30 Mar 2012

Lawro admits: £16 million Man United star is 'unplayable'. Is he right?

Much to the irritation of Liverpool fans, Manchester United have pulled it out of the bag again this season, and they're on the way to securing a 20th league title. United's team this year is arguably the worst they've had for a while, but according to Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson, one particular player stands out from the rest at Old Trafford.

In stark contrast to Liverpool's terrible results in the premier league, United have capitalised on Man City's stuttering form over the last couple of months and won six of their last seven league games, and put themselves in pole position for the title.

Antonio Valencia has been a very important part of United's recent good form, and in a recent interview with Today FM, Lawro was full of praise for the winger He enthused:

"If you're defending against Valencia, you don't know what to do. If you go too tight, he'll run past you; if you try and show him down the line, he'll whip it in, and if you try and show him inisde, he'll pick somebody out.

"How do you defend against this guy? He's unplayable at times, and I can't see United losing any games in the next four or five".


Leaving aside the fact that it always makes my stomach turn to see Liverpool players praise Man United (!), Lawro has a point about the Ecuadorian. I watched the recent United-Wigan game, and Valencia tore them apart, scoring one goal and providing four assists.

Why is it United always manage to sign the best wingers? Why didn't Liverpool move heaven and earth to sign Valencia and Ashley Young when they were available?

Unfortunately, the difference between the two clubs - as it has been since LFC last won the league, is that United have always prioritised the importance of wingers. Liverpool have never made signing top-class wingers a top priority, which is why the club has ended up with bargain-basement players like Jermain Pennant and Albert Riera.

The ironic thing is that as soon as the club wakes up and realises that wingers are essential, Kenny Dalglish goes out splurges 20m on the most ineffective winger in the league (!)

Jaimie Kanwar


44 comments:

  1. Jamie did you think stewart downing was ineffective at Villa? i don't think so, he wasn't world class but was a good player. Don't know what happened to him at Liverpool where he has become sub par.

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  2. I hate to say it but the difference I am afraid is SAF.

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  3. Rafa tried to sign him, shame we didn't get em.

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  4. At Villa, he was playing at the right level; He hasn't got the mentality for Liverpool.

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  5. Messi would look crap at Liverpool

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  6. If u learn from mistakes and try to rectify them than is all well and good. But I'm afraid that we won't learn anything from this season and KD probably will go for british players again and next season will b like this one.

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  7. Check the stats, Stewart is performing the same as he was in Villa, except only this time his chances are gone to waste cuz we can't score. I swear I remember someone doing a tactical analysis on Stewart before that proves this.

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  8. Why are you writing about United...again?

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  9. if we wanted a manure love in, we would go to their wank-fest forums. i agree, can we leave those inbred,granny bothering, family fiddlers, out of our business????

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  10. Obviously he's not performing the same because he has no goals or assists!  You can't blame everyone else all the time.  I've already doe statistical analysis of Downing, and this season, his crossing accuracy is 20%, which equates to one successful cross per game.  That's the reality: his crossing and passing in the final third is just not good enough.

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  11. whether we like manure or not we have to admire/respect them. they play great football. we need to put man utds chance of future success in our own hands. enough of the bulls*** excuses every week and mediocre signings. enough of this f***ing hype coming out of player's mouths and statements clarifying the need to be consistent and fixing whatever other bull*** arises. liverpool needs a culture change. the first step is to oust dalglish. i highly respect the man and i do feel for him, however he's past it. he has no tactical nous. he may be a great man manager but that doesn't solely win you top 4 spots and leagues. carling cup was good but not great. i know it as our first trophy in 6 years but the euphoria fromt he club was quite embarrasing. liverpool needs a winning mentality expecting only the highest standards. man utd have a mentality which reflects the attitude of always believing they can still in the game. it explains their knack of winning draws/wins at the death after playing ordinarily. they have belief in their ability. they have cohesion, fluidity, belief, precision and ruthlessness. this is what we claim to have. BUT WE DONT!

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  12. Indeed in Giggs, Beckham, Ronaldo, Nani and Valencia, manure seem to have a habit of signing the top wingers around, but primarily because their wingers are key to the way they play. They like getting a winger forward to pick out one of 3 or 4 attackers closing in on goal.

