He seems to get injured a lot playing for France but fine when playing with us
The last hamstring injury he got was with his national team too, wasn’t it?
The last hamstring injury he got was with his national team too, wasn’t it?
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Meanwhile we scouted 600 right backs and managed to spend £50m on someone who is barely a footballer. Then again that fits pretty well with our 'style of play', that of an overpriced bunch that can't string two passes together.
I get your point about De Gea but Varane needs to stick 10 games together before anybody else gets the blame for his performances.
Yes and it’s a bit worrying that they say they hope he will be back for the next game, which is tomorrow. Why even considering playing him in a friendly if he’s injured?He seems to get injured a lot playing for France but fine when playing with us
The last hamstring injury he got was with his national team too, wasn’t it?
Man Utd 1:1 Leicester
I'm surprised by the lack of comments on Varanes most recent apprerance. He was pretty poor against Leicester and really, he hasn't been that good this season.
I don't think he's been so much better than Maguire that he is completely absolved from how poor our defence has been as a whole. Maguire has made a few more high profile errors. But Varane hasn't looked anywhere near as assured or as competent as I'd expect a World Cup or multiple Champions League winning centre back to be.
I don't think he's been so much better than Maguire that he is completely absolved from how poor our defence has been as a whole. Maguire has made a few more high profile errors. But Varane hasn't looked anywhere near as assured or as competent as I'd expect a World Cup or multiple Champions League winning centre back to be.
He hasn't played with this many bad players around him since he was probably 10. That said, yeah, he's been underwhelming.
completely agree. I was expecting a much bigger impact from him and he’s shown very little, also got away with it on their disallowed goal yesterday I thought, was a soft one.
Does our defence look any better than last season? I think we all know the answer to that.
Amazing isnt it? This can only happen at United where we sign one of the best CB's of the last what 8 years and he turns out average. Him and Maguire should be impenetrable in theory.
He was poor yesterday and hasn’t been great this season. Concern when we signed him was that his best days have been and gone, that combined with him and Maguire not really being suited to playing together doesn’t bode well.
well, we scored because of him coming forward and pressing.
He didn't get away with it at all. His leg was taken away from him to the point where he was doin the splits
Maybe it’s me but if you knew nothing about what he’s done to date, if we are honest he’s been average at best. I questioned whether he was injury prone and that’s proven to be kind of true….
I felt it was generous and he played for it, if that had happened at the other end I’d have been unhappy that it was ruled out.
First half was good defensively but want him to contribute more to our build up. Second half I think he was quite poor, at least by his standards and what I expect from him. Poor timing at their goal, but contributed at our goal so that evens out I guess. (However their goal was a real beauty with a perfect cross and finish)
His full potential is maybe only seen when he has the perfect environment and world class players around him, and those world class players maybe made up for his weak sides, but still, when you sign a player like Varane you expect him to improve the team. I have hopes he will improve to the next level, but also feel that he is on the wrong side of his career peak.
Not even Varane escapes the, after 6 months at United I forget how to play football, virus.
It must be frustrating for him when he’s in a tight spot defensively and the closest players he can pass to are,for example, Maguire at CB, Wan-Bissaka at RB, De Gea in goal or McTominay in deep midfield. He’ll have become so accustomed to a certain technical level of player even in the defensive positions that I think it’s harsh to overly judge him. He’s not the problem. That said, I thought he’d be an exceptional signing for you and so far he looks decent but not out of this world.
This
Underwhelming.
Not great, but solid on his day. Also been a bit of a disappointment.
What about Varane though?
He is quicker than what I thought but his passing is nowhere near what I thought it would be.
First season in England and all that goes with that so I hope it works out for him and for us.
First season in England and all that goes with that so I hope it works out for him and for us.
Wouldn't be shocked if he leaves for a CL club this summer. I bet he can't believe what he's walked into.
He is greatly declined from his level 3-4 years ago, injuries have diminished him. We are still lacking a leader at CB, neither Maguire or Varane really have that mentality.
From a technical ball handling point of view, it is a massive drop going from Marcelo to , let say, AWB. But shen it comes to defending, also at Madrid the CBs were often left to protect wide space as the FBs were extremely offensive. On the other hand he had Kroos, Modric and Casemiro in front of him who could dominate any team.
At United the midfield is completely invisible.
I also feel he has been decent but underwhelming compared to my expectations.
edit;
Should add that I don’t really like the excuses that his team mates are so poor compared to prime RM players. He was signed to lift the team and the defence, not to be a good passenger.
