Can sometimes cover his glaring weakness with good last ditch tackling but without being too harsh, not good enough.
29
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Clean sheets
- 21
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
I like awb a lot, and love when he plays to his strengths, but he does seem like another player that isn’t good enough to contribute to taking us up a level. Still a definite improvement on what we’ve had for me, but I feel like his weaknesses are the areas we need to improve on as a team.
I like how you try and blame Maguire for an AWB error. He had all the time in the world to control the ball and release it. We will never progress as a team with multiple players whose first touch can’t ease out of pressure. The problem should never be the safer option of passing back to the goal keeper in a team aspiring for a title. All our players should be capable of controlling and receiving the ball comfortably.
The problem is we have many players who aren’t comfortable receiving the ball under pressure or can and don’t know what to do with it next. AWB suffers from both of these by the way. Playing at the top requires all 10 outfield player to have a better than average touch and dribble on the ball.
Why does he get sucked in centrally so easy - we had 3 CBs and he was still getting sucked in
Because players werent marked. Most importantly, Maupay their top striker who constantly had his hands in the air calling for the ball wasnt marked. So he was obviously concerned
Every single game it happens
Yes it doesNo it doesnt
Stop your useless gaslighting
How about AWB uses his mouth to tell THREE CB’s that the main striker wasn’t’ marked ‘constantly’. Nobody is buying that nonsense. Game after game he’s getting sucked in - thank feck Solly March is shit and missed chances.
Fantastic 1 on 1 defender, that’s about it.
3 CB’s can’t mark the main striker? Okay.They were marking other players2 CBs cant mark everyone at once.
No it doesnt
It definitely does, unfortunately. He has four absolutely glaring weaknesses - positioning (defensive and attacking), defending overlaps, dealing with any sort of pressure in possession and a complete lack of intensity in his play. He's an excellent reactive 1v1 defender, but has basically no actual defensive instincts.
Look at his positioning here against Deulofeu...terrible. Fred and Lindelof are with the ball carrier. Maguire has Welbeck. There's such an obvious dangerous situation developing, but Bissaka doesn't see it. When Hughes releases the ball, Lindelof does a great job in shuffling over to take Deulofeu and screams and points for AWB to go with the overlap - which he also doesn't do. A simple ball from Deulofeu to the overlapping Holebas and we're in a world of trouble. Fortunately he shoots instead.
Here against Chelsea for the goal that put us out of the Cup - in a game where they visibly used AWB as a pressing trigger - a very similar situation. Lindelof sees the danger developing instantly. He's screaming at Bissaka, pointing for him to track Alonso. It's such an obvious pass, and literally the only danger that exists, AWB watches Mount, watches Mount, then it's too late. Dead.
It's getting repetitive now. Genuinely comical positioning.
The question I was asking after those first three clips was, does he actually see the danger? Is it just a total lack of awareness of Deulofeu, Alonso and Cantwell or did he see them and just not understand the gravity. You can see in the first two situations that Lindelof saw it developing very quickly. I think you can see AWB take a couple of looks at Alonso but it's hard to tell.
This clip isn't an exciting one, fortunately. Nothing came of it. An early cross to the back post would have killed us, but Brighton didn't even put a ball in. But here you can clearly see AWB look over his shoulder and see his man in acres of space - yet still decide to move even further centrally. Lindelof actually bumps into him because he's not expecting him to be there. You can see immediately after this, Lindelof talking to AWB, again pointing where he should be.
His defensive game is as big a problem as his possession play at this point. I actually have more sympathy for Lindelof after watching a few of these.
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We had 2 on the pitch and his clever movement meant that other Brighton players were ahead of him in positions that made the CBs want to mark them. Are they supposed to ignore the #4 big CB who has come up to suppliment attack for crosses and go mark Maupay? That question is exactly why hes moving about and asking those questions. If Maguire leaves the big CB and goes to mark Maupay and then the CB heads it in you'd be complaining too.
