said; "In my opinion it'd be like buying Jagielka to replace Jones."
Not sure where you got this stats from, because it doesn't sound right at all. So Valencia, Smalling, Young, Evra et al have better crossing completion than Rafael? I doubt that. And Mata has been here what, 3 games? Did he have like 4 crosses since he joined? Some stats is not even worth the efforts to type it out.
Anyway, even assuming that your stats are right, using crossing completion as a stick to beat a RB (and a young one at that) is just plain wrong. What matters is the fact that fullbacks are smart in being additional attacking outlets, providing more width, and supporting the wingers. That way full-backs can help break teams down, not just to cross. So what if Rafael's crosses couldn't find a target say, half of the time? It doesn't stop Evra being one of the best left-backs this club has seen.
Mata has put in 35 crosses - completed 5. Smalling's completion rate is better than 1 in 3 - the best in our squad. Evra is close to 1 in 4 (25/106). Valencia and Young are a little bit better than 1 in 6. Rafael has completed 8 of 49 (a little worse than 1 in 6). I love everything about his game, but if he can't learn to pick out a target he's not going to be our RB in the long term.
Sorry if you'd like Rafael shipped out because of that, you need to be looked at.
Cross success is hugely reliant on the success and play of the team. With space, players can get their head up and find a target - as shown on Saturday. Similarly the less direct a team is then the more successful a player usually is at picking out targets in the box, because they're not swinging crosses in with defenders in their face. All our wingers have suffered from the more direct approach this season.
I would never want him shipped out. Trouble is, I don't make the decisions and Moyes is used to fullbacks who cross more accurately. (For the record, Coleman completes better than 1 in 4 and has scored 5 this season.)
You don't even need to justify why using cross success rate is a stupid idea when deciding if a FB is good. All you need to do is actually watch the game and not just read numbers to see Smalling has absolutely nothing on Rafael as a right back. This fact alone shows that cross success rate is a ridiculous thing to use, when it shows the exact opposite.
Like getting Jagielka to replace Jones? What? Jagielka is on the decline. Coleman is only 25, he will only get better if he continues developing, and he has been getting better and better. Baines played his best at the age of 28, Filipe Luis is playing his best at the age of 28, Alves was playing his best stuff from the age of 24-28. The next few years are going to be big for Rafael and will be the ones when we see if he is going to live up to his promise or not.
The point is he's younger and has a much higher potential (in my opinion). Why buy an older player with less potential just because the former has had a few injury problems? Also 2 years doesn't sound like a massive gap age wise, but given the position (I'd say the most physically demanding on the pitch), most only have around 6 years at the top level. Therefore 2 years could be around 1/3 of his top level career.
The reason it's most bizarre though is that 12 months ago Coleman was merely a solid full back in a good team, whilst Rafael was arguably the best right back in a League winning team. If twelve months changes things that drastically then we might as well flog RVP and try to bring in Sturridge.
I agree that he has a higher potential to Coleman but not by loads. When the player you're buying isn't that much below in terms of potential and has better current ability then it's not that bizarre. Like i said, the next few years will be pretty big for Rafael in terms of those niggling injuries as it will be the time he's going to start coming into his prime.
If you only read the papers then that would be correct. You'll find quite a few posters stating that Coleman had a very good season last year also, and he's now notched that up a level to have an excellent season this year.
Think we will have to agree to disagree here.
What brain has to do with it, it's instictive reaction, he raised his arm as soon as Suarez tried to make a move.