Following rumours that Nani had played his last game for Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled out the possibility of selling the winger in January.
Nani was on the receiving end of criticism following our League Cup defeat in extra time against Chelsea after he lost the ball in the last minute to allow the blues to equalise. Nani had scored a brilliant goal himself but Ferguson singled the Portuguese winger out for criticism in the post-match interview.
Nani has struggled for form this season and the crowd got on his back in pretty much every game he played before being injured. The club have offered Nani a new contract but without an increase in salary, so no agreement has been found over an extension yet.
“We won’t be letting him go. We need a Nani,” Fergie told the Sunday Mirror. “His contract isn’t up for a year and a half. He offers something different from the other players. He’s an incredible talent, the boy. Unfortunately, he’s injured at the moment. We have sent him over to Dubai for a break, to help him in his recovery. He’s not far away but he’s far enough away. I don’t think I will get him until the middle of January. He’s got a future here. Why would I want to let him go?”
Man Utd News 24/7
Wow! ..Good news that is! ..Nani is still the best winger we got at the moment. ..would be a loss letting him go since we ain gonna buy this january
shame, he’s 26 and is yet to realise his potential. Far too inconsistent, and if the rumours are true that he’s demanding a 6 figure weekly wage, then he can fuck off when he’s not even a guaranteed starter and has been out of form for 12-18 months
We need a Nani
Sir is waiting for someone to get injured; then nani will be used. Simples
First
We need Nani
We need a Nani, but is the Nani we have the Nani we need? He is the only player we have that can do the unexpected, but time is running out. If he wants the money, he will get it once he starts to perform, not before that
Boy do I hope this is true, I’d take a January transfer window with no signings as long as Nani stays.
@ak47 12.21 – Don’t agree with that one bit. It baffles me when people call Nani inconsistent. The guy’s got roughly 40 assists and 25 goals in the last 3 years. If anything, he’s probably been one of our most consistent player in that period.
He’s one of the few flair players in our squad (as the gaffer alluded to). I’d take him ahead of Valencia all day, every day. Why? Because as good as Valencia is (btw speaking of form, he’s not exactly been pulling up trees this season)….he’s a very basic player. They call him an old fashioned winger, and IMO that ain’t a good thing. Put him up against a full back who can match him for speed and he’s lost .
The CL final against Barca was a prime example. Nani in 20 minutes caused Abidal more problems than Valencia did in 70. Purely because he’s not just reliant on sprinting past a full back – he can actually dribble, use his left foot, and link up with other forward players.
Technically he’s far superior to any of our wingers, and I honestly don’t think he’s appreciated enough by Utd fans. He gets roughly the same number of assists as Valencia….but offers more goals and a far better all round game. No contest as far as I’m concerned.
There’s only one Nani……
@sparkz…spot on…
Nani’s is arguably d best winger in d world….
Valencia is one dimensional……as Georgie said, how can Beckham be one of the best wingers when he only has a right- not dissimilar to Tony V…….pace, run and cross only with his left.
Bring Nani back on the right- flair and the unexpected along with 2 good feet
Enuf said!!!!!
Nani is a fantastic player dont let him go.
Hopefully he gets his head right along with his hamstring. If he leaves United he will surely regret it and I will miss him. Nani in full flow is something to behold.
All you who are waxing romantic about taking Nani AHEAD of Valencia have lost it !! When Nani was voted player of the year it was for his ASSISTS not his highlight reel of party favors. Succinctly put, Valencia is much more reliable to fire that cross in and keep defenses under pressure. Nani is most effective when he is direct with his passes. Additionally, Valencia and Rafael are a deadly tandem on the right. They cover for each other in attack and defense seamlessly. That is why Valencia is ahead of him.
Nani pls dont go anywhere
Wenger has also said he’s not buying Nani.
I remember hearing similar things about pogba ladt season by sir alex and look what happend
Relieved to see those comments. Even if Nani doesn’t get a new contract, having him back for the remainder of the season will be immense. Like the manager said, he’s vital for us because he adds variety to our wings options.
I have to say though, as time goes on that public critisism following the Chelsea game looks more and more over the top. This week alone Evra has been responsible for 2 of the goals we’ve conceded.
@LoneStarRed – Valencia got 15 assists and 6 goals last season. Nani got 12 assists and 10 goals. As I said before – in terms of goal contribution, they are both pretty equal.
