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

He restricts our team to a huge degree, we can't play 3 at the back because he isn't good enough offensively as a wing back or as a right sided centre back due to his lack of positional sense, wwe can't play a diamond formation because having him as our source of width on the right is no good, we can't play with inverted wingers because again having bissaka as our source of width would be hindrance and we can't play out from the back against high intensity pressing teams because bissaka is too poor on the ball to provide a reliable out to play the ball to.

I cant remember the last time we had such a right back be such a burden on the team in terms of stifling the teams flexibility tactically.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
I have stuck to my guns from the off on this. He's a very good tackler with his spider like legs but on the ball I don't even think he's in the top 10 right backs in the league let alone Europe. £50m seems like a hell of a lot of money for someone who can tackle.

What else is he offering? Looks petrified when the ball comes his way. I heard someone on a fan cam call him the best right back in the league earlier today. Can we stop this nonsense right now? He's not even close. You have to be able to play football too and he can't quite frankly.
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Massive exaggeration imo. Of course he can play football and he's been getting better all season. Yes attacking isn't what he's great at currently but he will get better . Is he worth 50 million ? No . But is Walker or Mendy worth 50 million ? No .
In his first season at such a huge club he's done really well . I'm sure Ole and the coaches will be encouraging him to attack more freely and hopefully in the next season or 2 we will see him doing that alot better
 
I'm really happy he's with us, full confidence he'll become a great player.

We didn't pay £45m for a complete fullback. Nobody thought that. We paid £45m for possibly the best defensive full back in the world, at the age of 21.

I mean, who else would people prefer?

He's equal on assists with Regulion. Pereira and Walker only have 1 more goal involvement than Wan Bisaka this season. Everybody was creaming themselves over Hakimi for £40m - he can't defend.

We've got a player on our hands. He'll improve loads going forward, just give him time.
 
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Lynty said:
I'm really happy he's with us, full confidence he'll become a great player.

We didn't pay £45m for a complete fullback. Nobody thought that. We paid £45m for possibly the best defensive full back in the world, at the age of 21.
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Then he should avoid making the mistakes he did against Sevilla.

That being said, all in all, I would argue that there is at least two english right fullbacks who is both better and younger.
 
andersj said:
Then he should avoid making the mistakes he did against Sevilla.

That being said, all in all, I would argue that there is at least two english right fullbacks who is both better and younger.
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If one of those two is Trent then I would have to disagree. TAA is sensational going forward and I won't deny my enormous envy that he is doing all this for the dippers but he is a woeful defender and may well end up not playing there long term. I honestly think Trent is a little like a right sided Bale who will move further and further up the pitch as he progresses and end up as a right sided forward.
 
andersj said:
Then he should avoid making the mistakes he did against Sevilla.

That being said, all in all, I would argue that there is at least two english right fullbacks who is both better and younger.
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Who?
 
I’m still glad we have him and I expect him to improve over the next few years but one thing I hate is when people say he’s a great defender. He’s not, he’s a great tackler. He is pretty poor at most the other aspects of defending. I’d rather he got a handle on that before we start trying to turn him in to Dani Alves.

One thing that’s has really annoyed me is that he seems really unfit. Maybe that’s had a knock on effect in to his concentration but even during the first part of the season he would quite often let people run off him just he had the energy to recover which seems to have been lacking post lockdown.

Really wish as well when he was in the final 3rd that he didn’t always stop the ball and gave up his man ala Valencia. hes past the man, the ball is past the man, drive forward and put something in. He seems obsessed with stopping the ball. Most of his touches seem to always be back the way instead of out in front of him as well.
 
Andersons Dietician said:
I’m still glad we have him and I expect him to improve over the next few years but one thing I hate is when people say he’s a great defender. He’s not, he’s a great tackler. He is pretty poor at most the other aspects of defending. I’d rather he got a handle on that before we start trying to turn him in to Dani Alves.

One thing that’s has really annoyed me is that he seems really unfit. Maybe that’s had a knock on effect in to his concentration but even during the first part of the season he would quite often let people run off him just he had the energy to recover which seems to have been lacking post lockdown.

Really wish as well when he was in the final 3rd that he didn’t always stop the ball and gave up his man ala Valencia. hes past the man, the ball is past the man, drive forward and put something in. He seems obsessed with stopping the ball. Most of his touches seem to always be back the way instead of out in front of him as well.
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Yeah, I've been saying this for a while as well. He's a great tackler but his positioning and heading aren't great. He's been caught out a fair few times by long diagonals and crosses, as he seems to lose the flight of the ball which, combined with his lack of awareness, leaves us exposed at the far post. He's great one on one but has a lot to learn about pretty much every other aspect of defending. But he's young and raw so with decent coaching we should see these elements improve over time. If not, he'll never be a top defensive full back, let alone a rounded one. Big season coming up for him, we'll learn a lot about his limitations and capacity to improve.
 
