2 | Kyle Walker - 2024/25

[Alan Harper's Tash]

That was my thinking. But Walker should have the experience to get his body in the way and buy a foul if he’s losing a foot race.

IMO anyway.

100% agreed, as should Rico when he was in the same situation in the first half. Wait until you’re directly between the ball and Traore, slow down, feel the touch and fall over.

Foul given every time.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Traore is probably the fastest winger on the planet, it's not a massive red flag to get burned for pace by him. The concerning thing there is he was totally reliant on his pace, he should have positioned himself better to make Traore go wide or go the very long way around which gives walker the extra yard for him to get there. It was the defending of a player who has never learnt to defend without being the fastest player. I don't think him at cb is necessarily a bad idea on the face of it, I see the merits in it and it gets both him and Lewis in the side but he just doesn't have the concentration levels or the know how to play it.

When he came on he spent far too long pointing and trying to organise the defense instead of just doing his job and trusting the others to do theirs. He's not the only one though, Dias was doing the same at times, gvardiol was the only one in the back 4 who was concentrating on doing his job first.

 

[Coljj]

That was my thinking. But Walker should have the experience to get his body in the way and buy a foul if he’s losing a foot race.

IMO anyway.

He's not caught up enough to the ball to do that plus he'd seen Rico try and fail doing that in the 1st half.

 

[Dazzle84]

I think he's shot to be honest, we could have taken the opportunity to replace him last summer.

 

[edinburgh123]

Traore is fast, yes, but Walker has been getting burned for pace for well over a year now. I mean, it wasn't even close between them. Play Akanji at RB, if anyone. He's done at this level.

Today is the day if Kyle wrote a book (I appreciate he probably can’t write - so i mean ghost wrote..) he would say age caught up with him even though it was against basically a 100m runner who chose football rather than athletics

 

[Tevez City]

Can we replace him with Adama Traore ?

 

[Crooked_rain]

Traore is probably the fastest winger on the planet,

No doubt

I don't care about measured stats and whatnot, I don't think anyone can live with him at full speed.

He would smoke Walker, prime or 35.

I always remember that sprinter Darren Campbell did some work with Traore when he was at Boro and he advised him to actually slow down during games because his speed affected his ability to kick the ball off that speed. He said he probably could've been a sprinter had he trained from a young age.

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

I think he's shot to be honest, we could have taken the opportunity to replace him last summer.

He's been a great athlete and made a great career out of football because of it, but he's always relied on his athleticism, once that's gone there's nothing left.

 

[Dax777]

Yeh he’s done. His recovery pace was the only thing he had going for him

It is always a sad day when she robs you finally of what was once yours :(

I feel for him.

 

[Dax777]

100% agreed, as should Rico when he was in the same situation in the first half. Wait until you’re directly between the ball and Traore, slow down, feel the touch and fall over.

Foul given every time.

In fairness, watching that, Traore didn't seem to run in a straight line. He was so confident of beating Kyle that he ran a step or 2 sideways to avoid him and still beat him ;(