I’d tend to look at what else they offer. Valencia is better defensively but Nani offers far more of an all round game going forward. I’m not talking about showboating, I’m talking about his technical ability, his dribbling, his link up play. Give me that over a one dimensional (yet admittedly effective) Valencia all day.
Lonestar – yet you have not given a decent answer as to why valencia is better, you bang on about reliability and crossing yet the facts say nani produces far more significant end product than most wing men in europe, let alone in the united squad. Nani has 38 goals and bags of assists. This is what matters, the priority is for an attacker to win games and nani does that. Not how many square passes and workman like style.
Nobody get too comfortable yet, this is Sir Alex making it clear that he wants Nani to continue at United, he’s not saying that he will. The stall over his new contract has always been over money, so it’s up to Nani at this point, unless the club decides he is worth higher wages, but I don’t think its a bad idea to let it run another 6 months and see if Nani can show that he deserves it before caving to it. The lad has been off form for quite a while now, hopefully when he comes back from Dubai he’ll be refreshed and looking like his old self again.
@Costas – I agree with the Chelsea thing tbh, although I do think it was a heat of the moment comment by Fergie.
Fact is, there was about 60 seconds (and two phases of play) between Nani losing the ball and Chelsea equalising. But even if you accept that Nani made a cock up….let’s not forget that if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have been 3-2 up in the first place. And if you remember the quality of the goal….how many players in our squad could have scored a goal like that? Certainly not anybody who was on the pitch that night.
Oh their day, both Tony V and Nani are fucking fantastic!
LoneStarRed
It was only a couple of seasons ago that Nani got 17 assists in the league and Valencia was dropped from the team. Nani has since lost form and has been injured. Valencia came back from his injury. He has at times been atrocious and does not score often enough. He is extremely wasteful. It may be harsh as there are certainly weaker players but Valencia typifies our limitations. In fairness to call him a replacement for Ronaldo and to hold him to the standards of his predecessor would be unfair but I was shocked to hear that Valencia hasn’t even scored in this calendar year. I think people’s patience with Valencia is wearing thin.
Our best bet will be to get Nani back to fitness and give him a run in the team. He’s never received the credit he deserves for the improvements he has made in his game over the last few years. I consider him a far better player than Young or Valencia.
@Sparkz –> Fergie was angry because the United bench were yelling at Nani to take the ball to the corner flag, but he decided himself to try to beat a man and lost the ball. I do accept your point though about there being time between the fuck up and conceding the penalty, I’ve made the same defence for Scholes once or twice this season when he was singled out as responsible for a conceded goal even though a significant amount of dribbling and attack had to be carred out before we conceded etc. But ye I think Fergie was just annoyed that he was eyeing some glory when the game was already won.
@brett1985 –> That’s selective though isn’t it? Valencia and Rooney terrorized teams in the season prior to the one you are talking about… Tony’s first season. Had Rooney not been injured after that bloody Munich game and stopped scoring, we’d have easily bagged the league I reckon. But the past is the past. Valencia has suffered a bit since he broke his leg in the Rangers game in Sept. 2010, but he is still a beast of a player. He’s so strong and he can push back a whole defense from the wing. I’d like to see him try to cut in more and shoot too, but I guess since he had so much success with crosses his first season he just sees that as his role, and thats the role Sir Alex would like to see him dominate again.
costas
You mention Evra. It’s an awkward one as he has an endearing personality but I think you could put Butner in there and expect less mistakes. Since his poor clearance that resulted in the second goal in the 2009 final Evra has just made mistake after mistake. I’m sad to say that Evra has turned into the second coming of Michael Silvestre. He gives the appearance of being top level quality in terms of physicality, speed and determination but his football brain; positioning & anticipation is a step behind.
NYDUDE
Atleast Valencia can get past his man something Beckham never did.
@Sparkz
Certainly none of our other wingers mate. I am not having a go at Young or Valencia here, but one of the biggest differences between them and Nani is his goalscoring record. In the last 10 years, we’ve only seen 2 wingers score in double figures for us in a season. Ronaldo and Nani (Ronaldo did it 4 times, Nani did it twice). Heck, even in this disastrous (for him) campaign, Nani has scored 2 goals whereas Young and Valencia have none.
