Di Maria Has Earned Start Against City

He's earnt a start because Rooney scored a wonder goal from a cross Di Maria played too far behind him?

Who would he play instead of? Young was our best player for much of the game, Mata also assisted a goal and was MOTM in our last big game, and Fellaini wont be dropped because he's a tactical advantage.
 
I don't see it as a case of what has 'Young done to be dropped' but what they can offer the team. Di Maria IS the better player and ultimately can provide more for this team than Young can.
 
Tough one but having searched so much this season for a formula, I'd be reluctant to change it now. So I'd start Young although Di Maria will hopefully make that wide left berth in the team his own long term.
 
Locka said:
From a tactical point of view I think Young is the better option. Not from a workhorse perspective either, but that he links with Blind behind him and I think they can really hurt City in that area. They generally lack diligence in the wide areas and having a 2 on 1 situation against Zabaleta could be really fruitful for us. Once Di Maria is on the pitch, the fullback stops being an attacking option for us because Di Maria would rather do it all alone.

But yeah, it's hard to not think 'it's fecking Di Maria, and it's fecking Ashley Young'.
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I would agree with this. Short term, it may be better to keep playing Young - but di Maria is obviously coming back.
 
WR10 said:
It's a choice between Young or him. Young provides us with much more defensive stability than Di Maria does. Di Maria clearly provides us with much more attacking potency.
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Young made great runs on Saturday. Bit demoralising for the defender on that side to know that he probably is faced with a fresh Di Maria in the second half. I don't know what the stats show but that wing seems like a serious source of joy for the team over the last few games.
 
I'm reluctant to consign ADM to the list of South American players, especially Argentinians, who've not really performed or else not really wanted to be at Old Trafford long term. But let's face it, that's the way it usually goes.
 
noodlehair said:
He's earnt a start because Rooney scored a wonder goal from a cross Di Maria played too far behind him?

Who would he play instead of? Young was our best player for much of the game, Mata also assisted a goal and was MOTM in our last big game, and Fellaini wont be dropped because he's a tactical advantage.
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He hasn't 'earned' a start, but I still think he should play on the left instead of Young personally. Di Maria is too good a player to leave on the bench week after week.
 
BAMSOLA said:
I don't want to see him start, after his performance against Arsenal he hasn't earned shit yet.

Young has done enough over the last couple of games to justify a start, the game is about more than just assists and his overall play lately hasn't been good enough. Young deserves the start, Di Maria will have to play the super sub role.
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Agree with this.

Our attacking play in recent weeks is the best it's been all season. I see no reason to change it at the moment.
 
I agree he should start. Nothing against Young, he's been doing great but Di maria is the better player and even when he's playing average he still creates chances. Id love to see his link up with Fellaini over on that left side to be honest.
 
ivaldo said:
I don't see it as a case of what has 'Young done to be dropped' but what they can offer the team. Di Maria IS the better player and ultimately can provide more for this team than Young can.
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He offers no stability compared to Young. I would rather him come on after 60 minutes when we have controlled the game and had City running around, hopefully.
 
carlosp said:
He offers no stability compared to Young. I would rather him come on after 60 minutes when we have controlled the game and had City running around, hopefully.
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Di Maria as a second half substitute is more dangerous to the opposition IMO, he hasn't been a 90 minute player for us this season in any game, he seems to be a single half man for the most part.
 
carlosp said:
He offers no stability compared to Young. I would rather him come on after 60 minutes when we have controlled the game and had City running around, hopefully.
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On the flip side why not take advantage of our quick starts and play the player far more likely to get/create a goal? Then bring Young on to sure things up. We will have a defensively solid full back in Blind so we can afford the risk.
 
Completely disagree. Young was a constant threat on Saturday. He's in great form.
 
ivaldo said:
On the flip side why not take advantage of our quick starts and play the player far more likely to get/create a goal? Then bring Young on to sure things up.
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City love to score in the second half, so quick starts might not work against them, a 0-1 scoreline could easily turn into 3-1.
 
Imagine the thought of this thread 12 months ago? We'd be mad to drop Young. We've been solid and potent against good opposition, Angel will have to be ready to show something from the bench.
 
