Anya must be dropped

..It's like playing with ten men. Anya offers absolutely nothing to the team. He takes no responsibility or risks, he simply plays five yard passes,regardless of where he is on the pitch, many of which don't reach their intended targets. The thing that pi55es me off about Anya the most is his lack of tackling ability. He's basically a bottle merchant. Watch how he will bend his run so he doesn't have to commit to a tackle or challenge. For that reason alone, he shouldn't be a professional footballer, let alone playing in the premier.
I don't particularly like 51agging him off because he's obviously a lovely bloke off the field but he seriously ain't good enough and we have better options who aren't getting games.

 

Anya had a poor game today, but on the whole he's had a good season.

 

Decent squad player but yes, absolute tackle shirker.

 

I am sure we were all rating him earlier on in the season. He was moved to left back today and was poor. He is a good wing back but tackling is not his best attribute, which for a left back is not good!

An excellent squad player, he played in 3 positions today, that is why he is useful to have in the team, saved a substitution when both him and Jurado were ineffective in the first half on the left.

 

Wish he'd been substituted! He was awful today. Had we started without him and Jurado I'm sure we'd all be a lot happier right now!

 

Who would you play instead? Or is this one of those 'why did we sell Fessi?' threads?

 

Is he an excellent squad player when he is absolutely shocking in all 3 positions???
What has he added this season really??? Nothing really going forward , can't tackle, his little legs go really fast and after every defeat he says "we go again next week" though so he is obviously very valuable to the team.

 

Thread should be titled 'Anya isn't a full back and shouldn't play there'.

 

Much as I've been critical of Anya in the past, to single him out today when the rest of the team bottled the occasion quite so completely is grossly unfair and I refuse to do it.

 

Totally agree, bar a few good games this season he has been woefully out of his depth!

Got to be careful with what you say though, or the Anya bum boy brigade will be out in force on here and twitter to defend his 'performances'.

 

Anya has grown and grown as a player in his time with us but is still fairly limited. He has had a good season so far playing at the top of his game but I don't think his natural level is premier league standard, he doesn't have a football brain. The same can be said of Watson, a couple of good games but takes too long on the ball and went back far too often today.

Also felt Iggy has has two poor games on the trot he has got to look for the pass and not just shoot from stupid angles. He won the penalty and I think we should have brought Obbi on then.

Jurado will come back, his has class.

All in all we carried the above 4 today and still should have come away with a point against a team who went top and whose team cost many times more than ours.

 

I agree, he was moved to left back and that isn't his best position, he wasn't our worst player today..

Jurado, Capoue, Abdi and Watson were rubbish, in fact our midfield were individually and as a unit..

I thought Ighalo was good except he needs to pass more often, Ake was excellent when he came on.

We need some midfielders behind Ighalo that create chances, Ibabrbo and Diamanti obviously are not rated by Flores and Berghuis probably needs a loan, Jurado and Abdi are not creating enough we need to ship a few out and buy a couple of creative players.

 

I don't think I have agreed with a post as much as this before.

 

Today Anya had to cope with a very weak Jurado in front of him. As soon as Abdi was swapped over then that side was shored up. Too late though. It was a poor first half but once we went back to our previous 11 and shape we were in the game.
Singling out any player against any team let alone a top four side is wrong particularly when he is doing what he is told to do by the manager. It would be suicide for any player faced with 3 united players to go to ground trying to tackle when even if he won the ball who would he pass to?
Apart from poor selections and the team not being at the races first half we made a number of good chances second half and deserved a point.

 

He can't tackle, He can't defend, he can't cross, He doesn't have a football brain, he's Scottish. Is there anything right with Anya? I bet he's thinking what John Terry was saying when Savage was slagging him off. I'll take **** from people who have played premier and international football but not from you lot. Guess he has the last laugh when he picks his pay check up every week with the starting bonus in it. One thing he doesn't lack effort.

 

Agreed.

He frustrates the hell out of me at times but he never hides. I would say for players such as Anya,Deeney and Abdi,who haven't played in the Premier League before,it is common to have a little too much respect for the opposition. He was not alone today, in an below average first half performance but he has my support,for what it's worth.

 

Jack of all trades, master of none.