Of course one might point out that we haven’t lacked goals this season, but we have lacked variety and options in our wingplay. Fergie has opened the door for him. Lets hope he will return ready to prove a point.
Dela: Valencia’s crossing was at first god awful but it did improve dramatically that same season and he ended up being very productive. However, looking at Valencia’s whole time at United so far, i am underwhelmed by what he can contribute. It may be a minor point but one thing is that people complained about Ronaldo not defending but I have not seen any increase in solidity since he has been replaced by Valencia who is ostensibly a player who balances defence and attack.
Before I go on too much, i am happy to have Valencia in the squad and in or about the team when on form. It’s not his fault that he is a symbol of what is worse about the team post 2008. Once Nani is back and on form himself we will enjoy good options on that side in a tactical sense. As Rafael becomes more capable and continues to improve his positional sense (so lacking in the past), there will be less need to protect him.
Sparkz – i don’t think that they’re both equals in tetms of goals return at all. A fully fit and confident nani would easily out-score most, he has far more composure and his goal record for united backs that up.
Valencia may seem effective but that’s due to the fact his style is simple and direct, he rarely ever takes risks because he isn’t technically strong enough to do so. His style is effective but to a certain extent, his style will not win games,against the very best, they will easily nullify him like eric abidal did in that CL final. Nani on the other hand takes more risks, is technically proficient, he can embarrass any fullback and produce match winning brilliance but there’s a downside, due to risks taking, he’s susceptible to an error, he could give the ball away and that’s one part of his game he needs to work on, he needs to add directness and basics which valencia is possibly better at into his game but talent and productivity wise, nani is by far the best at the club and hopefully he signs that contract to settle.
@Brett
A lack of competition hasn’t helped and complacency has creeped into his game over the years. There was a time earlier in the season when he had a run of solid games, but once it became evident that Buttner won’t be a threat to him, he seemed to slip into his comfort zone again. He still has his pros (like his forward drives and the attributes you mentioned) and I can see why Fergie likes to him to this day. But his cons seems get brushed aside and everytime I see the manager critisise a player for an error, it makes me wonder why it never happens in Evra’s case. His side has been our vulnerable spot in quite a few goals we’ve conceded in the last 2 years.
@Samuel – Yeah I was referring more to their stats from last season. They both contributed (i.e. goals+assists combined) roughly the same amount.
I think both of them can be relied upon to provide relatively the same amount of assists. But goals wise Nani is streets ahead, (I think he scored more goals in 2010/11 than Valencia did in his entire time in England at that point). And I agree, his all round technical game is also a lot better.
If you ask most top full backs, they would rather face Valencia than Nani, because he’s easier to nullify. Nani is unpredictable, which unfortunately a lot of people confuse for inconsistency….the stats would prove otherwise though.
Why do we have to compare the 2? Just appreciate both.
Brett. Alright pal. Valencia scored at Blackburn and Wolves.
I wouldn’t swap Pat for anyone. Ha Ba off to Chavs.
So Chelsea wanted Falcao but will settle for Ba.
When Fergie said Nani was used to prepare our defenders for Messi before the final, I highly doubt the manager had him tied to the flank knocking in crosses at the time. Nani is much more than a winger, and I’ve constantly said he’s a good enough finisher to expect other players to cross the ball to him. In fact, if Nani was made a striker (like Henry or RVP) he’d give Hernandez and Welbeck a run for their money, and maybe even Rooney and RVP.
I’ve always (impatiently) thought that he’s being wasted as a traditional winger, but to be fair to Ferguson, Nani needs the right players around him to have the same licence that Silva has to come off the flank and drop infield. No disrespect to our Squad, but that goal against Chelsea NEEDED Anderson there to read Nani’s mind AND have the ability to effortlessly put the ball where Nani wanted it.
Lets not forget that Silva has Yaya as a constant option, and even Yaya haters must admit that he 1) always makes himself available for the pass, 2) holds off players easily, and 3) makes brilliant return passes that often lead to goal opportunities.
Who does Nani have in the same mould? Who is his reliable target man in our Squad that he can always pass to from the wing, giving him time to lose his markers and find space for the brilliant return pass? its only with the signing of Kagawa and the emergence of Anderson and Cleverley that we have the right type of midfielders who can provide Nani with the support he needs. These players need time to gel.