If he decides to have one of those games where he wants every ball to be the final ball the game might be out of our hands before we can correct it.
 
dxadel said:
The Rooney criticisms in favour of Falcao still baffles me to be honest, it's like some fans want our players to perform badly to accommodate the big names on the bench, Ashley Young didn't deserve all the backlash as well.
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Good thing I didn't read any of that. What does Rooney have to do to get people off his back? The way he went for that ball before the third goal on Saturday, with the game at 2-1 he quite simply wanted it more than any Villa player. Loved the way he was all jokey with Benteke then the moment the ball is in play he is like a bull shown a red rag. Awesome :devil:
 
I'm not sure what Young has done over the last two games to warrant a start for the next game. Are offensive players not meant to create? Or is running up and down the wing enough to cement a starting place in the first eleven? In terms of defensive work, we've utterly dominated Spurs, Liverpool and Villa, with regards to possession, that we've not required the likes of Young, Mata, and Rooney to help track back. di Maria, on the other hand, who is a better player, has been far more creative in an hour of game time than Young has been in two hours.
 
Captain Hindsight said:
I'm not sure what Young has done over the last two games to warrant a start for the next game. Are offensive players not meant to create? Or is running up and down the wing enough to cement a starting place in the first eleven? In terms of defensive work, we've utterly dominated Spurs, Liverpool and Villa, with regards to possession, that we've not required the likes of Young, Mata, and Rooney to help track back. di Maria, on the other hand, who is a better player, has been far more creative in an hour of game time than Young has been in two hours.
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Yes because we have had Young, Mata and Rooney playing the possession game, something Di Maria isn't as good at. Blind/Young with Fellaini ahead on the left with Valencia/Mata/Herrera on the right making the opposition go wide, it's been the teams bread and butter the past three weeks. Rather stick with it than bringing Di Maria on and destroying the possession game we currently dominating with.
 
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The last 2 assists that Di Maria has created were really poor balls that genius players like Mata and Rooney had to improvise in other to make something of, he played both of those crosses behind the players. Young has to start, you don't change a winning team, period.
 
legball said:
The last 2 assists that Di Maria has created were really poor balls that genius players like Mata and Rooney had to improvise in other to make something of, he played both of those crosses behind the players. Young has to start, you don't change a winning team, period.
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Sorry there is no way you can say the pass to Mata was "really poor". Most players wouldn't even see or attempt that pass, give him a break for it being a little behind Mata. And the cross to Rooney was a little off but at least it went to one of our players unlike most (all?) of Young's crosses. He hit that amazing cross for Rooney's header against Arsenal aswell recently.
 
legball said:
The last 2 assists that Di Maria has created were really poor balls that genius players like Mata and Rooney had to improvise in other to make something of, he played both of those crosses behind the players. Young has to start, you don't change a winning team, period.
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And why is Young incapable of even such "poor" balls? Give me a player who regularly gets "poor" but match winning assists to one who is better at defending despite being an attacking player.
 
Di Maria will try the risky pass. When it comes off it looks fantastic and when it doesn't, it looks sloppy. I think his assist record has been good this season. However, I don't think we should be changing the team at the moment when we're keeping possession so well and looking effective. So I'd keep him on the bench and bring him on when legs tire.
 
dxadel said:
City love to score in the second half, so quick starts might not work against them, a 0-1 scoreline could easily turn into 3-1.
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Surely if they are a 2nd half team it'll be better going into it with a lead?
 
ThanksBoss26 said:
Di Maria will try the risky pass. When it comes off it looks fantastic and when it doesn't, it looks sloppy. I think his assist record has been good this season. However, I don't think we should be changing the team at the moment when we're keeping possession so well and looking effective. So I'd keep him on the bench and bring him on when legs tire.
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Di Maria risky or no risky is VERY sloppy, that pass to Rooney at Anfield wasn't a risky one. Nothing against him, he's still a fantastic player.
 
I want Young to start ahead of him. We've been a much better team with Young and it'd be incredibly harsh on him to drop him ahead of a very important league game.
 
carlosp said:
Yes because we have had Young, Mata and Rooney playing the possession game, something Di Maria isn't as good as. Blind/Young with Fellaini ahead on the left with Valencia/Mata/Herrera on the right making the opposition go wide, it's been the teams bread and butter the past three weeks. Rather stick with it than bringing Di Maria on and destroying the possession game we currently dominating with.
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This is a myth.

Pass completion vs Liverpool:
Rooney 77%
di Maria 74%
Young 68%

Pass completion vs Villa:
Rooney 85%
di Maria 87%
Young 69%

di Maria was clearly instructed to play safer against Villa, and thus maintained a slightly/much higher pass completion rate than both Rooney and Young. Whilst playing to the philosophy, he also managed an assist, something Young has been unable to consistently produce throughout this season. Young has been very impressive throughout this season, and thoroughly deserved to start over the last few games; however, it's about time we play the man who is clearly better.
 
