[Ace of Spades]

Rojo is still fairly raw and will need to improve, but he has the necessary talent to work with. He is still settling in a new league and country, and things have not been easy for him with a very unstable and ever changing defense to work with.

It seems he is not made of glass like the rest of our defenders at least.

 

[ManUSarge]

It's a stat - which, of course, means it's the opinion of the Opta observer. They aren't infallible.

You seem to be a little obsessed with his passing failures while ignoring his overall defensive contribution. I suppose I'm leaning in the other direction.

I like Rojo and hope he does well. I'm not saying I took notes or anything...I just remember an awful lot of mistakes...not just by him but by the entire squad. I may have very well missed the things that he did well, but the things that stick out in my mind...the things that upset me the most, were his passing failures and being dispossessed. My recollection was that he did quite poor. I do see that I am in the minority. I do agree with the majority in saying that the 3 at the back has to be scrapped and for us to get a win away from home playing like that is a definite positive. I am just disappointed at the way we could not seem to get it together. Cheers

 

[Ekeke]

I think I've got the opposite opinion to many on here strangely. I think he's a poor defender who's seriously lacking awareness and concentration but on the ball he's very promising. He occasionally tries a little too much but he's easily our most composed defender on the ball and 9 times out of 10 he backs that up with a good ball which injects a bit of urgency and direction into our play. I think he's our only defender who does that on a consistent basis. It's just that he occasionally gets a little carried away and today more so than usual.

I think this is what was supposed to be the case. I dont think theres any actual evidence on the pitch though. He's no more composed than the rest, including a 19 year old CB

 

[iBoss]

Maybe we should give him a season before saying he's shit on the ball and that. Bloody hell...

 

[JackXX]

I think he's the most composed CB with the ball by quite some way. The difference being that he tries to get the ball moving forwards. Now if you want I'm sure he could play those lovely sideways passes or knock it back to De Gea like the rest of them do if the stats aren't looking good but I like the fact he plays on the front foot. He doesn't have the advantage of knowing the language yet and to move into a defence which has been like a game of musical chairs and lacking any kind of leadership I think he's done well.

 

[charleysurf]

I think he's the most composed CB with the ball by quite some way. The difference being that he tries to get the ball moving forwards. Now if you want I'm sure he could play those lovely sideways passes or knock it back to De Gea like the rest of them do if the stats aren't looking good but I like the fact he plays on the front foot. He doesn't have the advantage of knowing the language yet and to move into a defence which has been like a game of musical chairs and lacking any kind of leadership I think he's done well.

You can't call someone who gives the ball away so much 'composed with the ball'. That's just nuts.

 

[Ekeke]

He smashes the ball high into the air often, which is not composed defending

I think some are getting confused with adventurous passing and composure. The first is not the second. He's as panicked as McNair is, he just tries flashier passes

 

[JackXX]

You can't call someone who gives the ball away so much 'composed with the ball'. That's just nuts.

Well I am. I haven't looked into depth with this in terms of stats but when I've seen him play he has the most confidence out of our centre halves with the football. I would imagine he plays a lot more forward balls into more attacking areas of the pitch. Now I'm not saying he's Paul Scholes here I'm comparing him to the rest of our centre backs. To me he looks the most comfortable on the ball. I'm sure if you asked him to he could be just like Evans and play the easy ball all of the time but I doubt that's what is being asked of him.

 

[JackXX]

He smashes the ball high into the air often, which is not composed defending

I think some are getting confused with adventurous passing and composure. The first is not the second. He's as panicked as McNair is, he just tries flashier passes

 

[Ekeke]

Playing the ball forwards doesn't mean they are comfortable on the ball. It just means they are more adventurous with it. And this can also backfire when he often tries it just in front of his own box in a careless manner.

 

[Cassidy]

Playing the ball forwards doesn't mean they are comfortable on the ball. It just means they are more adventurous with it. And this can also backfire when he often tries it just in front of his own box in a careless manner.

To be honest, even though he didn't play very well yday, he was the only one able to play the ball out properly, finding either Young, Rooney or RVP quite consistently when under pressure. He took too much time on the ball at times (because he wants to pick a pass, instead of hoofing and got caught). Some of that though was due to lack of movement/showing for the ball in midfield.

