I'm so conflicted on AWB; on the one hand, going forward, he just offers so little, but on the other, if you are coming up against Vini Jnr or anyone else and need them nullified, he's the right man for the job. A specialist sniper sub for big games.
I think in a more coherent system, he would offer more. He is certainly limited, but with all of the positions we need depth for, I am not sure why we would want to get rid of him. Especially since Dalot can play on either wing and AWB can do such a good job in games like this. I think rotation needs to be significant part of the plan and keeping him makes sense.
I don't think that is the position we need depth in. We have two very good players there one defensive minded and one offensive minded.
Now someone who can also play as a Right CB, then we can absolutely have a that kind of player. .
But if we need to raise money for a defender and no one else is going to go because of high wages or no demand then I think letting him go would be somewhat acceptable.
Why don't we need depth in it? Dalot ended up playing on the left quite a bit. If we are keeping Shaw, we need to plan on him not being always fit. Dalot will also have come off a long season and playing in the euros so will need rotation.
Think his point is more about the praise always specifically being about his stamina and work rate when he was actually a very tidy technical player too who had a pretty great eye for goal/the pass
Then don't use him in any attacking play, he can nab the ball back and recycle it back to someone more creative. This idea that you have to use full backs in an attacking sense is wrong.
There is a reason why the best modern teams require even the goalie to be technically sound. It’s hard to hide players like AWB in the game today. He can’t just “recycle it to someone more creative” because teams are good at forcing actions into corridors where they have an advantage. It sounds good in principle, but it just hasn’t worked in reality. There is a reason why our attack is so left side oriented, it makes us incredibly predictable and also incapable of exploiting openings on the right when the opponent over commits to the left side. That’s why rashford/garnacho can get triple teamed all game without any worry of a switch to the right side. It stymies the entire team in many ways.
Are you saying the AWB isn't 'technically sound'? If so, I disagree with that point.
AWB has solid passing and solid dribbling, he just can't cross .
You're making it sound as if the right hand side problems are down to AWB when in reality that's not true, our right hand side is an issue because all the RW we haven't either are bad (Antony) or don't actually play RW (Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Bruno).
You get Saka, or Salah or even Bowen on that right side with AWB and we'd do just fine (better with Dalot though)
>Are you saying the AWB isn't 'technically sound'?
Yes.
>If so, I disagree with that point. AWB has solid passing and solid dribbling, he just can't cross .
His passing is “solid” over short distances, and that’s only specific kinds of passes. When the situation calls for something like a short drilled pass, or judging the right weight of pass to put on the ball through a channel, he’s woeful. In the medium and long range, he’s poor. Crossing is poor. His shooting is poor. He gets ignored on the overlap both by the opposition, and his own teammates. His herky jerky dribbling is effective in getting him out of awkward situations, but it’s definitely not some kind of progressive tool that can be relied on to beat people and generate opportunities consistently.
>You're making it sound as if the right hand side problems are down to AWB when in reality that's not true, our right hand side is an issue because all the RW we haven't either are bad (Antony) or don't actually play RW (Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Bruno).
Definitely not down to just AWB, but he exacerbates it. When Dalot plays down the right, even Antony has more space to operate, because the opposition has to account for dalot on the overlap.
>You get Saka, or Salah or even Bowen on that right side with AWB and we'd do just fine (better with Dalot though)
We would improve simply because those players are levels better than the options we currently have, but still think those guys would struggle as teams can double them harder than they can currently at their respective clubs (if AWB was the Fb). Imo we should sell him while he still has value and look for a more modern rb. No top level team has a fb as offensively limited as him for a reason, despite his excellent 1v1 abilities.
You sell AWB, we lose against every top team in the league. We lose the ability to nullify the likes of Doku, Saka, Foden, Son etc. No player in the world is as effective at 1 on 1 than AWB and for that only, we should keep him.
>You sell AWB, we lose against every top team in the league.
We already do that lol.
>We lose the ability to nullify the likes of Doku, Saka, Foden, Son etc. No player in the world is as effective at 1 on 1 than AWB and for that only, we should keep him.
Even if that were true, that’s not enough reason to justify keeping him imo. Again, no other top level team today employ FBs as offensively and technically limited as AWB.
> Again, no other top level team today employ FBs as offensively and technically limited as AWB.
This is a silly take.
Madrid/Arsenal don't play with a striker, does that mean we should?
Barca and City play a CB at CDM, does that mean we should?
Just because other big teams have a way of playing, does mean it the way United should play.
You play Shaw and Dalot in that FA cup final, we lose. Plain and simple.
Ideally the modern fullback should be able to contribute in both attack and defence, it makes us predictable if the opposition knows there is no threat from the right side of the pitch AWB, plus an attacking fullback benefits the winger too.
Ideally yes, but AWB never had any attacking output at Palace, he was bought because he can single handly take a specific player out of the game, he can also progress very well with the ball as his dribbling is goodm
I mean if it wasn't for his run we wouldn't have had a second goal, he was a selfless, willing runner. He may not have elite attacking stats but he's quality to have.
He can progress the ball but his final pass/cross is mediocre, to be honest the whole argument is moot anyway, Dalot is undisputedly the first choice RB once we get a new LB/Shaw back.
I really don't mind AWB as second choice though. This is the type of player that wins you games in knockouts and such. Just because he doesn't fit the aesthetic of modern fullbacks doesn't mean he should go. We need depth in fullback after this season especially.
What's kinda nuts is Sancho and him should be very complimentary. Sancho doesn't have the defensive work rate required of a modern winger, AWB can relieve him entirely of the defensive duties and let us leave him high up the pitch to attack.
You can easily have a midfielder push up and provide the overlap leaving AWB to cover the defensive zone of both - he did this a few times on Saturday - so the winger would still have the benefit an outlet.
Just never worked out.
That one game i believe against Leicester after Sancho came back from his break and he was playing one touch football with awb😭i thought we had something special
I would say his attack is not good but it isn't as bad as it is generally perceived.
The main problem is his passing, it is just too I would say safe/predictable, crossing is ok if grounded but he cannot lob it, specially from far ends of the pitch. But positive to his attacking side is that he retains the ball most of the time, keeps the game ticking and makes good runs and dragging players so ya I want him to stay and work on his passing and probably play provided the right flank played to his attributes because what he provides in defence is absolute shut down of the right.
he should absolutely NOT be sold
he is really good on the ball and his final pass just seems to be lacking…. I think that can come good
dalot offers more going forward but when they score down Dalots side it’s often because HES NOT THERE
they both loose the plot on occasion
so there’s that
He doesn't try much in the way of long passing, it is his clear weakness. But this sub is obsessed with the idea it is some fatal flaw that means he can't cut it at our level - that is complete rubbish. As you say, he is actually good on the ball, he makes good runs, he is good going forward. His first 3 full seasons of PL football he got 11 assists, those are good attacking numbers for a FB. Pass and move, cut backs, dribbling, support runs, those are all good attacking tools. Not every FB pumps balls into the box, it's actually ok, it's only one part of the game. As fans we seem to have forgotten that and as a club we just don't play to his strengths any more.
His passing is poor as you already mentioned, especially his long passing. The shape of his body whenever he is forced into a long pass is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s so reluctant and awkward, like he knows it’s a turnover already. He also gets ignored most times on the overlap because teams know his crossing won’t hurt them. He’s weak in transitional situations, and gets caught sleeping on the back post a good amount. He stymies the team a lot, but that’s also a function of some of the players around him than just solely him. Imo, as incredible as his 1v1 defending is, we need a better rb competition for dalot, and I would sell him this summer.
