But AWB couldn’t mark two players at once. As it happens he tried to cover two of them but it was the third player, the opposition full back that scored. Who should surely have been tracked by our winger?
29
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Clean sheets
- 21
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
But AWB couldn’t mark two players at once. As it happens he tried to cover two of them but it was the third player, the opposition full back that scored. Who should surely have been tracked by our winger?
Not sure if it's just his fault but we have a serious issue defending crosses on the far post.
Caught a little too narrow and deep when we conceded a goal. I think he is very good at one on one situations due to his tackling, but that alone doesn't make him great defensively. His positioning, awareness, and back post defending are suspect. Like he switched off when danger is not in front of his eyes. 
He got drawn to the middle, where players were free but our players were there who might have been able to do something. He didnt trust the CBs to deal with it and it drew him away from Bryan at the far post
Yeah I think the issue was the man he was marking drifted inside the field, so he followed him in then switched off once it went over his head thinking the danger was over.
Bryan to be fair made up a lot of ground from the LWB position arriving at the back post, somebody else should have tracked him. At the same time though he does seem to get sucked in too close to the centre backs on crosses, this isn't the first time a ball has dropped over him to the back post to somebody free.
Similar to the Leicester goal, crosses from the left to the right seem to be our weakness.
I actually thought he was really good in the first half in an attacking sense, his link up play building from back to front has really improved.
We do, on our right far post. Because Shaw just doesn't do enough to prevent the winger crossing in it and AWB is absolutely awful in the box, can't mark or track runners to save his life.
This really needs to be remedied.
No problem from the other side, AWB would rather die then let his winger whip in a cross, and Shaw is excellent at protecting the far post.
It's one thing to not be able to hold a line but then to just completely ignore runners from behind is criminal.
Fulham's front 3 play narrow and Bryan as we saw in the championship is a goal threat getting forward. So I think this is what their tactics are building towards the whole game, giving the defenders 3 attackers in the middle to deal with and then the wingback/midfielders get in at the far post. If we had great CBs and DMs our fullbacks can deal with the wide players getting in at the back but if they are concerned by the central players too because our central players dont appear to have them covered then things like this are going to happen. I think if we had 2 Maguire level CBs or a defensive midfielder similar to Ndidi or Makelele our fullbacks could just concentrate on Bryan and Cordova-Reed coming from wide.
So yeah I'd consider it an AWB mistake by him trying to do too much because he doesnt think the central players are being defended well enough and letting an outside player slip in at the back. Whereas if he ignored the central players and just looked to mark the outside player and then we concede from a ball to the middle, someone else would get the blame. Probably Lindelof since its his area that AWB goes towards at RCB
He had a weird game. I think last few outings he’s looked quite good going forward and his weird jerky technique seems to be working. But there are times he always plays people onside, or doesn’t track his man or turns off. Like I thought he was doing really well last night but then he made countless errors in position and so on. Think he just needs to get his consistency up and to stop switching off.
@Ekeke
Yep it's fair to say without Maguire we look very susceptible in the air. I think we all know my opinions on Lindelof already, i'd replace him in a heartbeat.
Yep it's fair to say without Maguire we look very susceptible in the air. I think we all know my opinions on Lindelof already, i'd replace him in a heartbeat.
AWB's positional play is not good at all.
Yesterday he went to the centre when he should have marked the man behind him.
Yesterday he went to the centre when he should have marked the man behind him.
That exact sort of goal has happened far too many times for it not to be a systematic problem with our defence, namely AWB. No doubt he's improved as the season has gone on but feck me, he really needs to tighten it up back there. Soon he'll be going into his third season with us as the undisputed first choice RB. Be great if he starts dominating that right flank, at least defensively if not going forward.
When seeing what Maguire does to Shaw, I cant wait to see who we play next to wan bissaka.
I think he's improved his technicality a lot this season and he's been asked to pretty much play all the time in the most demanding season in recent memory. He does need to sort out his positioning though, it's happened a lot this season that the back post is wide open for a tap in. Leipzig springs to mind.
@Bebestation Yes, if we can get a bona fide centre back there to guide him that would be ideal.
@Bebestation Yes, if we can get a bona fide centre back there to guide him that would be ideal.
who knows, maybe we get a left footed LCB and Maguire ends up next to Wan Bissaka.
Wan Bissaka has improved his attacking gameplay which was the main problem this season so I am happy with him.
im hoping we can get someone like Trippier to help him understand his position better because heis still only experienced 3.5 years in his position and watching him improve his attacking gameplay makes me feel he has the ability to be a well rounded player for us but needs a better understanding on how to play his game and position well.
I'm definitely a fan of his but his back post positioning is and has been an issue for a while. Can't quite work out if it's an issue with him or the coaching. I suspect it might be a legacy of his time at Palace, who generally defended very deep and narrow.
AWB has been at fault for plenty of back post goals, but he wasn't for this one.
Greenwood should have tracked.
Greenwood should have tracked.
Exactly. AWB was following his marker so it was up to Greenwood to track Bryan instead of leaving AWB with 2.
He's definitely improved as the season has gone on but I still don't think he's anywhere near good enough to win a league title with. £50m that Palace got from us way daylight robbery. When you spend that amount on a fullback they should be best in class not 5th choice for England.
Just another sign about how poor our recruitment has been.
Just another sign about how poor our recruitment has been.
you use the 5th best RB as a stick to beat him with - but it’s freakish that we have such depth on one area, extremely unusual.
Maybe it is but I still don't think he's good enough though. His passing is poor, his positioning is very questionable.
Why should he cost £50m then if he's that far off International football? In hindsight he was more overpriced than Maguire was for me and that's saying something.
