[Rojofiam]

I mentioned earlier about once a player has a bad reputation, is borderline impossible to shift it unless they become one of the very best around.

Dalot was poor 1v1 many years ago. I don't know how you can say that now, you very rarely see a winger rinse him these days. He's had some very good games against top wingers too, like Saka.

I don't totally agree with this statement, but I don't fault him, or any full-back tbh, if they get rinsed by Salah, or Saka, for example. They're two of the three best right wingers on the planet. And left-back isn't even Dalot's natural position.

 

[Ekeke]

I don't totally agree with this statement, but I don't fault him, or any full-back tbh, if they get rinsed by Salah, or Saka, for example. They're two of the three best right wingers on the planet. And left-back isn't even Dalot's natural position.

The Liverpool match is a decent example. Yes he was playing against a top player who had a very good game getting 2 assists and a goal, yet there were several times Dalot came out on top in their duel. Despite Salah's end results being great, it wasnt all one way. Dalot made 3 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 clearance, 1 blocked shot, 1 foul

I look back to last season when rival teams played Liverpool and Salah started.

Heres a 1 - 1 Arsenal and Liverpool.

Zinchenko makes 3 tackles, 0 interceptions, 2 clearances, 0 blocked shots, 1 foul

Dalot had more to do. And thats generally the case with our fullbacks. They have more one vs one defending to do than our rival teams because of how we play and how little of a threat we are coming forward, and the lack of support our fullbacks get with players doubling up compared to our rivals.

But if you have to face a top player having 10 chances to run at you and make something happen, vs 6 chances to run at the left back in another match, people will overlook the amount of good work you do if that player is making and scoring goals those times they get past you. Its a bit unfair because obviously the more a top player gets the ball in an area to hurt you the more likely it is to happen.

And you probably arent going to see many matches where the fullback Salah is against makes 4 tackles, 3 interceptions, 2 clearances, 2 blocked shots, doesnt give away any fouls and Salah doesnt get an assist or goal. Its not never. But its unlikely a player is going to do that unless Liverpool are playing a team who are sitting back and defending in shape all game and that player constantly has players around him helping him with double ups.

First assist for Salah, Casemiro plays a terrible pass and Dalot has no chance of getting back. Liverpool used the overload on the right and Salah was able to pick out a good cross with his right

2nd assist Dalot is showing Salah down the line and Lisandro should be tight enough on Diaz to intercept the pass or block the shot but he's given him too much room

For Salah's goal Mainoo and the Liverpool player go shoulder to shoulder and the Liverpool player emerges with the ball and Salah is already 10 yards behind Dalot. Never really an oppertunity to catch him before he turns it in. Given Dalot wasnt on the side of the pitch where play was happening perhaps he could have been 10 yards deeper when Mainoo had the ball. But thats it. Out of his man getting 2 assists and a goal all Dalot could have done differently is maybe have been 10 yards deeper one time. And people will say Salah destroyed him

 

[izec]

He will go up a level or two once he leaves. We are a dysfunctional side and he still manages to look good. He is our best player in the backline going by performances and one of our most consistent performers the last 2 years. And that under ETH, who is a terrible manager, plus playing a lot of games on the left.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

FAO eejits who think he is a poor defender and needs to be upgraded.

 

[Bwuk]

I actually agree with the Dalot at #6 debates. I think he could comfortably play there.

 

[Kweku Amonoo]

I was actually defending Dalot in my post, but okay.

Regarding your question, Carvajal is admittedly not much better than him, if he's better at all, however, Walker, Ben White, and Trent are definitely significantly better than him. However that's not really huge criticism towards him from my part. When I said he "cannot start for a PL/CL winning side", I meant that Dalot isn't a player that should get into the strongest XI in such teams, but he's good enough to play a good amount of minutes as a squad player, and I maintain that. When a truly elite level talent appears on the right-back market, I would like us to be in for them (Yoro at CB, Shaw at LB, Rice at DM, etc. level of talent), but for now, Mazraoui and Dalot is great quality and depth. 2nd choice RB and rotational LB is what he would be at most clubs that are better than us IMO, so I don't think it's an outrageous claim from my part.