Ixion said:
Sorry there is no way you can say the pass to Mata was "really poor". Most players wouldn't even see or attempt that pass, give him a break for it being a little behind Mata. And the cross to Rooney was a little off but at least it went to one of our players unlike most (all?) of Young's crosses. He hit that amazing cross for Rooney's header against Arsenal aswell recently.
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Any player with half a brain would "see" that pass. It was behind Mata, so was the one for Rooney. My point is, stats aren't everything.
 
united_99 said:
And why is Young incapable of even such "poor" balls? Give me a player who regularly gets "poor" but match winning assists to one who is better at defending despite being an attacking player.
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You don't change a winning team, and Young has played very well and deserves to start, it's as simple as that.
 
legball said:
Any player with half a brain would "see" that pass. It was behind Mata, so was the one for Rooney. My point is, stats aren't everything.
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Well if you're not going to give credit where its due there is no point debating with you. His pass to Mata at Anfield was excellent and most players wouldn't attempt it, simple as that. Give me one example of Young making a pass like that.
 
legball said:
You don't change a winning team, and Young has played very well and deserves to start, it's as simple as that.
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He didn't play well at all in the last two games. No attacking contribution at all. We are Man United, not Stoke. And it was a good decision to take him off and replace him with Di Maria in the last game.

United is probably the only top club where there could be such a discussion.
Or can you imagine such a discussion on a RM forum when Di Maria was there?
"Who to play, Arbeloa or Di Maria?"
Oh and Arbeloa at least is a World and European champion.
 
united_99 said:
He didn't play well at all in the last two games. No attacking contribution at all. We are Man United, not Stoke. And it was a good decision to take him off and replace him with Di Maria in the last game.

United is probably the only top club where there could be such a discussion.
Or can you imagine such a discussion on a RM forum when Di Maria was there?
"Who to play, Arbeloa or Di Maria?"
Oh and Arbeloa at least is a World and European champion.
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He did, please stop this now. Di Maria hasn't definitely played well in ages, so, why does he "deserve" to start? You don't change a winning team. Arbeloa is a defender and Di Maria an attacker, what silly example is that?
 
Ixion said:
Well if you're not going to give credit where its due there is no point debating with you. His pass to Mata at Anfield was excellent and most players wouldn't attempt it, simple as that. Give me one example of Young making a pass like that.
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Listen mate, it wasn't a pass out of this world, tons of players would do it, Mata's run was predictable, and wouldn't need magic to see it, am not saying Young is better, but he has definitely played better in the last few games and you simply don't change a winning team.
 
MikeUpNorth said:
He hasn't 'earned' a start, but I still think he should play on the left instead of Young personally. Di Maria is too good a player to leave on the bench week after week.
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I don't think he is. He's got lightning speed and a lot of talent but his decision making is just so shockingly bad. When he's off form he's as likely to cost us the game as win it.

If he was in any kind of form then yeah, but putting an average cross in against Aston Villa isn't quite enough to convince me that's the case.

Last time he started, he spent about half the game rolling around on the floor instead of helping out his team, and then pretty much cost us any chance of rescuing the game by getting himself sent off, and in the stupidist way possible.
 
legball said:
He did, please stop this now. Di Maria hasn't definitely played well in ages, so, why does he "deserve" to start? You don't change a winning team. Arbeloa is a defender and Di Maria an attacker, what silly example is that?
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It's not a silly example, indeed it's the perfect example in this case as Young is better at defending than attacking, so he can be compared to Arbeloa, whose attacking contribution btw despite being a defender is better than Young's. Arbeloa's crosses at least occasionaly reach a teammate, even if it's by mistake, Young's don't even do that.
 
noodlehair said:
I don't think he is. He's got lightning speed and a lot of talent but his decision making is just so shockingly bad. When he's off form he's as likely to cost us the game as win it.

If he was in any kind of form then yeah, but putting an average cross in against Aston Villa isn't quite enough to convince me that's the case.
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No, he's not. One player cannot cost a team a game.
 
ivaldo said:
Surely if they are a 2nd half team it'll be better going into it with a lead?
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It would be better to control the game and not rely on a quick start against City, if we can score 2 goals in the first half ...great, but a 1 goal lead without momentum wouldn't mean much in the second half, but it all depends on our game plan and what City team turns up that day.
 
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