26 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Something I find quite interesting is that the match-going fans, and especially the travelling support, sing his song as soon as he starts warming up, and at matches most people are very supportive.  

Those of us who watch on the telly, or a stream, appear, for the most part, to be more critical of Willian than those of us who go to games.

Not saying either is right, not that Willian hasn't had some cack performances this season, but there is a dichotomy between fans' views depending on how they actually watch his performances. AND, I'm not saying that there aren't groans of frustration in the stands when he bollocks up a pass or a dribble, but then there are for every player when they cock up.

That's normally how it works though.

Those same fans would be the ones complaining about him online, probably more harshly than you see on here. Everyone knows when you go to a game you go to support the team no matter what your views are. 

3 minutes ago, Remodez said:

That's normally how it works though.

Those same fans would be the ones complaining about him online, probably more harshly than you see on here. Everyone knows when you go to a game you go to support the team no matter what your views are. 

That's all very true, but the bold bit is more what I was getting at.  The people in here who don't go to games and watch on the telly, particularly in the match day threads display a great deal less support for the team than you get at games.  Those threads get really toxic, and the chosen scapegoats of the day get dog's abuse, really vicious, nasty stuff, which you never actually hear at the match.  Any slight mistake results in a flurry of posts, and that saddens me.

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

Something I find quite interesting is that the match-going fans, and especially the travelling support, sing his song as soon as he starts warming up, and at matches most people are very supportive.  

Those of us who watch on the telly, or a stream, appear, for the most part, to be more critical of Willian than those of us who go to games.

Not saying either is right, not that Willian hasn't had some cack performances this season, but there is a dichotomy between fans' views depending on how they actually watch his performances. AND, I'm not saying that there aren't groans of frustration in the stands when he bollocks up a pass or a dribble, but then there are for every player when they cock up.

Well it’s a great song and it also slags off Spurs.

56 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

That's all very true, but the bold bit is more what I was getting at.  The people in here who don't go to games and watch on the telly, particularly in the match day threads display a great deal less support for the team than you get at games.  Those threads get really toxic, and the chosen scapegoats of the day get dog's abuse, really vicious, nasty stuff, which you never actually hear at the match.  Any slight mistake results in a flurry of posts, and that saddens me.

The people on the forum haven’t payed big money to go to the game. 

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

That's all very true, but the bold bit is more what I was getting at.  The people in here who don't go to games and watch on the telly, particularly in the match day threads display a great deal less support for the team than you get at games.  Those threads get really toxic, and the chosen scapegoats of the day get dog's abuse, really vicious, nasty stuff, which you never actually hear at the match.  Any slight mistake results in a flurry of posts, and that saddens me.

It's the anonymity of the internet unfortunately. People say things on here they would think twice about saying surrounded by other fans. Also I think it's hard to judge the level of aggression or malice in a post. I'm sure whenever for example Willian plays a bad pass, everyone is thinking 'for f**k sake Willian' but to actually post that can come across more negatively than it was intended. 

I don't tend to pay too much attention to match day threads, everyone is guilty of the occasional knee jerk reaction, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. It's best to take it with a pinch of salt. 

4 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

Something I find quite interesting is that the match-going fans, and especially the travelling support, sing his song as soon as he starts warming up, and at matches most people are very supportive.  

Those of us who watch on the telly, or a stream, appear, for the most part, to be more critical of Willian than those of us who go to games.

Not saying either is right, not that Willian hasn't had some cack performances this season, but there is a dichotomy between fans' views depending on how they actually watch his performances. AND, I'm not saying that there aren't groans of frustration in the stands when he bollocks up a pass or a dribble, but then there are for every player when they cock up.

Willian gets the Cahill treatment on Twitter, the scapegoat. What's odd is that United fans love him, so do Arsenal fans, other teams seem to think he's very underrated.

I won't deny he can be very frustrating because of his inconsistency, but I don't know why some people are quick to forget what he's done at the club, I could give you a handful of games where he won us points on his own last season. 

On 11/27/2017 at 20:58, Ernie_blue said:

Not really much of an achievement. He scored a few free kicks and had a couple of good matches, he was ok and the rest sh*t. Still never really set the world a light. He scores one and his the best player ever then we won't see him again for a while. 

