Raphael Varane image 19

Raphael Varane France flag

2021-22 Performances

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5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
29
Clean sheets
6
Goals
1
Assists
1
Yellow cards
1
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1st half apart from overcommiting that one time on the byline, I thought he was very good. Some good switches and very progressive on the ball.
2nd half continued on the latter but he got exposed a couple times on the counter attacks and was caught in no man's land. Surprised nobody mentioning about him getting done on their goal? He kept a good line and did the right thing when Maguire stupidly missed his tackle but then he overcommited on Saint Maximilian.

Other than that really solid all around, aerially and passing wise. I still can't believe I had a Lindelof fan telling me Varane is a slightly worse passer :confused:

I said it before, apart from a long ball and looking good, Lindelof is not a consistently progressive or proactive passer. Varane does look a bit gangly and awkward but as I suspected, with his pedigree and experience, all he has to do, is be willing and by default he would be an upgrade.

i will say Varane has got a lot more learning though. It's only his 2nd Premier League game so he needs to get his timing on pressing and aggressiveness when dealing with attacking players in this league and as he's seen already, Maguire does like to go walkabouts high up the pitch.
 
He's a defender i love to watch play. Makes the game seem so simple. He's gonna make a massive difference to our points tally.
 
You can just see he's a rolls royce defender who is already making a big impact. There was a moment in the first half where St Maximim was running at Varane. You could just see Varane was comfortable with dealing with any one v one situation. It actually made St Max go out wide as he was concious of the fact it would be hard to get past Varane. Dare I say it, if it was lindelof in that situation I have no doubt St Max would have ran straight at him and knocked it past him.
 
Firefly said:
100% duels won? What is a duel?? Didn't he get done for in first half near sideline?

Not really studied the situation more then I saw on TV but felt he committed to soon on their goal, not a good situation to get but should have given ball holder space and be ready to track/cover shot from the player to his left. There was Man Utd players coming for the ball holder.

Great in the air though from him.
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For their goal, Saint-Maximin had a slightly poor touch, but not enough to lose the ball, but honestly, that was probably Raphael's best chance to do anything there.
 
criticalanalysis said:
He kept a good line and did the right thing when Maguire stupidly missed his tackle but then he overcommited on Saint Maximilian.
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Tbf imo he did the right thing there too, only not successfully. He was up against two Newcastle players, one is Saint-Maximin a very good player indeed. His only chance was to stop the ball there but Saint-Maximin was like an inch quicker. Had he chased Manquillo then Saint-Maximin would be open against DDG with a much larger angle to shoot. Had he not committed on Saint Maximin he would have all the time and space to pass to Manquillo too. Tbh I don't think any defender would have done better in that situation.
 
Firefly said:
100% duels won? What is a duel?? Didn't he get done for in first half near sideline?

Not really studied the situation more then I saw on TV but felt he committed to soon on their goal, not a good situation to get but should have given ball holder space and be ready to track/cover shot from the player to his left. There was Man Utd players coming for the ball holder.

Great in the air though from him.
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Apart from winning the ball from Maximin, he did nothing wrong for the goal IMO. Stayed close and showed him away from goal and Maximin had only one choice, to pass. And at that point Varane had nothing he could do.
 
Everything that I expected. Cool as a cucumber despite being a unit, rapid and very quick thinking.

He will prove to be an absolute nightmare to play against this season.
 
Strelok said:
Tbf imo he did the right thing there too, only not successfully. He was up against two Newcastle players, one is Saint-Maximin a very good player indeed. His only chance was to stop the ball there but Saint-Maximin was like an inch quicker. Had he chased Manquillo then Saint-Maximin would be open against DDG with a much larger angle to shoot. Had he not committed on Saint Maximin he would have all the time and space to pass to Manquillo too. Tbh I don't think any defender would have done better in that situation.
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I'll have to disagree on that. If you're up against two players with your back to goal, unless you can definitely win the ball, your best chance should be to stand up the player with the ball/get close without commiting as this blocks their direct sight of goal and sheppherd him to the side/bait them to make another pass. That half a second is crucial as it delays their momentum and you can read the pass, which you can then attempt to block. Even if you don't block the ball, the angle is going to be narrowed and better for the keeper (who also can read it, take a step out because of the half a second bought...but let's be honest it wouldn't make any difference as it was De Gea :lol:). By attempting a tackle straight away, you're in no posiiton to recover and the square pass then becomes a through ball i.e a 1 vs 1 with momentum on the ball.