 

Started the season brilliantly but Ake has been so good at left back and gives us a much better balance being left footed. Ikechi's performances are dropping game by game and with Jurado fit, Ibarbo starting to impress Quique (supposedly) and even Paredes putting in some decent-ish performances his place must be under threat. Thought it was a bit strange that Ibarbo didn't come on for Nyom actually, with Paredes having been away with Ecuador he must really be in Quique's good books to come on ahead of Ibarbo. Got to wonder how many chances Ibarbo will get if we're chasing the game and we bring Paredes on to play right midfield instead of him. That decision and throwing Jurado in straight away were the two things that confused me today. Anyway, I'm going off topic, I think Anya will still start against Villa due to his pace but I don't think he'll start against Norwich.

 

This.
The issue is / was Jurado back too quickly imo against a united side who pressed continuously first half forcing us to make mistakes and picking up the pieces. By return we did not press them enough and allowed them to play around and through us.

Too much respect first half instead of getting after them as well.

 

Is the manager telling him to lose the ball at every available opportunity??

 

He isn't good enough in any position to be starting week in, week out, it's that simple.

I think he's actually become a better left back than he has a winger, and he's pretty average there as it is, but as an attacking wide player he is all too often just completely ineffectual and lacking in the skill and guile required for the Premier League.

 

I've always thought Anya to be a good bloke and a good character to have around a squad that's changed greatly over the last two seasons.

As he's versatile, I see him as a decent squad player too. I can see why he appeals to our coaches.

As a player I've always thought he was half way to being decent..there's a good player in there somewhere..he's full of good intentions but his final ball and cutting edge isn't quite good enough. He didn't actually score or create enough in our promotion winning side so it was a big ask to exoect him to shine in the PL.

He hasn't been a complete disaster though and versatile players like him do have a role in the squad. It's just a pity we spent millions on a winger and a left back yet neither can make the squad, creating a vacancy for Anya to play there instead

 

He main asset is pace which he never ****ing uses

 

This is quite frustrating it's true!

 

He played a damn site better on his preferred side.

Watson was off pace and Jurado struggled. Criticise those two before Anya.

 

At one point today I lost it with Anya for the first time in a while. If I recall correctly, he had the ball on a counter attack and with his pace to burn hoofed it up aimlessly up the field to where there was nobody, not even a MU player, the last time I was so frustrated with him was Birmingham away last year.

 

The thing with anya is as has been said he was ineffectual last season and has been continually frustrating throughout his time here. But he's still playing and I have no idea why!!! I think we could easily bring in a better pacey player for cheap in January, someone who doesn't look like a scared child running around on the pitch would be great

 

Cool, like who?

 

agree as well. To think we have a left back that kept Ashley Cole out of the roma team is also surprising given Anyas lack of ability in that position. With Ake and Holebas struggle to understand why Anya is in the 1st 11

 

At the moment, Ake looks like a better option at left back to me. He's stronger in the tackle, plays without fear and he is improving by the week.

Anya behind the front three is a different matter, however. He is very frustrating with his end product but his pace makes defences play differently against us - even if he produces a decent shot/cross once in a blue moon, defenders have to be aware of his pace and track his runs off the ball. This means our other players have more space and create more.

Here's some stats about various combinations about the wide positions (with the usual caveats about strength of opposition, small sample sizes etc):

Abdi/Jurado both on the pitch at the same time - we've scored 3 goals in 343 minutes - 114 mins/goal
Anya playing as an advanced wide player - 8 goals in 546 minutes - 68 mins/goal
Anya playing as a full back - 4 goals in 495 minutes - 124 mins/goal

There may be a few minutes here or there where Anya might have been playing in a slightly different position to where I counted him, but I'm confident that these figures are more or less right. What it shows to me is that we have to have pace in at least one of those wide positions otherwise we are too easy to defend against and our build up is too slow.

 

Anya's value is being a flexible adaptable player who can do a decent job in a number of positions, he's pretty unique in that respect. The downside is he's not outstanding in any particular role.

Ake is a far better left back.

 

Sounds like your forum name!

 

Wow. I didn't see today's game but if by virtue if a bad game, Anya is now being slated, it's as though his other performances this season didn't happen.