Walker, Ben White and Trent aren’t significantly better than him. They all play in better teams, yet aren’t even beating Dalot by much in terms of stats. Except in the case of assists with Trent. He’s even more rounded than Trent, who’s elite at a few things and average to good in all the others. Dalot is good to very good in almost every aspect of his position.

You can compare Dalot’s numbers from last season to White, Walker and Trent and judge for yourself. Dalot is a great player and keeps getting better, and I’m so glad he plays for United.

 

[Strachan8]

Walker, Ben White and Trent aren’t significantly better than him. They all play in better teams, yet aren’t even beating Dalot by much in terms of stats. Except in the case of assists with Trent. He’s even more rounded than Trent, who’s elite at a few things and average to good in all the others. Dalot is good to very good in almost every aspect of his position.

You can compare Dalot’s numbers from last season to White, Walker and Trent and judge for yourself. Dalot is a great player and keeps getting better, and I’m so glad he plays for United.

Watched the final 15-20 mins of Portugal Scotland and he was running riot on the right flank against Robertson. Good crosses and could create space for himself.

If only he could take a free kick/pen he could be Denis Irwin mark2.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Walker, Ben White, and Trent are definitely significantly better than hi

Totally disagree.

Walker is a pace demon but he is weak on the ball, and bad offensively but his recovery pace is unmatched and can defend fairly well.

Trent is the best FB on the ball, as good as Marcelo was, his passing and crossing are the best I've seen from a FB in awhile, but he is horrible defensively.

White isn't better than Dalot in anything except defensively, White is a CB originally, but he is quite good as a RB, I think him and Dalot are the best rounded RBs in England.

 

[CannibalSpectre]

I can’t believe some of the down right shit I read on here sometimes. Dalot is quite possibly top 5 for full backs in Europe right now. He’s probably the most rounded one too. A lot of the modern day fbs are either a version of Trent or a version of AWB. He’s the only one, and maybe Ben White, who seems to be a fine blend of both. In that, he can both defend and attack to a very good level.

This "he’s bad 1v1" notion is outdated. He used to be, but hasn’t been for at least going on 2 seasons now. The odd time he gets beaten by a winger doesn’t change that. He’s consistently very good against most wingers in the EPL. The guy’s good on the ball, strong in the air, professional and almost always fit.

Oh "He’s not good enough to be the starting full back in a PL or CL winning team". BS! Who have been the starting full backs for the teams that have won the PL and CL for the past 3 seasons? How much better, (if they even were), were they than Dalot? If you guys watched a lot of European football, you’d know we already have one of the best full backs around in Diogo Dalot. Appreciate what you have and stop underrating every fecking player in the team!

I mentioned earlier about once a player has a bad reputation, is borderline impossible to shift it unless they become one of the very best around.

Dalot was poor 1v1 many years ago. I don't know how you can say that now, you very rarely see a winger rinse him these days. He's had some very good games against top wingers too, like Saka.

Not even 12 months ago Dalot struggled against St. Maximin, Mitoma, Zaha and a 17 year old Roony Bardghji in the CL against Compenhagen. AWB replaced him at halftime against both Mitoma and St. Maximin and did what Dalot failed to do, contain them. If memory serves me well Mitoma and St. Maximin even switched sides after Bissaka nullified them.

It's far from a myth that Dalot occasionally struggles against tricky wingers. In his defense he has also held his own against quality opposition but he's not renowned for his 1v1 prowess.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Anyone else dislike him, lovely story overcoming his heart issue. Still, never warmed to him since he arrived. He's like a luxury player that's incapable of tackling. Clearly staying to pick up the wage like Lindelof and leaving then. Be glad when all these unambitious players leave, fair play to Ineos moving some on. More work to do, getting rid of a poor mentality.

Not even 12 months ago Dalot struggled against St. Maximin, Mitoma, Zaha and a 17 year old Roony Bardghji in the CL against Compenhagen. AWB replaced him at halftime against both Mitoma and St. Maximin and did what Dalot failed to do, contain them. If memory serves me well Mitoma and St. Maximin even switched sides after Bissaka nullified them.

