Is left back really a problem?

No, or at least not the biggest problem for our team. Zinchenko there is fine, sure we could do better, but having the best LB in the world there wouldn't make us improve that much. What we need is 2 elite offensive players (a 9 + winger/ offensive MC).
 
Personally don't think there are many attainable left-backs who we can say with confidence will be enough of an upgrade to justify the price. In fact, now Alaba's signed for Madrid I'm not sure there's any.
 
Still no. And still for the same reasons.

Zinchenko is as good as anybody for us there and I believe he's going to get even better.

The argument for having 2 fit left backs doesn't work because it drastically upsets the balance of the defence.

Let's say we replace mendy with a left back who is fit all season, he and zinchenko exclusively play that position then.

that means cancelo doesn't get games there, walker in turn gets less games to balance out cancelo having less game time.

laporte and ake both don't get any game time there either and so they get really unhappy and Pep has to try and satisfy both by regularly rotating out the centre backs which means less time for stones and Dias and a very likely unsettled and inconsistent defence.

The defensive unit is just about as balanced as it can get given the quality of it as an 8. we would be mad to tamper with it now in search of perfection when it's far more likely one signing could disrupt the entire cohesion and leave us with 2/3 players unsettled by the end of the season.

I've said it before, mendy being unavailable so often and not playing well enough to warrant regular game time when he is, is a blessing in disguise for the unity of the defensive unit and its why I believe we won't be looking for a left back.
 
Turner92 said:
How can anyone watch the game last night and not think we need an actual leftback?
Click to expand...
I really can't understand it. I tried, really. I think it's because Zin is not playing in his natural position and he cost very little money, and in general he looks like a very nice guy. He can be a reasonable backup, I'll give it to him. But we need to aim big, for excellence and nothing less. The only position that we have not had a WC player for many many years.
 
Wouldn't say it's the problem it was, but we need to upgrade that position. It's an area we've been standing still for a while and as much as I love zinchenko and want him kept around, mendy can certainly be improved upon.

With the issues we have had with the position over the last few years, it's the clearest pathway for an academy prospect to break through. Where are all the decent left backs in the eds? I still think Angelino could have been handled better.
 
Turner92 said:
How can anyone watch the game last night and not think we need an actual leftback?
Click to expand...

The problem on the goal was all of our defenders being dragged across, Walker goes running to their LWB (?) in a ball he didn’t get the whole game (maybe told to chase the GK - LWB pass by pep tbf) ... Stones was then dragged over covering Walker, Dias followed Werner leaving a massive gap.

Also I think with a proper DM that ball either gets intercepted or the DM pushes back into CB covering the space.

Thought Zinchenko did good last night fwiw, the goal comes from us not having a DM on the pitch capable of spotting danger to drop in, leaving the whole back line wide open for that pass through.

Unsure who’s on the market this summer ready to step in? maybe Hernandez from AC who’s easily 50m +, other than that I’m not totally sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.