Its worrying that the excuse fans are giving for him is his "potential" and believe he will magically come good on the ball and in terms of his defensive positional sense in the next season or two, surely spending 45 million on a full back gets more you more than just potential to possibly overcome major deficiencies in their game?
 
Lee565 said:
Its worrying that the excuse fans are giving for him is his "potential" and believe he will magically come good on the ball and in terms of his defensive positional sense in the next season or two, surely spending 45 million on a full back gets more you more than just potential to possibly overcome major deficiencies in their game?
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Players don't have potential when they are young and certainly can't improve anymore. Fans believing such myths are delusional and gullible at best. Magic doesn't exist and if it did, it wouldn't make players like AWB any better on the ball, it would be too busy causing earthquakes in mysterious places or curing different illnesses, it wouldn't even consider helping out one singular fullback's deficiencies it's inconsequential and we've wasted 50m.
 
I'm not a fan of AWB, he's good defensively but going forward I get as frustrated with him as I did with Valencia in his final year. He's young and can obviously improve so there's hope. I still think Dalot will develop and should be kept to compete with AWB.
 
80% of his season was solid. He looked burned out in the latter stages. Would like to see him rotated more next season possibly with TFM/Williams/Laird
 
The answer is staring us all in the face. AWB would be a fantastic CB. We need an attacking right back. Not a CB.

A top tier 1 CB would cost us mega money. An attacking RB would cost us a lot less.

AWB is not an attacking RB, he never will be.
 
Suvvernmanc said:
The answer is staring us all in the face. AWB would be a fantastic CB. We need an attacking right back. Not a CB.

A top tier 1 CB would cost us mega money. An attacking RB would cost us a lot less.

AWB is not an attacking RB, he never will be.
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He can’t head the ball.

He’s a fantastic RB for our system.
 
He is young but he was defo a concern from this season and our philosophy moving forward as we invested in him as our long term right full, he is good defensively in terms of physicality and athleticism etc but that sliding tackle instinct is not good, that for a top defender should be last resort, if you are on the ground you are out of the game, but for him he seems to think he is doing a good job sliding the ball out for throws and corners as a go to = giving the opposition possession. Top full backs win the ball back on their feet and then start attacks, in attack he looks long legged, off balance and uncomfortable, not capable of engaging in a coordinated piece of football play on the deck resulting in a positive attacking outcome that contributes to chance creation.
 
Wan-Bissaka is still only 22 years old. I remember Neville at the same age and Neville wasn't quite as solid a RB at 22 as Wan-Bissaka is now.

If we're going to commit to developing young players, a for a fullback 22 is still young, we need to give them room to develop.
 
andersj said:
TAA and Reece James. AWB will never be a regular for a Man Utd that wins the PL or CL (or any other team that wins those).
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Lets go and buy Trent for 50m then. Or even better, lets save the money and "find the next Trent" shouldn't be too hard should it. The fact is, TAA and Klopp have redefined the role and he's an outstanding player - despite the obvious defensive weakness, which will be exposed once the front three start to loose the tenacity.

Reece James looks a great player and we'll see where it goes, but he's certainly not better than AWB at this moment.

Lets look at 3 full backs of a mostly similar age, who would likely cost similar fee to what we paid for AWB, yet people say are complete:


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Is AWB really so poor? The answer is a clear no. The reality is, we're watching him every week, over analysing his passing, ball control and we put a spotlight on his (relatively) few errors. We aren't watching these others every single game.



Yes, yes...you could make a highlight reel of a turd with good editing and catchy music, but it shows he can do it. The argument that he needs to do it more consistently is valid. There is certainly plenty of work to do on his crossing. But the opinion that he'll never be good enough for us as a full back (and reaching that opinion during his first season with us whilst being 22 years old) is utter bullshit.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
Would he get near Bayern’s starting eleven? No, so he’s not irreplaceable. That’s the level we need to be at.
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If that's you decide on talent then all of our players aren't irreplaceable. None of our players would get in the Bayern starting 11.
 
BenitoSTARR said:
He can’t head the ball.

He’s a fantastic RB for our system.
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Ole wants us playing a more attacking style of football. I'm surprised he cant see that AWB is not a good attacking full back..

He cant head the ball? Hes a right back so he isn't expected to head the ball alot surely? If he was a CB for us, he would do a better job than Lindelof at actual defending and that isn't a dig a Lindelof as I actually rate him more than most. He's just not the player to take us to the next level. With AWB as a CB option, we could spend more money on our more pressing needs.. AM, RW and RB (cheaper to get than CB) as CB would be covered.

