I've suppressed the memory of the second half against Leicester, but I do recall a last gasp Smalling challenge vs Chelsea. Still, for someone who has come from a pretty poor Portuguese League (defending wise especially) he has done surprisingly well. You look at Mangala who was twice the cost and was far more highly rated and so far it seems we've got a bargain.
16
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 26
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 6
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I've suppressed the memory of the second half against Leicester, but I do recall a last gasp Smalling challenge vs Chelsea. Still, for someone who has come from a pretty poor Portuguese League (defending wise especially) he has done surprisingly well. You look at Mangala who was twice the cost and was far more highly rated and so far it seems we've got a bargain.
[QUOTE="finneh, post: 16784667, member: 52832" Still, for someone who has come from a pretty poor Portuguese League (defending wise especially) he has done surprisingly well. [/QUOTE]
That's not true at all. I've said it multiple times. Our league has one of the lowest goal scoring ratios. It's mostly a boring defensive football league. The phrase "park the bus" from Mourinho comes from portuguese football nature.
That's not true at all. I've said it multiple times. Our league has one of the lowest goal scoring ratios. It's mostly a boring defensive football league. The phrase "park the bus" from Mourinho comes from portuguese football nature.
That's not true at all. I've said it multiple times. Our league has one of the lowest goal scoring ratios. It's mostly a boring defensive football league. The phrase "park the bus" from Mourinho comes from portuguese football nature.[/QUOTE]
Fair enough. I still maintain you'd expect a steep learning curve due to the quality of the League and difference in physicality etc. He's done really well in that sense.
Fair enough. I still maintain you'd expect a steep learning curve due to the quality of the League and difference in physicality etc. He's done really well in that sense.
I just did a slight correction about your assessment of portuguese football. But i understand what you implied and you are correct in thinking that players normally take longer to settle when moving to England from a less competitive enviroment. But i've always said from the start that i thought that Rojo had the tools to adapt well to English football because of his physical and aggressive nature. What i didn't expect was such a quick change regarding his disciplinary woes. But of course moving to a bigger club and with a more intimidating manager plays it's part. Since he was one of our best players, our board and manager would usually cut some slack when he started with his antics. I don't think United will let him do that. The moment he gets sent off stupidly, there are plenty of players to replace him at the starting eleven. Last year at Sporting, when he screwed up, we had Dier and that's it. He would usually return instantly after the suspension.
Were his disciplinary issues him making bad tackles, or him throwing a strop? If it's the former, then his lower red card count could also be because English referees tend to let a lot more things go than elsewhere in Europe. Something that would earn him a card in a normal footballing country wouldn't even be a freekick against him in England.
Very stupid tackles and even agressions. To be fair when mixing Argentinians against Brazilians something bad is bound to happen. Portuguese league has alot of brazilian footballers. The strop was just when he wanted to move to United.
I love how he gives big Dave a hug every time we score 
I actually really like this guy not just as a player but just him in general. Celebrates every goal with passion especially big goals or even saves or blocks in close games. Looks like he is loving playing for us and to be honest he has been a bit of a suprise. Type of player fans take to if he is performing very quickly
Yeah im starting to like him too.
Hes not an AMAZING defender but who is these days?
Hes very capable with the ball at his feet and physically he has everything a defender needs
He wasn't helped at times by the lack of consistency in our defence.
A lot of that parts missing from his game you'd expect to at least improve with age and experience though.
He occasionally gives me a heart attack with some risky passes and i wish he'd cut that shit out
and theres a couple of other rough edges that could be smoothed out but im pretty happy with him,
and hes young so theres room for improvement too.
Not the A list defender i'd love to have at the club but a more than capable partner for one if we ever get one.
Hes not an AMAZING defender but who is these days?
Hes very capable with the ball at his feet and physically he has everything a defender needs
He wasn't helped at times by the lack of consistency in our defence.
A lot of that parts missing from his game you'd expect to at least improve with age and experience though.
He occasionally gives me a heart attack with some risky passes and i wish he'd cut that shit out
and theres a couple of other rough edges that could be smoothed out but im pretty happy with him,
and hes young so theres room for improvement too.
Not the A list defender i'd love to have at the club but a more than capable partner for one if we ever get one.
I love how he gives big Dave a hug every time we score
That was after the end of the match though.
He is so good on the ball, super comfortable. Pep would have loved a player like him in his team.
Why are all South Americans so good with the ball regardless of their position? Why are British CB's so shit with the ball? Do they not train at all with the ball and just win headers all the time? I know they are usually big guys but come on, is it that hard to develop defenders that can run with the ball a little and pick a pass? Pisses me off.
I can't remember seeing his pace being really tested yet, I'm intrigued to see what it's like.
We had at least two of them, arguably three, already in our squad when we signed Rojo.
it was a strange one. Definitely not what Hughes was saying in that it was clearly offside.