    By contrast, no matter how good a winger we may acquire, we will have at most 1 other player positioning himself to score if we are lucky. Downing's crossing accuracy would improve dramatically as would his assists if only our players position themselves to receive his crosses. Whoever said Messi would flop at Anfield is bang on the money.

    Everytime manure attacked Fulham, their front row of attackers were always spaced nicely to convert crosses. Their only goal scored came from such discipline in their positioning. It is hardly surprising Maxi and Bellamy get the goals because they understand how to set themselves up. The problem with most of our guys is that they don't. I don't think Carroll or Henderson have problems with their shooting accuracy - but their anticipation and positioning are non-existent. Suppliers who can't be trusted to shoot like Suarez and Downing are wasted on the lost boys and will hardly be getting us the goals themselves.

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  13. very nice article about utd jamie!! if you knew anything, you'd know, that we tried, to sign ashley young!! he was our no. 1 choice winger, unfortunately, he chose to go to utd!! his choice, so to put that blame at lfc's door, like you always do, is wrong!! downing was our second choice, and in case you haven't watched the last few games, he been one of our best players!! you love to point out our innafective wingers, what about mentioning our very effective winger, bellamy, who, was on fire, before gettin injured, a great signing, and good bit of buisness by kenny!!

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  14. Morris Jeff, missed your insight into how great the season is going after the Wigan game. Good performance in your eyes? The kind of reaction that you were looking for after QPR? You appeared to go quiet for a while but now you are back telling us how good everyone is! Any predictions for the weekend? You are a positive kind of guy, so you are surely predicting a win?

    We tried to sign Young too late, by then, we had no chance. But Nani, Ronaldo, who would have flopped at Liverpool, also, and, particularly, Valencia, were all easily within our club's reach when we stood by and let Man Utd sign them. As were Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Oxlade Chamberlain, Theo Walcott. We've signed Riera, Pennant and Downing and then tried to make players like Babel and, now, Kuyt learn how to play there. And, worst of all, we now have Jordan Henderson having a go out there.

    And Bellamy is hardly a winger, where did you get that idea from? He plays wide in some games but, on the whole, is a striker, plain and simple.

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  15. yes that is another point i forgot to mention. i'm always flabbergasted by liverpool's poor offensive positioning. surely kenny would have picked up on this? if we have 3-4 attackers in the box everytime i'm sure we would have picked up more league points over the season. too often good crosses look like bad ones because the target in the box is not wide enough to hit!  its how utd score so many goals. they produce their own luck

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  16. You are bang on the money here  Mr K .In a bankrupt Premership when the worst MUFC side in living memory will walk away with number 20 opposed only the stuttering clowns of FC Abu  Dhabi we still can't get the basics right

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  17. gary neville on sky on monday night said he never feared playing liverpool because we haven't had a good winger since mcnaman and you knew as a full back they'd never exploit you.

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  18. Surly Valancia should have been picked up before he went to Wigan with Rafa and his Spanish contacts!
    Young should have been brought when he left Watford for £9 million! We can't moan about transfer fees or not signing these players when we are to slow to move for these players like Lennon who cost £1 million from Leeds to Spurs. 

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  19. Start playing Sterling more.

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  20. Definitely the best United player this season ! Pure class ! He's a cyborg !

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  21. Theycallmemrburt4:15 pm, March 30, 2012

    Agree 100%.  The analogy of what Morris Jeff is saying is a lad who writes off his dads £300k Lamborghini but argues when confronted that the lights, indicators and hand brake still work.  

    The Kenny apologists will forever hold us back.  Anyone with an ounce of a football brain could have told Kenny that the potential chemistry of his signings was all wrong.

    We need specialist wide players!  I have this terrible feeling that Downing, Henderson and Kuyt could all do a job at full back for us and not look out of place.  This is mainly because they are exactly that, glorified fullbacks.  Until we start taking some chances and making luxury unorthodox signings out wide WE WILL NEVER compete for the league.

    Who knows....Maybe Raheem Sterling can be the start of a new footballing philosophy for us.  Maybe Kenny will start to appreciate that Dani Pacheco has wonderful natural ability that would compliment Suarez down to the ground.  Maybe Kenny will acknowledge that this season he has taken us back almost as much as Souness did with his horrid signings,

    OR Maybe....