It's far from a myth that Dalot occasionally struggles against tricky wingers. In his defense he has also held his own against quality opposition but he's not renowned for his 1v1 prowess.

The original points you're quoting aren't wrong though. No one is saying he doesn't occasionally struggle against a winger, it's the fact that his body of work (based on mostly last season) has told us he's pretty consistent in this regard. That's to say he isn't bad at 1 vs 1 or he struggles with it; it's the opposite, he's pretty decent.

For every one of those bad games, he's had double or triple that of good games against tricky wide players. Last year he shut down Saka, Kudus, Doku, Foden, Salah etc in home and away games at RB and LB.

Just check yourself here for the threadmarks. I think you may be misremembering some games.
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/diogo-dalot-2023-24-performances.478047/

@Ekeke has made plenty of points about how our fullbacks go through a ton of defensive work without the proper support compared to other teams. It also doesn't 'help' his case that he was probably the one outfield player alongside Bruno that played the most amount of minutes (at both orthodox RB, LB and inverted) so there's a large sample size to draw from in our clusterfeck of a year. So yes, you can highlight the CL games and one-offs but you're also ignoring the other dozens where he did job without any issue at all. In fact, he was one of rare bright spots throughout our season.

 

[Based Adnan]

Rough first half to say the least but good mentality to recover in the second with a nice assist

 

[Telsim]

Abysmal first half, but recovered decently later on, and got an assist. Still, not a great game, but he has been performing for a long time now and is also playing out of position.

 

[Cutch]

Rough first half to say the least but good mentality to recover in the second with a nice assist

Yeah, not much to add. Haters will be ready to pounce on that first half show though

 

[top1whoisman]

Poor first half, better after the break. A few very good, crisp passes to break the lines.

 

[ManRant]

Played better once Bruno was put on the left side when defending. Dalot should just focused on his man and not to be to tight while defending.

 

[harms]

An absolute disaster of a first half, as close to 0/10 performance that you can get.
Played much better in the second half and even managed to get an assist but still the worst United player on the pitch today because of how poor he was early on.

I do have some sympathy towards him, I have no idea what ten Hag was thinking by playing pedestrian Eriksen as a left-sided midfielder and half-arsed Rashford at left wing, leaving Dalot defending an undefendable amount of space on that left side... but even though the task was tough, it still doesn't excuse his defending against Dibling, who had managed to both outsmart and outrun him during the first 45 minutes.

 

[sullydnl]

First half was the worst he's played in a while. Better second.

 

[bosnian_red]

Generally good on the left but obviously better on the right. But when you play on your weaker side consistently, you'll just have an off day now and then and I wouldn't put it down to anything else today

 

[Solius]

Was having a nightmare first half. Grew into the game and got more aggressive which didn’t allow Dibling time or space to run at him.

 

[lex talionis]

Dalot is a very good right back. Left back, not so much.

 

[Sancho99]

An absolute disaster of a first half, as close to 0/10 performance that you can get.
Played much better in the second half and even managed to get an assist but still the worst United player on the pitch today because of how poor he was early on.

I do have some sympathy towards him, I have no idea what ten Hag was thinking by playing pedestrian Eriksen as a left-sided midfielder and half-arsed Rashford at left wing, leaving Dalot defending an undefendable amount of space on that left side... but even though the task was tough, it still doesn't excuse his defending against Dibling, who had managed to both outsmart and outrun him during the first 45 minutes.

Agreed. The first half an hour was very poor from him and Mainoo in particular. Definitely grew into it though and made some important plays going forward in particular. Would like us to score more goals like the third.

 

[Stadjer]

Really bad the first half. That debut kid from Southampton outplayed him multiple times. Dalot was better after the break.

 

[DWelbz19]

Don’t think there’s any coincidence he was so abysmal that first half at LB playing with Rashford ahead of him and Eriksen on the left side of central midfield. Training cones tracking back.