Hard to argue against that kind of evidence, for all the stick Lindelif gets he is babbysitting AWB in everyplay, really poor positioning and awareness from AWB.
"Positioning is poor" is stretching a lot with those examples.
Stop making silly excuses - Maguire has played a good pass into space for AWB. He has time, space and with the right touch he can set the attack. AWB waits for the pass and suddenly the angle starts disappearing. Which is fine becasue with the right touch and setting his body right he can one-touch it to Pogba who came to help. He can't do that, he has an atrocious first touch and then panics which results in more desperation.
Playing to DDG would be stupid, because a) he's got a Brighton closing in and more importantly b) a DDG mistake would result into a goal.
Lots of people still cannot see the forest for the trees.
By far, by very very far the problem.
When a Brighton player is running past your spine and midfield in a straight line, like a warm knife through butter, at least 3 times during the games, you've got worse problems to worry about.
By far, by very very far the problem.
When a Brighton player is running past your spine and midfield in a straight line, like a warm knife through butter, at least 3 times during the games, you've got worse problems to worry about.
I'll take your word for all that. If that was happening 'constantly' then something is seriously wrong with communication from all.
Still doesn't explain March having a field day back post when there were 3 CB's playing and every other game but nice effort.
Spot on dude, and thanks for going through the trouble of actually providing clips. AWB is poor positionally, but gets away with it a lot of times due to his athleticism. People who can't see that have no understanding of the finer arts of defending.
Maguire and AWB for USD 165m has got to go down as criminal overspending.
Not sure why that's your take when I made it pretty clear his first touch was bad as was his decision making. That's two individual errors from him. To imply, however, that his first touch is terrible in general is not true.
My point is more about how we play as a team because it's fair to say we are pretty terrible against any team that can press. It's also fair to say that our performances have been team failings & not just one or two players messing up
Same as above, no excuses made or needed. AWB has made two individual errors but I personally think that video clip is a demonstration of our wider team issues; that once he receives the ball (irrelevant to his touch) his only option is Pogba.
No problem man. I didn't know how to clip parts of a video before my first post here about Wan-Bissaka's jogging/lack of intensity. Only researched it because I didn't want to make that claim without evidence... and since I only get 5 posts a day, might as well put in some time to try to make them worth reading. Hoped people wouldn't get sick of seeing another video post tonight - it's like a shiny new toy for me now I know how to do it. Easier to put a point across when you can actually show some examples.
The popular sentiment - even among pundits and commentators - is that the 2019 Summer Window was a strong one for us, but I think that idea will start to shift as the season goes on. Agree that AWB/Maguire were big overspends at £130m. I do think Maguire's a decent enough centre-back overall, but £80m should get you more than that. For me, Wan-Bissaka would have been an overspend at £20m...a net negative offensively and defensively.
Yeah, that's what stood out most for me when I was going through the highlights. I've never been a big Lindelof 'hater'...but I definitely have more appreciation for him now. In most defensive situations he's the one shouting at AWB, trying to coach him through the game. Especially on overlaps.
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Hope you get promoted soon, you've certainly put in some effort to back up your opnions them up with video evidence. (VAR!!!)
Thank you very much. Yes it is good to see these. Yes I now have a lot more sympathy for Lindelof. Why on Earth does not the coaching staff tell him to be aware of the situation on what is going on. In one clip he even gets in the way of Lindelof trying to stop the opposing player. Lindelof himself is not a top class defender and when he has to baby sit his RB it is going to make it extremely difficult for him.
Great job with the videos mate. They do a very good job highlighting how totally unaware he is of his surroundings and a complete lack of anticipation.
Lindelöf is not perfect but imagine having to play next to AWB every game.
For all the talk about the best defensive fb in the world (insane opinion) he sure lacks the most basic level of understanding of positioning.
I have seriously never seen a worse rb for United. He is worse than Darmian, no exaggeration.
