Antonio Valencia... | Will wear #25 shirt from this point onwards by request

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Pogue Mahone said:
That's not true at all. He put in some excellent performances at the back end of last season. Most notably against Chelsea.

His more recent dip in form only came after his injury on international duty, since when he's been shunted in and out of the team and between full back and winger, so it's no great surprise he hasn't hit any kind of form.
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Right you are, somehow mixed the two injuries up in my head - don't ask me how.

Form aside though, he isn't doing the same things he used to. He's cut out the one thing that was ridiculously effective time and time again. I'm not sure if it's down to confidence or he lost a step with his injury, but he needs to get back to it.
 
I think there were some signs that he's returning. He looked much more confident on the ball tonight and drove at his fullback to whip in a cross more than he has done in a long time.
 
He was poor again; hopefully he'll come around soon but he looked so one-dimensional again, especially compared to Nani.
 
He and Nani are totally different types of players, Valencia is still finding his feet after his injury layoff, once he's back to 100% match fitness he'll be fine.
 
Agree, not impressed by him tonight, awful first half but it's hard to come back after the injury he had. Fantastic form by the end of last season, it will take time but hopefully he will get there again.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Only watched the last 15 minutes.

Who to believe?

Hmmm...
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It was a hit and miss game from him, certainly not one to remember but not terrible. Looked like a player finding fitness and slowed a few glimpses of what he has in his locker. He's not back to his full burst of pace yet so his usual shoulder drop and run wasn't the best of options for him, it'll come soon enough.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Only watched the last 15 minutes.

Who to believe?

Hmmm...
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I don't think he was particularly good but he showed signs of improvement in comparison to the last couple of weeks. Like I said he attacked his fullback and tried to get in crosses more than he has done at any time this season. Hopefully it's only a matter of time before he's firing on all cylinders.
 
Of course I don't know him but it almost seems if he questions his own ability and requires a lot of confidence building before he 'flourishes'. He grew into a fantastic winger - one of the league's best but after playing so few games recently, he obviously needs to have games to find that kind of form again.

Probably bullshit and he's the most egocentric player at United but there you go.....
 
izzydiggler said:
Of course I don't know him but it almost seems if he questions his own ability and requires a lot of confidence building before he 'flourishes'. He grew into a fantastic winger - one of the league's best but after playing so few games recently, he obviously needs to have games to find that kind of form again.

Probably bullshit and he's the most egocentric player at United but there you go.....
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No I'd agree that he needs confidence. A lack of games and an even bigger lack of games in the right position teamed with recovering from injury have definitetly knocked him. I have full confidence that he'll come back strong though.
 
He's still a bit to predictable. His passing was poor and he missed some through ball opportunities. He also definitely should have shot that one time but instead passed the ball badly. I don't get it how little he uses his left foot. It can't be that bad surely. He's been playing football longer than he's used proper grammar.
It really differs on how we play how much of use he is in games. I thought Fabio did more going forward.
Maybe it's something to do with his confidence. But I expect better from him on the wing because he's been so much better there before.
 
Cutch said:
I'm just happy that he has found the confidence to start taking his man on again. It didnt always work but it was a much better performance from him than his recent ones.
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Should that really be a consolotary point when we're talking about a winger here? Too often he just looks clueless with the ball at his feet.
 
Red Devil 26 said:
Should that really be a consolotary point when we're talking about a winger here? Too often he just looks clueless with the ball at his feet.
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Well yes, because its been a major issue in holding him back the last couple of months. If he's not going to take on his man obviously it would affect his overall output. The second part is utter bollocks. When Valencias on top of his game he rarely picks the wrong option, and did you not see the number of assists he provided for Rooney in his first season.
 
Cutch said:
Well yes, because its been a major issue in holding him back the last couple of months. If he's not going to take on his man obviously it would affect his overall output. The second part is utter bollocks. When Valencias on top of his game he rarely picks the wrong option, and did you not see the number of assists he provided for Rooney in his first season.
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I saw, and credit to him he made a very solid contribution in his first season. As for rarely picks the wrong option, that's because he only has one option and that's just to knock it past the full back and run. Effective when he's playing well sure. But if he has no confidence to take on his man, I don't see how he adds anything of use going forward. I don't think he always picks the right passing option, and looks indecisive when the opposition defence is on the back foot, and he's running at them.
 
Red Devil 26 said:
I saw, and credit to him he made a very solid contribution in his first season. As for rarely picks the wrong option, that's because he only has one option and that's just to knock it past the full back and run. Effective when he's playing well sure. But if he has no confidence to take on his man, I don't see how he adds anything of use going forward. I don't think he always picks the right passing option, and looks indecisive when the opposition defence is on the back foot, and he's running at them.
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Yes, which is why i'm encouraged to see him taking on his man tonight. What are you disagreeing with exactly?
 
Still looked desperately low on self-belief in that first half. Shook himself a bit in last 20 minutes and produced a couple of crosses. That's what I feel like doing, shaking him. Shrinking violet at the moment, looks beaten as soon as he has the ball at his feet. We know he has it in him, but it's time to step it up now, I think.
 
