Nani had a good debut season for Manchester United, showing us glimpses of his great talent with his goals against Spurs and Boro, as well as getting on the scoresheet against Liverpool and Arsenal. In Moscow, he took and scored one of our penalties when we were in sudden death, helping us to claim our European crown.
This season has been a let down since then though, with Nani not impressing us as much as we would like. To be fair to him, he hasn’t been given much time on the field, with competition with Ji-Sung Park for his place, with the South Korean spending most of last season out injured. However, when he has been given his chance, he’s failed to wow us.
Nani has today acknowledged that he is keen to improve and hopes the manager gives him the opportunity to do so.
“Last season was good. I was pleased with my games and my contribution to the team,” said Nani. “This season I hoped it would be better. When I get my chances my aim is to do better than I did at the start of the season. I want to play more. I would like to play more times but it hasn’t been the same as last season. I feel good when I try to do my best to help the team. In some games I have done well but others I haven’t done so well, but this is football. Your fitness when you don’t play every week suffers. But I am training good and keep preparing for the next match and hope to play. My focus is always doing well for the team. If I do that then everything will be going well for me. I am still confident. It is difficult when you play one game and then are out for two matches. You want to stay in for a run of matches. You really need three, four or five matches for your confidence to build and your fitness to be right. You can do anything when your confidence is high.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Against Derby, with all respect to them, he looked good. a few times he realised that he was running down a few dead ends and came back, played a few good balls and made the right decisions.
Hopefully that game was the corner that he turned.
Used to be one of his biggest fans …..but Christ the lad’s been nothing but utter shite this season…with Tosic in the picture his days are numbered…..
P.S. Good goal against derby though……..
“You can do anything when your confidence is high.”
How true.
He is young and coupled with the fact that he is a winger he is going to be inconsistent, he needs a run of games, but he is the best crosser at the club and will get oppertunities, he just needs to take them.
To be fair to the lad he is a right winger who is played on the left…. OK I know that he should still be able to cross a ball with his bad foot for the money he is on…. but every player suffers when they don’t play regularly….. give him time…..
He also needs to lose his attitude…. I hate seeing diving / whinging pussies playing for us….
I wonder does nobody take them to the side and say…… “You are a hate figure because of this so fucking stop!!!!”
Sounds like a quick fix to me
I still think he’ll be a top player for us one day
if he had missed his penalty, chelski would have been crowned European Champions- he calmly slotted it away so that has bought him one or two years of grace from this red. hope he improves though.
I have to admit I have been disapointed with him this season and have said so on numerous blogs. I did think however that he looked something like his old self the other night. Great goal, good crosses, some excellent dribbling (not just into trouble either) and some superbly worked play with Ron for the penalty. Give him more games and he will surely improve. That is easier said than done though with the size and quality of our squad.
Nani is a complete disappointment this season. He looked promising last season but I dont knw what has gotten to his head. He can’t do anything good with the ball.
You will definitely get to the team if you manage to impress the manager. It’s no magic. For me Nani is an average player and should go to either Everton or Spurs. Our ambition does not seem to match his. United the best in the world!!! We dont need average players.
He’s right – he needs a string of first-team appearances to get truly match-fit BUT that won’t happen for him. So, just like ThreeLungPark and Fletcherinho, he has to get his mind around the fact that he is going to be a squad player. He’ll appear in a lot of games but SAF won’t cater to him; he has to make himself into a round peg to fit into the round hole of squaddie-dom.
I know that he gets a lot of stick for shooting “wildly” but, dammit, when he gets one of those missiles on target – like he did on a couple of memorable occasions last year and then again the other night against Derby – you just have to admire his self-belief. No one gets those long shots on target with regularity – not even the GingerNinja. But I admire Nani’s confidence in his abilities and wouldn’t want him to stifle himself. I would like him to get his mate, Anderson, to whack at goal on a more regular basis – he needs to break his duck.
daveob82 :-
Agree with your take on the matter, the lads got more ability than alot of our first teamers just needs to keep it simple at times and know when to do the flash stuff….but hey thats wingers for you!!
Oh and “cherry” Nani’s ability isn’t average far from maybe his attitude needs changing but thats it.
Park’s an average player but a hard working one at that!!
he will have his go when ronaldo is off to madrid..
the lad needs a decent run, he has bags of talent and unfortunately time is something you don’t get in this squad with other lads breathing down your neck for a game. wingers are mercurial at the best of times.
keep your concentration son and it will happen for you
Nani is talented but is far from the finished article. His decision making is terrible at times but these are the things that improve over time. Give him a chance and he’ll be fine and possibly a very, very good player for us. I do feel sorry for him when he’s played on the left though, he’s a diferent proposition when he’s on the right.