TBH I like him, he needs to improve but he has the making of a good player.

 

[Kraftwerker]

He's not very dominant aerially. Sometimes he doesn't even challenge for the ball and let's it bounce which is almost criminal.

I'm hoping he's just acclimatising to English football, but some serious work needed there.

To give him his due, he's been quietly impressive and effective in many games since Leicester. Shaky as hell last night though.

 

[Will Singh]

New to the league and country, we need to give him at least a season to settle in. His a strong guy unlike our other defenders and look how quick he came back from his injury, went straight back in guns blazing!!!

 

[FromTheBench]

I think the wide 2 of our CB's in a back 3 they way we are playing it are looking poor in possession when pressed simply because their is a lack of options for them in front to pass too.

They have to either hoof it somewhere or just try and carry it forward in which case they risk losing it.


That's why i think some of the reactions are over the top. And it happens each game with almost all our CB's except the central one if he is a good athelete to cover on both sides whenever we play a back 3.

Quoting my post from the Mcnair thread.

Thought he was best of our defenders frankly and most involved defensively even though he had his poor moments.

I am taking a liking to him now though still not fully convinced. But there's something there.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Wtf was he doing trying to run through the middle with like 3-4 Southampton players there? He continuously tried to run into groups of Southampton players. I've been far from impressed with him so far. He is good at 1v1 duels but other than that his defensive game is shoddy at best imo. He was also way to narrow at times and left Young completely exposed and isolated against Long who had the pace and aerial beating of Young. Why Rojo never tried to spread wider and help Young I don't know. You could see it on the right side with McNair/Evans trying to back up Valencia but Rojo just left Young to deal with the left side by himself most of the time.

This 352 shit just isn't working, Rojo has no clue what he is doing half the time and neither do the others.

 

[Adebesi]

It is tough to decide who our worst player on the night against Southampton was, but I think Rojo might have just about secured that accolade, for me.

 

[mazhar13]

Rojo disappointed me on the ball. Either he hoofed it far up the pitch or tried to play a pass that wasn't open. He was also sloppy a couple of moments. His mistakes on the ball were the cause of a few of Southampton's dangerous moments.

Defensively, he was better, though he did have 2 moments where he lost awareness of what was happening around him. He looked more defensively assured in this match than he did on the ball, though. It did seem like it was more due to the 3-5-2 causing him issues with a lack of options for him to pursue, but he should still be more careful than force things through if they are not possible.

 

[Mersault]

He's brave and reckless, could be great alongside a steady leader-type center back

 

[Nighteyes]

To be honest based on what we know Jones/Smalling/Evans are capable of, Rojo is possibly our worst CB. Fortunately, he'll have plenty of time to improve given that rest of them are always injured.

 

[Cassidy]

Rojo disappointed me on the ball. Either he hoofed it far up the pitch or tried to play a pass that wasn't open. He was also sloppy a couple of moments. His mistakes on the ball were the cause of a few of Southampton's dangerous moments.

Defensively, he was better, though he did have 2 moments where he lost awareness of what was happening around him. He looked more defensively assured in this match than he did on the ball, though. It did seem like it was more due to the 3-5-2 causing him issues with a lack of options for him to pursue, but he should still be more careful than force things through if they are not possible.

I'm not sure that is true, in fact I'm sure vs Southampton he was the one finding Rooney, RVP, or Young.
He is very aggressively/borderline reckless and sometimes positionally suspect and dwindles on the ball when he doesn't see a pass on (hence why the hoofing comment is baffling).

One thing you can't really fault him for is his use of the ball.

 

[Ekeke]

I'm not sure that is true, in fact I'm sure vs Southampton he was the one finding Rooney, RVP, or Young.
He is very aggressively/borderline reckless and sometimes positionally suspect and dwindles on the ball when he doesn't see a pass on (hence why the hoofing comment is baffling).

One thing you can't really fault him for is his use of the ball.

