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Football News: Manchester United and Falcao

It's taken 12 Falcao appearances but Jorge Mendes decided to voice his frustration yesterday over the players' uncertain Manchester United future. The man quoted by 'The Mail' to be worth around £1 billion is apparently unhappy with the amount of playing time Falcao has had/is getting. Perhaps he feels that this reflects badly in the eyes of other clubs who may well be weighing up a permanent transfer fee for the player in the Summer? Or maybe is concerned the players valuation will drop? Either way what this does highlight is that Mendes will probably now start working that bit harder to 'advertise' the player as little as 12 months ago viewed as the best striker in Europe...
During United's Summer spending spree, Van Gaal must of looked at the small £6 million stake for Falcao as a well weighted bet. Falcao was on his way to recovery and had one of the biggest clubs in world football at his feet, and Van Gaal was getting one of the biggest names in world football on a short term deal which provided time for the player to prove his long term fitness. It looked like astute business for all involved.

However, the current situation is less than desirable and I am not sure why.

What I do know is that I have watched every United match this season along with the majority of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs matches and United's problems seem to be fairly straight forward. The frequent points made about weak defence and light-weight midfield are true but the real problem (given the amount of attacking talent United have on paper) is that we have very little movement in the final third.
At Southampton on Saturday Van Gaal decides "for tactical reasons" to drop Falcao and play Di Maria as a second striker whilst still continuing to play with 3 centre backs. Why?! Firstly Di Maria has played his best football when played either wide or from a midfield starting position. When he is played as a forward he gets lost in games and the movement he can offer the team in a slightly deeper position is lost. Secondly (and more importantly) Falcao has been playing as our best forward in the past few games. His movement has been fantastic to watch.
Anyway building on my frustration I decided to do some research/comparisons between Falcao, RVP and Rooney in order see if Van Gaal had a point re: tactical reasons.

For Appearances/Goals/Games to Goals Ratio:
RVP - 20/8/1 goal every 2.5 games
Falcao - 12/3/1 goal every 4 games
Rooney - 17/8/Roughly a goal every 2 games

For Shot Accuracy:
RVP - 56%
Falcao - 65%
Rooney - 50%

Total Chances Created:
RVP - 19
Falcao - 10
Rooney - 23

Pass Accuracy:
RVP - 85%
Falcao - 86%
Rooney - 85%

Another interesting point worth nothing is that United have only lost one game when Falcao has started matches and that was the 5-3 loss to Leicester. This was his first start for the team following a 20 minute debut during the previous. RVP has played in 3/4 league losses by United this season and Rooney in all.

The statistics tell us that unfortunately (for Van Gaal) he doesn't really have a point.
Falcao has scored less than the other two but a quarter of these appearances have been as a substitute late on in games. Falcao's shot accuracy is far superior than the other two and in terms of chances created he is neck and neck with RVP. Rooney, in my opinion, has to start matches but alongside Falcao rather than instead of. If Van Gaal wants to see the best of Falcao then he has two options, either drop RVP and play Falcao as the main striker, or drop Mata and play Rooney in the hole behind RVP and Falcao with Di Maria playing wide or left side of a diamond in midfield. Other statistics available tell us that United are joint leaders in the league in terms of possession and in second position for pass accuracy/completion. However they sit 17th in terms of shots on target.
If you had offered me Falcao 12-18 months ago I would have taken him over any other attacking player in world football (with the exception of Messi and Ronaldo). The player looks to me like he has recovered from his injury and is now seeking regular game time and taking into account the above points I struggle to see why the situation we find ourselves in currently is as I said 'less than desirable' when really it should be straight forward.

If United decide not to keep Falcao at the end of the season then I as a fan want it to be for the right reasons. At the moment he isn't being played enough/correctly for the wrong reasons and I hope Van Gaal comes to his senses sooner rather than later. Falcao is a goal machine and United need him.

Written by KingGiggsy January 15 2015 14:55:27