I think you are downplaying his contribution that season if I am being honest. If he had nothing more than a "couple of good matches" then he would have received no more recognition than anyone else that season. 

I haven't seen anyone claim he is the "best player ever". I think he is a useful squad player, and that is pretty much what he is being used as at the moment. 

Why won't he pass the ball? Why carry on running and then passing when the target is offside, or holding onto the ball so instead of being closed down by one player he's then closed down by 3?

Literally destroyed every attack and missed a sitter for the cherry on top. 

Frustrating today. Started and stopped the very same counter attacks.

I know he can be so much better than this but end product..

I don't know what it is, probably too eager to show what he can do to get back into the team, so he doesn't play quick passes or layoffs, it looks like he wants a major contribution than just keep the attack ticking.

That part where Michy was in the box instead of leaving the ball for him to shoot he takes it and passes it to him, slowing it down and making the shot obvious enough that it got stopped.

And the last attack where Eden was making a run he picks the split second that he was offside to pass it, not before or after. Trying to do as much as he can before releasing the ball is plaguing his mind...

He's now become a caricature of himself. Comical to watch him play football at this point. 

15 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

I don't know what it is, probably too eager to show what he can do to get back into the team, so he doesn't play quick passes or layoffs, it looks like he wants a major contribution than just keep the attack ticking.

That part where Michy was in the box instead of leaving the ball for him to shoot he takes it and passes it to him, slowing it down and making the shot obvious enough that it got stopped.

And the last attack where Eden was making a run he picks the split second that he was offside to pass it, not before or after. Trying to do as much as he can before releasing the ball is plaguing his mind...

It's nothing new really, his decision making and distribution in the final third has always been his biggest weakness. He got alot of pace and knows how to dribble in tight spaces, but it becomes very ineffective when he rarely picks the right option when he is in good positions. I hope we can find a better option in the next two transfer windows to replace him.

Yep, nothing has changed with Willian. Will pop up with an important goal every now and again (like the recent one at Liverpool) and that will keep him in everyone's good books and a stay of execution for a few weeks whilst he then reverts to his frustrating ways until the next good thing he does.

Like him as a squad option but to be honest he hasn't improved since day one so wouldn't be sorry to see him go and we look to upgrade.

 

He’s quite a frustrating player as his biggest strength is his work rate. For an attacking midfielder, you want creativity. 

He’s the type of player that will win you leagues, but won’t win you games. 

Criminal waste of good attacks last night from him. 

It was a good summary of why he's such a frustrating player, just doesn't have any sort of consistency with his decision making or execution in the final third. 

I could see his game time becoming quite limited this season now we've reverted to 3-5-2 and Michy B has returned from injury. 

59 minutes ago, JM7 said:

He’s quite a frustrating player as his biggest strength is his work rate. For an attacking midfielder, you want creativity. 

He’s the type of player that will win you leagues, but won’t win you games. 

That sounds good when you read it but if he doesn't win us games, he's hardly gonna win us the league!!

The worst thing about his miss, is not the shot itself but the fact he had all the time in the world to stop the ball and just blast it..

He ruined 3 attacks last night after coming on. Big reason why we didn't win, very poor.

21 hours ago, JMaher94 said:

He ruined 3 attacks last night after coming on. Big reason why we didn't win, very poor.

He was on for 17 minutes -FFS get a grip on reality, he wasn't a " Big reason why we didn't win, very poor."

He was pants, I'll give you that, but let's be a little bit sensible, shall we?

Victor Moses was an average striker, poor often as a winger but boy he made a difference for us as a wing back. Hands up how many of us saw that coming?

 

Time to try see how willian does as a lwb I feel. His technique is better than Moses and he has as much if not more energy and pace. Got to be worth a go surely as we have no Alonso alternatives.

Don't like that idea one bit.

Would have you said the same about Moses before he went there zeta? 

Do you feel Pedro would do the job better than willian or do you have another player in mind?

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Would have you said the same about Moses before he went there zeta? 

Do you feel Pedro would do the job better than willian or do you have another player in mind?

My idea would be to buy someone good who actually plays that position.

Get rid of Willian and buy Sanchez. 

Sanchez will be off to City or PSG.