Unpopular (AKA fickle) opinion time on AWB.....

Nou_Camp99 said:
They don't pass to him because he's shite mate.

Great tackler. Should stay back as that's all he can do.
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No, they don't because no one has the technique to pull of the cross field pass that would be necessary in these situations. They obviously pass to him a lot in other situations.
 
AWB looked tired yesterday. Hope he is not playing with injuries. Ole is to blame for playing him week in week out.
 
He will come good attacking wise, there are positives there definitely. He started as a winger, he has exceptional reading of the game, you can see that he is rarely in the wrong place defensively, if he can do this in defence he can do it in attack as well, he's 21 and already he's better going forward than he was last season. He also needs confidence in your midfield being able to drop back and cover if there's a quick transition and he's caught out of position in an attacking role
 
I'm not going to say this as an excuse

But no matter how great or how rubbish he is he won't be able to attack unless there is space made for him to attack towards.

The idea of making spaces for players seems non existent throughout the whole of our team bar the partnership of Martial & Rashford yet even then it seems something they do off their own accord.
 
He was shattered today, basically knackered! Don't think he's used to the level of a club like us, but I feel he has the right attitude! He will come good, I hope!
 
Love his defending. But really needs to work on his passing and crossing. He has ample pace and upper body strength, he should be contributing to our attack.
 
Seriously he's a complete novice in possession. Like he has never seen a football before.
 
I like my defenders to defend and he can definitely do that he’s just shockingly poor going past the halfway line. I don’t like having him in procession for more than 3 seconds.
 
I just don’t see it with this lad.... being able to get in a slide tackle when someone knocks the ball past you does not make you a decent footballer... he just doesn’t offer anything else as far as I can see. Especially from wingback.

And I just can’t believe the lack of foresight to go and blow 50m on a 20 yr old right footed fullback with potential when we have someone of Williams quality in the reserves (as well as Laird and Dalot). Surely an experienced player if any would have made so much more sense... or even better.. a left back!

Just another prime example of our complete and utter lack of transfer strategy.
 
He's basically played every single game for us from the start of the season, including a few at wingback. He's absolutely shattered. The two weeks off will do him well.

He does need to improve in possession though. Seeing what Williams brings to the left flank is an eye opener.
 
Samid said:
Seriously he's a complete novice in possession. Like he has never seen a football before.
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I’m honestly shocked that he used to be a winger.
Can’t stand watching him and he’s just absolutely hopeless once near the half-way line.
 
He is a player that would make sense for teams that can actually improve their players but not for us. We need to buy a good footballer to still have a decent one after a year. He wasn't all that great, due to lacking any attacking game, to begin with and doesn't look one bit like he will improve while with us.
 
He's young so hopefully he'll improve but my word he's bad going forward. And contrary to what most people seem to think, I also don't consider him a top class defender. Yes, he's great at last ditch tackles, but he's got zero awareness, his positioning is bad and his acceleration isn't all that either.
 
I like him, he looks knackered though. Hes a solid 7/10 player every match.
 
Well I am happy with him and there’s more to come from him going forward. Look he’s never going to cross the ball like Alexander-Arnold.
 
Jesus Christ the knvies are already out. Sometimes I just can't believe our fanbase
 
Seems to lack football intelligence. Doesn't get into the right positions, hence why he's always slide tackling and his slide tackling today was dangerous as a couple of times the ball nearly bounced to city in dangerous positions. His throw ins are awful, either straight down the line looking for a head or to the feet of someone already closely marked. Both lead to lost possession. I see Lindeloff started taking the throw ins on the right towards the end of the game. At this moment in time he's not good enough for a United side, needs to improve a hell of a lot to make it. And I haven't even touched on his attacking......
 
He's 22 and this is his second full season in the PL. You're a bunch of spoilt cnuts, get a grip. He has a few flaws on the ball but he wasn't exactly playing for a possession team at Palace and he will only get better with time.
 
He's a very good defender (had sterling in his pocket whenever we play). Probably the best FB in the league defensively. He has a long way to improve on the ball but he's young. The big worry is FB's usually get better defensively and kind of maintain there attacking abilities as they age. Don't be so quick to write him off. I have a feeling his future might lie at CB if his attacking doesn't improve. He has all the attributes, reads the game brilliantly.
 
Fantastic young player. Utterly absurd that he gets so much shit
 
dannyrhinos89 said:
I like him, he looks knackered though. Hes a solid 7/10 player every match.
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What makes him 7/10?.. Other than last ditch slide tackles which are usually due to poor positioning in the first place, what else is he good at?

That last ditch slide tackle stuff might look good on camera, but it isn't the sign of a great defender... It is the exact reason we used to give the Dippers stick for trying to suggest Carragher was a top defender... How often can you remember Rio needing to slide in like that... or Van Dijk these days? Or if mentioning CBs isnt fair, which of the top full backs elsewhere in the world at the min are best known for their slide tackles.

To me he looks nothing more than a very average footballer with good recovery pace and long legs... Williams RB, Shaw LB next game for me please!
 
