Some good points early on but the second half makes absolutely no football sense. "By contrast - Gundo, Rodri, KDB, Silva, Grealish, Mahrez, Foden, etc., are all far, far better in these situations." not at left back they are not, have we ever seen 1 of them play left back or even close, it's a false comparison. Where does pressure on a left back mostly come from ? imo primarily in front of him, so what choices has he got ? shield the ball until a team member gives him an option ?, try to dribble past the pressuring player, near his own goal ? boot it over the touchline he is almost standing on ?, try to kick it through the opponents body ?. Not good options with an opponent close by, best option imo is put your body between the opponent and the ball and to retain possession pass to a colleague not under pressure, which to a wide defender means backwards almost always. Simple Pep ideology, pass and move to receive a pass, it may mean pass back to go forward. My observation is that he is very successful at playing a pass up the line just before an attacker gets too close to him. For such a short, small framed player he punches well above his weight most of the games he plays.