Carrick is brilliant for what he does but every player has limits. Imo, Carrick in 2012/13 isn’t really suited to being put under constant pressure by having the ball constantly passed back to him so he can knock it back forward. Thats not his game anymore, especially since he now spends most of the time sitting in front of the defence, distributing the ball and keeping us ticking over in midfield. If Nani was constantly passing to Carrick so he could come off the wing he’d be placing Carrick under more pressure than his role can take, and everybody would start slagging off both of them.
If this isn’t making sense – look back at the support Carrick gave Ronaldo when he was becoming the best player in the world. Carrick was performing the same role for Ronnie that Yaya currently performs for Silva, as he was always available to receive the ball under pressure from the flank, and then make the return pass when Ronaldo ran into space.
You show me a quality winger who cuts infield and shoots, and I’ll show you a winger with a partner in midfield that makes it all possible. Carrick is easily our best performing CM, and has been for a while, but his role in the team has changed a lot since the days of Ronaldo, so he isn’t the player we need to support Nani. As I said, Kagawa, Cleverley and Anderson are the lads who can hold the ball up for Nani and find him again in a better position, just like Ando’s assist for the Chelsea goal.
People forget that Barca’s core players have been playing together for nearly a decade now. Our new look CM, including Young and Valencia, haven’t had enough time to gel yet. It would be beyond daft to break up this batch of players without giving them a proper chance to play together, so this news is very welcome. The way I see it, if Nani puts in the performances he’s capable of he’ll get the poxy 130k he’s after (poxy compared to Silva’s salary) and we’ll all be happy.
Having said all that, a repeat of his effortless heroics against Bayern would be a good start in February. If Nani turns it on against Real Madrid he’ll finally turn the corner and maybe demand to don the No 7 next season. How many players does Fergie ever describe as incredibly talented anyway? Says it all imo.
People are getting statistics confused with consistency here.
Nani’s is an increasingly frustrating player. When he’s good, he’s really good, almost unplayable. When he’s bad, he’s pretty woeful.
You look at what he does on the pitch rather than the overall statistics. they can distort a game, i.e getting 3 assists when in the last 10 mins when the team are 3-0 up already.
Or Berbatov in his first 64 league games scored 21 goals or of the 20 league goals he scored in 2010 came in 2 games.
People seem to have altogether forgotten about what Valencia did to our season last season. You can’t compare Nani and Valencia over the past 3 years considering Valencia broke his leg and was out for 6-7 months and really struggled at the start of last season due to this. He came back in the side and single handily transformed our season.
Valencia has been fairly poor this term, but like someone has said previously, he’s formed a good understanding with Rafael . Valencia is a player lacking in confidence right now, he may be one dimensional, but if you’re one dimensional, pace is the one dimension you’d want to have. Even if he doesn’t play well he can stretch defenses with his pace
Where do people think Kagawa fits into this team when everyone is fit?
only what I´ve been saying for years – GOOD TO HEAR/READ THIS though, NANI simply IS EXCEPTIONal! HAPPY NY TO ALL OF YOU HERE
I wouldn’t swap Pat for anyone.
This^
Buttner better than Evra? You’ve seen this guy play 4 times
Evra hasn’t had a rest since 2006, never injured and always available.
I realize he’s had some form issues the past year, but Christ.
He’s been the first man on the team sheet for years now, and he’s been fantastic the past month.
On top of it all, he’s a fucking RED.
I think its insulting not to give him a pay rise. Its one thing arguing over the amount to raise it by, but to not give him any raise at all, considering his performances and talent, absurd. I hear young earns more than nani, trully laughable. He should earn atleast 10k more than young.
so relieved! Nani is one of those players who can turn a game on its head – witness bayern, arsenal, chelshit & man shitty… a player who can beat the best and perform against the best.. as good/bad young has been,Nani is a great playr to watch as well… no question about our #7.. he is a true beast, in every respect!
december 30, 2012 at 14:38
samuel – united WE stand says:
spot on bro!
Marq @ : “We need a Nani, but is the Nani we have the Nani we need?”
Sometimes – yes; sometimes – no. How you assess that depends on whether you value inconsistent brilliance or steadfast mediocrity (albeit of a very, very high level – but that’s what “United quality” is all about).
With all the talent in the striking department, I’d go for the brilliance. Goals change games and brilliance is much more likely to lead to goals than putting in a shift.
