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2014-15 Performances

View full 2014-15 profile

5.6 Season Average Rating
Appearances
35
Clean sheets
12
Goals
0
Assists
5
Yellow cards
4
Rossa said:
Do you think there's a player out there busting his lungs and making more sprints than Valencia? He stopped three or four very dangerous City attacks today due to his speed. If you want him to contribute in attack, he will leave gaps in defense, and I have no problem with Smalling covering his flank if Carrick drops into Smalling's spot, which he should and does most of the time.

I think you are far too harsh on him. He was one of our better players today, and has been this season.
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I dont think you're watching when teams are building up down our right side because he's caught up the pitch, moving forward before he needs to. He's casually jogging back before he's made a single lungbusting sprint

He's being lazy defensively so that he has that energy to burst forward when it suits him. Thats a winger's trait. They can get away with it. Defenders cant cheat

If we had Rio and Vidic in their prime at CB it wouldnt be as much of an issue. Its exactly what Evra did after a couple of years, with Vidic having to bail him out every 5 mins
 
Terrific performance. Saved a clear goal by tracking Aguero. But as usual the caf moans.
 
Ekeke said:
I dont think you're watching when teams are building up down our right side because he's caught up the pitch, moving forward before he needs to. He's casually jogging back before he's made a single lungbusting sprint

He's being lazy defensively so that he has that energy to burst forward when it suits him. Thats a winger's trait. They can get away with it. Defenders cant cheat
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I don't agree. When players, like Herrera often does, tracks back because Valencia is further up the pitch, there's no reason for Valencia to bust his lungs getting back - that's not lazy defending, that's team play.
 
Rossa said:
Do you think there's a player out there busting his lungs and making more sprints than Valencia? He stopped three or four very dangerous City attacks today due to his speed. If you want him to contribute in attack, he will leave gaps in defense, and I have no problem with Smalling covering his flank if Carrick drops into Smalling's spot, which he should and does most of the time.

I think you are far too harsh on him. He was one of our better players today, and has been this season.
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He was considerably better both going forward and defensively in the second half so it has little to do with that. He had terrible defensive judgement in the first half as he is prone to, however did really well in the second half.
 
Rossa said:
I don't agree. When players, like Herrera often does, tracks back because Valencia is further up the pitch, there's no reason for Valencia to bust his lungs getting back - that's not lazy defending, that's team play.
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Its not about busting lungs, its about not doing it at a snail's pace so that he can at least track the fullback helping the winger Smalling is facing as the RB. Instead he's too late for even that
 
ivaldo said:
:lol: feck sake!
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Some massive blind spots from some posters IMO. Like he can do no wrong - today's mistake was Carrick's fault for not covering him, his backpass vs arsenal was Jones's fault for chesting the pass wrong.

@Ekeke 's point about him not tracking back today is very true as well. Which is surprising because he's normally got a good engine and work rate. But it was worrying the number of times that Smalling was left covering wide today was worrying. There was a point in the 2nd half where there was a man free on in the LW position and Valencia was jogging back caught 40 yards upfield. It reminded me of Evra in his last season when his legs were shot.
 
made a few brain farts at the beggining but had a fantastic rest of game. Broke up numerous city attacks.
 
Ekeke said:
Really, the basics of playing right back are :

Positioning/responisibility (be in your position so your team can count on you)
Take throw ins properly (as a fullback you're going to be taking a lot of them, dont do it incorrectly and give the opposition the ball)
Support your winger
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:D It's like picking the things Valencia is not good at and adding them to the "basics"

You really are being incredibly harsh on him for some odd reason. He wasn't at fault for any of the goals.. well obviously not in the match you were watching.
 
Eugenius said:
Some massive blind spots from some posters IMO. Like he can do no wrong - today's mistake was Carrick's fault for not covering him, his backpass vs arsenal was Jones's fault for chesting the pass wrong.