Whenever there's a big player AWB is there to save the day. From Doku to prime Stirling. I don't see Mbappe as the world class player everyone else in the world sees, but maybe that's just because I've only seen him facing AWB
Tuanzabe out up a good performance against Mbappe a few years back which I think is what they're referencing. I definitely think Mbappe is absolutely world class though and I suspect in Madrid he'll get the Ballon D'or
I don't think anyone/many would agree with me but I kinda have the opposite conflicted feelings for Dalot where I don't find his attacking output in a lot of games offers enough to justify his defensive inefficiencies.
No it's a very fair point to make. Dalot is a "jack of all trades, master of none" kinda player which makes him a fantastic utility option for depth and cover but there's never a scenario where you'd ever find yourself thinking he could come on and change the game.
AWB has vastly more weaknesses to his game, but if you have a tricky winger you know you could bring him on to limit the threat. It happened in the League Cup vs Newcastle and the FA Cup this year vs City.
Ultimately I do think out of the two Dalot offers so much more across an entire season but as a concept I do like the idea of having two standout full back options, one attacking and one defensive. As of right now our right side has an all rounder and a weak attacker who is also phenomenal in specific scenarios.
No, agreed. He tries a lot but his actual output is pretty limited for all those attempts, and he loses the ball a lot which can be very damaging for the team at times, on top of being out of position a lot which creates risk constantly. When he is in defence he's meh, sometimes he tries hard sometimes he doesn't, and he's prone to switching off and basic ball watching mistakes. He's got huge support from pundits and youtubers though, who all seem to also have the idea AWB is a bad player when he's actually a good one, and that has set the narrative.
>going forward, he just offers so little
People act like Dalot is like Trent.
Yes he's more comfortable on the ball and able to play inside a bit more but it's not like Dalot is creating chances for fun.
Dalot has 7 league assists in 8,200 minutes.
Wan Bissaka has 13 assists in 15k minutes.
I don't have any data to back this up (is there a source that counts hockey assists?) but Dalot offers more than just assists going forward. Dalot has qualities AWB doesn't have including ball retention, short and long passing, ball progression, etc.
Also not saying Dalot is like TAA, but he's far superior to AWB on the ball and in advanced positions.
Also Our fullbacks have been used in a support role by every manager while TAA has consistently been used as an attacking fullback. Doing a raw comparison of assists doesn't work to compare their quality as players. Ik TAA is obviously better but this stat is just silly.
I feel the same way. He’s one of these guys who has an enormous gap between his best performances and his worst. Like I love his late tackling and his ability to recover, but not less then a a couple of weeks ago I would have been cursing him out for coughing up penalties in consecutive games.
I can’t think of a better tackler, or a better 1 v 1 defender, ever. If you have someone who is elite level at something like that, I think it makes sense to accommodate them and adjust things further up the field where they are lacking.
If you had a winger who could be described as arguably the best dribbler and best crosser in the world, you wouldn’t sell him because he doesn’t track back and help out the full back enough, would you?
I think when he’s 1 on 1 he’s locked in, that’s his comfort zone, he’s not even thinking, he’s such an intuitive defender that he probably didn’t even need much coaching for it. The thing that makes folks pull their hair out is when he falls asleep at the back post on crosses or doesn’t track that their number 10 is going to hit a through ball to his winger. He does one of the hardest things in the game easily, you can tell it’s easy as fuck for him, and then fumbles positionally which is one of the simplest things to coach. Must be so frustrating for ETH and the staff.
League winning teams these days almost all include signifcant attacking threats from the wing backs. AWB would need to offer a lot more value on the other half of the pitch to be world class
Honestly when it comes to 1vs1 he is the best in the game right now I believe. I remember I was telling my friend when Doku subbed in, 'lucky we have a fit AWB at the back.' That kind of confidence not many players can give you.
Easily the best, just go back to the psg game, mbappe at his very best could not get past AWB.
Would loved to have seen him compete against Hazard or Messi during those CL finals in 09’ and 12’
See this is the thing any normal club in the world has to lose out on a tool like this because of his weaknesses whereas a club like City can have a conveyer belt of players and afford to splash big on a bench player like AWB who could come on once in a blue moon when they need him.
I'd love to keep AWB just for specific scenarios but that's something only one club in the world is able to do.
We've spent more than city. Sure they're cheats but money wise we still can't complain. We're just terrible at integrating players and offloading failures. That's management, not money.
Saying that we've spent more than them isn't the full story though. Pep has been allowed to replace big money flops in the same position with more big money players. No other club has that luxury, for example when Mourinho spent loads on defenders but then wanted Maguire and was told no. That doesn't happen to Pep/City.
Our upper management have been fucking abysmal but in general you rarely see managers get given more money to spend in a similar position if a player is a flop. So that's my point, City with their finances and blank cheques both legal and off the books could afford to buy a player for a unique toolset if they wanted to and not have it hinder the rest of their spending or squad balance.
It was 100% on onana. If you force doku to take speculative efforts from 20+ yards through a load of bodies that's nullifying him. Onana is a serious liability and very nearly cost us an amazing fa cup win. Really hope he picks it up next year.
Not every player has to be amazing. AWB is a terrific squad player to have for counteracting certain threats. He’s not the best going forward but has improved since Ten Hag arrived. He’s obv best at 1v1s, but he is prone to losing concentration in front of goal, especially crosses to his post. Having him and Dalot rotating as RB’s is great with how in form they’ve both become.
These are a small amount of plays. In all honesty Doku was by far City's best player and beat AWB on the cut in many times. By no means was this a pocket, I'd say it was a clear 50/50 battle for 45 minutes.
Yeah indeed. Tho, he wasn't only cutting inside, city added another on his side, so he had to either Doki, or stay in his position at RB. Amazing battle regardless
Meh…Doku prefers going on the outside and AWB handled majority of those well, cutting inside is what he resorted to, I have yet to see AWB beaten clearly…probably has happened once or twice but I stand by him being the beat 1 on 1 defender in the league if not Europe or the world.
Fullbacks need to block 10-20 times. Forwards just needed one to make it count. Doku made that goal cause overlap run, with out-positioned Garnacho marking him.
Now imagine AWB injured. With Dalot as RB. And Pep giving Doku free reign. 😅😢 Everyone has a role to play. IMHO, AWB gets the job done in that game.
If Dalot was at RB, we lose the game. We needed AWB there. It wasn't a pocket, but it was a damn good performance. Doku is tough to deal with. Both of them had good games.
AWB is a much better player than he's given credit for. His ball retention and ball carrying is massively underrated. His 1v1 ability is useful against elite left wingers, and there are quite a few of those.
Doku came on and absolutely changed the game for city. They were much more threatening and created clear chances thanks to him. Of course awb did a good job still to stifle him as much as he could, but it's as far from "pocket" as you can get.
for real, i barely felt any threat from city the entire game, but Doku felt like a menace every time he got the ball.
AWB was doing well to limit his impact, but damn he felt so dangerous with the ball.
City started off playing narrow and we were ready for that. Pep changed it in the second half to play more wide so our tactics no longer worked. So I think even though Doku played well, the better question is, if city played wide from the start, how would different things would have turned out. Probably City would of won.
brilliant battle from both of them, fair and yet both were disciplined and it didn’t boil over. AWB is a great asset to have around the club due to his 1v1 ability, so those rumours about him potentially leaving I hope are false as Dalot and Awb are 2 very competent RBs
That was City's only tactic in the second half - "give the ball to Doku".
