He will be in the team of the season at right back by the end of the season. Feel free to quote this at the end of the season.
Valencia can more than 'do a job' at right back.
Valencia's whoscored stats for the last 2 seasons (both played at right back)
Darmian on the other hand:
That's just using stats. But, using my eyes, there's an even clearer difference.
Valencia is laughably underrated on this forum just because he switched to right back fairly recently (and because his performances when he was a winger in his last season were not up to his usual standards).
@devilish you should probably read this too.
I finished of the post by saying I can judge with my eyes that Valencia is a very good right back. Obviously it isn't a fool proof system but it has a lot of data that it goes through and stats are a way of backing up your point.
Valencia is fast and strong yes. But he is also technically very good. His first touch, his link up play are all brilliant and his crossing is drastically underrated on this forum (yes isn't not as good as it used to be but I seem to remember him being involved in quite a few goals near the end of last season). No full back/winger hits 100% of their crosses. Most full backs/wingers don't even hit 50% of their crosses as they would want to.
One of the reasons we struggled so much last season was due to the lack of attacking influence our full backs had (which are a big thing under LVG). Darmian and Rojo just weren't good enough in the attacking sense and both were suspect at the back as outlined countless times.
Darmian got schooled against Arsenal and Tottenham and LVG even said he brought on Valencia at half time against southampton because Tadic had too much space and also said that he didn't see Tadic in the second half. Rojo is also rash and supect.
One on one Valencia is a beast - he uses his pace and strength to win the battle the vast majority of the time. Also I find it funny that people saying he's a liability positionally and then when TFM was all over the place positionally when he was playing at right back he was being lauded for the exact same thing Valencia was doing, using his pace to get back into position. And lets be honest, Valencia was nowhere near as much out of position as TFM was in the games he played there.
And yet Valencia gets a big score.
Comparing Valencia, Darmian and Fabinho in the 2015/16 season:
Comparing Valencia, Walker, Bellerin, Sagna and Clyne in the 2015/16 season:
Comparing Valencia, Dani Alves, Marcelo, Lahm and Carvajal in the 2015/16 season:
Again, stats aren't the full story - sometimes they can be misleading. But I don't believe that his stats being consistently favourable to other top right backs is a coincidence. I have given my opinion backed up by stats as to why I think Valencia is severely underrated by Manchester United fans. I haven't only given stats.
WE HAVE THE BEST RIGHT BACK IN THE LEAGUE
Valencia can more than 'do a job' at right back.
Valencia's whoscored stats for the last 2 seasons (both played at right back)
- Played 32 premier league games with an average rating of 7.23 in the 2014/15 season. (Compare that to Ivanovic - who got in the team of the season that year in a title winning team - he got 7.25). Also compare that to Martial in the 2015/16 season who got the exact same score of 7.23. Everyone said he was brilliant, no such mention of how good Valencia was in 2014/15.
- Played 14 premier league games (due to a long injury) with an average rating of 7.05 in the 2015/16 season.
Darmian on the other hand:
- Played 33 games (for Torino) league games with an average rating of 6.98 in the 2014/15 season. And remember, we bought him after this season.
- Played 28 premier league games with an average rating of 6.91 in the 2015/16 season.
That's just using stats. But, using my eyes, there's an even clearer difference.
Valencia is laughably underrated on this forum just because he switched to right back fairly recently (and because his performances when he was a winger in his last season were not up to his usual standards).
@devilish you should probably read this too.
I finished of the post by saying I can judge with my eyes that Valencia is a very good right back. Obviously it isn't a fool proof system but it has a lot of data that it goes through and stats are a way of backing up your point.
Valencia is fast and strong yes. But he is also technically very good. His first touch, his link up play are all brilliant and his crossing is drastically underrated on this forum (yes isn't not as good as it used to be but I seem to remember him being involved in quite a few goals near the end of last season). No full back/winger hits 100% of their crosses. Most full backs/wingers don't even hit 50% of their crosses as they would want to.
One of the reasons we struggled so much last season was due to the lack of attacking influence our full backs had (which are a big thing under LVG). Darmian and Rojo just weren't good enough in the attacking sense and both were suspect at the back as outlined countless times.
Darmian got schooled against Arsenal and Tottenham and LVG even said he brought on Valencia at half time against southampton because Tadic had too much space and also said that he didn't see Tadic in the second half. Rojo is also rash and supect.
One on one Valencia is a beast - he uses his pace and strength to win the battle the vast majority of the time. Also I find it funny that people saying he's a liability positionally and then when TFM was all over the place positionally when he was playing at right back he was being lauded for the exact same thing Valencia was doing, using his pace to get back into position. And lets be honest, Valencia was nowhere near as much out of position as TFM was in the games he played there.
And yet Valencia gets a big score.
Comparing Valencia, Darmian and Fabinho in the 2015/16 season:
Comparing Valencia, Walker, Bellerin, Sagna and Clyne in the 2015/16 season:
Comparing Valencia, Dani Alves, Marcelo, Lahm and Carvajal in the 2015/16 season:
Again, stats aren't the full story - sometimes they can be misleading. But I don't believe that his stats being consistently favourable to other top right backs is a coincidence. I have given my opinion backed up by stats as to why I think Valencia is severely underrated by Manchester United fans. I haven't only given stats.
WE HAVE THE BEST RIGHT BACK IN THE LEAGUE
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