My opinion on AWB is that he hinders our attacks on the right as he just isn't that good at attacking. Defending yes.
 
Suvvernmanc said:
The answer is staring us all in the face. AWB would be a fantastic CB. We need an attacking right back. Not a CB.

A top tier 1 CB would cost us mega money. An attacking RB would cost us a lot less.

AWB is not an attacking RB, he never will be.
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Based on what? On his 40% aerial duel rate (far worse than Lindelof's 65% in more duels), or in his bad positioning?
 
Suvvernmanc said:
The answer is staring us all in the face. AWB would be a fantastic CB. We need an attacking right back. Not a CB.

A top tier 1 CB would cost us mega money. An attacking RB would cost us a lot less.

AWB is not an attacking RB, he never will be.
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No. He’s not a CB.

He’s done well in his first year, let’s give the young lad some time to develop. He played less than 50 games for Palace before moving.

He’s not a rampaging attacking full back, and he’s not a centre back.

Let’s remember we had Valencia sticking the place out at RB for 5 years, and he’s been a big improvement - and has about the same attacking output.

We need to give these lads time and space to develop.
 
Suvvernmanc said:
The answer is staring us all in the face. AWB would be a fantastic CB. We need an attacking right back. Not a CB.

A top tier 1 CB would cost us mega money. An attacking RB would cost us a lot less.

AWB is not an attacking RB, he never will be.
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He's not got the awareness, positional sense or heading ability to be a decent CB. And being able to slide tackle isn't itself a massive virtue in that position. He's playing in the right place but just needs to improve in a few key areas if he's going to nail down the position for the next 10 years.
 
Paulo Ferreira never went past the half way line but there isn’t many people who will say he was a rubbish rb. Azpilicueta isn’t the best at attacking either.

Your actual problem is your looking for this guy to be a threat because you lack a real RW. If you had a top class attacking left back (evras and coles) then a cautious rb would actually help prevent being countered.
 
SirReginald said:
Paulo Ferreira never went past the half way line but there isn’t many people who will say he was a rubbish rb. Azpilicueta isn’t the best at attacking either.

Your actual problem is your looking for this guy to be a threat because you lack a real RW. If you had a top class attacking left back (evras and coles) then a cautious rb would actually help prevent being countered.
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Great post, hard to disagree. We need defensive balance to our team and our right side needs a lot of work. Jason Sancho or similar would help balance AWB's contribution to the team.
 
Somehow the narrative is "bad positioning" :lol:

He tackles a lot which means the obvious conclusion is bad positioning, nothing to do with he always deals 1v1 with Wingers.
 
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Lynty said:
There is certainly plenty of work to do on his crossing. But the opinion that he'll never be good enough for us as a full back (and reaching that opinion during his first season with us whilst being 22 years old) is utter bullshit.
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His crossing is not the issue for me. As I have said repeatedly, his passing/buildup play is. Hassenhutl recently explained how they made a meal of it. I think others did too. And I’m not sure that part of his game can be developed.

In fact, I am confident that Max Aarons too will be higher rated by most in five years.

Stats is fun. But you need to understand them not to end up buying Schneiderlin or Downing. Or AWB.
 
It seems that AWB is the new target for our ‘supposed’ fans to jump upon! He had an outstanding season in my opinion. He’s literally played two full seasons in his career! Yes, he has things to work on but the things he does well- he does very well and will develop the other areas as time goes on.
 
SirReginald said:
Paulo Ferreira never went past the half way line but there isn’t many people who will say he was a rubbish rb. Azpilicueta isn’t the best at attacking either.

Your actual problem is your looking for this guy to be a threat because you lack a real RW. If you had a top class attacking left back (evras and coles) then a cautious rb would actually help prevent being countered.
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This is a great post and points out what a lot of people seem to be missing. AWB wasn't bought to be a an all out gung ho attacking full back, though they will certainly work on that part of his game. Often his key role is tuck into midfield behind the attack when you are pushing forward in possession, to protect against the counter and he excels at this.

If you get Sancho the right side of your team will change dramatically, but AWB's job will always be primarily defensive rather than offensive.
 
The fullback doesn't necessarily have to be great at charging up and down the wing and being a real attacking threat, but if they don't provide that then they at least need to help out the midfield with the build-up and control of the match. AWB doesn't provide either. That's the big issue. Shaw at least does help out a fair bit with the second category, although he could certainly improve if he works on his positioning.

Hopefully either AWB improves significantly, or Laird manages to stay fit and is given a decent opportunity as from the sounds of it he does provide what we need. Obviously Williams can also play on the right but there's doubts over him as well.
 
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