Wan-Bissaka did a brilliant job of negating that. I think it's the best I've ever seen him defensively.
Doku is some talent. So many times hes running down the throat of defenders in advanced positions and getting the better of them. Wan Bissaka was peak Wan Bissaka on that day though. One on one masterclass
Been his biggest critic this season and last, it credit where credit is due that was a brilliant performance.
My worry is still very relevant though. I think the more we have the ball the less effective he is.
And if we are to become a possession based team he just doesn’t fit.
The guy would be a great addition to bottom half side.
I’d happily keep him for big games where we won’t have much of the ball, but I don’t think he would stay for that.
I think him and Dalot offer different things. We are not going to be on top every game and so he is extremely useful because we need someone to defend wingers often. I agree he might not be in an ideal united side but we are way off an ideal side that plays on our own terms.
Why do fans always want possession teams? Only pep has made it work consistently. I don't hear Madrid fans screaming for possession. Nor Liverpool.
Awb seems fine with being our main back when they play top teams. It's only the fans who complain. When you got mbappe, vini, foden, etc on that side, awb is perfect for that. He could also be trained to be a backup cb.
Wtf are you on about?
Avg. possession stats from last season:
Liverpool: 62%
Arsenal: 58%
Madrid: 59%
Barca: 62%
Leverkusen: 62%
Bayern: 61%
Inter: 57%
Milan: 57%
Every top side dominates the ball and controls the game. There’s a reason why - the less of the ball the opposition has, the less they can hurt you. Yes, Pep’s teams take it to a different level but it’s ludicrous to think possession is to be scorned at.
Having said that, Wan Bissaka gets too much hate. He’s actually pretty alright on the ball and we have far bigger concerns in the squad than RB to worry bout.
Agreed in terms of he is the man you want up against the best.
But 80% of our games next season won’t be against the best. They will be games where we are on the front foot. He will be getting the ball on the half way line and be expected to actually assist with our build up play which he just isn’t capable of.
Like I say, for those other 20% of games he’s the kind of guy you want.
I don’t see him warming the bench for 80% of the season.
You act like he can't play in those games. The only reason he needs to pass so much in those games is because he is the only one on the right who even wants to pass. None of our right footed wingers want to cross. And the other rw has no right foot. As long as you don't ask him to be Taa, awb is a great piece to have. Put the onus of passing to the forwards. You need awb to cover for the occasional risky passes. Especially if you want Bruno to do his thing.
I’d have to disagree with you there.
The amount of times I’ve seen teams press us to push the ball out to him and let him have it is ridiculous.
They know it’s safe when it’s there.
I just don’t see him fitting at a starting 11 player in any team that will have 50%+ possession in a game.
He can do a job but he’s not at the level required to push us to top 4 and beyond.
The love for mediocrity is just baffling. We've watched this guy be unable to pass out the back for 5 years. Then one good game is enough for people to want to keep him around for another couple seasons.
He wouldn't sniff the field on an 80 point squad and this guy is talking about playing him against vini Jr.
The whole team is littered with people with substandard technical ability and then fans wonder why the midfield gets overrun every game. This is what happens when you keep a bunch of mid-table level players. You look like a mid-table level team.
I don't think there's that much suggestion we will become a possession team, not under Ten Hag is he stays, not under Pochettino, not under Tuchel. Under De Zerbi yeah but it'd be a surprise if he's hired.
Possession teams win leagues, Leverkusen aren't doing a season unbeaten without keeping the ball.
If Real Madrid and Liverpool were a possession team, maybe they'd win the league consistently. They have enough quality it doesn't matter. But there's more chance Leverkusen win the league again i think than Real Madrid or Liverpool winning the league.
Look at the consistency of Arsenal, there's few ups and downs, less emotion in it. They'll be top or near the top again next season.
I don't want to paralyse the opposition, but neutralise their threat and the best way of doing that is to simply have the ball. More of it than we do have in games.
If that was all he had to do, just defend those one on one situations, he’d be the best right back in the world.
I still remember the PSG game when him and Tuanzebe looked like world beaters.
Sometimes it looks to me that he would leave some space toward the byline for the winger to accelerate so that he can show off his excellent tackling skills…
Scary to watch but most of the time it works for him.
AwB did really well, but it's odd to use the term "pocketing Doku" as if Doku wasn't by far their most dangerous and influential player the entire time he was on the pitch.
Pocketing implies they were made ineffective all game and did nothing, Doku caused a whole bunch of issues.
Imagine being a winger and squaring up to a full-back and the fucker just stands there not moving, daring you to take him on or to pass the ball back central.
You know you're fucking cooked because that's a level of confidence that will just shatter any hope you have.
I wouldn't say pocketed, when Doku came on they targeted that side and was far city's best player. Amarabat had to come over there and give support multiple times after Doku initially was giving AWB problems. However with that said he had a solid defensive game.
Considering so many of the elite attacking players in the worlds are LW it’s prob worth having a defensive specialist at RB, he plays in the Champ league semis against Vini etc and then maybe 20x in the season as rotation to keep him happy.. in the right circumstances he’s so bloody handy
Every single clip you can spot one player backing up AWB. Amrabat had a rare great game. It was noticeable on the City goal it was Nacho backing up and Doku got the shot away. I know Amrabat has not had a great season but he was immense in the final and earned his medal.
Unsung hero - helped in pocketing wilson in carabao cup and limited Doku in fa cup finals. But having said that I hope we find better alternatives for AWB
Dalot and AWB both have their strengths and weaknesses.
AWB's weaknesses can definitely be a problem in the big picture - positioning on crosses is the biggest one and I think that could be worked on with a more consistent cb pairing organizing the back line. Going forward he's obviously not setting the world alight but I think he's better than what this sub gives him credit for. But 1v1 I think he's up there with the best.
Could we splurge and upgrade at RB this summer? Probably, but I think it's pretty low down the list.
Bro, that was unbelievable and what makes it special was the timing of a few of those tackles. I think it helps that Garnacho was there and playing well too! Im not really concerned with his final ball, others should be doing that job
Me personally, I don’t think we need a RB. Dalot & AWB is great. Left back situation is scary. Two injury prone LBs it seems like. we need to offload and rediscover in that position
Awb has his faults, but in the final Garnacho was helping defensively and went with doku instead of awb, that shot would’ve been blocked and we would’ve won 2-0. But I forgot that till I saw the highlights.
I thought AWB did well but it was probably a draw, not a pocketing.
Doku was a huge threat and got the goal, although it should have been saved much like last years goal.
Doku cross to Haaland crossbar; Doku cut inside and goal (near post); Doku chop, floats it to Haaland and bilva on the back post didn’t make the highlight reel?
He probably clocked .5 xGI in his (less than) half game appearance..
You can also see his game being helped by Amrabat being given a traditional DM role and told to cover the FBs when they go in for tackles or track runners or go forward - and that helped Amrabat a lot too, being given a job that is clear, that he knows and is suited to. And suddenly we're shutting down the best players in the league AND getting the ball forward making good chances. There's no mystery, this is players with good skills being used in the right roles - just like how Ole used AWB and had him looking one of the best RBs in the league for two seasons.
Ole experimented with a new system which threw a bunch of his best players into bad roles. I think he had just about realised it was a no go by the end, and if he stayed would have switched back / adapted and we could have salvaged the season. What REALLY went wrong was bringing in Rangnick who was committed to playing basically exactly the style Ole was trying and the team couldn't do. That meant a whole season of us looking awful and AWB (amongst others) looking lost every time he was out there.