 

[bond19821982]

An absolute disaster of a first half, as close to 0/10 performance that you can get.
Played much better in the second half and even managed to get an assist but still the worst United player on the pitch today because of how poor he was early on.

I do have some sympathy towards him, I have no idea what ten Hag was thinking by playing pedestrian Eriksen as a left-sided midfielder and half-arsed Rashford at left wing, leaving Dalot defending an undefendable amount of space on that left side... but even though the task was tough, it still doesn't excuse his defending against Dibling, who had managed to both outsmart and outrun him during the first 45 minutes.

He is quite weak when he defends that left space behind . Very normal when you aren't a left back.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Very fair comments thus far and agreed. Nightmare first half. Decent second and good assist. Not a left back even though he's been generally fine there.

Mazraoui looked in quite a bit of discomfort when he got on the bench..hopefully nothing too serious but this reminds me of last year again when Dalot got into the team because of Shaw's injury (which one and when you ask? Yes) and then solidified his spot inplace of AWB. Could repeat itself if Maz is out for a bit.

 

[ForeverRed1]

He’s a right back let’s face it. He’s trying his best in the wrong position.

 

[Baneofthegame]

Needs to stay at right back for me, looked far more comfortable.

 

[Raven]

Really got done in the first half and lucky to keep a clean sheet but found his usual form in the second. He's consistently very good so a brief drop in form is tolerable, especially on a day we walk out 3 - 0 winners.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He's not a left back, just simply "doing a job for us" there at the moment... So won't judge him too hardly on the first half.

Still daft the club didn't bring in a left back of some sort.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Looked drunk in the 1st half

 

[Dominos]

Of course he delivers that disasterclass a few days after I said he's no longer poor 1v1. He does have the odd shocker in his locker unfortunately, reminded me of Chelsea away last season.

To be fair he was excellent 2nd half.

In his defense most players get an allowance when they're played out of position but because Dalot usually does well at left back we expect him to perform to his best as if it's his own position.

 

[CannibalSpectre]

Yeah, not much to add. Haters will be ready to pounce on that first half show though

So people are haters when they point out a poor performance?

 

[Cutch]

So people are haters when they point out a poor performance?

Not at all but a lot of people on here made their mind up a long time ago on Dalot and can't bring themselves to admit he's a quality consistent performer now

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

He had been consistently good for the past few months however that first half hour today was a reminder as to why he should never be in the conversation for the best RBs in the league. I don't think he'll ever eradicate those daft errors from his game. Once Shaw is back, Dalot should be on the bench.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

1st half to forget, recovered 2nd half, not easy for him to play LB but I really appreciate him even in the moments he messes up.

 

[CannibalSpectre]

He's not a left back, just simply "doing a job for us" there at the moment... So won't judge him too hardly on the first half.

Still daft the club didn't bring in a left back of some sort.

He has played leftback numerous times though, and he's even had really good games in the position. Our second goal saved his goose because Southampton lost their attacking impetus. Dalot was really poor today

 

[criticalanalysis]

He had been consistently good for the past few months however that first half hour today was a reminder as to why he should never be in the conversation for the best RBs in the league. I don't think he'll ever eradicate those daft errors from his game. Once Shaw is back, Dalot should be on the bench.

I'd like to see the best RBs in the league playing at left back as consistently as he has last and this season. And even then, not just playing there but also the number of times someone like Dalot has had to move into those positions during games because of injuries, tactics and then from game to game i.e way less consistency in the same position.

 

[Raven]

He had been consistently good for the past few months however that first half hour today was a reminder as to why he should never be in the conversation for the best RBs in the league. I don't think he'll ever eradicate those daft errors from his game. Once Shaw is back, Dalot should be on the bench.

I've seen literally every fullback in the world get roasted at some point or other.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Man, I hope we get a LB back from injury soon, so we can get Dalot on the right. He's a good player, but can't show it to the same level on the left.

 

[GlazersHater]

That first half has to be the worst of his career. Absolutely disastrous. Has to improve, his positioning is not great and he makes it up with his speed to recover but today it wasn't happening.

That penalty was as stupid as it gets, late unnecessary tackle.