Cutch said:
Yes, which is why i'm encouraged to see him taking on his man tonight. What are you disagreeing with exactly?
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Sorry I should have made myself clearer. Personally, the only thing I think he has going for him when attacking is to use his pace to go past his man and try and whip in a good ball. So the fact that he's been reluctant to do so of late, for me renders him pretty useless in going forward. So I don't see how him starting to take on his man again should necessarily be applauded, when it's what he should be doing regardless. It's his Plan A and he doesn't have a Plan B.

A winger like Nani for example doesn't have to necessarily beat his man out wide, cos he's comfortable enough to cut inside and try and influence the game in that manner.
 
Red Devil 26 said:
Sorry I should have made myself clearer. Personally, the only thing I think he has going for him when attacking is to use his pace to go past his man and try and whip in a good ball. So the fact that he's been reluctant to do so of late, for me renders him pretty useless in going forward. So I don't see how him starting to take on his man again should necessarily be applauded, when it's what he should be doing regardless. It's his Plan A and he doesn't have a Plan B.

A winger like Nani for example doesn't have to necessarily beat his man out wide, cos he's comfortable enough to cut inside and try and influence the game in that manner.
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I'm not applauding him for it, just seeing signs that he might possibly be on the way back to the form that made him such an effective player for us. I agree he can be one dimensional, but many wide men are. Beckham and Kanchelskis were quite one dimensional but were both brilliant wide players for us.
 
Fair enough mate. For me though, his lack of variety/imagination as a winger, means that if he isn't confident enough to execute his normal game, he quite often makes very little contribution going forward. Nani (harsh comparison I know) has often had a stinker, but has the ability to just pull something out of nowhere, which Valencia just can't do. Hopefully he'll recapture his form soon.
 
There was one moment where his unwillingness to use his left foot almost cost us. He was heading back towards our corner with an opponent closing him down, and the easy ball would've been to use his left to play it back to De Gea. Instead, he tried to get his body around to toe it with his right and almost sold De Gea short since his balance was all wrong.

I don't expect him to do tricks or anything special with his left, but every now and then he'll do something like that where I honestly can't understand how a professional player refuses to play even the simplest of passes with his left, to the extent he'll put himself into a rather difficult situation just so he can get it with his right.

But except for that, I'd agree with most on here that he was a little better today but is still a long way from his best.
 
Aint gota Kalou said:
I think there were some signs that he's returning. He looked much more confident on the ball tonight and drove at his fullback to whip in a cross more than he has done in a long time.
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Have to agree with that. One of the positives out of last nights game was definitely the fact that Valencia looked as though he was finding his form again.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Only watched the last 15 minutes.

Who to believe?

Hmmm...
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Considering he's been far from his best recently, last night was a positive performance from him. He looked like hes getting his confidence back which is always the first major step when returning to form. He was taking on his fullback and whipping crosses in. I think it was the rest his play which people were disappointed with as it just wasn't coming off for him.
 
pocco said:
Considering he's been far from his best recently, last night was a positive performance from him. He looked like hes getting his confidence back which is always the first major step when returning to form. He was taking on his fullback and whipping crosses in. I think it was the rest his play which people were disappointed with as it just wasn't coming off for him.
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There's no "rest of his play". He takes on his fullback and whips crosses in. If that works, fine, if not, he has no other "play" in his book. He'll never be an incisive passer or a goalscorer.
 
Still ill said:
Still looked desperately low on self-belief in that first half. Shook himself a bit in last 20 minutes and produced a couple of crosses. That's what I feel like doing, shaking him. Shrinking violet at the moment, looks beaten as soon as he has the ball at his feet. We know he has it in him, but it's time to step it up now, I think.
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Agree with that, playing within himself at the moment. Weird to see if you compare his play when he came back from such a serious injury. Makes me wonder how mentally equipped he is to play for Utd.
 
Never really rated him and thought 17m was a high price. He's a great athlete but hasn't got great talent.
 
giggs-beckham said:
Never really rated him and thought 17m was a high price. He's a great athlete but hasn't got great talent.
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Sorry to disagree but 2 seasons ago, he was excellent and I dont know how many assists he made (mainly for Rooney) His problem is that he needs the striker as well as the midfield to play in a certain way, otherwise, he cant play to his strenghts or create much.

He was very unlucky with a nasty injury last season. Lets give him more games and I am sure he will get back to his best
 
He came back incredibly strong from his injury, before having an absolute stinker in the Champions League final, and has looked a bit short this season. I do think though that he doesn't have as low a low point as most players, which is why he'll continue to get games. On the flipside, when he's playing well he won't win as many games as say Nani will. Needs to learn a new trick than the shimmy to the left and taking it on with the right though, you can see full-backs who've done their homework and are expecting it.
 
Starting to worry about this lad, thought he'd come back to the business after some time but I fear that injury has fecked him right over.
 
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