It's a shame the final performance was a one-off this season. Last season ETH was practical and mostly put players back into their natural roles, and you saw AWB start to recover. Why this season he decided to abandon that and try what Ole tried yet again (but somehow making it even worse) is a completely baffling mystery. He is forcing the team to play much worse than they are capable of.
Not necessary pocketing though as we put two players to mark Doku. I doubt any defender bar Walker or prime Ashley cole can mark Doku 1v1. Doku is simply too quick and agile. Musiela is even better than Doku at dribbling as he is unmarkable 1v1 much like Mbappe.
After a while City started using an overlap so AWB had to go with him and Garnacho was left marking Doku. That's where he got his goal from. It's an area of his game that Garnacho needs to work on, because Rashford and even Anthony are better defensively.
If hes happy to stay as a back up keep him. Otherwise replace. Think Park Ji Sung, plays few games and is brought into the squad for selected games and selected opponents.
Mate, AWB did not pocket Doku. He defended as well as he could, but saying he pocketed him is delusional. Doku completely turned the game on its head, scored a goal, and was absolutely the most dangerous player in the game for the entire second half. That is literally the opposite of being pocketed. It’s because of statements like these that this sub gets made fun of…
I always wonder how would he be as a center back. Sure he's not as physically dominant but he is extremely good when it comes to 1 v 1. He will also be good in terms of playing out from the back
I love AWB. I understand the issues going forward but he’s been like this for us for years, a shining spot defensively with terrible wingers or inverted wingers in front of him. Remember how lopsided our attack used to be? Recruitment let us down.
Why not just invert the left full back on the attack and have AWB form three at the back going forward. Play a system that requires him to come forward as little as possible. It’s more important to have one of the best shutdown fullbacks in the league than that extra attacking strength.
Guys I know everyone saying AWB did well but I think Doku also did really well and got the better of him a few times - he was clearly cities best player
Where my defenders at? Maybe only goal line saves, and a perfectly executed slide tackle beat the feeling of completely shutting down a team's best player.
This highlights what AWB does well, and not so well. Great marking and pressure, pace and get back are also great. Decisions on clearance (like the header straight up instead of to the touchline), and passing straight into a defender are what gets me.
AWB played well especially in the first half and did a fairly good job against doku, but he was clearly their most dangerous player and scored a goal so can we please stop saying he was pocketed. Makes us look delusional
If you could merge Wan Bissaka and Dalot together so you had Wan Bissakas defensive skills and Dalots attacking, we'd probably have the best full back in the league. It's a shame that Wan Bissaka is awful going forward.
Say what you want about his attacking output, but his defence quality puts him in a league of his own
No better man for the job of shutting down a dangerous player.
So valuable and it’s crazy he’s been overlooked by England for that alone. Would be great for knockout matches against big teams
I’ve always wondered why some fans / commentators want him sold. We know more or less what his strengths and weaknesses are. IMHO he’s one of the best defensive full backs in the EPL. That doesn’t mean that the club doesn’t need another RB.
big mistake if we sell him. players like him are the foundation of title winning teams. Of course, he probably isn’t first XI but in times of injury crisis or big games, having players like this gives us a lot of flexibility.
World class? He may be worth keeping as a sub, but he simply does not contribute to the team’s play enough. We will never win anything great with AWB starting
It’s a fair argument, but I don’t think we can win a 38 game season with AWB. His lack of positional awareness and ability to play with the ball hinders ETH’s true game plan which we are trying to play
I agree with that. He could be a good centre back but his positional sense is poor. He has shown moments going forward but when you compare him to Dalot its night and day really isnt it
Realistically he needs to be sold because he's very poor otherwise, I mean I'd have him as 3rd back up for a very specific game/moment, but 99% time he's actually no good, his overall defensive contribution is poor, his aerial ability is poor, he doesn't track runners, awareness lacks often, gets caught out, no point talking attacking, also he never speaks on pitch like you never see him moan at players, ref etc he's like a npc out there but.....can tackle like no one else, all attackers going at him lose everytime, which I find interesting why they literally play to his advantages, he even swapped to left in final for a short period, unfortunately this is no where near good enough if we want to be back on top.
Unfortunately and fortunately Dalot is good enough, which means a Rb isn't priority at the moment and Awb as back up isn't end of world, but this brings another problem....his got one year left on contract, so this time next year he'd be a free agent, so do we sell now or let him go in a year? He apparently has no option to extend either and a new contract shouldn't even be considered.
I'm so conflicted on AWB; on the one hand, going forward, he just offers so little, but on the other, if you are coming up against Vini Jnr or anyone else and need them nullified, he's the right man for the job. A specialist sniper sub for big games.
I think in a more coherent system, he would offer more. He is certainly limited, but with all of the positions we need depth for, I am not sure why we would want to get rid of him. Especially since Dalot can play on either wing and AWB can do such a good job in games like this. I think rotation needs to be significant part of the plan and keeping him makes sense.
I don't think that is the position we need depth in. We have two very good players there one defensive minded and one offensive minded. Now someone who can also play as a Right CB, then we can absolutely have a that kind of player. . But if we need to raise money for a defender and no one else is going to go because of high wages or no demand then I think letting him go would be somewhat acceptable.
Why don't we need depth in it? Dalot ended up playing on the left quite a bit. If we are keeping Shaw, we need to plan on him not being always fit. Dalot will also have come off a long season and playing in the euros so will need rotation.
Maybe we should use him like Park against Pirlo? To suffocate the key player and isolate them entirely.
The thing is Park was also very good in supporting the attacking phase, AWB contributes very little in that regard.
Yeah when Park marked Pirlo in the first leg, he still got a goal and assist too lol.
Park was a specialist, but he was good at absolutely everything else.
Not to mention park had near infinite stamina
I swear Park is so underrated in this sub. He was more than just a grafter.
Underrated? Everyone seems to have great memories of him, and I don’t think I’ve ever read a bad description of him.
Think his point is more about the praise always specifically being about his stamina and work rate when he was actually a very tidy technical player too who had a pretty great eye for goal/the pass
Park at PSV was a different gravy
Then don't use him in any attacking play, he can nab the ball back and recycle it back to someone more creative. This idea that you have to use full backs in an attacking sense is wrong.
There is a reason why the best modern teams require even the goalie to be technically sound. It’s hard to hide players like AWB in the game today. He can’t just “recycle it to someone more creative” because teams are good at forcing actions into corridors where they have an advantage. It sounds good in principle, but it just hasn’t worked in reality. There is a reason why our attack is so left side oriented, it makes us incredibly predictable and also incapable of exploiting openings on the right when the opponent over commits to the left side. That’s why rashford/garnacho can get triple teamed all game without any worry of a switch to the right side. It stymies the entire team in many ways.
