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Raphael Varane France flag

2023-24 Performances

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5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Clean sheets
12
Goals
1
Assists
0
Yellow cards
2
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Look at Varane when he came on.. he snubbed Ten Hag. Varane isn't known as a trouble maker or a player who rocks the boat. Varane is widely respected throughout the football pyramid as a Rolls Royce of the art of defending.

he must feel really disrespected/humiliated by Ten Hag to react like this publicly and if you are getting dropped for Johnny Fecking Evans in a Manchester Derby you can understand him. And again it's more evidence of Ten Hags inability to manage big players/egos.. Ronaldo, Sancho and now Varane in the space of 18-months?! I know managers fall out with players but this manager is doing it on the regular more than Mourinho.. he's just too cold/robotic and doesn't seem to understand when a player has won 3/5 CLs you have to deal with them a certain way. Such as an arm around the shoulder. It's not rocket science. Fergie did it all the time and said in his book that you deal with certain players differently.

Ten Hag reminds me of Mourinho without the trophies or reputation.. who if he stays 3 years at a club he completely turns the dressing room against him and creates a toxic environment. These players are not "aving Ten Hag - who has no CV to do the things he's doing.

Like Simon Jordan calls him.. a small man in a big (Mourinho-sized) suit.. basically the job at Manchester Unitoo big for him.

Ten Hag ain't the one. He isn't another Klopp or Pep. His in-game management is terrible. Klopp or Pep straight after the red card would've been screaming for Amrabat to come on and took Eriksen off when we was winning 2-0.. get 2 banks of 4 and stay solid shape until half-time. Going in 2-0 up means you have a buffer and it's a totally different game 2nd half.

Losing to Luton should be the final nail in his coffin and get Ten Hag the sack. The players can get him the sack and I think they want that. Ten Hag is begging the players for a favour but when you disrespect a player like Varane you alienate half of the dressing room who support him like Casemiro.
 
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Last season he was with Martinez first choice and other players were left out. If he's fallen out with ETH because he's not immediately put back in after injury and looking poor when selected it doesn't reflect well on Varane either and seems petty. Why not show the manager what he's missing instead of sulking and playing like a carthorse.

Our club seems to engineer this sulky entitlement regardless of manager.
 
Leftback99 said:
Let’s hope Evans isn’t out for long.
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It’s mental isn’t it we are all thinking that now. I’m gonna give Ten Hag some credit he knew our defence was awful in the summer and got Evans just for this reality.

I panned the transfer in the summer but I’ll admit with zero budget he’s been decent.
 
pratyush_utd said:
Varane is not even that old to be in decline. Must be either his fitness or he has downed the tools. That was shocking performance
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Lot of mileage in him though, he's played consistently for club and country for 13 years pretty much, and he has won everything. That said, he's injury prone, can't play twice a week and he seems to be phoning it in this season.
 
It's not Maguire's fault that Varane is never fit.

I like Varane but if your body's made of glass and you give others many opportunities to impress, then you lose out eventually, as good as you are.

That's how the cookie crumbles.
 
Chaky_Best said:
Looks like when Ten Hag wants a player out he falls out with him.

Really odd that I feel safer with Maguire and Evans than with Rafa.

He has passed his best many years ago (2018), and is a complete liability for us as the guy can't play 10 games in a row.

We should hope for an offer this winter, and find a better CB (which I don't think Todibo is)
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Madrid don’t sell their best players. Very rarely. Di Maria was the last one I can think of who went very early. Varane was on the decline and they cashed out…

Hopefully though we can still cash out on Varane and Cas in the summer to Saudi. Save a little bit of face then but for gods sake we need to stop buying Real, Barcelona or Bayern’s depreciating assets looking for a last pay day.

Mental United became that. Same with Cavani. PSG are a garbage club but they used him up then flogged him to us. Ibra did well but could argue the same too.

The best players in the 00’s used to think of us on par almost with Madrid. Wasn’t a big loss to join United but now Mbappe would laugh at the prospect and Jude wouldn’t either. They are too good for us which again is mental to think.

We are arguably still the biggest club of them all cash cow wise minus the trophies it’s just players look at us different now understandably as they’ll win nothing.
 
Not sure I'm buying that he wasn't trying last night - from everything you hear / read he is a great professional. I think he's now had so many injuries that he plays within himself and as a result is so wooden / awkward every time he's on the ball. He's never been the best on the ball but there's been clear regression this season
 
I'm not exaggerating when I say 25yrs ago Bruce and Pallister were better on the ball.
 