As it stands Park is getting more playing time and his performances have been solid. However, Nani is stronger physically, has showen to have amazing pace,and can thunder the ball with the best in the world. Park as good as he is has reached his peak. Nani need to mature a little more to reach his peak. The boy just needs more time on the pitch, he has more potential than most players in the league.
i’m puttin nani and in away andersons inconsistent form down to second season blues, seems like the younger inexperienced players suffer from this ronaldo went thru the same thing. i’m expecting big things from both next season anderson hasn’t been as bad as nani but he hasn’t hit the heights of last year ( hope he isn’t out 4 long tho )
plus nani is actually a right footed left winger thats the position he played for sporting comin thru the ranks anyway
The kind of talent Nani possess is extraordinary.His on the ball qualities are extremely good .He’s one of the best crosser in the league and I think he can do a lot better than ronaldo when against fast fullbacks like cole and clichy.it’s just that he needs game time so that he can mix up well with the team and that’s the only way improve his decision making.
HE’S ONE OF BRIGHTEST PROSPECTS WE HAVE AT UNITED.
I was really impressed with Nani last season, but this season he’s been disappointing. Ive also been worried about his attitude he came across as thinking because he’d won trophies he thought he’d made it here at United but hearing him say this has really changed my mind on him im glad he realises he needs to improve.
Bags of talent and when he’s on form his crossing is very good but he needs to be more consistant he reminds me alot of ronaldo when he first came to Old Trafford unlikely he will be as good a footballer as ronaldo but we’ll have to wait and see.
The arrival of Tosic will be good for him aswell it will keep him on his toes, mix things up with abit of competition for places normally sorts them out.
Thats the right attitude hes showing off. He;s talented he has pace and he can definitely strike a ball. The more games he gets the better he’ll play in my opinion.
genuinely hopeful that the derby game is the turning point for him.first time he stopped tryin to win the game on his own and his decision making was better.he’s got a shit load of talent but little clue what to do with it.let’s hope that’s changin
the football manager guys rate him , and they rarely get it wrong . so i reckon we should give him a chance
I’m glad he has realised this and has acknowledged this. The goal he scored against Derby was close to his goal against Spurs. I hope it does good for him and turns his season around.
Our coaching team will get him to the level required .. raw talent is has it .. needs coaching to the next level ..
Pretty much as I thought; lack of fitness and confidence. Hopefully we’ll see more of him soon.
I think the first thing he has to cut out is the theatrics. He always seem to go down like he was hit by a bus. Maybe he really is hurt, but either way, he should bulk up like Ronaldo did, and as much as ABUs claim, most of the time Ronaldo actually just got on with the game despite being at the receiving end of brutal challengers. Honestly can’t recall the last time Ronaldo was rolling about on the pitch. So if there is anything Nani should learn from Ronaldo, its his courage, not his skills
I’ve pretty much thought he’s been a waste of space this year…having said that, if he can score goals like that on a regular basis or at least work the keeper, it will open things up in the middle. Now, there’s no threat from that range so defenders can sit back. If he can hit the target like that regularly, defences will have to play him out there and open things up for others cutting in.
For me, he needs to learn how to dribble past and run at defenders with pace, people like evra and ronaldo do it. He rarely puts defenders on back foot or attacts right bac. He twists and turns a lot to try and fit the crosses in. He has no urgency to his play which is frustrating to watch. If he just kept everything neat quick and tidy then he cant go wrong. He played okay against derby, Dont think fergie would be ready to fit him in against the big guns any time soon.
Hey guys.SAF just gave us an update on the injury front.The good news is that Anderson did not suffer a break.He will miss 3 weeks,the same as Evans.Nani is out for a week.Maybe Brown will be back for Tottenham.The fresh news is that Park also has a hamstring injury.It takes our hamstring injuries to 3 and that is an alarming message.Something has not gone right in the training.Hamstring injuries usually signify not adequate training.Is it coincidense that SAF just yesterday praised the coaches?Maybe he knows that questions will be asked.
Slightly off subject, but feel i have to share, I just watched the UTD Official History 1878-2008 DVD, and saw a clip from Moscow i’d never seen before, its when Terrys taking his pen, he misses and they cut to the rest of the rentboys on the halfway line, they all start to run to celebrate as he kicks it then realise the spoon missed it and stop and bury their heads in their hands, Ballack collapses to the floor, PRICELESS! had to rewind it several times, worth the price of the dvd just for those 5 seconds.
Swurv: Will have to watch that, ain’t seen that before but I bet its funny as fuck. Cocky Rentboy cunts.