Yes, he makes mistakes and yes, his positioning is obviously lacking at times but he's come on a lot just this season. At the rate he's improving, he could be one of the best full backs in the world within a couple of years. Just needs some patience and the desire to keep developing.
Agree, and those reports suggesting that recruitment choose him over no less than 804 (!) different names are beyond me.
Can't believe that, because if it's true then we are in big trouble. To scout/analyze so many players to come with a solution paying £50m for such a limited player who played in the same league in front of our eyes.
Yes, he's been improving slightly but I can't get off the feeling we will talk about him as deadwood in few years. Hope he proves me completely wrong.
In his defence, he’s improving many aspects of his game.
It wasn’t long ago that we were writing off Shaw for going backwards, not crossing,being overweight. Now he’s one of our players of the year.
Get a decent back up for him and we’ll see a better player
I wouldn't compare him with Shaw given his injury record and Wan Bissaka not having fitness issues. With Shaw, it was about getting his fitness right and he will then grow mentally, even with his struggles you can't take the player's technical ability from him.
Wan Bissaka, on the other hand, seems to lack some football ability that is hard to train and improve. Especially when you are a guaranteed starter. You're probably right about that competition for a place can push him to improve, but I can't see a £50m player in him.
No, Shaw hit 25 and became a man. Making shit decisions and being lazy are nothing to do with injuries.
Great RB. Passing has come on so much.
His biggest issues now seem to be getting the ball in early and not defending the back post well enough. I sometimes wonder if our CMs don't drop enough to help in the box.
His biggest issues now seem to be getting the ball in early and not defending the back post well enough. I sometimes wonder if our CMs don't drop enough to help in the box.
Let's not pretend that its a clear decision. If Trippier is taken, its as back uo dead ball specialist. AWB is easily better. From the other top RBs its really tight:
You could literally take any combination of them and be extremely happy, and it would be harsh on the ones left out.
Lazy? He’s far from that
Agreed, he's certainly not lazy now.
@Nou_Camp99
I can’t believeyou think Wan Bissaka’s passing is poor - it’s absolutely fantastic. He consistently makes passes that beats through the lines these days and his passes are better than his crosses which have also improved but needs a bit more finesse in choice of power and positioning. I also think Wan Bissaka’s first touch is absolutely fantastic to watch alongside his quick forward passing that I’m seeing more and more these days.
The only reason Wan Bissaka is not being picked by England is because of Kyle Walker and his ability to play RCB as he has done for England and inverted fullback etc for City.
This means southgate takes TAA purely for his attacking ability, whilst he decides on Trippier, James, Wan Bissaka for one extra position.
whilst I believe Wan Bissaka should be picked because of his ability to slide tackle and keep inverted forwards quiet- I can see whysouthgate maypick James for his ability to also play CDM as the 3rd RB or Trippier for attacking experience after winning a title in La Liga.
Wan Bissaka at 23 is looking like he has the ability to improve his game which is great to see just a year after people felt that he couldn’t.
I can’t believeyou think Wan Bissaka’s passing is poor - it’s absolutely fantastic. He consistently makes passes that beats through the lines these days and his passes are better than his crosses which have also improved but needs a bit more finesse in choice of power and positioning. I also think Wan Bissaka’s first touch is absolutely fantastic to watch alongside his quick forward passing that I’m seeing more and more these days.
The only reason Wan Bissaka is not being picked by England is because of Kyle Walker and his ability to play RCB as he has done for England and inverted fullback etc for City.
This means southgate takes TAA purely for his attacking ability, whilst he decides on Trippier, James, Wan Bissaka for one extra position.
whilst I believe Wan Bissaka should be picked because of his ability to slide tackle and keep inverted forwards quiet- I can see whysouthgate maypick James for his ability to also play CDM as the 3rd RB or Trippier for attacking experience after winning a title in La Liga.
Wan Bissaka at 23 is looking like he has the ability to improve his game which is great to see just a year after people felt that he couldn’t.
The way some continue to slate the guy you have to wonder how much of United they actually see and how much they base opinion on the one game they watched a few months ago.
Regularly watch United games about 50+ a season in which Wan Bissaka was often a starter and I see the progress he is making, but I just don't see a £50m player in him or signs that he could reach that potential.
I'm not here to slate him, he is a decent player but I can't see being a regular starter in a title-winning team that we should aim for, even though we have bigger issues to deal with on that road than AWB of course. Certainly, wouldn't describe his passing and first touch as "fantastic" either.
Villareal 1:1 Man Utd
Thought he was very good tonight, fired in several good crosses
He was decent, I feel he's progressed well this season.
This guy deserves a credit. In the storm of this shit, I think he was our best player today. Actually think he did really well offensively and got into several dangerous positions.
Played very well and is clearly improving at the attacking side.
Southgate has turnips for brains for not picking him.
Southgate has turnips for brains for not picking him.
Surprised there is very little activity on his thread, only 4 posts regarding his display
Given a lot of criticism he's had I thought he did really well. The one moment I can think of that he struggled was when a cross field ball to his side went and he got caught under the ball and missed it completely.
Given a lot of criticism he's had I thought he did really well. The one moment I can think of that he struggled was when a cross field ball to his side went and he got caught under the ball and missed it completely.
Think that's a good thing really. Nothing bad to mention, nothing too positive going forward, was just a steady performance. He is the least of our issues at the moment.
I think it was positive in terms of getting forward, being more dangerous and an outlet. Obviously he can continue to improve (he's been doing that since being here IMO)
Think he deserves praise for not disappearing like many of his colleagues did
- Status