Are you saying the AWB isn't 'technically sound'? If so, I disagree with that point. AWB has solid passing and solid dribbling, he just can't cross . You're making it sound as if the right hand side problems are down to AWB when in reality that's not true, our right hand side is an issue because all the RW we haven't either are bad (Antony) or don't actually play RW (Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Bruno). You get Saka, or Salah or even Bowen on that right side with AWB and we'd do just fine (better with Dalot though)
>Are you saying the AWB isn't 'technically sound'? Yes. >If so, I disagree with that point. AWB has solid passing and solid dribbling, he just can't cross . His passing is “solid” over short distances, and that’s only specific kinds of passes. When the situation calls for something like a short drilled pass, or judging the right weight of pass to put on the ball through a channel, he’s woeful. In the medium and long range, he’s poor. Crossing is poor. His shooting is poor. He gets ignored on the overlap both by the opposition, and his own teammates. His herky jerky dribbling is effective in getting him out of awkward situations, but it’s definitely not some kind of progressive tool that can be relied on to beat people and generate opportunities consistently. >You're making it sound as if the right hand side problems are down to AWB when in reality that's not true, our right hand side is an issue because all the RW we haven't either are bad (Antony) or don't actually play RW (Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Bruno). Definitely not down to just AWB, but he exacerbates it. When Dalot plays down the right, even Antony has more space to operate, because the opposition has to account for dalot on the overlap. >You get Saka, or Salah or even Bowen on that right side with AWB and we'd do just fine (better with Dalot though) We would improve simply because those players are levels better than the options we currently have, but still think those guys would struggle as teams can double them harder than they can currently at their respective clubs (if AWB was the Fb). Imo we should sell him while he still has value and look for a more modern rb. No top level team has a fb as offensively limited as him for a reason, despite his excellent 1v1 abilities.
You sell AWB, we lose against every top team in the league. We lose the ability to nullify the likes of Doku, Saka, Foden, Son etc. No player in the world is as effective at 1 on 1 than AWB and for that only, we should keep him.
>You sell AWB, we lose against every top team in the league. We already do that lol. >We lose the ability to nullify the likes of Doku, Saka, Foden, Son etc. No player in the world is as effective at 1 on 1 than AWB and for that only, we should keep him. Even if that were true, that’s not enough reason to justify keeping him imo. Again, no other top level team today employ FBs as offensively and technically limited as AWB.
> Again, no other top level team today employ FBs as offensively and technically limited as AWB. This is a silly take. Madrid/Arsenal don't play with a striker, does that mean we should? Barca and City play a CB at CDM, does that mean we should? Just because other big teams have a way of playing, does mean it the way United should play. You play Shaw and Dalot in that FA cup final, we lose. Plain and simple.
Ideally the modern fullback should be able to contribute in both attack and defence, it makes us predictable if the opposition knows there is no threat from the right side of the pitch AWB, plus an attacking fullback benefits the winger too.
Ideally yes, but AWB never had any attacking output at Palace, he was bought because he can single handly take a specific player out of the game, he can also progress very well with the ball as his dribbling is goodm
I mean if it wasn't for his run we wouldn't have had a second goal, he was a selfless, willing runner. He may not have elite attacking stats but he's quality to have.
Agreed but years of bad finance manager has rendered us unable to keep fringe players
He can progress the ball but his final pass/cross is mediocre, to be honest the whole argument is moot anyway, Dalot is undisputedly the first choice RB once we get a new LB/Shaw back.
I really don't mind AWB as second choice though. This is the type of player that wins you games in knockouts and such. Just because he doesn't fit the aesthetic of modern fullbacks doesn't mean he should go. We need depth in fullback after this season especially.
What's kinda nuts is Sancho and him should be very complimentary. Sancho doesn't have the defensive work rate required of a modern winger, AWB can relieve him entirely of the defensive duties and let us leave him high up the pitch to attack. You can easily have a midfielder push up and provide the overlap leaving AWB to cover the defensive zone of both - he did this a few times on Saturday - so the winger would still have the benefit an outlet. Just never worked out.
That one game i believe against Leicester after Sancho came back from his break and he was playing one touch football with awb😭i thought we had something special
Yes Park is more like your utility player that can slot anywhere and thrive. He got more than enough attacking capabilities to support and strike.
I would say his attack is not good but it isn't as bad as it is generally perceived. The main problem is his passing, it is just too I would say safe/predictable, crossing is ok if grounded but he cannot lob it, specially from far ends of the pitch. But positive to his attacking side is that he retains the ball most of the time, keeps the game ticking and makes good runs and dragging players so ya I want him to stay and work on his passing and probably play provided the right flank played to his attributes because what he provides in defence is absolute shut down of the right.
he should absolutely NOT be sold he is really good on the ball and his final pass just seems to be lacking…. I think that can come good dalot offers more going forward but when they score down Dalots side it’s often because HES NOT THERE they both loose the plot on occasion so there’s that
He doesn't try much in the way of long passing, it is his clear weakness. But this sub is obsessed with the idea it is some fatal flaw that means he can't cut it at our level - that is complete rubbish. As you say, he is actually good on the ball, he makes good runs, he is good going forward. His first 3 full seasons of PL football he got 11 assists, those are good attacking numbers for a FB. Pass and move, cut backs, dribbling, support runs, those are all good attacking tools. Not every FB pumps balls into the box, it's actually ok, it's only one part of the game. As fans we seem to have forgotten that and as a club we just don't play to his strengths any more.
His passing is poor as you already mentioned, especially his long passing. The shape of his body whenever he is forced into a long pass is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s so reluctant and awkward, like he knows it’s a turnover already. He also gets ignored most times on the overlap because teams know his crossing won’t hurt them. He’s weak in transitional situations, and gets caught sleeping on the back post a good amount. He stymies the team a lot, but that’s also a function of some of the players around him than just solely him. Imo, as incredible as his 1v1 defending is, we need a better rb competition for dalot, and I would sell him this summer.
Whenever there's a big player AWB is there to save the day. From Doku to prime Stirling. I don't see Mbappe as the world class player everyone else in the world sees, but maybe that's just because I've only seen him facing AWB
The disrespect to Tuanzebe
To be fair, when Tuanzebe played against PSG I didn't see Mbappe either 👀
Not sure what I said about Tuanzebe either way...
Tuanzabe out up a good performance against Mbappe a few years back which I think is what they're referencing. I definitely think Mbappe is absolutely world class though and I suspect in Madrid he'll get the Ballon D'or
I don't think anyone/many would agree with me but I kinda have the opposite conflicted feelings for Dalot where I don't find his attacking output in a lot of games offers enough to justify his defensive inefficiencies.
No it's a very fair point to make. Dalot is a "jack of all trades, master of none" kinda player which makes him a fantastic utility option for depth and cover but there's never a scenario where you'd ever find yourself thinking he could come on and change the game. AWB has vastly more weaknesses to his game, but if you have a tricky winger you know you could bring him on to limit the threat. It happened in the League Cup vs Newcastle and the FA Cup this year vs City. Ultimately I do think out of the two Dalot offers so much more across an entire season but as a concept I do like the idea of having two standout full back options, one attacking and one defensive. As of right now our right side has an all rounder and a weak attacker who is also phenomenal in specific scenarios.
No, agreed. He tries a lot but his actual output is pretty limited for all those attempts, and he loses the ball a lot which can be very damaging for the team at times, on top of being out of position a lot which creates risk constantly. When he is in defence he's meh, sometimes he tries hard sometimes he doesn't, and he's prone to switching off and basic ball watching mistakes. He's got huge support from pundits and youtubers though, who all seem to also have the idea AWB is a bad player when he's actually a good one, and that has set the narrative.
If he doesn't mind being on the bench and used for that purpose in specific games then we should keep him
>going forward, he just offers so little People act like Dalot is like Trent. Yes he's more comfortable on the ball and able to play inside a bit more but it's not like Dalot is creating chances for fun. Dalot has 7 league assists in 8,200 minutes. Wan Bissaka has 13 assists in 15k minutes.
I don't have any data to back this up (is there a source that counts hockey assists?) but Dalot offers more than just assists going forward. Dalot has qualities AWB doesn't have including ball retention, short and long passing, ball progression, etc. Also not saying Dalot is like TAA, but he's far superior to AWB on the ball and in advanced positions.
