3 | Rúben Dias - 2021/22 Performances

[kaz7]

Yet he was the one who made the game-costing error.

Playing without Stones or Laporte exposes how average he is on the ball aswell - if Laporte goes, we’re going to need another very good one in, one in because it’s going to be a tricky season for him. Koulibaly might finally be gettable for a reasonable price now; on the form of the past year at club and international level it’s Stones +1 IMO.

Lol, sniff

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Yet he was the one who made the game-costing error.

Rewatch what happens.

Initially we're in decent shape with Aki covering an advancing Son. Meanwhile, Mendi is about 25 yards behind the play and isn't busting his ass to get back on defense - he's at a canter. Mendy eventually catches up with play but then continues his run deep into our box to take up a mystery position guarding no one.

Aki shows Son inside - probably better to show Son down the line - but Son is two-footed so no clear error. Plus Aki might have thought that Mendy might help out on the inside.

Dias is in a deeper position - which I think is actually good/OK. Ake and Mendi were much closer to Son and should have dealt with the threat. If a shot comes in - which it did - Dias is in position to try and block it. Dias didn't block the shot - but it was coming at speed. I find little to fault in Dias' play; maybe Ake should have shown Son to the byline - but no big error here either. Meanwhile, Mendy, 25 yards behind the play - manages to catch up - and then continues well into the box to guard no one when there's an attacker one-on-one with Aki at the penalty box line.

Mendy is mostly to blame for the goal IMO.

To make it even more obvious - Mendy's defensive play from this point on in the sequence is world class stupid:

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

Thought he had a very good game bar the goal, and even that I'm not sure it was the hugest of errors. I also thought for the goal it was obvious that Mendy should have come in and covered Son coming inside, but obviously the clown didn't have the sense to do this. Ruben bails enough people out enough of the time, maybe he could have been bailed out himself for once by Ederson or Ben Men... nevermind

No surprise to see neville going in hard on Ruben. He wants us to doubt him, he's trying to heap pressure on him because he knows Riuben is good and a huge threat to united. There were numerous errors with that goal, but neville chose to go in hard on Ruben and he did that for a (very calculated) reason; if he can dent his confidence and make Ruben wobble it is a major blow to us, and that's exactly what neville is trying to do.

Another example - I like Ferran Torres but he isn't the man to lead our line. Some of his runs were good the other day but Neville was making out as though he was prime (real) Ronaldo. He's doing this because he wants us to be happy with Torres and not to sign a proper striker. Be very careful of red nev and his snide tricks. Stick by Ruben

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Put another way in terms of the goal - I think it would have been a mistake for Dias to go and challenge Son. Ake was on him - and Mendy should have been on him too. 3 players? With that sort of all-out commitment - 3-on-1 there's going to be 2 open players somewhere on the pitch. Two to stop Son - the closest two - and then the third to take up a deeper role in case the first two fail - perfect.

And in this perfect defense - at least Ake and Dias did the sensible thing.

 

[mccity]

Aké

Mendy

That's how those two names are spelt.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Aké

Mendy

That's how those two names are spelt.

Do I get any credit for Dias? :-) - and edited original post - sans the "apostrophe" over Ake's "e" - too much work.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

That pass for Mahrez’s goal was absolutely delightful

 

[Legal Alien]

I luv this guy, he is a rock.

He looks the perfect combination of a modern ball playing CH and an old time hard tackling, ball winning CH.

His ball for Mahrez's goal was brilliant.

When Dinho leaves, Ruben should be the next club captain.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

 

[samuelyeboah]

really good as usual