You really, really can. Unless passing to the sky or an opposing attacker is our "philosophy"

 

[Cassidy]

You really, really can. Unless passing to the sky or an opposing attacker is our "philosophy"

Yes because thats what he usually tends to do 9 times out of 10 he'll either sky it or give the ball away.

 

[Ekeke]

Yes because thats what he usually tends to do 9 times out of 10 he'll either sky it or give the ball away.

He just needs to do it 1/10 times and its far too often.

 

[Rykker_4united]

To be honest based on what we know Jones/Smalling/Evans are capable of, Rojo is possibly our worst CB. Fortunately, he'll have plenty of time to improve given that rest of them are always injured.

Interesting thing about that statement, is that its entirely your opinion.

 

[Nighteyes]

Interesting thing about that statement, is that its entirely your opinion.

Ok.

 

[Blzbud]

He just needs to do it 1/10 times and its far too often.

90% Pass completion and it's still not good enough. Tough crowd!

 

[Rykker_4united]

Ok.

Our worst cb? I think a big plus is that he isn't a walking fecking bandaid. He hasn't been nearly as bad as people make out. He has the most appearances, and according to someone in the match day thread we have the 5th best defence in the league. He and De Gea have been the only constants in that.

 

[Nighteyes]

Our worst cb? I think a big plus is that he isn't a walking fecking bandaid. He hasn't been nearly as bad as people make out. He has the most appearances, and according to someone in the match day thread we have the 5th best defence in the league. He and De Gea have been the only constants in that.

He's rash, positionally poor with questionable awareness. He looks calm on the ball until he uses it. I'd say all of Smalling, Jones and Evans are better although Evans has been worse this season.

That said, he still has plenty of time to improve and is playing in a new league.

 

[JohnnyLaw]

Rojo disappointed me on the ball. Either he hoofed it far up the pitch or tried to play a pass that wasn't open. He was also sloppy a couple of moments. His mistakes on the ball were the cause of a few of Southampton's dangerous moments.

Defensively, he was better, though he did have 2 moments where he lost awareness of what was happening around him. He looked more defensively assured in this match than he did on the ball, though. It did seem like it was more due to the 3-5-2 causing him issues with a lack of options for him to pursue, but he should still be more careful than force things through if they are not possible.

That wasn't just his fault though. Southampton pressed us hard while we showed no movement in midfield and attack, so it was easy for them to force us into those kind of situations.

He's rash, positionally poor with questionable awareness. He looks calm on the ball until he uses it. I'd say all of Smalling, Jones and Evans are better although Evans has been worse this season.

That said, he still has plenty of time to improve and is playing in a new league.

The difference between him and them is that he'll actually be able to progress and develop as he's not injured 40-70% of the season. They all have their weaknesses but atm Jones and Evans are definitely not better.

 

[Kaos]

Southampton was a freak a match, pretty much all of our players bar a select few were genuinely awful (despite winning).

As for Rojo, whoever said he'd compliment a more disciplined CB was spot on, I'm still a big fan of his.

 

[Ekeke]

90% Pass completion and it's still not good enough. Tough crowd!

A clearance isnt a pass. Which is the whole point

 

[acnumber9]

90% Pass completion and it's still not good enough. Tough crowd!

If the 10% goes to an attacker in our final third then you're right. It isn't good enough.

 

[mazhar13]

I'm not sure that is true, in fact I'm sure vs Southampton he was the one finding Rooney, RVP, or Young.
He is very aggressively/borderline reckless and sometimes positionally suspect and dwindles on the ball when he doesn't see a pass on (hence why the hoofing comment is baffling).

One thing you can't really fault him for is his use of the ball.

He did a good job finding them, but when they weren't available, he shouldn't have forced the issue. When we struggled with the setup and Southampton's pressing, Rojo shouldn't have to force things through. Out of all of our defenders, I believe that he's the best passer, but he needs to be careful with the choices he makes. Sometimes, players won't be available, and you have no choice but to put it back to your keeper and restart the build-up.

The hoofs forward did seem like Rojo was forced to do them as he had no other choice, which is fair enough, and I would say that that was more due to our setup than Rojo himself, but the times when he was sloppy and gave the ball away were his fault. For example, when he tried to flick Fellaini through with Davis and Tadic closing him down in the second half, Pelle could have scored from that.

