This is nonsense. Smalling is more than capable of going forward.
Rafael da Silva | 2010-14 Performances
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This is nonsense. Smalling is more than capable of going forward.
iagree - rafael is a mare at defending and didn,'t clear the first man often w/ his crosses. he's a red card in waiting.
How was he defensively yesterday? I got home and just deleted the match from my DVR last night.
Probably the only one who could hold there head high in the defensive line along with jonny evans last night.
To say the least 95% of the attacks seemed to go through evras side, is quite an obvious answer there.
He attacked pretty well and never gave up as usual.
we only have a handful of players that play with the fire he does...rooney, valencia, cleverley, welbeck and nani to some extent...jones.
The world gone mad.
Two 90-minute appearances for Rafael in three days' time.
Good to see him injury-free and back in form. He's been great.
Two 90-minute appearances for Rafael in three days' time.
Good to see him injury-free and back in form. He's been great.
Yep, it's really better to watch a fullback at fullbacks position.
Broken record here...but if he is fit, you gotta play him Fergie.
same here, 3rd player in my MOTM nominations
I love Rafael, probably my favourite United player, but I thought he was a bit poor defensively today.
Agreed.
He slipped on once occasion, and Jarvis(a good player) put in a couple of crosses, didn't notice much else from them.
Jarvis is a tricky customer. Even Dani Alves or a Gary Neville at his peak would have problems dealing with him
Thought he was one of our best players tonight, him and Valencia are building a great partnership.
I don't understand the few people who criticised him tonight. I thought he did really well.
He was good tonight, can't really think of anything he done wrong and got forward well and linked up with Valencia time and time again. Didn't dive in recklessly or anything. One of our top 3 performers tonight i think
Did people actually criticise him tonight? I'm actually in the Jones for RB camp but I thought Rafael was excellent today. Didn't have too much to do defensively, was great going forward.
Definately one of our better players. A mature performance. Kept it simple but also 'attacked the space' a few times to good effect. Made a superb tackle on the edge of the box on one occasion and put his foot in to intercept a few times aswell. Good partnership with Valencia.
He was very good. And he has a better final ball than Evra.
was excellent today, ran up and down the pitch. A couple of surging runs and only a poor final ball prevented excellent dividends (The whole team looked off on their final ball so not just Rafael)
Our best player tonight alongside Evans.
Very good performance today. Looked solid.
Yeah, I thought he was great. Though - he is super easy to tempt into fouls. When we're leading against a team that is good from set pieces (like tonight) he needs to learn to just hold back and not bring the players down.
See what you mean. It can be even more worrying whenever he's on a booking and goes out and makes a rash foul.
He put in one of his best performances, just lacking a tiny bit of composure at the end but put some good balls in none the less. Loved the psychic connection between him and Valencia, they were deadly together.
If only someone would explain to Raf that when an opponent is near the halfway line with his back to the United goal there's no need to charge into him from the back and knock him down. Or kick him.
His crossing stinks.
The boss like his performance - long may it continue !!!
Though next week won't be surprised to see Smalling play at RB - hopefully with Samba gone they won't be as a handful - especially as we'll have proper center backs playing this time.
Though next week won't be surprised to see Smalling play at RB - hopefully with Samba gone they won't be as a handful - especially as we'll have proper center backs playing this time.
...no?
Tons of ambition and exciting (if frightening) to watch
Its far better than our LB Evra though..
Paddy Crerand put it very well on MUTV the other night, when he was talking about both the twins. He pointed out how impatient they always are to get the ball back. They want it and they want it now. Which isn't always possible.
Rafael committed 2 fouls last night
- 3rd minute foul on Kerim Frei
- 92nd minute foul on Damien Duff
Yes, he is eager, but he doesn't commit THAT many fouls anymore...we committed 17 fouls overall.
- 3rd minute foul on Kerim Frei
- 92nd minute foul on Damien Duff
Yes, he is eager, but he doesn't commit THAT many fouls anymore...we committed 17 fouls overall.
And the Duff one was very soft too.
His positioning and body movement makes it seem like he will foul the player but he has learnt to control himself. He was getting very close to Frei and giving Valencia time to get back and to try and win the ball.
He was truly awful. It was his sloppy passing early on that broke down several passing moves that set the tone for for a generally sloppy performance. 4/10 at best
Rio was awesome. I was worried about Pogrebniak before hand, but Rio never gave him a chance. Evans had a couple of jitters but otherwise pretty solid. Evra excellent
Sky even said "It must be the easiest job in the world playing full back behind Valencia". Well I wish someone would tell Rafael that. Awful
Welbeck was awful too btw (and Hernandez didnt improve things when he came on. Hope he gets back in the groove soon)
Rio was awesome. I was worried about Pogrebniak before hand, but Rio never gave him a chance. Evans had a couple of jitters but otherwise pretty solid. Evra excellent
Sky even said "It must be the easiest job in the world playing full back behind Valencia". Well I wish someone would tell Rafael that. Awful
Welbeck was awful too btw (and Hernandez didnt improve things when he came on. Hope he gets back in the groove soon)
This.
Thats what was good about his performance yesterday. He didn't over-commit or rush into fouls.
Probably best to ignore Pogue regarding Rafael and few other players.
He misplaced 6 of his 81 passes. 92% success rate. What game were you actually watching? Not a single one of them was lost in a dangerous position and only one in our own half. Clueless.
It amazes me the contrast between two different peoples opinions on a player.
I for one though rafael played very intelligently with valencia, and most of our better attacks came down that side
(aside from the er.... goal!)
I thought he defended very well, a couple of excellent challenges, and battled well with valencia to nick the ball back high up the pitch.
So interesting that some think he played badly, and obviously there has to be some level of prejudice involved (most likely in both camps)
I for one though rafael played very intelligently with valencia, and most of our better attacks came down that side
(aside from the er.... goal!)
I thought he defended very well, a couple of excellent challenges, and battled well with valencia to nick the ball back high up the pitch.
So interesting that some think he played badly, and obviously there has to be some level of prejudice involved (most likely in both camps)
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