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Same here. Was very reliably and I can't remember a scene where he negatively stood out.MOTM for me, against not much competition.
Dalot was our left back, he was completely out of position for Brighton's second goal. Thier player was unmarked with 8 yards of space. That second goal is on him more then anyone followed by Martinez whose the left sided CB.
Dalot played well going forward but he can’t be motm for me as he went missing on Brighton's second.
Where was he for the goal/match winner in the 5th minute added? United players have awful habit of switching off/day dreaming.
Our best player by a mile today and it's puzzling that people are blaming him for Brighton's winner, he was not at fault.
If the corner is on our left side and he's been asked to mark the back post zone, he's naturally going to end up on the right side of the defence, no? He can't teleport back to left back position as soon as the corner clears everyone and Brighton pick up the ball on the edge of our box, he has to hold his position and rely on the common sense of those players who were marking the near post areas will carry on covering those areas in the 2nd phase.how far out of position Dalot was.
If the corner is on our left side and he's been asked to mark the back post, he's naturally going to end up on the right side of the defence, no? He can't teleport back to left back position as soon as the corner clears everyone and Brighton pick up the ball on the edge of our box, he has to hold his position and rely on the common sense of those players who were marking the near post areas will carry on covering those areas in the 2nd phase.
I've re-watched. I don't think there's an opportune time or moment for our players to start switching positions within our own box whilst we're still defending, the ball immediately drops to Adingra on the edge of the box who looks like he's about to pull the trigger or could potentially drag it onto his left foot and use the space on that side, then the ball bounces the ball to a Brighton player in the box, and then 1 second later the ball is back the feet of Adingra on the right side where Dalot needs to go confront him. This all happens within the space of 4 seconds.I wouldn’t expect him to teleport, no. Running would have been fine. Or even a brisk walk? Watch a replay of the goal, he had plenty of time to get back to where he was needed after the corner was cleared and before the final cross came in. He ends up standing right in front of the player, Mazraoui, who should be trying to block the cross instead of him. It was as though he completely forgot we have another player playing in his preferred position. Having your left back standing a yard in front of your right back on the right side of your box is a positional disaster that could have been avoided if he’d made a smarter decision beforehand.
As I said, though, that was compounded by by other players making even more stupid decisions. The whole thing was a shambles.
I've re-watched. I don't think there's an opportune time or moment for our players to start switching positions within our own box whilst we're still defending, the ball immediately drops to Adingra on the edge of the box who looks like he's about to pull the trigger or could potentially drag it onto his left foot and use the space on that side, then the ball bounces the ball to a Brighton player in the box, and then 1 second later the ball is back the feet of Adingra on the right side where Dalot needs to go confront him. This all happens within the space of 4 seconds.
If we're making the argument he should do more to stop the cross, that may be an argument. But I can't see any way he's meant to find himself at left back in those 4 seconds, the ball is still active and we're in the middle of defending.
Its just bad organisation. It happens pretty regularly with us, were set up sensibly for the first ball but we dont reorganise ourselves properly on the 2nd, 3rd ball in when we get pinned back. We end up leaving huge spaces on the penalty spot for pull backs or on the back post with players lining up for a free shot.
Its hard to get it right and doubly so when we cant keep the same players on the pitch for 90 minutes. But it needs work.
I wouldn't blame Dalot. There has to be some understanding or responsibility from someone else to defend that space when hes on the back post. He's there every corner and he plays every match, so it really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
Look at the replay. Look where he ends up standing in the moments before the final cross. His arse is in Masrouai’s face. He shouldn’t be trying to stop the cross when the player who should be trying to stop the cross is already in the best position to do so. He ends up blocking our actual right back from doing what Dalot is trying to do. He didn’t need to be there and should never have ended up there. As soon as the corner is cleared he should have moved back into position.
What we'd basically need to argue is that at the point where Adingra picks the ball up in our box from the corner, the correct move for Dalot at this point is to sprint across the face of his own goal, into the left back slot. - https://www.imghippo.com/i/TxrY11724539349.png - needless to say I'm not a football coach but I'd be very surprised if that's considered the optimal play here. Re-setting of players positions is usually done when the ball is properly cleared, not while there's still active danger with the opposition having the ball inside your penalty box.
But we'll agree to disagree.
I dont think you should be reorganising your defence till you've cleared the danger which never happened. Maybe Mazrrrr would normally expect to be covering that channel but for us with Dalot planted on the far post it surely makes more sense for him to swap over till you've cleared the ball? Easy enough issue to resolve with a new player. Or maybe you shuffle martinez over, or you just expect garnacho and casemiro to deal with it. Whatever the plan was it didn't happen.To be clear, I’m not blaming him. There are other players much more to blame than he was. He did end up out of position though.
Look at the replay. Look where he ends up standing in the moments before the final cross. His arse is in Masrouai’s face. He shouldn’t be trying to stop the cross when the player who should be trying to stop the cross is already in the best position to do so. He ends up blocking our actual right back from doing what Dalot is trying to do. He didn’t need to be there and should never have ended up there. As soon as the corner is cleared he should have moved back into position.
Watch Mazrouai closely. Look where he is when the first cross comes in and look where he is when he’s defending the final cross. Dalot just needed to do the exact same movement in the opposite direction . Slot into the position he is supposed to play as soon as the corner is cleared.
It’s not difficult and he didn’t need to sprint anywhere. Mazrouai barely got above walking pace and still got to the far side of the box in plenty of time to defend the second cross. Only to end up with Dalot standing in his way, playing as a right back when Brighton had three fecking players completely unmarked on the left side of our box, where the left back is supposed to be.
I dont think you should be reorganising your defence till you've cleared the danger which never happened. Maybe Mazrrrr would normally expect to be covering that channel but for us with Dalot planted on the far post it surely makes more sense for him to swap over till you've cleared the ball? Easy enough issue to resolve with a new player. Or maybe you shuffle martinez over, or you just expect garnacho and casemiro to deal with it. Whatever the plan was it didn't happen.
I dont think Dalot making his way across whats going to be a packed box within seconds is the right way to deal with it or the right plan so i'm not going to criticise him for not doing it.
He did everything right once the corner was taken. He was at the back post when it sailed over and then was at that same post when Adingra got that ball. You never leave your position to cover an unknown entity and pass it to your teammates when the threat is in front of you during a moment of open play in the box. That's illogical and over complicating it. He was goal side and stayed there to then affect the goal threat. That's as basic and fundamentally correct as you can get.
The issue is why was he at the back post in the first place and whose job was it to be at the near post from when the corner was taken.
It looks like McTominay was there and understandably so due to his height. The problem is that Martinez (who went to close down the edge of the box), McTominay and de Ligt all changed positions without looking over their shoulder. To make matters worse Mazraoui was probably thinking wtf was going on when he saw Dalot in front of him. It was just bad communication, assumptions by two new defenders and a comedy of errors from everyone (Casemiro, Antony, Garnacho etc) involved.
I also don't think Onana covered himself with glory when he could have moved from his line a bit more anticipating it but that's nitpicking although he has previous of this.
Gary Neville analysis of the goal at 22:55 in the video.
"when you clear a corner, until you know the ball has been fully cleared you stay in your corner shape, you don't go back to your normal shape"
"if you're a right back and you find yourself at left back, that's where you stay. Sometimes you have to play left back for a minute"
Gary Neville analysis of the goal at 22:55 in the video.
"when you clear a corner, until you know the ball has been fully cleared you stay in your corner shape, you don't go back to your normal shape"
"if you're a right back and you find yourself at left back, that's where you stay. Sometimes you have to play left back for a minute"