I'm being harsh of course but deep down Varane will know he was over eager and it kind of shows as he make an awkward attempt at that tackle with his right foot coming over to the left. Anyways I'm not trying to be over critical, I just like analysing situations like that and thinking hypothetically what should be the 'correct' thing to do.
 
criticalanalysis said:
I'll have to disagree on that. If you're up against two players with your back to goal, unless you can definitely win the ball, your best chance should be to stand up the player with the ball/get close without commiting as this blocks their direct sight of goal and sheppherd him to the side/bait them to make another pass. That half a second is crucial as it delays their momentum and you can read the pass, which you can then attempt to block. Even if you don't block the ball, the angle is going to be narrowed and better for the keeper (who also can read it, take a step out because of the half a second bought...but let's be honest it wouldn't make any difference as it was De Gea :lol:). By attempting a tackle straight away, you're in no posiiton to recover and the square pass then becomes a through ball i.e a 1 vs 1 with momentum on the ball.

I'm being harsh of course but deep down Varane will know he was over eager and it kind of shows as he make an awkward attempt at that tackle with his right foot coming over to the left. Anyways I'm not trying to be over critical, I just like analysing situations like that and thinking hypothetically what should be the 'correct' thing to do.
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Agree with this.

Funnily enough it’s something Lindelof does brilliantly but always gets criticised by fans for not being aggressive enough.
 
BenitoSTARR said:
Agree with this.

Funnily enough it’s something Lindelof does brilliantly but always gets criticised by fans for not being aggressive enough.
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Agree and agree. No shade on Varane tonight, think he did well, but you are absolutely right. Lindelöf is GREAT at that, and I said the exact same thing to my father next to me as it happened "why does he do that, that's pretty bad....the goal is on Maguire, but I don't think he has to take that chance right there, it's too risky, shades of Bailly...and Lindelöf would've just followed and blocked instead, which I think is the right thing to do, but he gets all the hate because he didn't play in Real Madrid in FIFA 20."
 
BenitoSTARR said:
Agree with this.

Funnily enough it’s something Lindelof does brilliantly but always gets criticised by fans for not being aggressive enough.
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Yes it is something Lindelof does quite well in situations where he can slow down the opposition in transitional play. However, in this particular instance I'm not sure Lindelof would have done much better/or be effective. In 1 vs 1 duels in or near the penalty box, he is fairly weak and gives the attacking player far too much space. It would have been a free shot at goal or a simple through ball. Traore's goal for Villa comes to mind.
 
He's one of those rare CB's that's great to watch, he was quality again today and was left 2 on 1 for their goal with neither Maguire or Matic in sight.
 
criticalanalysis said:
Yes it is something Lindelof does quite well in situations where he can slow down the opposition in transitional play. However, in this particular instance I'm not sure Lindelof would have done much better/or be effective. In 1 vs 1 duels in or near the penalty box, he is fairly weak and gives the attacking player far too much space. It would have been a free shot at goal or a simple through ball. Traore's goal for Villa comes to mind.
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I’d argue it’s exactly the sort of thing that is bread and butter Lindelof.

Anyway who cares we have Varane!
 
