14 | Aymeric Laporte - 2022/23 Performances

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In terms of attributes, our most talented defender. There's almost no physical or technical ability which he lacks in, except perhaps the ability to consistently stay injury free. He's good in the air, in the opposition's box as well as his own, he has excellent recovery pace, he's strong in the tackle, calm on the ball, and has great distribution over short and long range. He can whip a ball into the channel for one winger to run onto, or hit it crossfield to the other to spread the play.

The main problem for him is concentration. On occasion, he can lose his runner, or mishit a pass, or mistime a jump for a header or a dive into a tackle. Normally, he can bail himself out using his prodigious talent, but in the very biggest games when the margins are so tight, it may not be enough.

If Laporte irons out those little ricks in his game, he has a genuine shout to be the best defender in the world. Until then, you just keep waiting anxiously for when he slips up.
 
Ric said:
This is great to hear:
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It is nice to hear, but in 20/21 it only took 6 weeks as the third choice behind Stones and Dias for him to start talking to the press about moving.

So I don’t think you can rely on
Statements like that from Laporte
 
rodsantos said:
In terms of attributes, our most talented defender. There's almost no physical or technical ability which he lacks in, except perhaps the ability to consistently stay injury free. He's good in the air, in the opposition's box as well as his own, he has excellent recovery pace, he's strong in the tackle, calm on the ball, and has great distribution over short and long range. He can whip a ball into the channel for one winger to run onto, or hit it crossfield to the other to spread the play.

The main problem for him is concentration. On occasion, he can lose his runner, or mishit a pass, or mistime a jump for a header or a dive into a tackle. Normally, he can bail himself out using his prodigious talent, but in the very biggest games when the margins are so tight, it may not be enough.

If Laporte irons out those little ricks in his game, he has a genuine shout to be the best defender in the world. Until then, you just keep waiting anxiously for when he slips up.
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This is spot on and an accurate assessment. I was particularly impressed the way Laporte played through the pain barrier at the end of last season.

It's hard to leave one of our top 3 CBs on the bench, as they are the the best English, Spanish and Portuguese centre backs around at the present time. We have solved the problem by handing Stones a £60 million contract, effectively double what Aymeric and Ruben are on, and last season he was happy (when fit) to play when he got chance. I doubt anyone will be able to offer Stones the same terms.
 
kismet said:
This is spot on and an accurate assessment. I was particularly impressed the way Laporte played through the pain barrier at the end of last season.

It's hard to leave one of our top 3 CBs on the bench, as they are the the best English, Spanish and Portuguese centre backs around at the present time. We have solved the problem by handing Stones a £60 million contract, effectively double what Aymeric and Ruben are on, and last season he was happy (when fit) to play when he got chance. I doubt anyone will be able to offer Stones the same terms.
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I think Stones wants to play when he's fit, wants to play more than he did last season, but equally is aware his repeat muscular injuries make it difficult to build a defence around him across a whole season.

Ruben's a little younger than the other two and still has something to prove. And Laporte obviously has to feel like the main man in order to be happy to stay.

Stones is in the lucky position of being technically good and mentally stable enough to be able to slot in whenever he's needed, and to be pretty much guaranteed a spot in his international squad if he's getting any minutes at all.

I'm sure he'll be fighting for more playing time as long as he's fit this season, but the above facts combined with that hefty contract mean he's very unlikely to go spoiling for a move if he's on the bench a little more than he'd like.

For what it's worth I do rate Laporte and will be forever grateful for those monumental efforts at the end of last season. But I do wish he'd acknowledge he's not the only world class centre-back at our club, and be happy to be a key part of that team rather than looking to prove he's the best of them all the time.
 
Lauz that's a very good assessment. How do you rate our 4 CB's ability wise. They are all very good but at 5 foot 10 inches I think Ake can be out jumped.

Laporte in a couple of games each year, often key games for some reason can have a tendency to make the odd error but distribution with his left foot is immense.

I find it hard to split all 3. What amazed me was that Stones over the last 6 years due to injuries etc has averaged only 20 games per season. !!!

Dias first season was imho was better than last year for some reason.
 
kismet said:
Lauz that's a very good assessment. How do you rate our 4 CB's ability wise. They are all very good but at 5 foot 10 inches I think Ake can be out jumped.

Laporte in a couple of games each year, often key games for some reason can have a tendency to make the odd error but distribution with his left foot is immense.

