[villain]

This. Quite funny how he and Lindelof have been our best or least shite defenders so far despie being considered weak links.

I've never considered AWB a weak link - he's often left to deal with 2 players because Greenwood is often poor to track back, or Lindelof would defend the space, and he covers for him.
Weak in attack, maybe, but I don't consider that to be a huge weakness for a FB.

 

[Abraxas]

Not too bad into the final third but never seems to know what to do once he gets there. More often than not punts it into shins or aimlessly lumps it in. People refer back to a couple of assists he's got in the last season or so but there's a lot being left on the table given the opposition mark him down as a non-entity. If he gets it right he can exploit that. It seems he's become a little better at getting the ball into positions without tripping over himself or giving it away but that's the next step.

 

[Tomuś]

I've never considered AWB a weak link - he's often left to deal with 2 players because Greenwood is often poor to track back, or Lindelof would defend the space, and he covers for him.
Weak in attack, maybe, but I don't consider that to be a huge weakness for a FB.

Completely agree. It's not like we can afford to have two bombing forwards with our defensive issues now.

He's already improved attacking wise anyway. He’s not going to be Marcelo there nor he has to as you said.

 

[Bebestation]

I've never considered AWB a weak link - he's often left to deal with 2 players because Greenwood is often poor to track back, or Lindelof would defend the space, and he covers for him.
Weak in attack, maybe, but I don't consider that to be a huge weakness for a FB.

Completely agree. It's not like we can afford to have two bombing forwards with our defensive issues now.

He's already improved attacking wise anyway. He’s not going to be Marcelo there nor he has to as you said.

I'm quite a fan of AWB even though I do want an attacking RWB for competition (and so it helps him improve his game).

After reading what you posted, I do wonder if getting that CDM that can sit and protect the 2 central defenders will really allow AWB the freedom to be more confident and take his player on and go on some runs - knowing that defensively there are players back defensively protecting.

Right now it is a bit of a gamble even though we do want attacking from AWB - as you say its not like our defence or midfield is the most solid thing either.

 

[captaincantona]

I think we are missing a trick. Always attacking down the left and our reliance on Shaw is an issue.

One thing this kid does excellently is to break at pace when he gets into his stride...he makes serious ground at pace, seems capable of going by players and is particularly good when going in field...allbeit time and time again, his options at that point are limited.

Surely we should encourage this aspect of his game. How do we switch it quicker from left to right when the opposition is set up to counter Shaw making forward runs...how do we ensure he has an option inside to release the ball when he gets into the final 3rd?

 

[red woppit]

I've never considered AWB a weak link - he's often left to deal with 2 players because Greenwood is often poor to track back, or Lindelof would defend the space, and he covers for him.
Weak in attack, maybe, but I don't consider that to be a huge weakness for a FB.

To me one thing he could improve on is his positioning and awareness when the ball in on the other flank, he occasionally gets caught out with players running in behind him. Sometimes he is caught having to make a decision on whether to pick up the player more centrally positioned, where he has two players to mark when the nearest central defender is not picking up his player, so gets slated for that.
He is almost 24, which is still fairly young for a defender, but needs to improve the positioning (as the whole defence does to be fair) when we're being attacked.
Offensively, he does get himself in terrific positions, but very often he plays the ball back, mostly because he has no forward pass option, and our midfield players choose to stay deep instead of making forward runs. Another thing he probably needs to work on is the cross, very often he will drive the ball across the face of goal, which does get cut out, he needs to clip some far post crosses, with height.
I look forward to Ethan Laird putting him under pressure for that RB position.

 

[Mr PG]

Ethan Laird a much better baller than Wan Bissaka. Should be recalled from Loan. WB offers nothing going forward and shit decision making throughout the game.

 

[Irwin99]

All over the place yet again. He's got time on his side but i'm still not convinced.

 

[jesperjaap]

Defended Bissaka and been a fan since he broke through at Palace. I thought he mad good strides last season offensivley and his positioning neds improving most.

He has gone backwards again this season, Im now finidng myself disagreeing with many on here saying he has been one of our better defenders.

I still think he is a good right back that is still developing....but I feel he needs competition for his place and Dalot or WIlliams arent. Someone else mentioned Laird who looks good going forward from the little i have seen and Lampty at Brighton is also another good option.

Feel he needs to be pushed and have pressure on his place

 

[MagooDad]

The first goal was on him. Absolute headless pressing.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Awful defensively and offensively. We’re in trouble.