Overall, our team setup and players taking a nervous approach is the major reason for our poor performance, and that caused Rojo to make mistakes as well.

 

[soap]

I mostly agree with akash, I'm not convinced so far. He's had some good moments ... Anything to make me think he's an improvement on what we already had (Jones, Evans, Smalling, McNair)? Not really. On their day Jones and Evans are comfortably better than anything Rojo has shown, only they're injured too often to ever build up any sort of form. Rojo looks clumsy a lot of the time - and I could forgive that in the Leicester game when he was at left back (even though one of his plus points is supposedly his versatility) but he's thumped the ball at oppostion players/ into touch when under not much pressure too many times since then.

I'm not saying he sucks and won't come good, I vividly remember the shambolic starts Evra and Vidic had to their United careers, under very similar circumstances. Making the transistion from a weaker league to the Premier League as a young defender, in a United team that itself is in transition. Of course he needs time, but at the moment I don't think he should be considered first choice. Our injury record at the back means he probably will be playing almost every game though so it shouldn't take too long before we can tell if he's the real deal or not.

 

[Ekeke]

I think like Jones, Rojo has his good points. But its hard to compliment them when he's giving the ball away in his own half so often. Its easier to appreciate the good things he does when he starts to do the very basics of being a defender, ie. dont give the opposition the ball when we have 1 defender and a goalkeeper behind you. Its suicide and we deserve to conceed a goal every single time he does it.

He's also older so less time to correct his many rough edges and he's also proven less for us than Jones has

 

[JohnnyLaw]

I think like Jones, Rojo has his good points. But its hard to compliment them when he's giving the ball away in his own half so often. Its easier to appreciate the good things he does when he starts to do the very basics of being a defender, ie. dont give the opposition the ball when we have 1 defender and a goalkeeper behind you. Its suicide and we deserve to conceed a goal every single time he does it.

He's also older so less time to correct his many rough edges and he's also proven less for us than Jones has

You're making it sound like he's giving the ball away several times in every game. He did it what, two or three times against Southampton who were relentless in their pressure and suddenly its a thing with him?

He's 24 years old, he could have 10 years left in him. Phil may be 2 years younger but with his injuries he might never actually correct his rough edges and instead end up Evans .2. Due to his injuries Rojo might actually be the one with more time on his hands. What has Jones actually proven for us? He's never really established himself in the team.

 

[Ekeke]

You're making it sound like he's giving the ball away several times in every game. He did it what, two or three times against Southampton who were relentless in their pressure and suddenly its a thing with him?

He's 24 years old, he could have 10 years left in him. Phil may be 2 years younger but with his injuries he might never actually correct his rough edges and instead end up Evans .2. Due to his injuries Rojo might actually be the one with more time on his hands. What has Jones actually proven for us? He's never really established himself in the team.

Have you not watched him play before?

I've mentioned it previously. Its not sudden if its a pattern.

 

[Skywarden]

I think I've got the opposite opinion to many on here strangely. I think he's a poor defender who's seriously lacking awareness and concentration but on the ball he's very promising. He occasionally tries a little too much but he's easily our most composed defender on the ball and 9 times out of 10 he backs that up with a good ball which injects a bit of urgency and direction into our play. I think he's our only defender who does that on a consistent basis. It's just that he occasionally gets a little carried away and today more so than usual.

This sums him up for me as well.

 

[JohnnyLaw]

Have you not watched him play before?

I've mentioned it previously. Its not sudden if its a pattern.

Yes, actually I have. Go figure.

If you're talking about performances dating back to his Sporting days then i'll concede. But based on his performances for United, no, I don't see this pattern that you're talking about.

We can talk about the mistakes he made in the Southampton game but on the flip-side, he's also the player that accomplished the most defensively.

 

[Ekeke]

Yes, actually I have. Go figure.

If you're talking about performances dating back to his Sporting days then i'll concede. But based on his performances for United, no, I don't see this pattern that you're talking about.

We can talk about the mistakes he made in the Southampton game but on the flip-side, he's also the player that accomplished the most defensively.

You should watch him then