@Ekeke 's point about him not tracking back today is very true as well. Which is surprising because he's normally got a good engine and work rate. But it was worrying the number of times that Smalling was left covering wide today was worrying. There was a point in the 2nd half where there was a man free on in the LW position and Valencia was jogging back caught 40 yards upfield. It reminded me of Evra in his last season when his legs were shot.
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Absolutely. Even the recovery tackle that he made was met with frenzied praise. Yes it was a good recovery tackle but it was his fault to begin with and if Augero had a better first touch he wouldn't have had the opportunity to recover. 2 critical mistakes almost completely ignored, he is the weak link in this team.
 
Ekeke said:
Its not about busting lungs, its about not doing it at a snail's pace so that he can at least track the fullback helping the winger Smalling is facing as the RB. Instead he's too late for even that
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I just think we see it differently. When Herrera is covering, I see no problem with him not sprinting back because then Valencia is keeping Herrera's position to counter.

He's not perfect, but he played very well today, and he has played very well this season. There's been a lot of prophesies that he will struggle against the big teams, but he hasn't - he was very good today and excellent against Liverpool etc etc.
 
snk123 said:
:D It's like picking the things Valencia is not good at and adding them to the "basics"

You really are being incredibly harsh on him for some odd reason. He wasn't at fault for any of the goals.. well obviously not in the match you were watching.
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We're officially in silly territory.
 
I thought it was another good game overall for him, most of our attacks came down the left so he didn't get to murder any shins today but his power and pace were important in our defending.
 
I thought he was very solid , very important cog in our team, great stamina, touch and control are very good, rarely loses the ball, and is an absolute beast

Only thing, we all know is that he nullifies our attacking threat on right wing in big games
 
Rossa said:
I just think we see it differently. When Herrera is covering, I see no problem with him not sprinting back because then Valencia is keeping Herrera's position to counter.

He's not perfect, but he played very well today, and he has played very well this season. There's been a lot of prophesies that he will struggle against the big teams, but he hasn't - he was very good today and excellent against Liverpool etc etc.
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You can easily say he made three mistakes leading to goals against City today and arsenal in the Fa cup.
 
There was one move in the 42nd minute in the first half when City broke into the area with pace and only him stood between Aguero and Silva and managed to force a goal kick from the former. Very impressive
 
Beast today. Great covering and made a bitch out of aguero a few times (as did Jones).
 
Rossa said:
Do you think there's a player out there busting his lungs and making more sprints than Valencia? He stopped three or four very dangerous City attacks today due to his speed. If you want him to contribute in attack, he will leave gaps in defense, and I have no problem with Smalling covering his flank if Carrick drops into Smalling's spot, which he should and does most of the time.

I think you are far too harsh on him. He was one of our better players today, and has been this season.
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Well said Rossa
 
Wasn't impressed with him in the first half but he was full of confidence after that race with Aguero. Total beast in the 2nd half.
 
Great today...a 'needs to be starting' type of performance. He works well with the Spaniards. Just wish he'd be a little more aggressive in attack but he's improving on that. Defended superbly at times.
 
Varun said:
Came here to post exactly this.

Absolutely terrible the 1st 20 odd mins but went into beast mode after that.
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This can be said for most of our squad during City's initial blitz.
 
Bar that first 20 minutes he was an absolute beast. Some really impressive defensive contributions.
 
Raoul said:
This can be said for most of our squad during City's initial blitz.
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Not really, the rest of the guys werent asleep like he was. Valencia absolutely switched off twice in the 1st 10 odd mins. The goal and one another moment where it was Smalling(i think) who cut the move out at the last moment. Also couple of other moments when he was woefully out of position.
 
KiD MoYeS said:
At what point do we accept he's good enough to remain our right-back and isn't makeshift?
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Weird as it may sound considering he's a winger turned FB, I'm pretty happy most of the time with his defensive work, its what he does going forwards that isnt good enough especially given how beautifully Mata and Herrera work there.
 
KiD MoYeS said:
At what point do we accept he's good enough to remain our right-back and isn't makeshift?
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Not quite there yet.

Defensively he's solid enough it's his attacking play that lets him down, I'd love to see him take on and beat his man instead he always opts for an inside pass. I don't know why he doesn't back himself, he has the pace and muscle to get past weak fullbacks.
 
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