Steady. Good workrate and aggression. His attitude always impresses me.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Clean sheets
- 16
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Status
One poor header that gifted Leeds a promising situation from an angle, otherwise I thought Malacia performed reasonably well.
Good squad player who will hopefully continue to improve. Pleased with this signing so far.
Much better squad option than any other recent LBs we've had
This guy cost slightly more than Joao Felix's 6 month loan fee. Great player to have in the squad and will likely improve with experience. Surprisingly press resistant and always finds a way to get out of tight situations. Impressive!
Love his aggression, never seems to back down no matter what. Great squad player
I think he’ll be first choice left back in a couple of years. Really like him.
Loving his aggression and looking forward to seeing him develop here at the club. Both he and Martinez would sooner put in a crunching tackle and pick up a booking, than let anyone get past them easily. He'd definitely give Saka something to roll about on the ground for.
Plays every game as if his life depends on it which is great for battles like today. I like him up against tricky wingers cos he's very agile and quick and must be a pain as he's all over you like a rash. His mentality and temperament seems absolutely elite from what you see of him on the pitch. Very good signing but Shaw gives us much more going forward
He's improving and it's great to see.
Still a little raw but he's great in general, he's a proper fighting spirit.
Bruno appears to give him a lot of shit on the field for some reason.
Bruno appears to give him a lot of shit on the field for some reason.
Fast becoming one of my favourite players. Such a game little bastard. Underrated passer of the ball too. Maybe not creating as much you’d ideally want but rarely gives it away and able to ping a long range switch of play like not many fullbacks in the league.
Like his intensity and aggression. Not in Shaw class but then he is young and just joined us. So lot of room there.
Doesn't shirk his responsibilities and is constantly ever present in making himself a option, be it at the back, on the left or in the centre.
Think we've got a solid player on our hands.
Think we've got a solid player on our hands.
Normally people seem to cite size and speed and physical attributes as signs of serious potential but in his case it's how good he is on the ball in tight spaces. Not sure I quite see the athleticism at full back that would get him to say an Evra level, but easy to see him here for 7 or 8 years and the last half of those battling with Shaw's replacement, with maybe a transitional year or 2 as clear starter if that replacement is in his early 20s and Malacia is at his peak, in say 2027 when when Shaw is turning 31 and Malacia is about to turn 27.
Brilliant squad option. We need more of his ilk.
Quite surprised at the overwhelmingly positive comments on him. Made a few defensive errors and relied heavily on Fred to cover him. Indecisive when dealing with long ball and laid off a couple of times to the opponents which led to shots.
I can’t remember a player who is, in my opinion, so finely poised between being either a world class talent who will be here for years or another above average youngster that will begin to fade and be gone within the next few years.
He is a very useful squad player at this moment. Can't exactly tell what his potential will be like though.
he's got some key attributes that will serve him for the long term. Pace, technique, work ethic. It's his first season at a top club, first season outside of his home country, and he's been better than what we probably expected. He'll have a good career here.
He always stucks his leg in. Never afraid of a challenge or an opposition.
He impressed me in the first few games he played but I haven't seen much improvement afterwards. I expect him to push Shaw for that's position, but he is not fighting from what I see. Shaw's improvement started after his arrival and I'm afraid that if he doesn't compete with Shaw, lethargy will set in once again. He needs more in his belly.
It's no coincidence we played much better after Malacia was taken off. Shaw was a much better outlet at LB and the opening goal says it all.
Yep. He sure seems like a product of his Dutch environment - he’s very good at manipulating his body and positioning himself to receive the ball in awkward areas of the ball and funnelling it away. Really does take care on the ball — he’s in the 94th percentile for passing accuracy for fullbacks across Europes top 5 leagues
Annoying how our two best ball playing fullbacks play on the same side!
Definition of good squad player. He doesn't stand out and is not first 11 material but when he plays our general play doesn't drop.
His attacking game in final 3rd is still in issue for me though
His attacking game in final 3rd is still in issue for me though
The coincidence was mostly the fact that Martinez came on. Not saying that if Malacia had stayed at LB, he would have given that perfect cross to Rashford but it's not that black and white.
On a separate note, after from the City game at Emptyhad, I don't think Martinez and Malacia have had much playing time together. Before that, they were playing very well in possession and passing wise.
Yes I said this in the match day thread and have been saying the same ever since he got here. His ball retention is really really good. Very underrated.
Very good debut season, much better then Evra's in that regard. Like his intensity, he's always up for the task. which I think will take him far and why I think it's such a smart buy.
Huge test for him against Raphinha.
The problem with Malacia is that he is physically too weak. Even he shows good technique in tight spaces, he can't bring the ball out of defence because he can't hold off opponents when tightly marked. He tried once in the first half, and got himself on the ground (without winning a foul).