To me, the big issue with Nani is his relative “fragility” – he’s a guy who needs to be 100%, both physically and psychologically, to perform. HIs performances steeply decline when he’s not game-ready and match-fit in contrast to a warrior like AV7.
Getting Nani and KagawaBunga back into the side will be like TWO NEW SIGNINGS.
LoneStarRed @ 13:58: ” Valencia and Rafael are a deadly tandem on the right. They cover for each other in attack and defense seamlessly.”
Same goes for the attacking combination of Nani/NinjaEvra – not as solid defensively but when those two are partnered the right-side opposition are terrified to press forward.
nani to arsenal would be as depressing as van persie coming to OT for arse-null fans
evra or fabio/nani & rafael/tony v… rooney n rvp up front with ando and kagawa… game over for europe
Brett1985 @ 14:29: “his poor clearance that resulted in the second goal in the 2009 final Evra has just made mistake after mistake.”
That’s just unfair; the problem with your analysis is that defenders’ mistakes are ALWAYS amplified if a goal results. So, yeah, NinjaEvra makes mistakes – and often seems to go walkabout in regards to his positioning – but he’s a fantastic player.
If you are willing to accept that no one is perfect, I think that you’d appreciate his greatness – incredible tenacity, seemingly-impossible to keep out of the first-team, absorbs punishment and gets right back at it, and great attacking drive/overlap down the left side.
Add to those qualities the fact that he’s a very one-sided player – and that one side is his left side – and you have a guy who provides great complementarity to the left-sided wingers (Nani or AshleyBloodyYoung) so that they can drive into the inside-left channel.
The suggestion that Alex Buttner should get playing time ahead of NinjaEvra is, in my opinion and for these reasons, ludicrous.
United Till I Die @ 15:54: “its only with the signing of Kagawa and the emergence of Anderson and Cleverley that we have the right type of midfielders who can provide Nani with the support he needs. These players need time to gel.”
The NewUTD – need time to gel and consistent playing-time WITHOUT injuries. Then we’ll see some real excitement – as opposed to that boring dross we saw last weekend (tongue in cheek !)
If people are referring to my comments, I’m not saying Butner is better than Evra but I am saying that with Evra being SO error prone, then it is hard to imagine Butner being worse. Don’t bring tribalism into it. We all know Evra is United through and through but Ferguson does not operate off sentiment alone. Assuming Smalling doesn’t play left back (hopelessly out of position) and in consideration of the fact that Vidic is back then our biggest problem is Evra. His problems have existed over many years now. With a young player I’d like to think he could improve but it just seems unlikely. His positioning is often poor, wingers get past him too easily and he should block far more crosses than he does.
On a positive note Rafael whose positioning was terrible has matured this season and is increasingly capable as a defender. It’s a relief because with any young player you don’t want the years to pass by in stagnation. Evans has also rediscovered his form. Criticism has fallen on him at times but the problem was not so much his inclusion as the absence of vidic who singularly transforms our defense with his presence.
SAF is man managing Nani atm. He has always endorsed guys with commitment & TonyV gets the nod there. But Nani is the supremely talented brat we have. The man for the unexpected, he looks for adventure. He is the black sheep at United and I personally have a lot of time for him. One moment of magic & if Nani can conjure it in the game vs RM – he will never look back. SAF knows this & he is creating that hunger & desperation in Nani.
We are still waiting to see how Kagawa is going to play together with Rooney & Rvp. And its something that will only happen in Feb I suppose, when Rooney is back.
DDG
Rafael-Rio-Vidic-Evra
Valencia-Clev-Carrick-Kagawa
Rooney-Rvp
@King Eric
Hi mate. That’s what I was saying the other day. Valencia and Nani both starting on the wings rarely fails. Only 5 draws and 1 defeat in 37 games.
It pains me to see our player strogling but one thing i know is that one cannot be ontop of his game all the time so with that in mind i wouldnot slag any player too much when he is not ontop of his game. So when i hear the way our fans are slaging v7 and ninjaevra it makes me wander how soon people forget how as fans these players use to make us happy.
I have never had the feeling with Nani left and Valencia right that we were formidable.
De Gea, Evans Vidic, Evra, Rafael, Carrick, Cleverley, Kagawa, Valencia, Van Persie and Hernandez. should be the starting line up versus Wigan. If Rafael is not fit then play Jones at full back not Smalling.