 

[Based Adnan]

Been saying it for a while, this guy is not the future. We need to be in for a RB that can actually play with the ball at his feet.

Unreal how City got a free run at Cancelo despite already having Walker in that position.

 

[peridigm]

All over the place yet again. He's got time on his side but i'm still not convinced.

Yeah. Probably deserves a chance under a new manager that can actual coach and has tactics and a system. If it's clear he's still not good enough then he needs to be replaced. I can see why we were linked with Trippier but no idea if it was legitimate. AWB won't work in a wingback either so if Conte were to come in, I can see him not using AWB at all.

 

[Scorpy]

He's bang average and sometimes it's painful watching him play football.

 

[Andersonson]

His technical ability is league 1 standard.
Woeful fullback for a club that's aims for titles

 

[Beachryan]

All the physical gifts, it appears none of the mental ones. Imagine if Gary Neville had that athleticism.

His positioning is woeful, his understanding of when to jump in and when not to is woeful and his general game awareness is like a puppy in a park. Sees ball, runs at ball.

He's exceptional at getting the ball if it stays at the feet of his opponent. Other than that, he's a Sunday League player.

Thing is he IS young but he's now been with us a few seasons and is getting worse.

Will be given a chance with an actual coach presumably, so let's hope he can turn it around.

 

[Oranges038]

He's just not good enough. Plain and simple. Seamus Coleman would have been a better buy.

 

[Manny]

He had a bad first touch right at the start and I felt that just set the tone for the rest of the game.

That first goal, he runs out to press their left back, the ball gets played around him then he just watches Robertson run 70 yards to get into our box

He just repeatedly does dumb shit over and over. And its like making any kind of decision overwhelms him

 

[hmchan]

Still no idea why he travelled half the pitch to press the opponent's LB. And he did it repeatedly.

 

[Tony247]

AWB is air hockey footballer. He is comfortable staying in his RB zone and make tackles to break the attack. Ask him to go forward or cover CB position then he is lost.

 

[golden_blunder]

I like him, but he’s going backwards. There is no apparent improvement on his positioning. What are the coaching team doing? Are they doing no one to one work?

 

[FrankDrebin]

When you think the coaching isn't translating into individuals, in this case AWB who's largely been a consistent performer for the club, that's when you know the management have lost the players.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Still no idea why he travelled half the pitch to press the opponent's LB. And he did it repeatedly.

It has to be something they've asked him to do tactically. He does this ALL THE TIME and clearly if they didn't want him to, surely they'd have said something.

I have no idea why they do it.

 

[Brophs]

His development is far too slow. And I say that as someone who has generally liked him and believed he would train on. Most of the same weaknesses are still there. Maybe under a new manager he’d really progress but I suspect he’s just what he looks like right now: a good but quite flawed footballer.

 

[Skills]

His development is far too slow. And I say that as someone who has generally liked him and believed he would train on. Most of the same weaknesses are still there. Maybe under a new manager he’d really progress but I suspect he’s just what he looks like right now: a good but quite flawed footballer.

He's 24 next month. Not saying he can't improve at 24, but its less likely than than the 21 year old we bought. Shame we wasted 3 years on Solskjaer.

 

[tomaldinho1]

AWB should be seen as a warning. We aren’t developing our youth at all, we’re just playing them and thinking that’s what makes them better. Is Rashford a different player now than 2 years ago? He gets more balls over the top and had one very good season where we countered everyone but is he different in how he plays? This season, AWB has regressed, McT has regressed, Shaw has regressed, Martial is finished, VdB can’t even get a game. People point to Greenwood as having developed but has he aside from physically maturing? I don’t like the player he’s becoming, basically an inside forward who does a step over and cuts in, football has moved on, he could be so much more than that.

We have the bones of a great team, it needs tactical direction and someone who knows what they are doing to lead it.

 

[TempusFugit]

He's absolutely scared of making a forward pass. He had the ball in midfield in the first half and Ronaldo was ahead of him and had beaten Van Dijk's offside trap but he opted not to play it through, laying it off to Mctominay instead. Probably has the shortest passing range in the entire squad. Also seems to have regressed defensively. In his first season you knew his flank was impregnable but now you just panick when he's caught out of position time and time again.

 

[Member 109952]

You look at the balls TAA plays and then you look at AWB and the difference is night and day.

