Ait Nouri would be my pick if I had to choose I think
The left-back market…
- Thread starter Rozay
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
Just buy Fernandez back already.
Crazy talent and cheap. How can’t they see that it’s a no brainer?? Ffs!
Crazy talent and cheap. How can’t they see that it’s a no brainer?? Ffs!
Maybe he doesn't want to come back.
From a sporting perspective, why would he?
Hopefully he agreed for the buy back clause to be inserted meaning he was open to a fixture return
Sure but everyone can change their minds and with his form and ours he's probably wise to think he can attract better performing major clubs.
He's the best pick from the Premier League in my view, ahead of Kerkez and Robinson.
Gutierrez from Girona is a similar profile - can dribble, pass and cross all at a high level - the wingbacks essentially become playmakers.
Yeah id like to see us have proper creative threats on either wing with two workhorses in the centre of the park.
Something like the below would be a perfect Amorim middle 4 in my opinion.
Quenda - Ederson - Ugarte - Gutierrez
(RWB) (CM) (CM) (LWB)
Didn’t catch the Benfica-Barca game. How good was Alvaro apart from his assist?
Very true. Liverpool have been using Trent and Robertson as their creative outlet for a few years.
Man of the match for me, I watch a lot of Barca games and it was probably the quietest I’ve ever seen Yamal for either Barca or Spain.
Defensively sound, composed on the ball, broke up play, intercepted perfectly, knew when to stand off and when to commit, a threat going forward, great stamina and at times would step into midfield to provide an extra man.
It’s ok having the buy back clause but the player still has to agree to move….im not even sure he’d be interested coming back.
Absolute ridiculous decision to sell him yet another mistake pretty much everybody could see coming from a mile away
Absolute ridiculous decision to sell him yet another mistake pretty much everybody could see coming from a mile away
This is all true but you're also somewhat conveniently omitting that he gave away a penalty (albeit soft and against Yamal) and in particular defended the space quite poorly against Raphinha for the injury time winner.
He was good, nowhere near MOTM IMO.
This is spot on in my opinion and a massive reason why this system is currently struggling. It's no surprise it looks slightly better when Amad plays RWB but not his future position hopefully.
Mazaroui is a good player but is going to be a RCB in this system.
This is why I'm not fully onboard with Dorgu as an option. He seems like a powerful runner who can recover well defensively and make driving runs forward on either side, but having watched the peak TAA and Robertson years, I'd love for us to have more technical players in those roles who have high workrate and can deliver quality in the final third.
As mentioned before, Quenda and Miguel Gutierrez would be my top picks for this reason.
It was never a penalty and if it was the other way round I don’t think Benfica get given that as shown at the end right before Raphinha scored, as for the winner there’s nothing more that Alvaro could of done in that situation as he was the last one back and stayed with Raphinha who then cut in and the ball went through Alvaro’s legs and the keeper was off balance and wrong footed by the shot.
For pretty much the first 70-75 minutes of the game the commentators effectively said Alvaro was the best player on the pitch but once Raphinha scored that freak goal Benfica seemed to capitulate and Barca upped the tempo, I thought Pedri and Alvaro were the best two players on the pitch.
Well that's exactly my point - at 4-4 there's no reason for him to be defending 10 yards inside Barca's half as the last man, especially when you know they have Raphinha - one of the form players in the world - pinned high ready to hit you on the counter.
He let's him steal a few yards on him to in behind and then instead of showing him wide and away from goal - when the closest Barca player in support is still 20, 25 yards further back at this point - he let's him cut inside on his preferred foot and shoot which is literally the only danger. It's poor defending whatever way you look at it.
How could Alvaro have shown Raphinha out wide and away from goal when he was behind him ? It didn’t help that the other defender was nowhere near to support and the rest of the Benfica players were appealing for a penalty whilst Barca simply played to the whistle, you could say Alvaro should have been goal side but outside of that there’s nothing he can do and you could also say the keeper should have done better too.
Because he'd caught up to him whilst Raphinha was getting the ball under control? He's already shaped to cut inside once he has possession yet Alvaro's taken a couple of extra strides and essentially over-committed.
It's quite apparent after Raphinha's first two touches that he's looking to cut in on his left - if Alvaro recognizes and slows rather than over-striding then he can get his weight distribution under control and shield more square-on and try and push him towards the touchline. As it is he's gone too far, can't check back quickly enough which gives Raphinha a couple of yards of space inside the box, on his favoured foot to take another touch to set himself and then get the shot away.
But again if his positioning was better he might have been closer to him. Don't as the last man give an opposition player up to 10 yards on you (Raphinha wasn't even on the halfway line or he would have been further ahead) if the ball gets cleared upfield...
Maybe others will consider this a bit harsh but to me he has to do better there, and I just think it's important to note both those incidents when he has at least partially contributed to them scoring 2 goals and tell the whole story on his performance.
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0 chance that this is true.
Mitchell is a pretty defensive full-back, more suited to a back 4 as well, and believe me when I say he's not better than pre-injury Malacia. Ait-Nouri isn't a good target either because his physical profile doesn't match what United or another top teams want from a wing-back. He's always been one to avoid for me, whether we're planning with a back 3 or back 4. We need someone to be running up and down the flanks with good pace and running power, being difficult to stop even by very athletic opposing defenders. Ait-Nouri doesn't seem like a great fit for me, at all. Would be another square peg in a round hole, like many signings in the last 12 years.
Reguilón would be a much more sensible stop-gap option than either of them, for probably not more than about £2-3 million. Not the perfect solution but wouldn't cost anything and would be content with being back-up.
I'd "leave him in peace" for now and let him develop for a bit as I think a return to United this soon could easily be detrimental for him. However, it's reassuring to know that the low buy-back clause is real and we are also keeping tabs on him.
When you say his physical profile doesn't match, do you mean pace/strength?
Yes, he looks a bit too lightweight for me and doesn't seem to have the running power either to be bombing up and down the pitch whilst being hard to stop even by more physical defenders...although Carreras might be a misfit for the LWB role for similar reasons...but he's taller and I prefer his ball carrying to Ait-Nouri's.
If Rayan isn't hard to stop by more physical defenders then how is he the #1 full back in the premier league for dribbles? He's also is the 97th percentile for dribbles in Europes top 5 leagues.
He's also in the top % for tackles per game and for the amount of times a an opponent can dribble past him. Last two seasons dribbles past per game were 0.6. Prime Kyle walker was averaging 0.5.
The irony here is your claim that Rayan would be square pegs in rounds holes like many signings over the past 12 years when in reality if we started making signings based on the facts/data of a players performance rather than analysis like vibes and eye test we'd be in an infinitely better position.
All of these numbers have been attained playing against premier league opposition so the "doesn't seem to have the running power" is demonstrably false if you follow any evidence based analysis.