Where the frick is Darren Fletcher ? … even Fergie acknowledged that Carrick was running on fumes last game but he still cannot get a game. They need to stop using him as an excuse to not buy a midfielder because something is clearly wrong.
Haven’t read all the comments, but I get the gist. Sad, really, that people have to turn this into a shit-fight between two fine — but very different — players. TonyV is very much a traditional winger. His game is reasonably uncomplicated: for the most part, it relies on his physicality, going outside his man and beating him with pace, or, if they are already deep, holding his man off with strength until he can find that sliver of space he needs to get a cross away. Nothing complicated about it. But that doesn’t mean it is a mug’s game, requiring no skill. There’s not a wide variety of skill in it, but the skills that are used have been developed to a very deep level so they can be executed extremely well time after time. It is a game designed to do pretty much only one or two things, but to do them very well, reliably and consistently.
Nani is a flair player, with a broad set of skills and the creativity to use them. Of course he is less consistent than TonyV — because being unpredictable is the essence of Nani’s game. And that necessarily implies a certain measure of inconsistency (unless you are talking about Messi or Ronaldo, and I guess that ability to be both unpredictable yet still have consistently brilliant execution is what makes those two so exceptional).
I know I’ve said this before, but Nani has worked hard to develop his left foot. He didn’t have one when he joined us, now he does. That shows a terrific work ethic and persistence. It also shows he’s prepared to take risks — he was prepared to devote time to developing his weak foot, just when he was fighting for a place in the first team. Now he’s the only one in our squad, and one of a select few in the world, who can play either side of the pitch as either a “traditional” or “inverted” winger.
He can play right, go outside his man, run deep and cross in with his right foot: this is the traditional style, like TonyV. He can do the same on the left, using his left foot. He can also play the “inverted” style: he can play on the right but cut inside and move laterally across the pitch, an angle which naturally brings his left foot into play for shooting or crossing; or, on the left, he can cut inside and move laterally, which brings his right foot into play. This was the style of winger made famous by Messi under Frank Rijkaard and then Guardiola at Barcelona (before he moved to a more central role): for several seasons, Messi, who is left-footed, played on the right but cut inside and ran laterally across the pitch, bringing his left foot into play for shooting or crossing. And this season, CR7 has been doing the same thing from the other side: as a natural right-footer, he has been playing on the left a lot, but again, cutting inside and running laterally.
The fact that Nani can play either style, and on either side, makes him incredibly difficult to defend against, because defenders can never be sure just where he’ll pop up, or what he’ll do when he gets there.
This also gives us anoher option, which I’d like to see us use more often: this is the possibility of deploying Nani as a single winger, but with licence to float either side as he sees fit. This would be very difficult for the opposing defenders to track. For example, with TonyV, the defenders know that 9 times out of 10, we will be attempting to stretch them out wide, which is something that affects the positioning of the entire defensive system. But with Nani, there’s more uncertainty, especially if he’s playing as a lone winger. Which side is he on now? And will he go wide or cut inside? And it’s that uncertainty that can wreck even a very well organised defence, especially when combined with Nani’s bag of other tricks.
I forgot to add: the option to use Nani as a lone, roaming winger has the added benefit of allowing us to deploy an additional central midfielder: with two wingers, and two upfront, and four behind, you can only have two in central mid. But with a single winger (who can pop up on either side), then you can have three in the middle (for example, one of Carrick or Fletcher in combination with two of Cleverley, Anderson or Kagawa). It isn’t a combination you’d want to use all the time. But I’d like to try it against better teams who are strong centrally, where we want to retain the ability (and the threat) of stretching them wide, but without getting overrun in the middle.
Why does every debate descend into this player vs that player. In a 60 game season you need meaningful contributions from 18-22 players. Its not a case of Valencia vs Nani, we need them both! There are games where the other team has 9-10 behind the ball and you need a bit of x factor to open them up, Nani is great for this (when he has his act together). In bigger games you need to close down spaces, track runners and when you get the ball be very purposeful, this is where Valencia excels. Of course they are prone to absolutely shocking games, as wingers are inconsistent by nature and a bit of inconsistency is always there. Its a question of what we need in a particular game. Although I will say that Nani hurts the team more when he is playing badly as his riduculous crowd shots and lack of desire to combine with teammates brings the whole team spirit down.