I genuinely would rate him as more than a £10m player having watched him for us. Yeah he's great in the tackle, but it's like looking at Ashley Cole and deciding to buy only half of him - the defensive half with none of the attacking ability. Look at Wes Brown, a defender first and foremost, and yet when he played RB he was better on the ball than AWB. That one two with Scholes and then a cross with his left onto Ronaldo in the CL 2008 final, AWB just isn't capable of something like thatt.

I think he's one of the biggest limiting factors in the team currently, and it's a massive indictment of the poor recruitment policy under Solskjaer. Fullbacks need to be good attackers first and foremost in modern teams that play 4-3-3, and him being so limited hinders everyone else. You look at someone like Livramento who cost £5m and he offers so much more on the ball. He's one of the first people that need replacing on the team, and I don't say that lightly, I was one of the people who stuck by Shaw in 2018 when he was perennially derided by Mourinho and the CAF, because I could see his ability. AWB - he has none of it.

 

[MTF]

It has to be something they've asked him to do tactically. He does this ALL THE TIME and clearly if they didn't want him to, surely they'd have said something.

I have no idea why they do it.

I also think he's asked to do it because he often presses the opposition LB, especially when the opponents play 3 ATB. That press on their 1st goal must be outside of what the coaching staff wants because have a FB leave the structure of the line to run 20+ yards and press the player on the ball or next pass doesn't ever make sense. Should only move that far if it's to cover the 2nd or 3rd next pass, in a way that he can get to the press target when they've just received the ball.

What's very weird is that Shaw is often the opposite, as if he's been instructed to rarely ever leave the line not even to press 10-15 yards in front. So do we have asymmetrical instructions for how to defend? It's possible but I have no idea what the overall idea behind it might be in our case.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I also think he's asked to do it because he often presses the opposition LB, especially when the opponents play 3 ATB. That press on their 1st goal must be outside of what the coaching staff wants because have a FB leave the structure of the line to run 20+ yards and press the player on the ball or next pass doesn't ever make sense. Should only move that far if it's to cover the 2nd or 3rd next pass, in a way that he can get to the press target when they've just received the ball.

What's very weird is that Shaw is often the opposite, as if he's been instructed to rarely ever leave the line not even to press 10-15 yards in front. So do we have asymmetrical instructions for how to defend? It's possible but I have no idea what the overall idea behind it might be in our case.

Like you say it's just baffling. I've never seen it before.

It feels like they purposely tell the right winger to push onto the centre backs to help hurry them into playing, and hope that AWB can press the wide man fast enough to win it early.

Of course though when it goes badly we end up completely out of position. We've conceded so many goals from this happening.

 

[MTF]

Like you say it's just baffling. I've never seen it before.

It feels like they purposely tell the right winger to push onto the centre backs to help hurry them into playing, and hope that AWB can press the wide man fast enough to win it early.

Of course though when it goes badly we end up completely out of position. We've conceded so many goals from this happening.

The next defensive phase becomes impossible as we saw for the 1st goal, because it's such a busted press. No one else is in any sort of position to press the next pass, so they back off and end up covering a 3-on-3/4-on-4 attack at best, when its not 5-on-3 as it was for their goal. They could have scored that goal about 5 different ways once the ball was successfully played from Jota to Firmino and was completely outside of our busted press.

 

[Adnan]

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Guess the press briefings go both ways.

He’ll be back at Palace in 3 years.

 

[sullydnl]

If I was AWB I'd be worried by the prospect of Solskjaer being replaced, more than most.

 

[Bwuk]

Based purely off his playing style, I can believe that. He never seems like he's switched on.

 

[romufc]

He needs to be sold. He is the worst full back for £50m, we should take the L on this and move him on.

I doubt any top half PL team will take him. He only has one strength and that is slide tackling, which is something I dont want my defenders doing anyway.

He's got no defensive awareness, his touch is shocking, he cannot beat a press, cannot cross, cannot pass, cannot run back.

There are too many times he is jogging back, instead of busting a gut.

 

[Lynty]

I like him.

 

[EtH]

If I was AWB I'd be worried by the prospect of Solskjaer being replaced, more than most.

He’s toast whether it’s Conte or Ten Hag coming in.

 

[sullydnl]

He’s toast whether it’s Conte or Ten Hag coming in.

Pretty sure even Zidane used his fullbacks as attacking outlets way too much for AWB to survive.

 

[Valencia's Left Foot]

I can't wait for a new manager to come in and replace AWB. All the slide tackles in the world can't make up for his inability to dribble and make simple passes. United just need to realize that this transfer didnt quite work out and that its time to move on.