What's the point in him being good at going forward if he can't defend at all? The vast majority of goals we've conceded from open play came from his side of the pitch. Defensively he has proven to be just as if not more of a liability than Rafael. Hope we sign Baines in the summer.

Mr. Brightside:

Since he signed, baring his first 6 months settling in, Evra has been great, argued by many as being the best in his position. Yet this season he has come in for quite a bit of stick. Personally, I don't think he has changed his game massively, maybe a slight change in pace or stamina just with getting older. But with all these topics popping up demanding he is dropped/sold, or whatever, it got me thinking, what's different this season compared to others. Vidic and Fletcher. Vidic has obviously been a big loss overall. But with regards to Pat, in the main he has played at left center half and with his 'take no prisoners' style many potential attacks are cut out, also the fact that he is such a good defender means he can cope out of position aswell. Fletcher, maybe a less obvious reason to some, but being a great admirer of the man, it's noticeable that when he does play and someone is out of position he is the first to fill the area voided, not to mention his work rate which is usually key to a quicker turnover of possession. Alot of people put the blame firmly with Patrice for many goals lost this season. This may be true to some degree, but having played in a team that has been so good defensively over the past few years, is it possible that the loss of two of our most important players is the real reason? People will say, he shows poor positioning, he pushes forward excessively, etc. But a good team has to and does defend as a unit, so is it entirely impossible that Evra is infact playing exactly the same this season as he has been in previous? Obviously you would expect a player of his experience to alter his game accordingly, but how easy is this after playing a certain way for years, which must now have become second nature. Regardless of any of this, it is obvious that Fergie has complete faith in him being that he has handed him the captaincy in Vidic's absence. Also shown in the fact the he felt he could let John O'Shea leave in the summer.

No idea why paragraphs aren't showing up.

Since he signed, baring his first 6 months settling in, Evra has been great, argued by many as being the best in his position. Yet this season he has come in for quite a bit of stick. Personally, I don't think he has changed his game massively, maybe a slight change in pace or stamina just with getting older. But with all these topics popping up demanding he is dropped/sold, or whatever, it got me thinking, what's different this season compared to others. Vidic and Fletcher. Vidic has obviously been a big loss overall. But with regards to Pat, in the main he has played at left center half and with his 'take no prisoners' style many potential attacks are cut out, also the fact that he is such a good defender means he can cope out of position aswell. Fletcher, maybe a less obvious reason to some, but being a great admirer of the man, it's noticeable that when he does play and someone is out of position he is the first to fill the area voided, not to mention his work rate which is usually key to a quicker turnover of possession. Alot of people put the blame firmly with Patrice for many goals lost this season. This may be true to some degree, but having played in a team that has been so good defensively over the past few years, is it possible that the loss of two of our most important players is the real reason? People will say, he shows poor positioning, he pushes forward excessively, etc. But a good team has to and does defend as a unit, so is it entirely impossible that Evra is infact playing exactly the same this season as he has been in previous? Obviously you would expect a player of his experience to alter his game accordingly, but how easy is this after playing a certain way for years, which must now have become second nature. Regardless of any of this, it is obvious that Fergie has complete faith in him being that he has handed him the captaincy in Vidic's absence. Also shown in the fact the he felt he could let John O'Shea leave in the summer.

It is a real shame because he was one of my favourite players at this club, but Evra is actually embarassing these days. A LB is definately something we need for next season as so many goals are a fault of the LB going completely missing or lunging in terribly into a tackle. I don't really care if he does the running upfront and creates space. For me the defencive duties are the upmost for a full back, once your good at that then you can attack. Just look at Alves at Barca half of the time he is the furthest player forward yet still gets back and defends relatively well. Definately need a LB for the next season. (p.s. how do you do paragrahs in this? mine keep getting chucked into one paragraph lol.)

Evra is the best we have!! I cannot believe the way some people slate him? there have been far worse players this season for UTD?? Hernandez not many givng him a hard time? he hasn`t given SAF enough of a selection Head ache with his sometimes Useless performances this season? Evra has been O.K thats all, most defenders will have a hard time against some opposition. Silva for City was the best ting since sliced bread early doors of the season!!! not much since, he wasn`t even influential on Monday night? against us and we were poor!! so even the best have off days against some opposition?? Evra has not got competition in the left back position,and he also 31, at a age were in that position you can get caught out? SAF has to buy in the summer and most prob he will get a left back, we have plenty at right back, with smalling, jones rafael who can all play there? ....the problem in the side is bigger than EVRA????????