I find it hard to split all 3. What amazed me was that Stones over the last 6 years due to injuries etc has averaged only 20 games per season. !!!

Dias first season was imho was better than last year for some reason.
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I think Stones is probably our most complete centre back in terms of positioning, tackling, passing, ball-carrying, aerial ability, and since 2020 or thereabouts he's ironed out a lot of the errors in his game (not to say he'll never make any mistakes, no-one's perfect, but they happen less than they used to and when they do happen they don't seem to destroy him mentally like they used to). His injury troubles are a crying shame because I think he's only consistent fitness and a good run of form away from being absolutely everything you could want in a centre-back. Needs to be very carefully managed and wrapped in cotton wool in order to be available for every match we want him in. What I really like about him over the past couple of years is his ability to effectively mark a top striker out of a game. He has the skill and concentration to stick to that task for a full match and restrict that striker to feeding on scraps. I don't think any of our other defenders do that job anywhere near as well.

I see Laporte as quite similar to Stones, almost like the left-sided version of him. I might rate his passing a little higher than Stones's, and Stones's dribbling a little higher than Laporte's, but it's fine margins. Both very good players who play a similar role. I think Laporte is slightly more error-prone, and slightly more likely to let those errors get to him and turn one mistake into a poor match.

Dias is not quite so good as the other two in terms of bringing the ball forward from the back (although he's still good at this) but he adds a controlled aggression that neither of the other two has much of, and also the vocal leadership and organisation, which is vital especially in tough matches. Goes to ground just a little too easily in the tackle for my liking. But strong, powerful, puts his body on the line.

I don't think Aké's quite as good as the other three. He doesn't have much by way of obvious weaknesses but equally doesn't quite hit the same highs in the strengths. Despite his height I think he's very good in the air, his height would only be a concern if we were up against a striker that was both excessively tall and a strong header of the ball. Against a decent header of 6'2", say, I'd back Aké to defend as well as anyone.

Everyone being fit, Stones/Dias is my preferred CB partnership. It seems the best match of both skillsets and personalities - when they went on that run playing together in 20/21 it was obvious they knew their roles well and could rely on each other on the pitch and that translated to some fantastic performances.

But there's no duo of the four that would give me major cause for concern in most matches. If I was Pep I'd rotate heavily, not just to balance fitness concerns and game time requirements but because different opponents are sometimes best dealt with through slightly different defensive approaches, and each player is more suited to some approaches than others.
 
Lauz9888 said:
I think Stones is probably our most complete centre back in terms of positioning, tackling, passing, ball-carrying, aerial ability, and since 2020 or thereabouts he's ironed out a lot of the errors in his game (not to say he'll never make any mistakes, no-one's perfect, but they happen less than they used to and when they do happen they don't seem to destroy him mentally like they used to). His injury troubles are a crying shame because I think he's only consistent fitness and a good run of form away from being absolutely everything you could want in a centre-back. Needs to be very carefully managed and wrapped in cotton wool in order to be available for every match we want him in. What I really like about him over the past couple of years is his ability to effectively mark a top striker out of a game. He has the skill and concentration to stick to that task for a full match and restrict that striker to feeding on scraps. I don't think any of our other defenders do that job anywhere near as well.

I see Laporte as quite similar to Stones, almost like the left-sided version of him. I might rate his passing a little higher than Stones's, and Stones's dribbling a little higher than Laporte's, but it's fine margins. Both very good players who play a similar role. I think Laporte is slightly more error-prone, and slightly more likely to let those errors get to him and turn one mistake into a poor match.

Dias is not quite so good as the other two in terms of bringing the ball forward from the back (although he's still good at this) but he adds a controlled aggression that neither of the other two has much of, and also the vocal leadership and organisation, which is vital especially in tough matches. Goes to ground just a little too easily in the tackle for my liking. But strong, powerful, puts his body on the line.

I don't think Aké's quite as good as the other three. He doesn't have much by way of obvious weaknesses but equally doesn't quite hit the same highs in the strengths. Despite his height I think he's very good in the air, his height would only be a concern if we were up against a striker that was both excessively tall and a strong header of the ball. Against a decent header of 6'2", say, I'd back Aké to defend as well as anyone.

Everyone being fit, Stones/Dias is my preferred CB partnership. It seems the best match of both skillsets and personalities - when they went on that run playing together in 20/21 it was obvious they knew their roles well and could rely on each other on the pitch and that translated to some fantastic performances.