Can’t we just take some money out of Ashley’s youngs contract and funnel it to Nani?
haha @ Toms – good idea.
@Stateside – interesting. If Nani was used as a “lone winger” like you suggest, constantly switching flanks would make it harder for teams to double mark him, and it means he’d be less likely to run into a brick wall as he’d be choosing when and where he runs into space, instead of being tied to the flank as he has been (except for the 10-man Bayern game of course)
It wouldn’t suit all opposition, you’re right, but against better teams Nani should be let off the leash as he is an incredible talent. If we used him more like Ronaldo or Messi instead of a traditional winger he’d have free reign across the entire midfield. He could ghost into space on either flank or centrally, and thats when he’s at his best.
Its probably fantasy football, but we could afford to give Nani that role as we’ve got the Full Backs to give us all the width we need. Rafa and Evra know how the reach the byline and put in a good cross, so with 2 Strikers up front and Nani in a freer role, we can pack midfield with 3 other midfielders to dominate possession and cover our defenders.
(Brazilians have been doing this since black and white T.V btw….
)
………….Rooney RVP
………………Kagawa
………Cleverley Anderson
Evra……………………………….Rafa
………….Vidic……….Rio
………………….DDG
Like I said, its fantasy football, but we’ve got the players to do it. We just need them all fit at the same time so Fergie can work his magic. He’s def got plans for Nani tho, I think his career at United up to this stage has been all about developing him. You’re right about his left foot as well, people don’t seem to understand how hard Nani works at his game. He’s a dedicated, down to earth lad by all accounts.
Needless debate in my mind. i know TV7 is currently off form but to give him this much stick seems a little over the edge.
They are both top players; saw that someone mentioned when TV meet a top full back he would be rendered useless; what a load of crap! wasn’t it this season he made A. Cole look silly? before this season is over we will need em both i an simple happy they play for us rather than against us.
United Till I Die … cheers! I think “positional rotation” within a match is going to be the foundation of our success in coming years. And yes, we do have the players to do it. We have some who play centrally but can drift wide (though usually each has a preferred side), some who can move up/down the pitch vertically, some who can do both, and some who specialise in fixed positions. We have one (Rooney) who can play as a “loose cannon” (meant in a complimentary way) and one who can use the full width of the pitch (Nani). There’s plenty of variety and opportunity in there — and that’s a good thing, because between the PL and Europe, we come up against a whole raft of tactical styles.
StatesideAussie, my congratulations on a well-thought, articulate argument. I’m biased, I suppose, since we agree on the Nani issue, but that was a good contribution to the debate!
With Valencia and Young, how exactly does he fit into the team?
@ST
Variety, motivation for them to play better and not lose their place and, like Fergie said, pure talent.
Ravi … cheers!
Very glad to hear this. I fancy Nani to have real influence against Madrid. We need his kind of type against them. Young and Valencia are both, with all due respect, a bit too predictable in their play and Mourinho will definitely have a plan for them.
Valencia, Nani & Young all provide different attributes, in a way, you can say Young is somewhere in between Valencia & Nani in what he offers. We need all 3 of them, as proven now that if one of them is out, we still can play our favoured 442. So there is no point in comparing who is better. All 3 of them are important
If he goes, United lost a great player.
Its funny how fans forget what he did over the past 2 years.
He was so brilliant. Now hes off-form and needs more time and games, but fans been so harsh on him.
Its a pity if he goes.
Stateside Aussie
Well said, excellent post.
@ Denton Davey
Good point about Nani/Evra covering for each other ! But I have to say it was stirring to see Ashley Young busting a lung to track back against West Brom and succeeding in stopping that attack. THAT is what separates us from most other teams. The gaffer demands such effort and it is inspiring to see players give their all to the cause.
Good points by many here ! Best thread for a while. I think we need both Nani and Valencia to succeed. and as Stateside stated in his excellent post they keep teams guessing and defenses off balance.
LoneStarRed … cheers mate. Yeah, there’s no doubting Young’s work ethic. I do wonder if he sometimes tries a bit too hard and ends up over-thinking his options. Maybe that sounds silly. But I do sometimes get the impression he’s over-reaching himself and might be better off just relaxing a bit and letting it flow naturally.
Nani is a decent player but can blow hot on cold. On his day he is the best winger in the Premiership but his day doesn’t come around each week. He is now a senior in the squad and the younger players will look up to him.