DanNistelrooy said:
Not sure I'm buying that he wasn't trying last night - from everything you hear / read he is a great professional. I think he's now had so many injuries that he plays within himself and as a result is so wooden / awkward every time he's on the ball. He's never been the best on the ball but there's been clear regression this season
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Yeah I agree, I think its simply a combination of 1) the Varane we got was not prime Varane anymore 2) he's regressed further. The thing that worried me from the very first match he played was how poor on the ball he was. I just assumed he was a very good ball playing defender but to be honest I'm not sure I'd say he's that much better than Smalling on the ball.

When he plays usually he does okay, he very rarely has dominating defensive displays (which funny enough Smalling would throw out from time to time). His availability combined with his averageness when playing for me means he's not worth keeping as a defender. When you are (rightfully) losing your place to Evans and Maguire...yeah your time is up.
 
The problem is, much like Martial, you cannot depend on Varane being fit, so you end up chopping and changing your backline to accommodate. ETH clearly prefers to have a settled side working together, in recent circumstances that's not been possible.

When you add in how poor Varane looked, I just don't see a way back. If something is going on behind the scenes, then yes, bin him off if some club is willing to take him. The only problem then I guess is we'll need a replacement, and a younger player on the rise is going to cost a lot more than we'd likely get for Varane.
 
Kinda weird that the defence declined when Evans went off.

In Hindsight maybe Lindelof would have been better partnering Maguire so he didn't have to be shifted to the left.
 
Salford_Red83 said:
Kinda weird that the defence declined when Evans went off.

In Hindsight maybe Lindelof would have been better partnering Maguire so he didn't have to be shifted to the left.
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Not really.

Evans best ability now is his organisational skills. He's always been a talker and leader of the defensive line. Varane never had to do it, he always had Ramos. Maguire has never had to do it either he had Dawson at Hull and Evans at Leicester doing it.

So, you have 2 lads who can't/don't talk, or organise and lead a defensive line that cost near 200m on the pitch. You're asking for trouble.
 
Oranges038 said:
Not really.

Evans best ability now is his organisational skills. He's always been a talker and leader of the defensive line. Varane never had to do it, he always had Ramos. Maguire has never had to do it either he had Dawson at Hull and Evans at Leicester doing it.

So, you have 2 lads who can't/don't talk, or organise and lead a defensive line that cost near 200m on the pitch. You're asking for trouble.
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That's a good/interesting point. Maguire always seemed like he might be the type to organise but maybe he isn't? Would explain a lot of the terrible displays he's been involved in over the years because he's usually paired up with partners who aren't organisers either. Lindelof is quiet as a mouse too. Which was all compounded by DDG also being far too quiet. I was hoping we'd sign a keeper who might speak up a bit more. Not seen that from Onana yet. The lack of leaders at the back might be one of our biggest problems.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
That's a good/interesting point. Maguire always seemed like he might be the type to organise but maybe he isn't? Would explain a lot of the terrible displays he's been involved in over the years because he's usually paired up with partners who aren't organisers either. Lindelof is quiet as a mouse too. Which was all compounded by DDG also being far too quiet. I was hoping we'd sign a keeper who might speak up a bit more. Not seen that from Onana yet. The lack of leaders at the back might be one of our biggest problems.
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There's a lack of leaders all over the pitch. But at the back it's definitely a problem, Evans has assumed that role at the back, people ask why he's preferred over Varane. In my opinion that's probably why ETH said it was tactical, nothing to do with passing out and stability, more to do with his organisational skills and leadership of the backline.
 
There’s something going on behind the scenes with Varane I imagine, anyway that was a shite display regardless but feels like that was a ‘feck you’ display to Ten Hag. Another player people are rewriting history for, he was very good last season. But everyone is in the shit now.
 
Last season you could see the beginnings of a spine forming (Varane/Casemiro) but this season has broken their backs and the team needs a new spine for next season.

Varane can't complain about the manager when his own body will only allow him to play 90 mins once a fortnight.
 
Oranges038 said:
Not really.

Evans best ability now is his organisational skills. He's always been a talker and leader of the defensive line. Varane never had to do it, he always had Ramos. Maguire has never had to do it either he had Dawson at Hull and Evans at Leicester doing it.

So, you have 2 lads who can't/don't talk, or organise and lead a defensive line that cost near 200m on the pitch. You're asking for trouble.
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No, I meant as in like "who'da thunk that taking off Evans and replacing him with Varane would lead to the defence looking shakey. Huh".