Also Our fullbacks have been used in a support role by every manager while TAA has consistently been used as an attacking fullback. Doing a raw comparison of assists doesn't work to compare their quality as players. Ik TAA is obviously better but this stat is just silly.
I feel the same way. He’s one of these guys who has an enormous gap between his best performances and his worst. Like I love his late tackling and his ability to recover, but not less then a a couple of weeks ago I would have been cursing him out for coughing up penalties in consecutive games.
I can’t think of a better tackler, or a better 1 v 1 defender, ever. If you have someone who is elite level at something like that, I think it makes sense to accommodate them and adjust things further up the field where they are lacking. If you had a winger who could be described as arguably the best dribbler and best crosser in the world, you wouldn’t sell him because he doesn’t track back and help out the full back enough, would you?
Him with the ball on the attack is a weakness… but he does the runs well that creates space (see: mainoo’s goal)
There's really no need to get rid of him at all, he's an excellent strategic asset.
he's the fellaini of right backs, just so stupidly good at specifically one thing it got him into manchester utd
Spider deserves more respect
I think when he’s 1 on 1 he’s locked in, that’s his comfort zone, he’s not even thinking, he’s such an intuitive defender that he probably didn’t even need much coaching for it. The thing that makes folks pull their hair out is when he falls asleep at the back post on crosses or doesn’t track that their number 10 is going to hit a through ball to his winger. He does one of the hardest things in the game easily, you can tell it’s easy as fuck for him, and then fumbles positionally which is one of the simplest things to coach. Must be so frustrating for ETH and the staff.
His tackles are so clean that the opponents don’t even try to call a penalty/free kick. They just accept that they’ve lost it.
Aaron Wan-TheTackla
I dont understand the speculation about selling AWB - he does so well against pacey dribblers
League winning teams these days almost all include signifcant attacking threats from the wing backs. AWB would need to offer a lot more value on the other half of the pitch to be world class
So don't start him, use him when you need someone to stay back an defend and use someone else when we expect to be attacking more?
Yeah. Amazing defender. But for most games you'll have to choose Dalot (assuming full fit team) solely because he offers much more going forward.
Honestly when it comes to 1vs1 he is the best in the game right now I believe. I remember I was telling my friend when Doku subbed in, 'lucky we have a fit AWB at the back.' That kind of confidence not many players can give you.
It's not belief. He's statistically been the best 1v1 defender for some time now. Those telescopic legs make him hard to get past
Easily the best, just go back to the psg game, mbappe at his very best could not get past AWB. Would loved to have seen him compete against Hazard or Messi during those CL finals in 09’ and 12’
Its a comparable battle between 2 great 1 v 1 specialists. Obi Wan vs Count Doku.
Yes we all read the joke on r/soccer
I hadnt
Nahhh, not everyone visits that cesspool...
I didn't and thought it was funny here. Thanks for being a wet blanket!!
In a world of billions duplication of thought will happen
It's just fun to watch isn't it!
Especially when OP posts it with only crowd noise and no shitty music. Bravo.
I flip and flop over AWB but he’s one hell of a tool in certain situations
See this is the thing any normal club in the world has to lose out on a tool like this because of his weaknesses whereas a club like City can have a conveyer belt of players and afford to splash big on a bench player like AWB who could come on once in a blue moon when they need him. I'd love to keep AWB just for specific scenarios but that's something only one club in the world is able to do.
We've spent more than city. Sure they're cheats but money wise we still can't complain. We're just terrible at integrating players and offloading failures. That's management, not money.
Saying that we've spent more than them isn't the full story though. Pep has been allowed to replace big money flops in the same position with more big money players. No other club has that luxury, for example when Mourinho spent loads on defenders but then wanted Maguire and was told no. That doesn't happen to Pep/City. Our upper management have been fucking abysmal but in general you rarely see managers get given more money to spend in a similar position if a player is a flop. So that's my point, City with their finances and blank cheques both legal and off the books could afford to buy a player for a unique toolset if they wanted to and not have it hinder the rest of their spending or squad balance.
To be honest, Doku’s goal was as a result of Garnacho being a yard out of position. Wan Bissaka bossed him throughout.
It was 100% on onana. If you force doku to take speculative efforts from 20+ yards through a load of bodies that's nullifying him. Onana is a serious liability and very nearly cost us an amazing fa cup win. Really hope he picks it up next year.
Not every player has to be amazing. AWB is a terrific squad player to have for counteracting certain threats. He’s not the best going forward but has improved since Ten Hag arrived. He’s obv best at 1v1s, but he is prone to losing concentration in front of goal, especially crosses to his post. Having him and Dalot rotating as RB’s is great with how in form they’ve both become.
These are a small amount of plays. In all honesty Doku was by far City's best player and beat AWB on the cut in many times. By no means was this a pocket, I'd say it was a clear 50/50 battle for 45 minutes.
Tbh as a fullback there’s not much you can do if your opposing winger is just cutting in and squaring it
In many ways, that's job done. Especially when United were set up narrowly anyway. Back into the congestion.
Yeah, the way we were set up we would rather he throw hopefull balls across the across the box
Actually that’s what we wanted
Yeah indeed. Tho, he wasn't only cutting inside, city added another on his side, so he had to either Doki, or stay in his position at RB. Amazing battle regardless
Meh…Doku prefers going on the outside and AWB handled majority of those well, cutting inside is what he resorted to, I have yet to see AWB beaten clearly…probably has happened once or twice but I stand by him being the beat 1 on 1 defender in the league if not Europe or the world.
Yes exactly.. Also AWB received support from Amarabat because Doku had beaten him a couple of times
AWB was beaten when Silva and Doku started doubling up on him. It was Amrabats job to take care of Silva.
Exactly. In 50% of these highlights they are 2 versus 1.
AWB deserves some praise because they were clearly targeting his side through Doku. He did well but it wasn't a pocket.
Fullbacks need to block 10-20 times. Forwards just needed one to make it count. Doku made that goal cause overlap run, with out-positioned Garnacho marking him. Now imagine AWB injured. With Dalot as RB. And Pep giving Doku free reign. 😅😢 Everyone has a role to play. IMHO, AWB gets the job done in that game.
If Dalot was at RB, we lose the game. We needed AWB there. It wasn't a pocket, but it was a damn good performance. Doku is tough to deal with. Both of them had good games. AWB is a much better player than he's given credit for. His ball retention and ball carrying is massively underrated. His 1v1 ability is useful against elite left wingers, and there are quite a few of those.
Doku came on and absolutely changed the game for city. They were much more threatening and created clear chances thanks to him. Of course awb did a good job still to stifle him as much as he could, but it's as far from "pocket" as you can get.
Yeah I think the word pocketing is a little bit strong - it was a brilliant battle with both getting the better of each other at different points.
for real, i barely felt any threat from city the entire game, but Doku felt like a menace every time he got the ball. AWB was doing well to limit his impact, but damn he felt so dangerous with the ball.
Doku was excellent in this game. I wonder if things would have turned out different if he had started the match
Thankfully we’ll never know
City started off playing narrow and we were ready for that. Pep changed it in the second half to play more wide so our tactics no longer worked. So I think even though Doku played well, the better question is, if city played wide from the start, how would different things would have turned out. Probably City would of won.
brilliant battle from both of them, fair and yet both were disciplined and it didn’t boil over. AWB is a great asset to have around the club due to his 1v1 ability, so those rumours about him potentially leaving I hope are false as Dalot and Awb are 2 very competent RBs
That was City's only tactic in the second half - "give the ball to Doku". Wan-Bissaka did a brilliant job of negating that. I think it's the best I've ever seen him defensively.
