I understand your comment. I must say that several members have used far more coarse language to describe him. I have been quite fair. Enough said.
Mariappa gets slaughtered for every mistake and greeted with silence every time he plays well. Has been our best defender on several occasions this season but that's completely overlooked. Gets held to a different standard than other defenders because he's seen as the epitome of our lack of investment in the defence. He is by far the most alert of our defenders at the near post but unfortunately he can read the play well and cover a near post run to prevent a free shot on goal twenty times but if he shanks the ball out of play once or get beaten by a winger then that's what gets remembered. Should he be starting 20 games a season for us? No. Is he as bad as people make out? Also no.
I think most people like Mariappa but sorry I have no idea who your describing. He does not read the game that well, he is quite often out of position and he's too slow to react. His passing is League 2 level. He is now being targeted by the opposition which is all you need to know. In my opinion he has never been a Premier League footballer and now he's in his thirties he definitely isn't. I do like the guy though!!
Not sure I agree about him not getting credit. He got plenty of plaudits for the consecutive performances against Liverpool and Man Utd, and also when he had a spell of about 6 strong games last year. I do agree is a poster boy for the defensive recruitment incompetence though. If he played 6-8 games a season as cover I doubt he’d get any grief at all even with the odd poor performance. The fact is having him play 20+ games a season over three seasons is a huge weakness for a premier league team, primarily due to his woeful distribution and crossing. And that’s on the owner, not the player.
Yeah but he blasted into his own top corner from 6 yards out when there wasn't an attacker within 20 feet costing us a win.
I see Baby Faced Finlayson and that rather unpleasant agent are having a tiff over Pogba. Any port in a storm.
The Mancs have used up all their luck against Chelsea. Will get some key players injured tonight. I see an easy win. Mancs 5-0
Why is this game on a Saturday when they are in Europa League action tonight? I thought games got pushed back to a Sunday for those teams playing in Europe on a Thursday.
I expect they will play the kids won't they given the 8 pointer coming up against us as they chase 4th spot ??
United are so inconsistent that it was a relief they beat Chelsea. Now we're going to win and everyone can jump on Solskjaer again.
Was the worst possible result. Had they lost, 4th spot would have slipped away. They now have something to play for on sunday.
I would point out that the title of the thread was changed by a moderator but you'll probably just accuse me of being a League 2 standard poster who loves an own goal.
Ighalo set to start for United tonight, resting the majority that played against Chelsea by the sounds of it.
Read the game?? Brighton game away. Read the game, take a look at it. If he was reading the game it must have been in braille. He was up against Dan Burn, now he couldn't beat an egg. Burn is good in the air, hopeless on the ground. We were on trouble as soon as Potter put on someone else up against him. Brighton were not going to score till he smashed the ball home when under zero pressure. He had no idea where he or any Brighton player was. Oh, he looked around alright, but lacked the skills to deal with the situation at hand. It was comical. He has been caught ball watching loads of times. I was not going to comment on him again in this thread, but your post is ludicrous, in my opinion.
You read a post as well as you think Mariappa reads the game. I was pointing out one specific area where he does read the game very well, and that's defending the near post. A lot of goals are scored these days by low balls in across the six yard box and Mariappa generally positions himself very well here and makes numerous blocks from dangerous balls in. I don't dispute that there are other parts of his game where he doesn't read the game that well, in particular he gets caught under high balls quite often and dives into tackles he has little chance of winning. I was just pointing out something he does quite well to counterbalance some of the hysteria (see any post that describes him as League 1 or 2 standard, completely ignoring the fact that several coaches have kept him in the side after he was given a chance through injury/suspension, even when other options have become available again).
I hope Kiko or Dawson (who ever replaces Mariappa) don't mess up.. Or we get anyone else injured in the mean time! Which is likely ..
We needed Sarr for the previous two matches, not the next two. It’s irrelevant whether he’s fit or not. For the next two games I’d play the team we used for the Tranmere matches. Keep the players fresh for the final 10 games.
One of my cats did a turd on a mariappa topps card this morning in my sons room. It's a sign of impending doom for Sunday....
I'd usually hope we win this one. However I'm solidly behind United's march to a Champions League position and don't want to halt their momentum. A draw then, with Chelsea and Spurs losing would be a great result for everyone.
Anyone know how good the trams are from Manchester Piccadilly to the ground, and how crowded and what the queues are like? Walked the canal to the Etihad but canal looks a palaver in the direction of old Trafford - anyone tried that walk?
I got the tram last year from Picadilly got off at old Trafford next to cricket ground. Only 10 minute walk. Got onto a tram easily after the game.