    WE will have to keep resisting the apologists........


    (Jamie any chance of seeing Graeme Souness' 1st season stats in comparison to Kenny's 1st season back? I have the feeling we'll need a stewards enquiry on that.)

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  22. Why didn't I think of that comparison?! It shall be done :-)

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  23. Theycallmemrburt4:22 pm, March 30, 2012

    Agreed.  All of these players were well within our grasp.  However as with all young exciting talent we let it slip through our fingers only to go back in for the same players at triple, sometimes quadruple the price a few years later.  Ridiculous.

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  24. come now lads, we tried signing young. he wanted to go to united. i think our flanks lack a bit of confidence at the moment. one thing i really enjoyed for the first half of the season was the wing play on both flanks with the fullbacks in support. we hugged the touchline in so many games and its why we have done really well against the chavs thus far. However, there really is no denying the poverty of the final ball this second half of the season from the flank men. But this is hardly a problem for just them. every set piece we have is also shocking. we struggling to get the ball past the wall most of the time when we have free kicks from dangerous areas and our delivery from crosses is just pathetic at times. 

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  25. Wasn't it Martin O'Neil who took him to Villa? You have championed O'Neil has our manager so the chances are Downing would have ended up here and not Villa! 

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  26. Agreed, the players in the 'flair' positions at Anfield just don't have any flair. It is interesting because a few of our managers have signed these functional types over proper quality. Who wants a functional winger?

    I hope you are right about Sterling, I think he is old enough to be considered, they should be fast tracking him into the squad and trying to save 10 million by getting him ready earlier, he has a lot of potential.

    I don't think Kenny really cares too much about natural ability, which is probably why our team is lacking in creativity. Considering the type of player that he was, it is shocking to see the type of players that he seems to like.

    Think Kenny is every bit as bad a manager as Souness, we now need a summer of bargains to make up for his waste last year. If we do have money to spend, they cannot give it to him to waste, surely?

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  27. But we never get these kind of signings and, now, people are baulking at a record breaking goalscorer because he plays for Huddersfield and we happened to get stung by some bad British transfers last summer. Its like Pavlovs dog in reverse; Every time he hears a bell ring, he gets fed. So, eventually, whenever someone rings a bell, the dog starts salivating. We are the reverse with British transfers now, every time we see the club linked to a british player, we start getting palpitations. The fact that those 3, Adam, Henderson, Downing and, previously, Carroll, have not worked out well should send a chill down our spine every time we look at a British player now. Presumably, if Young was available from Watford now, people would be saying 'no more british rubbish'!

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  28. Chi Bai lu, no way !

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  29. Ditto, missed your insight Morris Jeff

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  30. have to agree that Valencia has been impressive but what surprises  me if you notice is that his left foot is nonexistent...every time he's forced to he left he passes it to the overlapping fullback...but also it seems like he has the pace to compensate for his weakness...having said that, i'd take him over any of our wingers any day of the week    

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  31. Wilson Michaelpaul10:02 pm, March 30, 2012

    Downings now starting to look like the player he's always threatened to be throughout his career  - the problem now though is theres rarely anyone in the area to get on the end of anything he plays in  - again it sticks in my throat to use them as an example  - but UTD have perfected the art of wing interplay between the flanks and forwards  - thats why they are a high scoring team and thats why they get many late penalties , good balls whipped into the box with pace and two or three attackers there looking to score .

    lately we've looked terrified of getting forward , apart from Luis who tries so hard to do it all himself.

    How many of our balls from the wings beat the first defender ?

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  32. The Anfield Faithfull10:03 pm, March 30, 2012

    Downing has undoubtedly been one of our best players since the Carling cup final..Its just our inability in front of goal that is costing us.

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  33. Wilson Michaelpaul10:13 pm, March 30, 2012

    a few of the lads I drink with scoffed at KD signing bellamy but its turned out to be an inspired bit of business  - just hope theres nothing to that rumour that john aldridge came out with about a possible bust up between him and kenny  - after QPR and Wigan we need a unified dressing room more than ever to turn it around.