OP, have to agree, when going forwards he is unsure with a mediocre touch. Passing is average can’t even be sure he knows what he’s going to do next. Great tackler, I see improvment in this aspect of his game though but can’t see him ever being a player with a touch
 
Thought he played really well tonight.
In tansfers and the mega discussions we have in players threads, its apparently clear this forum (myself included) are next to useless in assessing players.
We are shit scouts to be honest.
 
I assumed when we bought him we would also be buying a right winger. AWB would be expected to defend one on one whilst the winger would be given little defensive responsibility. He’s not good going forward never has been but maybe that wasn’t part of the scouting when we looked at 804 right backs. I do wonder if we bought who we thought best available right back was rather than one that most suited our system.
 
sammyhol said:
What makes him 7/10?.. Other than last ditch slide tackles which are usually due to poor positioning in the first place, what else is he good at?

That last ditch slide tackle stuff might look good on camera, but it isn't the sign of a great defender... It is the exact reason we used to give the Dippers stick for trying to suggest Carragher was a top defender... How often can you remember Rio needing to slide in like that... or Van Dijk these days? Or if mentioning CBs isnt fair, which of the top full backs elsewhere in the world at the min are best known for their slide tackles.

To me he looks nothing more than a very average footballer with good recovery pace and long legs... Williams RB, Shaw LB next game for me please!
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I mean, you’d rather Shaw just get skipped past on the left then? I can see the point about centre backs diving in, but full backs have some of the quickest players in the world against them. Most of the time he’s blocking crosses that Shaw would 100% be letting through on the left.
 
He looks absolutely shattered.

Also why does he always look like he's losing his balance when he tries a feint? If welbeck was bambi on ice the this guy comes close because it always looks like he's about to fall over.
 
Roboc7 said:
I assumed when we bought him we would also be buying a right winger. AWB would be expected to defend one on one whilst the winger would be given little defensive responsibility. He’s not good going forward never has been but maybe that wasn’t part of the scouting when we looked at 804 right backs. I do wonder if we bought who we thought best available right back was rather than one that most suited our system.
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I genuinely can't believe that people can watch football over the last 10 years, and think that playing this way is an actual option. You're literally setting up any RW up for failure in that kind of system because the games all about space and positioning.

The likes of Robertson, TAA, Marcelo, Alba & Alves didn't free up their wingers/forwards to 'attack'. They created space for them in more dangerous areas of the pitch by being a legitimate threat on the wing.
 
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Love how an Everton fan and a Man City fan are looking at things in perspective. He is fantastic defensively, and he may never be amazing offensively, there is room to improve. Also, we have Dalot and Laird if we do need more offensive FBs.
 
He’s definitely a good tackler but I panic when he’s on the ball he is piss poor with it.im not a huge fan I must admit
 
Think he'd do far better as a right sided centre back in a three man defence ala Shaw tonight but in the right to be honest. Mind you I think the same about Maguire. Something similar to Southgate's system in the world cup, but Bissaka would suit it better than Walker.
 
Shocking kneejerking from some on here. Just because he hasn't got a right foot like Alexander-Arnold he's apparently crap. He's so unbelievably solid, it's mental some can't see that.
 
Problem tonight is he was crap defensively too. That was a shocking game in general.
 
Dan_F said:
I mean, you’d rather Shaw just get skipped past on the left then? I can see the point about centre backs diving in, but full backs have some of the quickest players in the world against them. Most of the time he’s blocking crosses that Shaw would 100% be letting through on the left.
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I think that is a fair point about Shaw. He is a very odd footballer. But for me it comes down to a lack of professionalism with Shaw, not ability. We have seen Shaw's ability to play in the other teams half in fits and starts before the injury, and plenty with Soton before we signed him. He looks overweight to me, and I can't believe the coaching staff haven't been all over that.

I really don't have any huge issues with AWB. Seems like a decent lad, gives his all, etc. It's more the signing that winds me up... We already have 3 right footed full backs in the squad under 22 (Laird, Williams and Dalot), one of which being a recent multi million pound signing. How does it make sense to spend £50m on another when we had gaping holes elsewhere all over the squad.

And unfortunately, he is an old fashioned FB not at all suited to the system we want to play. We are playing a 2 man midfield pivot, there to give ample cover for the full backs whose main responsibility is to give us width in attack, with the 'wide' 'inverted' forwards playing in the channels. If this is the system Ole wanted to play and he didnt have the confidence to play Williams, Dalot or Laird there, we should have been looking for the next Cafu, not the next Ashley Cole.
 
AWB, Lindelof and a few others seem to be lacking confidence in possession at the moment. One of the reasons for this, in my opinion, has to be the lack of movement in midfield and the wings which leaves no options other than a lot of sideways passing. This inevitably invites pressure from the better teams in the premiership.
Quicker passing and more movement is required and inevitably, with Bruno and other additions to the team (hopefully), as the results improve so will the players confidence in possession.
 
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