You know what i mean?
 
Salford_Red83 said:
No, I meant as in like "who'da thunk that taking off Evans and replacing him with Varane would lead to the defence looking shakey. Huh".

You know what i mean?
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Anyone with half a brain really. Varane and Maguire doesn't work because neither are leaders. I get Evans is old and maybe tired, but maybe he should have left him on and brought on Varane and went with those 3 in the middle of defence.
 
predator said:
Not denying that he had a stinker but those saying he doesn't want to be here etc are overreacting unless they know him personally. The same is said about Casemiro, was said about De Gea, has been said about Rashford. Its tiresome. Sometimes these great players who have won lots in their career have bad nights. Sometimes those who havent won much in their career have great nights.

Varane was poor tonight but our season thus far has been a combination of various factors which itself presents a new discussion.
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His biggest problem and Utd´s is his total lack of reliability his bad performance just adds to that issue.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Last season you could see the beginnings of a spine forming (Varane/Casemiro) but this season has broken their backs and the team needs a new spine for next season.

Varane can't complain about the manager when his own body will only allow him to play 90 mins once a fortnight.
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Yep, our defense with de Gea - Shaw - Martinez - Varane - Dalot (or AWB) with Casemiro in front of them looked promising.
Watching us play with Onana, Maguire, Evans, Lindelöf and Amrabat or McTominay in front of them feels like a massive downgrade. Unfortunately this spine was completely destroyed.
 
Horror performance. Something isn’t right with him at the moment and should be benched until he’s sorted.
 
What was he doing in the lead up to their 4th goal? Why was he trying to flick the ball up to himself, only to loop it up in the air towards Maguire.

His reaction wasnt great coming on. Seems pissed off. But I kind of understand why. He was first choice now he has dropped behind Maguire, who the manager was trying to sell.

He is not a top-class CB anymore. Need a younger, fitter, replacement quick. We need Saudi to give us a way out.
 
Oranges038 said:
There's a lack of leaders all over the pitch. But at the back it's definitely a problem, Evans has assumed that role at the back, people ask why he's preferred over Varane. In my opinion that's probably why ETH said it was tactical, nothing to do with passing out and stability, more to do with his organisational skills and leadership of the backline.
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Maybe we over estimate Evans status with the coach here. I don’t think Evans is necessarily preferred over Varane as ETH would never play Varane in LCB position and has also publicly said that Maguire can’t play LCB. It’s Maguire that is chosen ahead of Varane and Evans was chosen ahead of Lindelof. When Lindelof was healthy he played instead of Evans, except when he was needed as LB.
 
What is happening to him? What are the rumours?
 
Laughable turn from the forum. If he was to put two good performances together then some of the same people will be back to calling him “a Rolls Royce of a defender”.

Bad mistake yesterday but this is one of the few times he’s directly let us down. People are creating a story that suits their narrative that he doesn’t care and using this to attack him.
 
Mr Pigeon said:


Can't control it, can't clear it, can't head it. Our very own Rolls Royce who treated the ball like it was on fire last night.
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In fairness when the ball rolls up like that it's a poor pass. Our players have been making this kind of pass for too many years now, hitting the underside of the ball and imparting backspin that makes it difficult for the player receiving it to control.
 
He was fantastic last season but there was always question marks over his ability to stay fit and the fact that he was probably not going to be around for the next great United team (if we ever fecking get around to assembling one). I like him but it was probably a bad signing overall and not very forward thinking.
 
Dr. Dwayne said:
In fairness when the ball rolls up like that it's a poor pass. Our players have been making this kind of pass for too many years now, hitting the underside of the ball and imparting backspin that makes it difficult for the player receiving it to control.
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Backspin would mean the ball would tend to go towards the ground with a dead touch. Front spin would cause the ball to bounce up off your foot with a dead touch. The pass has front spin here. The pass is fine , varane is sleeping he took a dead touch, no cushion at all.
 
Mr Pigeon said:


Can't control it, can't clear it, can't head it. Our very own Rolls Royce who treated the ball like it was on fire last night.
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Smalling used to get torn apart on here as if he were a non league player for not having impressive technique. He never struggled as badly as Varane in that clip
 
He conceded possession in a dangerous area just prior to that balls up that led to the goal, luckily in that instance it didn't result in a goal. He just looks done. He doesn't even look quick anymore. He was a great player, but injuries have taken its toll on him.
 
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