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  34. I have to agree re the wingers or lack of at the Club over the years.

    Very frustrating that we just don't seem to learn....

    That said, its also true to say that our movement in and around the box has been pretty dire this season, but i also think we dropped one in the summer by not signing a proper right footed winger with pace and dare i say it proven ability....

    What i have found very irritating watching us play is the lack of balance in the side, either we play Downing etc and only Suarez upfront....or we play Carroll and Suarez and bench Downing etc etc etc.


    Even Spurs have wingers these days, we have to address this issue in the summer, i used to get so pissed off with Rafa for not addressing this issue, playing Gerrard out there instead of just buying a proper RW.....

    Absurd bordering on the criminal that this Club has gone so long without decent quality on the wings and for sure we have suffered for long enough....

    Henderson is NOT a RW....

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  35. Not just UTD, Swansea do it too. We wouldn't need to worry too much about our wingers beating defenders if there was someone on the inside they could pass the ball to.

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  36. Lucas was not a holding mid, neither was Bale a winger. Henderson has all the qualities, except the balls to be a good winger. His pace and ball skill are definitely there. He just needs to be more daring and take more chances instead of passing the buck all the time.

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  37.  Maybe if you showed more respect, stop referring to the most successful British club as 'manure' but Manchester United, or United, then you'd be one step closer to rising above being an average midtable club with pretensions and history. Respect and learn from those better than you, and it goes a long way past the incredible wingers (Ronaldo, Giggs, Beckham, Valencia, not even counting Nani / Young)! Try RVN, Keane, Scholes, Cantona, Vidic ... true great players, only Gerrard comes close. Even City with £1bn can't win the league over an average United because the leaders set the bar and the leaders are incredible.

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  38. Put just a prime Roy Keane in that Liverpool squad and they'd win the league. It's that easy. He'd kick lumps out of Andy Carroll to score 30 goals and that would be it. Frighten the daylights out of every mediocre performing half-assed player at the club (all of them) and the club would be transformed.

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  39. Bang on article. I've been watching football since the mid-70s and the single common feature of all man united teams since then has been wingers. It is fundamental to utds attacking style of play. From Coppell to Giggs to Valencia they have been integral to utds philosophy. Utd have always tried to make sure they have the best wingers in the league in their team.

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  40. Downing isn't the right pedigree. I am still unconvinced that he "is" a complete failure though. He just lacks brains and confidence. He needs to work on his cross thats one thing for sure. He needs more variety to his crosses. He needs to curl them in accurately as well as whip them in accurately. Also his off the ball running needs to improve. Wingers are supposed to be live wires, not stationary wagons. 

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  41. True, however they didnt get that way from SAF's first year. It did take him some time before he created that culture as shankly did with us... How many years did it take for SAF to win his first title?  I somehow recall he almost got the sack, but he was fortunate enough to win an FA cup, (i think???).   The problem for us has been useless owners that either didnt have the $$$ to get enough great players, or owners that wanted to make a quick buck out of us.  Whether you like our last group of managers or not is kinda relative to me as most of them didnt have enough funds to  compete for several of the best players in the world...   Yes KK did overspend on the players he bought in, esp carroll who was only worth 10 mil if that, however dont forget we did get a fair bit back from the sale of players and dead wood we had too.  If we do go shopping again, we really do need quality players, not dribs and drabs... In my opinion, im happy to keep KK, despite what others say, but im not happy with Camolli, dont think he is going to be bringing in the right players we need, (even if he has the last say on signings or not)...  so its going to be more of the same for the next few years... God, I hope he proves me wrong...   Then in saying that i am excited with some of the young players we have, pacheco, shelvey, suso, coady, flanno, amoo, etc,  lets hope they are able to push their way into the first team...  If we are able to keep some stability, this will create the unity the players need, and in turn will build up their mental strength and create the dominant culture we so desperately want again... 

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  42. For the record...... The reason we ended up with riera etc or average players in your opinion was LACK OF MONEY! Did rafa not want villa, Silva, alves? (who have or can operate wide!) where are your useless stats and analysis now?

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  43.  Me, as a United fan, Valencia is the epitome of the "functional" winger and he's doing quite a lot to push for number 20

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