But there's no duo of the four that would give me major cause for concern in most matches. If I was Pep I'd rotate heavily, not just to balance fitness concerns and game time requirements but because different opponents are sometimes best dealt with through slightly different defensive approaches, and each player is more suited to some approaches than others.
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Excellent piece thanks.
 
Lauz9888 said:
I think Stones is probably our most complete centre back in terms of positioning, tackling, passing, ball-carrying, aerial ability, and since 2020 or thereabouts he's ironed out a lot of the errors in his game (not to say he'll never make any mistakes, no-one's perfect, but they happen less than they used to and when they do happen they don't seem to destroy him mentally like they used to). His injury troubles are a crying shame because I think he's only consistent fitness and a good run of form away from being absolutely everything you could want in a centre-back. Needs to be very carefully managed and wrapped in cotton wool in order to be available for every match we want him in. What I really like about him over the past couple of years is his ability to effectively mark a top striker out of a game. He has the skill and concentration to stick to that task for a full match and restrict that striker to feeding on scraps. I don't think any of our other defenders do that job anywhere near as well.

I see Laporte as quite similar to Stones, almost like the left-sided version of him. I might rate his passing a little higher than Stones's, and Stones's dribbling a little higher than Laporte's, but it's fine margins. Both very good players who play a similar role. I think Laporte is slightly more error-prone, and slightly more likely to let those errors get to him and turn one mistake into a poor match.

Dias is not quite so good as the other two in terms of bringing the ball forward from the back (although he's still good at this) but he adds a controlled aggression that neither of the other two has much of, and also the vocal leadership and organisation, which is vital especially in tough matches. Goes to ground just a little too easily in the tackle for my liking. But strong, powerful, puts his body on the line.

I don't think Aké's quite as good as the other three. He doesn't have much by way of obvious weaknesses but equally doesn't quite hit the same highs in the strengths. Despite his height I think he's very good in the air, his height would only be a concern if we were up against a striker that was both excessively tall and a strong header of the ball. Against a decent header of 6'2", say, I'd back Aké to defend as well as anyone.

Everyone being fit, Stones/Dias is my preferred CB partnership. It seems the best match of both skillsets and personalities - when they went on that run playing together in 20/21 it was obvious they knew their roles well and could rely on each other on the pitch and that translated to some fantastic performances.

But there's no duo of the four that would give me major cause for concern in most matches. If I was Pep I'd rotate heavily, not just to balance fitness concerns and game time requirements but because different opponents are sometimes best dealt with through slightly different defensive approaches, and each player is more suited to some approaches than others.
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Agree with every word of this.

Think we'll look back on having this four in the same way we look back on having Aguero, Tevez, Ballotelli and Dzeko in the years where we have not had a top class striker.
 
rodsantos said:
In terms of attributes, our most talented defender. There's almost no physical or technical ability which he lacks in, except perhaps the ability to consistently stay injury free. He's good in the air, in the opposition's box as well as his own, he has excellent recovery pace, he's strong in the tackle, calm on the ball, and has great distribution over short and long range. He can whip a ball into the channel for one winger to run onto, or hit it crossfield to the other to spread the play.

The main problem for him is concentration. On occasion, he can lose his runner, or mishit a pass, or mistime a jump for a header or a dive into a tackle. Normally, he can bail himself out using his prodigious talent, but in the very biggest games when the margins are so tight, it may not be enough.

If Laporte irons out those little ricks in his game, he has a genuine shout to be the best defender in the world. Until then, you just keep waiting anxiously for when he slips up.
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Those ‘little ricks’ prove very costly. I really struggle to recognise the attributes you use to describe in Laporte- against top teams h’s found wanting.
 
nellyonthewing said:
Those ‘little ricks’ prove very costly. I really struggle to recognise the attributes you use to describe in Laporte- against top teams h’s found wanting.
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I though the longer the season went on last year the better Laporte became and was back to his pre injury levels, he became a leader again, in saying that I think this will be his last season with us before returning to Spain.
 
noirish said:
The more I think about Laporte, the more I appreciate what he did last year, playing through injury and all that. It’s easy to forget him but imo he was one of the biggest reasons why we lifted the title last year. Ake’s importance shouldn’t be underestimated either.
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He seems only get appreciation he deserved when he isn't around to plays, really shame on that.
 
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