Just seen Bruges's goal. Cretinous by Nunes. Cretinous.
Skip could tell him this, from on high, because I saw him do it at Maine Road over and over again: first awareness you have to have as a full back is, who's behind you as back up? No-one? It's a boulevard? Then you stand off your player a bit, jockeying him while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
Pep, Nunes is not a defender. Whatever else he may be. Further up the pitch… maybe. Not there.
Oh, and maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but to anyone who's seen an angle from behind the goal, can't Ed be doing a bit better on that shot? At least a hand to it? It's a genuine question, because I've only seen the shot from the far side from it.
And I'd just add — Nunes has been trashed on here over and over, and anybody who looks at my post history will see that I have defended him. I'm convinced there's a skilful player there (albeit not one who thinks too deeply, perhaps, about what he's doing). Just not in defence.
But you know, it's Pep who keeps doing this. Does it need to be said for the umpteenth time? The best coach in the world, bar none. But it's weird how full back seems to be his blind spot. He thought he'd improvise Delph as a full back. Moderately successful, and then not at all. Zin as a full back. Moderately successful, but never properly convincing. Now it's Nunes. Just hanging on in the role, by a thread. You can see it. Kyle was for a long time a genuine full back — he actually couldn't do much else, but that was fine — and in his pomp he was imperious. He had a very particular set of skills that made him a nightmare for people like Vinicius…
Who else does Pep have as options? On site, not much, true. We must go out into the market this summer for full backs. On both sides, in fact.