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That is the most annoying part. You expect players with big reputations to come in and make everybody around them play better. I think he's been okay, but I definitely expected better than what we've got. It was quite rare for me to watch him play. I wasn't sure on how good he really was at this point. Most of our fans made it sound like we'd signed a world class player. I was happy for that reason. He has underwhelmed me. I believe that Lindelof has been better than him this season, and that's pretty concerning. At his age, it's unlikely that we're going to get better than what we're seeing now.
He was meant to be a sure bet, but it hasn't turned out that way. Too many areas of this team have me pretty concerned.
His pedigree is somewhat overstated.
For example, he was only a starter for probably 1.5 of Real Madrid’s 4 CLs over the last decade. Pepe was the starting CB next to Ramos in both the 2014 & 2016 triumphs. He would have been the starting CB in 2017 too if he didn’t pick up injuries in the second half of the season which is what ultimately gave Varane a starting berth. Pepe then left after that season which naturally allowed Varane to take his place. So in reality he was only an undisputed starter for Madrid from 2017 onwards despite being there since 2011 as he simply couldn’t displace Pepe from the lineup (a WC CB in his own right) until he left.
For example, he was only a starter for probably 1.5 of Real Madrid’s 4 CLs over the last decade. Pepe was the starting CB next to Ramos in both the 2014 & 2016 triumphs. He would have been the starting CB in 2017 too if he didn’t pick up injuries in the second half of the season which is what ultimately gave Varane a starting berth. Pepe then left after that season which naturally allowed Varane to take his place. So in reality he was only an undisputed starter for Madrid from 2017 onwards despite being there since 2011 as he simply couldn’t displace Pepe from the lineup (a WC CB in his own right) until he left.
Different models.
He had moments of undisputed starter before then, but he couldn't manage to hold on to it for various reasons. I remember Mourinho had a famous press conference where he said Pepe's only problem is that Raphael Varane is on the same team, when he was I think 19 years old. He was great for them already at that age and had some big performances with the most notable one where he put on a defensive performance against Barcelona that you rarely see from a defender, nevermind one at his age.
I actually feel he was better at that age than he is now. He seems to make more mistakes, and while he was never an overly aggressive defender, Don Limpio had a bit more muscle to his game then than I feel he has shown since.
Yeah he was exceptional in the latter half of the 12/13 season and in the Copa games against Barca home and away (when Mourinho said those things). He got that opportunity because of an injury crisis which was what allowed him to announce himself to to the world as the real deal. But once Mourinho left, Ancelotti and Zidane mostly preferred Pepe. But I agree, Varane’s best level for me too was that half a season in 2013. He was a juggernaut at the back. You simply couldn’t get past him.
Yeah, he was exceptional then. Those performances, I will never forget from a defender. He just seems more mistake-prone now, and coupled with Maguire it can make for some very shaky defending at times. But he's had some great moments too, for France during the WC he was imperial IMO. He's also a guy who's never lost a final he's played in, and his trophy cabinet at his age is absolutely bonkers so maybe it's more of a motivational thing at this point than anything physical, even though he's not as fast as he used to be, he's still one of the fastest CBs out there.
he is been ok in the recent games, nothing revolutionary or anything like that, this season he is meh overall at best, the one thing I don't like the most, is his stupid niggles and injuries, he needs to get over those and be a consistently available.
Ralf says he's injured and will miss the game tomorrow. Didn't say what injury or how long he'll be out for.
Not surprised.
Waste of money. Nothing worse than unreliable centre backs.
I don't think Varane always been this injury. At this stage Maguire is our most important centre back as he's the only one that can be relied upon to actually be fit for matches.
Must be something up with the way we condition the players. I'm sure he's never been this injury prone.
It's a shame because when he does play he's been pretty good.
It's a shame because when he does play he's been pretty good.
Think he's been a pointless signing, no better than Lindelof was last season. He's been decent at best and doesn't really add that much, very unreliable. Think ETH will give him a season.
Crock. its not going to work. sell.
I feel like we've had major issues with centre backs getting injured for as long as I can remember.
Even when Fergie was here, even if Rio and Vidic were largely ok (still had their issues), the lads behind them were always going down.
We can all remember playing Carrick and Fletcher back there in big games.
It certainly seems like something we need to be looking at.
Even when Fergie was here, even if Rio and Vidic were largely ok (still had their issues), the lads behind them were always going down.
We can all remember playing Carrick and Fletcher back there in big games.
It certainly seems like something we need to be looking at.
hasn't really impressed me considering his reputation. In fairness to him, his season has been very stop start with injuries and covid. It's difficult enough coming into the PL, but with the team/management in disarray, Maguire as your central defence partner, and no defensive cover from mid. I'd be inclined to give him another season, there's been a few times when his quality has shown through. Like Sancho, not the impact we thought they'd make, but hopefully with this season under their belts. we see a drastic improvement next form both.
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