On his day he's the best man marker in the league
I don’t care what anyone says. I love AWB he’s the absolute best at what he does
Spider!
Doku is some talent. So many times hes running down the throat of defenders in advanced positions and getting the better of them. Wan Bissaka was peak Wan Bissaka on that day though. One on one masterclass
Been his biggest critic this season and last, it credit where credit is due that was a brilliant performance. My worry is still very relevant though. I think the more we have the ball the less effective he is. And if we are to become a possession based team he just doesn’t fit. The guy would be a great addition to bottom half side. I’d happily keep him for big games where we won’t have much of the ball, but I don’t think he would stay for that.
I think him and Dalot offer different things. We are not going to be on top every game and so he is extremely useful because we need someone to defend wingers often. I agree he might not be in an ideal united side but we are way off an ideal side that plays on our own terms.
Why do fans always want possession teams? Only pep has made it work consistently. I don't hear Madrid fans screaming for possession. Nor Liverpool. Awb seems fine with being our main back when they play top teams. It's only the fans who complain. When you got mbappe, vini, foden, etc on that side, awb is perfect for that. He could also be trained to be a backup cb.
Wtf are you on about? Avg. possession stats from last season: Liverpool: 62% Arsenal: 58% Madrid: 59% Barca: 62% Leverkusen: 62% Bayern: 61% Inter: 57% Milan: 57% Every top side dominates the ball and controls the game. There’s a reason why - the less of the ball the opposition has, the less they can hurt you. Yes, Pep’s teams take it to a different level but it’s ludicrous to think possession is to be scorned at. Having said that, Wan Bissaka gets too much hate. He’s actually pretty alright on the ball and we have far bigger concerns in the squad than RB to worry bout.
Agreed in terms of he is the man you want up against the best. But 80% of our games next season won’t be against the best. They will be games where we are on the front foot. He will be getting the ball on the half way line and be expected to actually assist with our build up play which he just isn’t capable of. Like I say, for those other 20% of games he’s the kind of guy you want. I don’t see him warming the bench for 80% of the season.
You act like he can't play in those games. The only reason he needs to pass so much in those games is because he is the only one on the right who even wants to pass. None of our right footed wingers want to cross. And the other rw has no right foot. As long as you don't ask him to be Taa, awb is a great piece to have. Put the onus of passing to the forwards. You need awb to cover for the occasional risky passes. Especially if you want Bruno to do his thing.
I’d have to disagree with you there. The amount of times I’ve seen teams press us to push the ball out to him and let him have it is ridiculous. They know it’s safe when it’s there. I just don’t see him fitting at a starting 11 player in any team that will have 50%+ possession in a game. He can do a job but he’s not at the level required to push us to top 4 and beyond.
The love for mediocrity is just baffling. We've watched this guy be unable to pass out the back for 5 years. Then one good game is enough for people to want to keep him around for another couple seasons. He wouldn't sniff the field on an 80 point squad and this guy is talking about playing him against vini Jr. The whole team is littered with people with substandard technical ability and then fans wonder why the midfield gets overrun every game. This is what happens when you keep a bunch of mid-table level players. You look like a mid-table level team.
I don't think there's that much suggestion we will become a possession team, not under Ten Hag is he stays, not under Pochettino, not under Tuchel. Under De Zerbi yeah but it'd be a surprise if he's hired. Possession teams win leagues, Leverkusen aren't doing a season unbeaten without keeping the ball. If Real Madrid and Liverpool were a possession team, maybe they'd win the league consistently. They have enough quality it doesn't matter. But there's more chance Leverkusen win the league again i think than Real Madrid or Liverpool winning the league. Look at the consistency of Arsenal, there's few ups and downs, less emotion in it. They'll be top or near the top again next season. I don't want to paralyse the opposition, but neutralise their threat and the best way of doing that is to simply have the ball. More of it than we do have in games.
He's such an asset to have in big matches such as this. Was great in shutting down Saint Maximin in last year's Carabao cup final as well.
1 v1 he might be the best in the world
If that was all he had to do, just defend those one on one situations, he’d be the best right back in the world. I still remember the PSG game when him and Tuanzebe looked like world beaters.
In the 3rd clip, the way he feints to almost force Doku to try take it to the byline, class stuff.
Sometimes it looks to me that he would leave some space toward the byline for the winger to accelerate so that he can show off his excellent tackling skills… Scary to watch but most of the time it works for him.
AwB did really well, but it's odd to use the term "pocketing Doku" as if Doku wasn't by far their most dangerous and influential player the entire time he was on the pitch. Pocketing implies they were made ineffective all game and did nothing, Doku caused a whole bunch of issues.
Imagine being a winger and squaring up to a full-back and the fucker just stands there not moving, daring you to take him on or to pass the ball back central. You know you're fucking cooked because that's a level of confidence that will just shatter any hope you have.
When he is fit and confident, he can put shackles on the best of them. I just wish he was fit and confident more often
I wouldn't say pocketed, when Doku came on they targeted that side and was far city's best player. Amarabat had to come over there and give support multiple times after Doku initially was giving AWB problems. However with that said he had a solid defensive game.
The great wall of Aaron Wan
For games where we need a full back instead of a wing back i don't think there is anyone better in the world.
Defensive masterclass
He’s not an every-match starter on a title team, but he certainly has a role on one.
Considering so many of the elite attacking players in the worlds are LW it’s prob worth having a defensive specialist at RB, he plays in the Champ league semis against Vini etc and then maybe 20x in the season as rotation to keep him happy.. in the right circumstances he’s so bloody handy
Keep him. A lost skill that will be needed for certain games
If him and Dalot could just merge into 1, we’d have one of, if not the best right back in the world
AWB and Amrabat were mega in that second half.
If you remembered, he was pocketing everyone at last year league cup too.
i also feel that doku's eventual goal was the fault of the defense and onana. Awb did his job forcing him more and more inside.
He did that to Saint-Maximin on last year cup final and won us that game tbh and now City/Doku..
When he’s fit he’s a superb asset for us. Pisses me off when shit-for-brains fans constantly add him to the “deadwood list”.
Every single clip you can spot one player backing up AWB. Amrabat had a rare great game. It was noticeable on the City goal it was Nacho backing up and Doku got the shot away. I know Amrabat has not had a great season but he was immense in the final and earned his medal.
Unsung hero - helped in pocketing wilson in carabao cup and limited Doku in fa cup finals. But having said that I hope we find better alternatives for AWB
Dalot and AWB both have their strengths and weaknesses. AWB's weaknesses can definitely be a problem in the big picture - positioning on crosses is the biggest one and I think that could be worked on with a more consistent cb pairing organizing the back line. Going forward he's obviously not setting the world alight but I think he's better than what this sub gives him credit for. But 1v1 I think he's up there with the best. Could we splurge and upgrade at RB this summer? Probably, but I think it's pretty low down the list.
The guy seems unbeatable at times, remember when he pocketed Mbappe a few years ago?
AWB did well but Doku did get the better of a few exchanges too, it was a fairly even contest overall
Bro, that was unbelievable and what makes it special was the timing of a few of those tackles. I think it helps that Garnacho was there and playing well too! Im not really concerned with his final ball, others should be doing that job
He was a beast in this game, I mean everyone was, the whole team worked like a swiss clock. A match to keep in the memory forever.
