we should have won that ball. I think he defends just fine. he'll get beat once in a while, as anyone pressuring the ball will, but his willingness to do does a lot more good than harm. I wish everyone was so willing.
Rafael da Silva | 2010-14 Performances
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we should have won that ball. I think he defends just fine. he'll get beat once in a while, as anyone pressuring the ball will, but his willingness to do does a lot more good than harm. I wish everyone was so willing.
Top player he's going to be for us. What a find by the scouts.
Let's be honest, he can't really defend for shit. It's not 'mistakes', it's his whole approach to defending, he just barrels in and sells himself half the time. Yes sometimes it works, but most wingers at this level are too clever for that. I'm surprised the staff haven't made much headway on this yet, maybe they don't want to dampen his boyish enthusiasm, but if he doesn't mature a bit soon then at some point they're surely gonna have to.
I don't really care though, I love him, I'm always happy to see him on the teamsheet.
I don't really care though, I love him, I'm always happy to see him on the teamsheet.
I don't think his defending in 1v1 situations is particularly bad. It's definitely improved anyway, since he was always picking up yellow cards and going to ground pointlessly. His problems come from being unaware on opposition crosses, and keeping an eye on players drifting a couple of yards away from him. He could learn a lot from Gary Neville in that respect because he was brilliant, though I think he grew up playing centre half a fair amount, so it came naturally to him.
Feel people are way too hard on him. He was MOM today for me.
The main problem with him is that he is so good going forward he seems wasted staying behind in defence.
The main problem with him is that he is so good going forward he seems wasted staying behind in defence.
He obviously can defend, he's had games where he nullified golden boy Gareth Bale, so for someone who supposedly can't defend that's pretty impressive. Today he was getting skinned a few times, Brazilian fullback mentality right there for you, he loves to get forward and he's pretty bloody good at it. Maicon, Cafu etc.. the lot of them were the same
Dear me. He was at fault for both goals and was at fault when DDG kept it out somehow. How can a defender who makes so many defensive mistakes be your MOM?
Cafu could defend.
He can defend, just not very well.
How could he be at fault for DDG and Vidic's epic feck up?
So can Rafael, just not consistently, as he's only 22 and needs to work on it.
Then he should play as an AM not
as a fullback (but he won't cos he isn't good enough).
Harsh, considering Carrick committed the foul, and Young lost his marker for the first. The second was just a monumental feck up by the keeper.
No way he deserves MoTM. He was horrible defensively and great offensively.
If he played for any other side there'd be total consensus on here that he couldn't defend.
He can defend, he has shown in the past that he is quite capable, and against top players. I think that he gets a little giddy in these types of games, he is a raw talent but a top talent all the same, Rio Ferdinand was often criticised in his younger days for lapses in concentration and he turned out OK - Rafa just needs to curb his enthusiasm. I have great faith in him to become a top player.
His stats, aside from his lapses, were highly impressive.
Passes 73
Pass completion 94.5
Key passes 2
Goals 1
Tackles 6
Interceptions 2
Clearances 3
His stats, aside from his lapses, were highly impressive.
Passes 73
Pass completion 94.5
Key passes 2
Goals 1
Tackles 6
Interceptions 2
Clearances 3
it's evra who can't defend. do you think the same holds true for him? raf is a much better defender than evra imo.
as always - the further from our goal the better i like him. why fulham didn't go after that side more during the game baffled me.
What?
Evra can't really defend either, no.
that goes for everyone right now.
Except De Gea
Except De Gea
agreed!!
You lot are mental, excellent today
You mean excellent going forward, rubbish at defending. That does not constitute overall excellence for a defender.
I think he was talking about us, not Rafael
What do you make of Evra then? He is poor at defending and going forward these days.
Of course he was MOTM. It's ridiculous when people manage to find 3 players apparently better than Rafael. As a right-back he managed to:
1) score a goal
2) score another goal from an offside position after creating the attack himself
3) have an excellent shot which Schwarzer saved
4) had a header just wide of goal from a van Persie cross.
Sure he was sloppy in his defending a few times - but for christ sake, who wasn't tonight ?
He's only 22 too.
He was at fault for creating the first goal for Fulham yes - but Carrick should have done better - and Duff pulled Young to the ground prior to scoring so....
And yes - he let Briggs get a cross in - but it was a weak cross and you can't blame Rafael for what de Gea did to that cross.
That counts for absolutely nothing when evaluating a player's performance.
You can't say "his defending was good for a 22-year old". You can say his defending was shite but he's only 22 so he can improve and sort it out.
He's the best wing forward we've had since the 50s.
Absolutely!
Criticism of Evra and Rafael is getting lame. We don't have a divine right not to concede goals and when we do it's always their fault.
He's also can't stop running.
He didn't play against Everton, and today I can't understand how it was his fault for any of the goals today.
To be fair, he gave the ball away for no reason at all for their first goal.
But yeah, I thought he was excellent today.
He did not give the ball way. He made a tackle, and from the resulting tackle the ball unluckily fell to their player. Happens in football.
First goal, Carrick shouldn't have to make the tackle. He lost the ball twice outside his own area. That is absolutely suicidal. Second goal, watch where he is when the cross comes in. You might actually have trouble spotting him, cos he's nowhere near the cross. DDG and Vidic should both do better, but they shouldn't have to be dealing with that sort of cross. Then there was his general positional play. It was like we played with two right wingers at times. If you have sky sports I suggest you watch him closely on Game of the Day.
Then of course there was the goal that should've been.
Obviously you haven't seen it then.
Bang on Sults.
To be fair his decision making in defending is a weakness but going forward today he was excellent and although I am not yet convinced by him there is hope. As for Evra I thought he was excellent today. But I certainly don't think criticism of Evra and Rafael is getting lame. There are other players who get much more criticism.
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