Strelok said:
Tbf imo he did the right thing there too, only not successfully. He was up against two Newcastle players, one is Saint-Maximin a very good player indeed. His only chance was to stop the ball there but Saint-Maximin was like an inch quicker. Had he chased Manquillo then Saint-Maximin would be open against DDG with a much larger angle to shoot. Had he not committed on Saint Maximin he would have all the time and space to pass to Manquillo too. Tbh I don't think any defender would have done better in that situation.
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Agree with this entirely. He was a sitting duck and his only option was to try to win the ball. Was very close to doing so too
 
Escobar said:
So calm and under control, reminds me of Rio
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Not sure about 'calm'. His style of defending is very frenetic, and he sure loves to get involved and stick his foot in. He got into a lot of duels today, and seems to be a presence at defensive set-pieces too which will go a long way for us. Lindelof had that uncanny ability of being exactly where the ball doesn't go at set-pieces.
 
Mcking said:
Not sure about 'calm'. His style of defending is very frenetic, and he sure loves to get involved and stick his foot in. He got into a lot of duels today, and seems to be a presence at defensive set-pieces too which will go a long way for us. Lindelof had that uncanny ability of being exactly where the ball doesn't go at set-pieces.
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Agreed. Like I said above he's more 2016 Smalling but with a first touch and passing ability.
 
Been so impressed with him in his two games so far
 
Rolls Royce of a defender. Maguire let the defence down with that silly charge for the goal, but I can't complain too much about him either. It happens occassionally.
 
Volumiza said:
Comparing him to Smalling once is bad enough but to double down on that nonsense is special. Very, very far removed from Smallings level.
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Smalling was world class in 2015-16. I'm talking about that Smalling specifically not the Smalling who came before or after.
 
Blood Mage said:
Smalling was world class in 2015-16. I'm talking about that Smalling specifically not the Smalling who came before or after.
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He was not. Just that United fans had to pretend that things are right and label their players world class.

He was quite good in the first half of the season, and pretty shit in the second, where Blind outshone him. He did not even make EPL team of the year.
 
Watching MOTD, is it just me or was he beaten quite easily today. I love the guy and he’s world class but I felt looking at this he was beaten a few times
 
dronesoul said:
Agree and agree. No shade on Varane tonight, think he did well, but you are absolutely right. Lindelöf is GREAT at that, and I said the exact same thing to my father next to me as it happened "why does he do that, that's pretty bad....the goal is on Maguire, but I don't think he has to take that chance right there, it's too risky, shades of Bailly...and Lindelöf would've just followed and blocked instead, which I think is the right thing to do, but he gets all the hate because he didn't play in Real Madrid in FIFA 20."
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Give over. He gets criticism because of basic mistakes he makes. It’s clear as day that Varane is a massive step up from Lindelof
 
He went quiet and classy doing his job. One thing I would comment on him is that his 1 on 1 needs a bit of work in EPL. I think he is still adjusting the speed of the league.
 
He could've and should've done better on the goal, although I also think Maguire, Matic and Shaw were all very responsible for the goal too.
 
Crazy how we ended up with Jones instead of Varane a decade ago, amazing how they were both rated similarly, damn you Zidane.

Goes to show potential doesnt really mean much.
 
AltiUn said:
He could've and should've done better on the goal, although I also think Maguire, Matic and Shaw were all very responsible for the goal too.
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I think thats a good thing it happned to him he will learn and it was a goal that in the end meant nothing but to be fair it was 2 on 1 so he didnt do really bad
 
His home debut has kind of gone under the radar with Ronaldo's second debut for the club. But Varane has significantly improved our defence. I feel so much more confident in our defence now. He was a beast last night.
 
Mcking said:
Not sure about 'calm'. His style of defending is very frenetic, and he sure loves to get involved and stick his foot in. He got into a lot of duels today, and seems to be a presence at defensive set-pieces too which will go a long way for us. Lindelof had that uncanny ability of being exactly where the ball doesn't go at set-pieces.
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Every defender does. But it looks assured and not overwhelmed, rather collected. In that sense like Rio
 
golden_blunder said:
Give over. He gets criticism because of basic mistakes he makes. It’s clear as day that Varane is a massive step up from Lindelof
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Exactly. Lindelof gets criticism as he is not good enough to be a starter, not aggressive enough for a CB. Varane is few levels above him and he is even level above Maguire.
 
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