I believe the rule is that if any part of your body is beyond the last man then it is offside but in this case, although Rojo was beyond the last defender's torso the defender had his left arm outstretched beyond Rojo. Would love to find a picture of it.
Same here. Not someone who inspires confidence in fans with his style. Too Phil Jones-esque for my liking.
It's any part of your body that can be used to score a goal, so arms don't matter.
Ah yeah, true. So just offside then.
As long as the other defender is good at reading the game and organizing the defense, Rojo will be fine. He isn't the best at reading the game, but he is good at making late challenges and very good at passing. Not very confident on him, but he offers a lot to the team.
I think that a defense of Smalling-Rojo might work well. Smalling is good at reading the game, and both of them are very fast. Wouldn't like to see much Jones-Rojo because both are very similar in their style and neither is calm. While Evans has always been good if he played with a partner who is better than him, but not as good if he's the leader.
Currently our best partnership in my opinion is Smalling-Rojo.
British defenders only learn how to tackle and hoof the ball up the pitch.
Well, up until a few years ago, England had the best collection of centrebacks in world football. That was because they were actually trained how to defend first and foremost.
Now we have Cahill and Jagielka.
Now we have Cahill and Jagielka.
Rojo needs to improve his positioning and heading before I'm totally sold. He's not been bad, but I haven't seen a top class defender in him yet. Smalling's not far off, though.
No. The centre half's we have produced over the past two decades rival any nation on earth. Distribution was never a problem either.
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It's not a change of tactics in England, it's just a steep decline in quality.
Neville's comments about a change in training methods is telling. Not to mention the fact that the next generation on England players looks significantly more comfortable on the ball than the last.
Part of it will definitely just be a bit good/bad luck. But I think there's been a shift in the way teams play in the Premier League, and that's reflected in the emphasis away from defence.
Thought Stoke was this lad's first really good game for us. Very pleasing to see and hopefully he keeps it up.
I was going on about British defenders as a whole. Johnny Evans is excellent with the ball.
Really? Have to say I got the opposite impression of him.
Showed great positioning against Stoke which was my biggest concern as well. Good with the ball and very calm. Good passing and brave.
The style of football in S.America and Spain etc are completely different. In England we generally play kick it long football and use pace/power/height at a young age, where as continental style teams are taught to keep the ball and pass/move and be comfortable.
We are learning more in England these days and young teams are definitely getting more used to the idea, but it's just the impatience of the English which I think gives it that "get it up by the goal as quick as possible" feel.
Don't want to stereotype the opinions, but one does half get the feeling that a lot of people don't rate Rojo because of misinformed opinions (many of the same were convinced Blind wasn't much cop and was a left back before revising the stance) and the preconceived notions associated with being an Argie defender (typically famous for rather rash, hot-headed, crude, workmanlike defenders in the mold of Samuel or Heinze). Yet he seems to be more Ayala in his perception of danger, good mobility, and slick skill on the ball. Still a bit raw but Rojo has all the tools to blossom into a gritty yet calculating ball playing center-half, provided he's willing to listen to Van Gaal (which he apparently is).
Heinze was fairly decent for us, so it can't be that.
And it's not pre-conceived notions. He IS a bit rash in his defensive play. Look at the way he got injured against City. Jones would be proud of that.
I'm not talking about individual opinions though.
It wasn't even just that tbh.
Some players at youth level were overlooked because they were not big/strong enough especially as defenders. So sometimes players progressed for their physical attributes more than their footballing attributes.
My opinion comes from watching Rojo playing at my club and not from any preconceived notion or stereotype. At Sporting he was rather rash and hot headed and his disciplinary record proved that. But it appears he has change his ways so far. He seems to have matured and his experience at the world cup and the premier league helped. I think my assessment of him was fair and his career at England so far (minus his disciplinary record) is showing that. Perhaps i was overly optimistic since i like Rojo but for someone playing his first year in a much harder league, in a team in transition, struggling defensively and with an injury crysis, i think he has done alright. I see Rojo as someone who thanks to his versatility, physical power and characteristics will be very useful for United. Just as long as Van Gaal keeps putting him as CB and only use him at LB as last resort.
This is almost exactly the point I was trying to make though Sly. I can understand your POV because he displayed errant ways at Sporting because the proof is in the pudding. But like you said, and from what I've observed that's drastically changed at United. Yet he's still being associated with the kind of player he was at Sporting, rather than the kind of player he is now where he looks rather calm and calculating at the middle, leads the team in interceptions and has great passing ability, and largely hasn't been a great liability considering he's playing in a much chopped and changed back 4, didn't have a load of rest after the WC finals, is still adjusting to the new league and missed out training time through injury. Considering that he's been quite excellent.
Southampton 1:2 Man Utd
We could again lose scored goal, because of him being offside. He's terrible at that. Should stay at the back during free kicks.
His defending is more of a worry for me, don't rate him at all.
He has yet to convince me one bit.
We need better quality defenders if we have any ambitions of getting back to the top.