Said this a few times in a few different threads. AWB has all the attributes to be the perfect DM. Pace, his anticipation of a tackle, he is perfect in the same way kimmich is able to move from RB to cover Munichs loss of Thiago. Not that ole would ever use him there but you let him mop up behind a mix of Donny, Pogba or Bruno and it allows either of them to get further forward while giving our defence the protection it needs.
Positioning, passing, first touch? He'd be a complete disaster.
All the attributes? Except terrible positioning, no awareness of what's around him, no anticipation, worst touch in the team, poor to mediocre passing... He can tackle, that's it.
You're basing that on his positioning as a RB which i agree with, but the positions hed need to take up as a DM are different. He doesn't need to worry so much about playing people onside or about leaving a defender to drift out wide to cover him going forward. He could easily marshall the midfield looking to intercept through balls or close down a runner. He could use his pace to track back and cover the lack of speed our centre backs posess too. Telling you, it would work.
Positioning in DM is 10x more complex to master. It would not be easy for him if he struggles at full-back where everything is in front of him.
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this.
He has to cover the space in front of the Cbs and prevent anyone utilising it and also track the runners. His passing is terrible and his ball control is terrible and how on earth can he play as a DM? Even Scott who has better awareness and control than AWB is struggling there. Only Matic can play there in any sense in our squad.
I just feel that the pressure on him to get forward then do his defensive duties is too much for his skill set. He's not that type of player. Allow him to sit, track the runners and win back and play the ball and he's a different player. He doesn't need to do thiago-esch passes once winning it either if he has pogba or Donny beside him. Win it, play the short pass and repeat. Not all DMs have to be playmakers
What others are saying, which I agree is that it's not that simple. There are more runners in central position. AWB is having issue dealing with textbook overlapping. He would go crazy having to sense the correct runners to track in central position.
Even Rio fecking Ferdinand had a mare with the experiment playing as DM. It's not easy at all.
Imagine having a DM, who is going to be the one (the vast majority of times) receiving the ball, who is actually the target for triggering a press. Hahaha. What a disaster that would be.
@Martial'sEmergingSmile
That was a very good post. His strengths lie in one on one defending. It does feel like that defending in those clips can be improved.
That was a very good post. His strengths lie in one on one defending. It does feel like that defending in those clips can be improved.
Funny how one moment these moaner type fans complain about Ole's lack of coaching and then all of a sudden forget to mention it to the guy who has only played RB for 1 or 2 years.
I've noticed a few times him moving more centrally, and as you say he's looked and seen a player that he should be tracking. He never used to do this to my knowledge at palace though, more often than not he'd be tracking the runner down the wing and making the interceptions. He wouldnt be doing this because hes asked to cover Lindelofs lack of pace would he? Seems a bit weird that he'd drift inside so often when he doesn't need to, do we have any instances of him making these errors at palace?
Just to put another option forward, would he be better suited to the right side of a back 3 the way Shaw plays on the left side.
Shaw Maguire AWB
With potentially Telles and Williams as wing backs. How do we think we'd fare playing like this as it's a known ole formation
Shaw Maguire AWB
With potentially Telles and Williams as wing backs. How do we think we'd fare playing like this as it's a known ole formation
No. Brighton were playing through the first two thirds for fun. There was no defending from Martial, Rashford, Greenwood that game and the midfield got overwhelmed. If there's lots of space to be had in our final third is not because one full back is out of position, the whole team is. The fulll back just bears the brunt of the attack because they've gone past the midfielders and, again, Greenwood and Rashford did no defending. United were never able to defend were defenders were getting cover. Always 1v1 because the team lacked defenders.
There much more at play here than a couple of players having a bad game. The entire team played horribly on defense just as they did against Palace who the ball half as much as Brighton.
Two games is not enough to go by when asking why. There was no pre-season, Pogba had covid, Maguire was assualted by police officers, Greenwood had the British press on him. That's a lot of things to mess with one team.
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