I like everything about Evra except when he lets players cross with at least 5 yards of space.At least try to pressure him for Gods sake.Other than that he is not that bad.

Don't really understand why people KEEP criticizing Evra, he's been more than capable in the last few months, his defending has generally been solid and his breaks forward have been a really valuable asset.

If people want to blame him for Monday night's loss then that's fine, it just shows how much of an ignoramus they are.

It is hard to argue for Pat this season especially where if you were to add up which side the most goals conceded originated from it would almost definitely be from his side. We need to bring I'm a LB as I said last summer because he has been woeful in defense. Monday nights goal originated again from his side and the corner q&a a direct result of him being pout of position and having to clear the ball out for a corner. What I don't really understand is why he has the armband? It should be Rio wearing it imo.

I think he should not be allowed past the halfway line. Until we have defensive midfielders who can cover for him. He also needs some competition. Evra was at his best when he was competiting with heinze for lb Also , he was better when he had vidic and rio telling him off!Right now he lacks the discipline to know when to attack and when to stay back.

PARAGRAPHS FOR GODS SAKE!!!

UNITED-FAN:

Patrice evra has turned into a bloody BIG Lemon on the field especially in defending !!!

WRONG... hes got more assists than any other full back in the league...hes played nearly 90 minutes of every game and hasnt stopped running in all of them...he is the best attacking wing back in the league by far....his defensive positioning has got worse over the season yes...but hes not as bad u make him out to be

Everything it the ops post is more or less accurate. I have started to play where is Evra game when United plays and very often when United is defending he ain't anywhere to be seen, some times he comes back and helps but just as often he is missing until the cross is done. He simply has very bad morale for tracking back and yeah it might be partly reason of being overplayed but still rather stay bit further back than go overboard on attacking all the time. And like mentioned he doesn't actually get anything done on attacking end either. He has played 40 games this season and got 4 assists. Thats one in ten games and since he plays like a winger and doesn't defend barely at all it's really bad amount. And just for comparison he has 9 yellow cards over double the amount of his assists.

SAF needs to rebuild the team and Evra needs seriously go or atleast get serious contender for left back slot. He doesn't offer ANYTHING positive to the team right now. Don't know who is the worst player right now for United Evra or Giggs but neither should be anywhere near starting 11 and the fact that they started against City with Park and Scholes just shows how weak squad United has or that SAF has ridiculously over confident to them. Not saying Scholes is necessarily totally bad player but putting Evra, Giggs, Scholes, Carrick and Park&Smalling combo who had parely played in ages meant that United had no chance at all. You can't hope to just sit back for 90 minutes when basically whole midfield lacks any ability to put pressure on opposition. Basically SAF only hoped to play like Chelsea did against Barcelona without any hope of scoring even on counter attack. Personally that was worst tactical approach to the game i have ever seen. Granted if United had gone with 4-4-2 with Scholes and Giggs on field it would have been even worse most likely but still. How SAF cannot see that Giggs & Scholes as good at some things they might be as overall players are WAY past their prime. Evra is getting to the same category even if he is much younger.

donald p to sign for united:

I feel people are too harsh on Evra. After the early season troubles, he has done fairly well at left back. Despite being positionally questionable, he has contributed well offensively with 7 assists this season (1 less than Rooney).

I think he's getting exhausted. He's regularly played a massive number of games per season - 48 in 07-08, 48 in 08-09, 51 in 09-10, 48 in 10-11 and 44 this season. Troubles with the national team and recent racial disputes added, he is nearing both physical and mental exhaustion.

I understand your point about him being offencively ok but we want a LB to defend and he lets players past him far to easily and thats if he gets back in to position. For me i would look at a LB to lower his workload and if he still doesnt perform then we let who ever we have bought get the LB position and if evra steps up then we havnt lost anything so its all good.

The bigger problem is that he doesn't have competition in his position.

I feel people are too harsh on Evra. After the early season troubles, he has done fairly well at left back. Despite being positionally questionable, he has contributed well offensively with 7 assists this season (1 less than Rooney).

I think he's getting exhausted. He's regularly played a massive number of games per season - 48 in 07-08, 48 in 08-09, 51 in 09-10, 48 in 10-11 and 44 this season. Troubles with the national team and recent racial disputes added, he is nearing both physical and mental exhaustion.