he should be

I didn't read the article but yes he is. The reason he doesn't play every game is because SAF wants to improve his discipline, which he is doing successfully.

I think he is yes, but against certain teams the extra height in Smalling or Jones is an advantage.

He also lacks natural stamina, which for a full back who gets forward as much as he does leads to him only lasting 60 minutes before getting a niggling know, as we have seen.

"I didn't read the article"



As BB said I think some of it comes down to height as well, for example City are a bigger side so we'd need more height to deal with their aerial threat

He didn't play Rafael against City (or any of the remaining games) as a punishment for his mistakes against Everton.

I seem to remember Sir Alex doing that to Carrick for what he perceived to be errors against Bayern in 2010. He would probably have dropped Evra too for that Everton game but had zero other realistic options at left back.

But in answer to your question, yeah, Sir Alex sees him as the future and i'd imagine he hopes that Rafael will learn from such setbacks and be the awesome right back we all know he is going to be.

*dropped Evra AFTER that Everton game.

Pride of the North (U6803)

It's really long

I do agree with the rationale for why Smalling/Jones get picked in some games in terms of their relative attributes, but having said that Gary Neville didn't used to get dropped regularly because he was short and Evra doesnt.

I also dont think SAF dropped Rafael after the Everton game to try and improve his discipline in terms of rashness etc which I think he's improved on a lot anyway. I think having seen the big games against both Bilbao and Everton, in which the multiple positional issues combined with the lack of concentration were terminal, I think SAF decided he didn't want to risk Rafael in another massive game when a lot of solid defending would be required. Maybe it was a confidence thing from Rafael as well, as he would have known he'd made some big mistakes.

Rio sorted his concentration issues out, so hopefully Rafael will as well, because he could be fantastic. As for this season I'm still not 100% sure he is seen as the clear number one, otherwise my fantasy football team would be finished

comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 6 minutes ago
"I didn't read the article"

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Made me laugh as well. It's the twitter generation. Anything over a sentence and their brains hurt

Sweet Pea

I could be wrong about the punishment thing but he didn't play against Swansea or Sunderland either. Whatever the reason, i'm sure he learnt from that and will come back better this season.
If he continues to make costly errors (as with any other player) this season then maybe he isn't quite as good as we thought.

comment by funrob - Carrickschin (U9808)
posted 2 seconds ago
Sweet Pea

I could be wrong about the punishment thing but he didn't play against Swansea or Sunderland either. Whatever the reason, i'm sure he learnt from that and will come back better this season.
If he continues to make costly errors (as with any other player) this season then maybe he isn't quite as good as we thought.
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I'd be surprised if he wasnt livid after Everton tbh funrob, so definitely likely that was the main factor.

Glad we agree

comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 11 minutes ago

As BB said I think some of it comes down to height as well, for example City are a bigger side so we'd need more height to deal with their aerial threat
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Aren't City pretty small offensively? Aguero, Tevez, Silva, Nasri etc. Only Toure in the front 6 had any height really.

The Everton factor must have been stronger, and as I said Neville would have played the same game a few years back over say O'Shea, so I'd be surprised if height came into it for that game.

comment by funrob - Carrickschin (U9808)
posted 37 seconds ago
Glad we agree
____________________

Mark it on your calendar

Maybe there's a full moon due or something.

Pea

Diggler wants to know why you filtered him

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rua5e-7mOWc

Watch this with the sound off as the American guy is an absolute douche but it shows all the goals from the 4-4.

The last 2 Everton goals are the ones we're talking about.
For Everton's third Ferdinand and Evans got in a mix up and both went towards the ball and while Rafael should have been sharper to react it's hard to completely blame him for that goal.
For Everton's 4th Rafael completely misread the situation and let Pienaar come in and score the vital 4th.
Height wasn't really the issue, more that our defence had a costly mix of switching off and panicking when they really should have shown more aggression to hold their lead.

Yes but when it comes to set pieces, if you have Evra and Smalling, couple with a small midfield means we are VERY short when it comes to defending set pieces. Teams like Newcastle, Blackburn, even Wigan bullied us in the box. You will notice Rafael is never dropped vs teams like Arsenal, and plays most European games.

Ironically, it was Smalling who let Kompany go at their place.

Evra and Rafael ***

As I mentioned above I can see why in certain situations Smalling/Jones might be seen as having better attributes, but that could also be something like SAF feels that are more defensively solid. I do think if he was considering the two, then extra height might count in someones favour in certain situations, but fundamentally I dont think he picks full backs based on height as a primary factor.

United have never had consistently big full backs for a long time or both sides, so why did he always play Neville and Evra, or Neville and Irwin, or Neville and Neville together, or Irwin and even tiny Paul Parker as first choice in the great 94 side.

I honestly dont believe height was the reason he dropped Rafael after Everton against City playing Aguero, Nasri, Silva, Tevez etc

Yeah but Neville was a lot better in the air than Rafael, and Evra in fact.

Obviously the Everton game he was sloppy which would have been the reason he was dropped for the run in, it's just something I personally noticed over the last couple of seasons. I mean it isn't as though he doesn't get stuck in, he's quite an aggressive full back.

I'm certainly happy with the lad being our number 1 choice.
I'm more worried about where Jones fits in long term, I still think centre half will be his long term position, but needs games to learn his trade.

I'd def agree he gets stuck in BB. No lack of commitment from him that's for sure. I actually really like his attitude in that respect.