Pep needs to work out what on earth he wants from his wide players, and the blueprint simply has to change.
Starting with the attackers - we’ve been recruiting or starting players who are (fairly described as) slightly. They’re quick, but they’re not strong. Marmoush is something of an exception but that’s because he’s of a normal build - not a strong one. Otherwise Doku, Bobb, Savinho, Bernardo, Foden (although he seems slightly better at retaining through pure tenacity) are a certain blueprint of a winger. The number of times we lose the ball through these players is not great and undermines us in the middle. Losing the ball is traditionally a trade off for wingers - acceptable, because they take players on (which is a risk) so it trades off and you hope the net result is a positive. But… they don’t really take anyone on! They lose the ball tonnes for players who’s main outlet is either a whipped ball in to no one, or a pass back to centre midfielders who (without an effective wide player) trip over themselves.
Meanwhile, Lewis at the back as a slightly and weak full back, on the same side as Bobb, makes zero sense. He’s the sort of player who, if sold to say Crystal Palace, I’d lap up seeing on the team sheet as a weak link in defence. He’s the sort of player who you gain confidence against when playing 5 a side because they’re weak - the sort you look up and see and think, I’ll have a go.
To think that we might be selling Savinho, to acquire another ‘blueprint’ player in Rodrygo (allegedly) doesn’t fill me with confidence.
I know there are faults elsewhere on the pitch, but I truly think they’re caused by an existential crisis of what to do with wide players. It undermines the middle in a game where I felt Stones, Dias and Haaland played well. Reijnders, Cherki and Bernardo couldn’t support in the middle because they were being pulled out wide to support players who couldn’t retain the ball or hold their all. And Trafford had a bit of a tough time but stronger fullbacks would have disabled the press that caused this.
It’s a recruitment issue that won’t cost us every week, because the quality of our squad should get us over the line on many occasions, but which will cost us in games against great tacticians and top athletes. Both of which we encountered today in a top and well drilled spurs side