Rafael da Silva | 2010-14 Performances

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He was booked, gave away 3 fouls and was liable to being sent off. Harsh to take him off, but understandable.
 
He was also very lucky not to be booked before his yellow. So there was a good chance that his next would have been red
 
Gets blamed because our CB's and keeper are defending as amateurs. So what he was on yellow, whenever player gets yellow in first 30 minutes he should be off? Both corners were from left side, it wasn't his fault.
 
He was looking a bit tired and was on a yellow. Important to protect him for the Manchester Derby aswell. Right decision IMO.
 
It was harsh but he only got taken off because he was on a yellow and is arguably weakest of the back 4 aerially. He'll understand.
 
Yeah, it was unfortunate that he had to get the sub. Could have acted with more poise though ... he's going to get slammed in the dressing room.
 
Ouch for him - big ouch. Hopefully there are no long term repercussions of his behavior when he was subbed off. Was it Steele that then just threw his jacket on him? Wow.
 
Not harsh at all. Leaving him on only to get sent off and miss the derby,given his form this season, would be harsh. Justified and good decision.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
It was harsh but he only got taken off because he was on a yellow and is arguably weakest of the back 4 aerially. He'll understand.
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Exactly.

Perhaps if he hadn't of picked up that yellow then Evans might have been the one getting taken off.
 
I don't agree with the decision. Evans has been horrible. Rafael is well capable of playing 45 minutes without being booked. I wasn't worried that he'd get the 2nd yellow in the last 15 minutes of the first half. If that is a genuine concern then it's a wonder that Scholes has played this much this season as he has. He looks like he's about to get red every game he plays, no matter if he starts or comes on as a sub.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
It was harsh but he only got taken off because he was on a yellow and is arguably weakest of the back 4 aerially. He'll understand.
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Weakest at the back aerially? He couldn't have done worse than Evans had he be taken of goal post duty. Horrible defending from Evans.
 
Not too sure about protecting him for the derby. Wouldn't be surprised if Smalling starts at right back now. Especially with City being a strong set piece team.

Anyway I still feel we should have waited until HT. No way we would have done that to a more senior player.
 
Harsh on Rafael but a good call by Fergie there.

They are playing through the wings and looking at the way the ref is buying all those dives it wouldn't take much have Rafael sent off.
 
Fergie made the right call. One of Rafael's biggest flaws is how rash he can be at times, largely due to his inexperience admittedly. Our defence has already been bad enough but a red card would've left us in a terrible position. Can't blame Fergie at all for his decision.
 
People will moan at every single thing really. He was clearly looking tired and I thought he could've been booked earlier. Fergie has been praising him all this season and rightly so. But subbing him tonight was a Good decision IMO.

Was a certain inevitability about him going off today.
 
Snow said:
Weakest at the back aerially? He couldn't have done worse than Evans had he be taken of goal post duty. Horrible defending from Evans.
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So Rafael is better at heading than Evans? I said arguably too.
 
Fergie did it for the good of the team. You can argue that Reading players were diving but he was still booked and he had a good chance of picking up another one. It was smart to take him off. He's entitled to feel pissed off but there's no point acting like a sulky kid, it won't do him any favours.
 
Was surprised he was taken off. Beside being on a card he wasn't the problem in the defence. The lack of marking by the CB was what has cost us in this match so far.

I hope this doesn't damage his confidence at all
 
ArmchairCritic said:
So Rafael is better at heading than Evans? I said arguably too.
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He was winning his challenges vs Carroll and Cole against West Ham. He's no slack in the air. It's only the height that he's lacking.

Positioning and marking matters more when defending set pieces than height.
 
Tooni said:
Harsh on Rafael but a good call by Fergie there.

They are playing through the wings and looking at the way the ref is buying all those dives it wouldn't take much have Rafael sent off.
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Yep, good call to take him off. Was a sending off waiting to happen tonight.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
It was harsh but he only got taken off because he was on a yellow and is arguably weakest of the back 4 aerially. He'll understand.
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He's not though. He's been our best player this season, our best defender and Evra is getting raped by Robson-Kanu on the right who is winning all the corners that Evans cant deal with.

Its a strange one because Rafael took that booking for the team because his winger had got into a dangerous position that could hurt us. McAnuff has crossed the ball 3 times. 6 times Shorey has crossed and thats what the problem is. Where was the help for Rafael when it was 2vs1? But Rafael took the booking to help the team.

If Evra had done that we wouldnt have conceeded as many. But because he's let him cross the ball 6 times in 1 half and beat him a bunch of times, he didnt pick up a yellow and wasnt taken off. But the team is the worse for it because we've conceeded so many
 
KM said:
People will moan at every single thing really. He was clearly looking tired and I thought he could've been booked earlier. Fergie has been praising him all this season and rightly so. But subbing him tonight was a Good decision IMO.

Was a certain inevitability about him going off today.
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If that's the case then surely it was a poor decision to start him?
 
Calling Rafael our best defender this season is the very definition of false praise, and he's clearly not a great defender.
 
Figured at some stage all the games would catch up with him, but really any of the defenders could have come off, but it made the most sense for it to be him.
 
Snow said:
He was winning his challenges vs Carroll and Cole against West Ham. He's no slack in the air. It's only the height that he's lacking.

Positioning and marking matters more when defending set pieces than height.
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Of course but that's a collective issue now, Rafael was on a booking and he had to be taken off when in reality anyone of the back 4 could've got pulled it's not rocket science.
 
gza the genius said:
feck. That. Out of all the stupid tactical things Sir Alex has done this season this has to be the one that makes me the most mad. Take off the most consistent, most passionate player we've had all season after 30 minutes when two of the goals had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
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He's on a yellow, being torn a new one, and we look vulnerable aerially.

It's a potentially brilliant move from SAF.

The derision for SAF on here is now reaching delusional levels.
 
KM said:
He was looking a bit tired and was on a yellow. Important to protect him for the Manchester Derby aswell. Right decision IMO.
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I hope Ferguson gets that message across to him. Because it looks like he's been absolutely hung out to dry. Must be the most embarrassing thing to happen to a professional football.

He could do with a rest anyway, probably shouldn't have started. That said, he would have provided much needed width in the absence of a second winger.
 
Players have performed far worse than Rafael and still managed to stay on the pitch in the past. He's been one of our standout players this season, thought he deserved the chance to recover and sort himself out. Smalling didn't do much better the one time McAnuff ran at him either.
 
Ekeke said:
He's not though. He's been our best player this season, our best defender and Evra is getting raped by Robson-Kanu on the right who is winning all the corners that Evans cant deal with.

Its a strange one because Rafael took that booking for the team because his winger had got into a dangerous position that could hurt us. McAnuff has crossed the ball 3 times. 6 times Shorey has crossed and thats what the problem is. Where was the help for Rafael when it was 2vs1? But Rafael took the booking to help the team.

If Evra had done that we wouldnt have conceeded as many. But because he's let him cross the ball 6 times in 1 half and beat him a bunch of times, he didnt pick up a yellow and wasnt taken off. But the team is the worse for it because we've conceeded so many
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This has been the case many times. Evra is piss poor blocking crosses.

Singling Rafa out for anything this game is close-minded.
 
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