elampiro:


Staying central during defence. What havoc can one do in one owns half?

Dadehmola:


www.fourfourtwo.com/features/how-angel-di-maria-went-england-bound-castaway-key-man-real-madrid

I would have liked to highlight certain facts in this explicit analysis of di Maria's final season at Madrid, but unfortunately, it would be too tedious for me.

Elampiro, di Maria was an attacking midfielder last season but I'd agree with you that he had that tenacity to drift out wide (to the left)...shikena!!

SailorXY:

according to the Argentine newspaper. I hope its true tho

Dadehmola:
Like I said earlier, it's good to see you are already admitting your initial goof that Di Maria was primarily a winger last season!

You are now starting to lay emphasis on "central midfield", not "attacking midfield".

We are getting somewhere

JayKayMaybachz:
Fvck It... . Mostly false

torres2:
Coogar can we move to number 2 fraudster on your list WAYNE ROONEY

elampiro:
May be people didnt get the basis of this argument. Afrodoc confirmed my position but he went on to say I was wrong.

1. My last line of argument was that Young played behind the main striker in 2010/11. His second most productive season. Coogar disagreed. Afrodoc corroborated my position.

2. The other argument which I abandoned because there were no data at the time, so nothing solid to back, was that I said Young played in a fluid front before 2010/2011. Although more on the wing. Whoscored 2009/2010 kind of supported this, when it listed Young s the only Villa player who played AM(C) in some matches out of 23 players.

So when compare to the best in the world Young does not really mention up as a winger because his stats were boosted by the central roles he was assigned. I doubt if Di Maria ever played the AM(C) for Madrid when he was the best in Assists. I think I have to quit this since people didnt understand it.

torres2:
Coogar can we move to number 2 fraudster on your list WAYNE ROONEY

Keky:
where u dey since?

afrodoc2:
His apparent worth this season is because of the FALL to mediocrity of most of the other players rather than any upsurge in Young's skill level. The fecal performances of Rooney, RVP, Di Maria and king flop Falcao have made Young look better than he is.

coogar:


you mean young supernaturally sucked out the powers of rooney, RVP, di maria, etc to boost his skill level? what has rooney's inconsistency gotta do with young? when he was fit in the preseason, he was our best player in the USA. his detractors said it was only the preseason and shouldn't count.

now that he turned it up in the last few weeks after a sustained run of games, you still manage to cough out another excuse? young must have been cursed. he's damned if he performs, damned when he doesn't perform!

afrodoc2:

LOL very funny.
Its all about relativity. The same way Skrtl looks tall and imposing in the EPL but looked miniature when he stood beside Lebron James during his Liverpool visit.

The same way Mangala looked like a world class defender when he was marking Maritimo and Braga strikers but now looks like a bricklayer in the EPL.

Ashley Young's above average performances looked even more superb because everybody else around him was stinking up the joint.
For all Young's flashes this season how many goals and how many assists does he have?

I am not against Young again, he has impressed me this season but do not make it seem like he is in the class of Robben,Neymar, Sanchez e.t.c

He is a good squad player to have but if we are to challenge in Europe again ( and i mean the Champs League not Europa) we can not afford to have Ashley Young and our goal keeper be our best players.

In order to get to the top again we need to have players of far more talent than Ashley Young to start producing to their talent level.

Borrowing one of your favourite phrases, Ashley Young's ceiling is too low for us to depend on him as one of our best players.

afrodoc2:


Anyway what is the reason for this argument though?
Young has always been and remains below world class quality. He is at best a squad player for any team aiming to compete and rule in Europe.
His apparent worth this season is because of the FALL to mediocrity of most of the other players rather than any upsurge in Young's skill level. The fecal performances of Rooney, RVP, Di Maria and king flop Falcao have made Young look better than he is.

coogar:


see analogy.....



he was stationed as a wing back in nearly all the games in the first half of the season to accommodate di maria. you cannot fault his effort - why ain't we asking how many goals & assists valencia has?



no one is saying he's on the level of robben or neymar. i cannot even say he's better sterling - my point is he has punched way over his weight this season & he deserves the credit.



same goes to valencia, jones, evans, rooney, januzaj, etc. we are incredibly light-weight. we need to move so many players out of the squad.



agreed!



i don't think his ceiling is too low for us.
he's a reliable squad player. he can come on to change the tide of a game that is heading for a draw.

yes, we need more.
adidas' £75m bonanza kicks off this summer. we should be competing for the top-tier players like madrid, barca & bayern.

coogar:
una still dey here?
elampawa & his tunnel-vision no go gree even when he knows he's been slaughtered. if you get a samurai sword & chop elampawa into 12 portions.......he would put himself together back again, call radio nigeria edo and claim it never happened.

parrotibaba:
mate easy! u didn't say dis when young was d only one carrying d weight of our attacks when he was deployed as a wing back ,or when he tore Kyle walker ,Zabaleta n recently bellerin to shreds ,to be honest young merits every praise he is currently getting because he was never given d chance to shine n he surprised everyone ,not cos our players was under par dis season ...if young could score more goals like he did at villa ,n coupled with his skill n crosses ,we wouldn't hv splashed €43million on depay. Along side blind (occasionally) ,Herrera n di maria ,young is one of our risk takers dis season n coupled it with playing according to script ...





Now dat d season is coming to a close ,d wolves r out for his head again

parrotibaba:
mate easy! u didn't say dis when young was d only one carrying d weight of our attacks when he was deployed as a wing back ,or when he tore Kyle walker ,Zabaleta n recently bellerin to shreds ,to be honest young merits every praise he is currently getting because he was never given d chance to shine n he surprised everyone ,not cos our players was under par dis season ...if young could score more goals like he did at villa ,n coupled with his skill n crosses ,we wouldn't hv splashed €43million on depay. Along side blind (occasionally) ,Herrera n di maria ,young is one of our risk takers dis season n coupled it with playing according to script ...

Now dat d season is coming to a close ,d wolves r out for his head again

SailorXY:

I don't really think this is a "wolves" thing. Young is getting his credits from United fans all over, in fact I have not heard anyone fault his contributions this season. the major reason the praise is a lil overboard is becuz he was expected, as usual, to be total shyte again!

we still know he's not on di Maria's level all things being equal. Young still may be useful next season & get a lot of game time - depends on how quickly Depay can settle in & the pattern LvG may choose.

Nihilist:
But Valencia has turned out to be one of the better rightbacks in the league this season....

Very solid in attack and defence.

afrodoc2:

My feelings about Valencia are well known. I was the first person on this thread to question Valencia's value to the team years ago.
He can't do ANYTHING with his left foot what is he doing on a football pitch........

I completely agree that Young did his best this season and believe me i concede he has real heart to come back from the abyss.

I mean Young's ceiling is too low for him to be a cornerstone of our team.
And earlier this season i said for United to really be free and move forward then we need to sell Rooney and RVP.......those 2 are the ones really holding us back. Sell those 2 and get proper, quick and potent forwards and wingers and real midfielders.

Rooney is not good enough to be our 1st choice no9 or 10 or 8.
RVP is about to be a finished product

afrodoc2:

My main grouse with him was as right winger all those years.
Even as a right back heis still clueless most times he is overlapping. if we had Rafael or G.Neville in those sweet positions Valencia found himself we would have created more from the right.
He has a few things going for him....he is fast, stays fit n uninjured and appears tactically disciplined.

Nihilist:
But Valencia has turned out to be one of the better rightbacks in the league this season....

Very solid in attack and defence.