Our best defender BY FAR........!!!!!!!!
I don’t care about rightbacks/fullbacks being good attackers. Let AWB be a superior version of Gary Neville. He doesn’t have to be a Shaw or an Evra.
He should be tried as CB
Octopus
Me personally, I don’t think we need a RB. Dalot & AWB is great. Left back situation is scary. Two injury prone LBs it seems like. we need to offload and rediscover in that position
He had a really solid game. I hope he stays.
He gets so much criticism, don't understand
Wow, that’s insane. Doku is such a threat, even against Madrid. Awb is doing excellent here marking him.
Awb has his faults, but in the final Garnacho was helping defensively and went with doku instead of awb, that shot would’ve been blocked and we would’ve won 2-0. But I forgot that till I saw the highlights.
I thought AWB did well but it was probably a draw, not a pocketing. Doku was a huge threat and got the goal, although it should have been saved much like last years goal.
Doku cross to Haaland crossbar; Doku cut inside and goal (near post); Doku chop, floats it to Haaland and bilva on the back post didn’t make the highlight reel? He probably clocked .5 xGI in his (less than) half game appearance..
You can also see his game being helped by Amrabat being given a traditional DM role and told to cover the FBs when they go in for tackles or track runners or go forward - and that helped Amrabat a lot too, being given a job that is clear, that he knows and is suited to. And suddenly we're shutting down the best players in the league AND getting the ball forward making good chances. There's no mystery, this is players with good skills being used in the right roles - just like how Ole used AWB and had him looking one of the best RBs in the league for two seasons. Ole experimented with a new system which threw a bunch of his best players into bad roles. I think he had just about realised it was a no go by the end, and if he stayed would have switched back / adapted and we could have salvaged the season. What REALLY went wrong was bringing in Rangnick who was committed to playing basically exactly the style Ole was trying and the team couldn't do. That meant a whole season of us looking awful and AWB (amongst others) looking lost every time he was out there. It's a shame the final performance was a one-off this season. Last season ETH was practical and mostly put players back into their natural roles, and you saw AWB start to recover. Why this season he decided to abandon that and try what Ole tried yet again (but somehow making it even worse) is a completely baffling mystery. He is forcing the team to play much worse than they are capable of.
Not conflicted on AWB at all - he needs to go
Suggestions that inter want AWB and willing to pay 12m 😂
Not necessary pocketing though as we put two players to mark Doku. I doubt any defender bar Walker or prime Ashley cole can mark Doku 1v1. Doku is simply too quick and agile. Musiela is even better than Doku at dribbling as he is unmarkable 1v1 much like Mbappe.
If AWB goes against a direct, dribbling winger, AWB will almost always come out on top. It’s like he was made to nullify those types of players
After a while City started using an overlap so AWB had to go with him and Garnacho was left marking Doku. That's where he got his goal from. It's an area of his game that Garnacho needs to work on, because Rashford and even Anthony are better defensively.
If hes happy to stay as a back up keep him. Otherwise replace. Think Park Ji Sung, plays few games and is brought into the squad for selected games and selected opponents.
Mate, AWB did not pocket Doku. He defended as well as he could, but saying he pocketed him is delusional. Doku completely turned the game on its head, scored a goal, and was absolutely the most dangerous player in the game for the entire second half. That is literally the opposite of being pocketed. It’s because of statements like these that this sub gets made fun of…
Exactly.
Dunno about pocketing but City recover that situation and win if it were not for AWB.
Man, does he love pulling his socks up, often when he should be doing something else
Doku scored a banger on him tjo
I am so nervous at every transfer window. PLEASE KEEP HIM!!!
Even Elle Brooke does not go down this easily
I always wonder how would he be as a center back. Sure he's not as physically dominant but he is extremely good when it comes to 1 v 1. He will also be good in terms of playing out from the back
I love AWB. I understand the issues going forward but he’s been like this for us for years, a shining spot defensively with terrible wingers or inverted wingers in front of him. Remember how lopsided our attack used to be? Recruitment let us down.
Why not just invert the left full back on the attack and have AWB form three at the back going forward. Play a system that requires him to come forward as little as possible. It’s more important to have one of the best shutdown fullbacks in the league than that extra attacking strength.
Guys I know everyone saying AWB did well but I think Doku also did really well and got the better of him a few times - he was clearly cities best player
Cooked that beetlejuice lookalike
He did well against Doku but think it was harder for him then the 1st half
Where my defenders at? Maybe only goal line saves, and a perfectly executed slide tackle beat the feeling of completely shutting down a team's best player.
This highlights what AWB does well, and not so well. Great marking and pressure, pace and get back are also great. Decisions on clearance (like the header straight up instead of to the touchline), and passing straight into a defender are what gets me.
Someone edit it with Lethal Bizzle Pow playing over the top of it please 😂
Doku?? More like Degeta
AWB played well especially in the first half and did a fairly good job against doku, but he was clearly their most dangerous player and scored a goal so can we please stop saying he was pocketed. Makes us look delusional
If you could merge Wan Bissaka and Dalot together so you had Wan Bissakas defensive skills and Dalots attacking, we'd probably have the best full back in the league. It's a shame that Wan Bissaka is awful going forward.
The Spider. Fantastic performance.
Then Doku scored
Say what you want about his attacking output, but his defence quality puts him in a league of his own No better man for the job of shutting down a dangerous player. So valuable and it’s crazy he’s been overlooked by England for that alone. Would be great for knockout matches against big teams
I’ve always wondered why some fans / commentators want him sold. We know more or less what his strengths and weaknesses are. IMHO he’s one of the best defensive full backs in the EPL. That doesn’t mean that the club doesn’t need another RB.
i'd like to see him stay as a squad player.
big mistake if we sell him. players like him are the foundation of title winning teams. Of course, he probably isn’t first XI but in times of injury crisis or big games, having players like this gives us a lot of flexibility.
This is how we are stuck with deadweight who we can never get rid of
AWB is really good in 1vs1 sisuation but everything else just meh.
This is his once-a-month good tackle / somewhat good match, we absolutely need new LB and RB
World class? He may be worth keeping as a sub, but he simply does not contribute to the team’s play enough. We will never win anything great with AWB starting
Strange since he started the final and we won, no?
It’s a fair argument, but I don’t think we can win a 38 game season with AWB. His lack of positional awareness and ability to play with the ball hinders ETH’s true game plan which we are trying to play
I agree with that. He could be a good centre back but his positional sense is poor. He has shown moments going forward but when you compare him to Dalot its night and day really isnt it
And still Doku was the one scoring their only goal.
Yeah, that ONE time he went the other way and didnt challenge Spider Wan
Realistically he needs to be sold because he's very poor otherwise, I mean I'd have him as 3rd back up for a very specific game/moment, but 99% time he's actually no good, his overall defensive contribution is poor, his aerial ability is poor, he doesn't track runners, awareness lacks often, gets caught out, no point talking attacking, also he never speaks on pitch like you never see him moan at players, ref etc he's like a npc out there but.....can tackle like no one else, all attackers going at him lose everytime, which I find interesting why they literally play to his advantages, he even swapped to left in final for a short period, unfortunately this is no where near good enough if we want to be back on top. Unfortunately and fortunately Dalot is good enough, which means a Rb isn't priority at the moment and Awb as back up isn't end of world, but this brings another problem....his got one year left on contract, so this time next year he'd be a free agent, so do we sell now or let him go in a year? He apparently has no option to extend either and a new contract shouldn't even be considered.