To be honest I'm quite surprised at the overwhelmingly positive comments here. For me (and the fanbase in my place) he's no more than an average squad player. His (lack of) physicality makes him struggle both offensively and defensively. Without Fred covering for him our left channel would have been wide open (reason why Fred won the POTM).
He was a steal for 14m.
I agree he can do more with and without the ball, especially in attacking phases but you're doing a disservice to him by reducing his output to 'not being able to bringing the ball out of defence'. You're perhaps concentrating on the wrong things; as per the stat above, he's a very safe/capable passer and also press resistant. That's not to mention his defensive combative qualities. Maybe we will revisit this after the Barca game, although that's not really a fair test for any of our players considering the circumstances but let's see.
I think he’s been a terrific signing. Top class mentality, always ready for a battle, strong in the tackle and gets out of tight spaces really well.
As for attacking contribution, yeah that can improve for sure but it’s his first year here and he’s only 23.
As for attacking contribution, yeah that can improve for sure but it’s his first year here and he’s only 23.
Great cover for LB and was a great price as well.
Better version of Williams. But not on a higher level than Büttner
I agree Malacia is a safe passer and press resistant himself, but only to sacrifice the team's progression as a tradeoff. For 60 minutes against Leeds, we totally relied on the Dalot/Sancho combination and Maguire's hopeful long balls to move the ball forward, while the left channel was non-existent. If you carefully look at the stats, Malacia's progressive passes and carries are significantly lower than his peers.
In terms of defending, he's good at marking the opponents tight and preventing them to turn, but nothing else. He's weak in dealing with long balls over the top and obviously, he struggles against opponents with physical presence.
I know my criticism may look a bit over for a youngster just landing in the PL, but so as the positivity here. I have actually revisited this thread a few times and every time I'm surprised the notion hasn't changed.
I think something that's overlooked is that Shaw and Malacia play completely differently when we have the ball (and I'm fairly sure due to different instructions given by Ten Hag). Shaw tends to stay wide and overlaps when given the chance, while Malacia tucks into central midfield then underlaps (though less often - again I think due to being instructed to guard against counter attacks).
I think the differing instructions given is due to the manager playing to different players' strengths (both Dalot and Malacia usually tuck in because they're more effective there if they try to pass through the midfield, Shaw and Wan Bissaka stay wide because Shaw's better at bombing up outside and Wan Bissaka can't pass through the centre of the pitch. I hope Malacia can develop his game so that he can replicate what Shaw does, but right now I'm pretty sure he's under instructions to play differently because his ability to overlap & cross the ball isn't his main strength yet.
Look at the positions Dalot and Malacia were in when the CBs had the ball in the Leeds game, and contrast that with Shaw and Wan Bissaka later on, and you would probably come to the same conclusion that they've been told to play differently. (esp. Dalot vs Wan Bissaka - after Wan Bissaka came on, it was Salbiter who dropped back pretty much in line with the CBs, like what Dalot was doing when he was on the pitch, while Wan Bissaka had the license to push further forward to receive passes out of defense as opposed to initiating them).
Defensively, because of how tall he is, I think Malacia tries to deal with the 2nd ball as opposed to winning the 1st ball (like Shaw would), but I think he's pretty effective doing that . He doesn't always win the ball outright, but he hassles players enough that even if he's struggling, he gains enough time for others to help him out (as opposed to Shaw when not playing well, who could literally disappear on the left side of defense).
I don't see that as an issue for him at all. He is a squad player, he plays when we have to play Shaw centrally. The issue about him being wide open on the left also applies to Shaw when he plays there though. A lot of that is due to Rashford not tracking back. Shaw has been criticised at times on here for not closing down defenders quickly enough on the wing, in fact just look at the recent Arsenal game, many on here were saying that exact thing about him. Malacia is a young player adjusting to this league, and he does, as expected, due to his lack of experience, makes mistakes at times. As a squad player I think he's a very good option, definite areas he needs to improve on, but a lack of physicality isn't one of them for me anyway.
He's miles better than Büttner.
Yep he certainly isn't any good and against city, I'm glad the guy who looked Malacia but wasn't, handled Mahrez really well.
Both Malacia and Shaw are instructed to tuck into midfield, and also given the freedom to stay wide occassionally. Either way, Shaw is much better in progressing the ball. I understand it isn't a fair comparison given Malacia is still a youngster in his debut season, but again the difference has to be recognized and his weaknesses should not be simply looked away.
On the defensive end, it works when the ball is far away from goal. This is actually why Fred won the POTM because he was covering for Malacia most of the time when he's on the field. But when the ball is launched closer to the goal and he's 1-on-1 with an opponent, he's always in trouble like how he nearly set up a goal for Leeds. He may be a useful squad player, a good signing considering his price tag, but I don't see much promise in him like the rests mention in this thread.
- Status