Is left back really a problem?

Round Pegs in round holes and all that!! I think it would add balance to the side to have a 'natural' left back. Zinch has done a fantastic job but from time to time, his positional play is found wanting. Teams also target our left knowing this as they did last year (Rags and Leeds).
 
I guess we seem to be giving up on Mendy..I actually think it is a shame because the guy seems to love City, bit of a Micah character..truthfully would love him to fulfil his previous potential, really like him as a person..I do feel the abuse he gets is unfair.. he has had horrific injuries which can scupper a career.. look at the King and Lake.
 
Berts Neck said:
I guess we seem to be giving up on Mendy..I actually think it is a shame because the guy seems to love City, bit of a Micah character..truthfully would love him to fulfil his previous potential, really like him as a person..I do feel the abuse he gets is unfair.. he has had horrific injuries which can scupper a career.. look at the King and Lake.
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More a case of having to.....he's had more comebacks than Connor McGregor.

Clearly a great lad,and he could have been a great,but the body doesn't match the desire.

He doesnt deserve the abuse,not by a long shot.
 
FantasyIreland said:
More a case of having to.....he's had more comebacks than Connor McGregor.

Clearly a great lad,and he could have been a great,but the body doesn't match the desire.

He doesnt deserve the abuse,not by a long shot.
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True, we can not carry dead weight.. over the historic years we have had players with little talent, so it is very sad to see someone with immense talent drop off a cliff due to injury.
 
Is left back really a problem?... Is the earth really round?... Is 1+1 really 2?
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Hint... the answer to each question above is "yes."
 
Berts Neck said:
I guess we seem to be giving up on Mendy..I actually think it is a shame because the guy seems to love City, bit of a Micah character..truthfully would love him to fulfil his previous potential, really like him as a person..I do feel the abuse he gets is unfair.. he has had horrific injuries which can scupper a career.. look at the King and Lake.
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The abuse is totally unfair and uncalled for, but as for loving City...... being cynical maybe, but me thinks he loves his paycheck more.
 
A hallmark of early Pep teams were the full backs ability to get up and down the pitch relentlessly and contribute in both boxes. Now we're left forced to be happy with Zinchenko, Cancelo and Walker. I hope we can address the left back spot. Get someone younger in, and then he and Cancelo offer a lot more to the side. Allowing us to go to a back 3 with proper wingbacks as well
 
blkswn said:
A hallmark of early Pep teams were the full backs ability to get up and down the pitch relentlessly and contribute in both boxes. Now we're left forced to be happy with Zinchenko, Cancelo and Walker. I hope we can address the left back spot. Get someone younger in, and then he and Cancelo offer a lot more to the side. Allowing us to go to a back 3 with proper wingbacks as well
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Yes and no. Dani Alves certainly did on the right, but the left back (Abidal, Maxwell, Sylvinho, Adriano etc.) was usually a lot more conservative. Abidal played 10 games more than Zinchenko in the league that season and also finished with zero assists (Dani Alves had 15(!) just in La Liga that season)

Bayern's fullbacks didn't really contribute that many assists either (Rafinha, Kimmich, Bernat and Lahm had 7 between them in Pep's last season, compared to 5 between Cancelo, Walker, Zinchenko and Mendy for us this season)

I know assists aren't the only metric when it comes to affecting the play, and I am certainly in favour of signing a more dynamic left back to give us another option, but just wanted to point out that Pep has used fullbacks to create back threes in possession or as additional central midfielders a lot more than he has used them as a full-on attacking outlet
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
Yes and no. Dani Alves certainly did on the right, but the left back (Abidal, Maxwell, Sylvinho, Adriano etc.) was usually a lot more conservative. Abidal played 10 games more than Zinchenko in the league that season and also finished with zero assists (Dani Alves had 15(!) just in La Liga that season)

Bayern's fullbacks didn't really contribute that many assists either (Rafinha, Kimmich, Bernat and Lahm had 7 between them in Pep's last season, compared to 5 between Cancelo, Walker, Zinchenko and Mendy for us this season)

I know assists aren't the only metric when it comes to affecting the play, and I am certainly in favour of signing a more dynamic left back to give us another option, but just wanted to point out that Pep has used fullbacks to create back threes in possession or as additional central midfielders a lot more than he has used them as a full-on attacking outlet
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Good post.

Pep is always pretty keen to have a "flying fullback" e.g. Walker or Cancelo on one side and then a more steady player on the other who will fill positions in midfield etc e.g. Zinchenko, Delph and so forth.

Perhaps if we had the Mendy we thought we were buying at Monaco it might be different and perhaps we would have just seen Mendy always flying forward and Walker playing deeper.

I think we should buy a more dynamic LB because it means we have the options, at the minute we try to fit an attacking LB in with Cancelo but it doesn't work because hes always trying to be on his right foot.
 
Perhaps the title of this thread might better read, "Would a LB Upgrade Improve Our Side More Than Other Upgrades?"
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For me, yes. We're weak at LB - obviously so.

I think we're entering next window even weaker at striker - but I'm not sure that Pep's currently favored formations need a top striker.

Along these lines - LB and defensive mid, are, I think, our weakest positions and are most in need of upgrade.
 
BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
Perhaps the title of this thread might better read, "Would a LB Upgrade Improve Our Side More Than Other Upgrades?"
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For me, yes. We're weak at LB - obviously so.

I think we're entering next window even weaker at striker - but I'm not sure that Pep's currently favored formations need a top striker.

Along these lines - LB and defensive mid, are, I think, our weakest positions and are most in need of upgrade.
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Defensive Midfield? How so?
 
Dax777 said:
Defensive Midfield? How so?
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We lack a destroyer. A young Fernandino-style player would be a huge asset to our side and - IMO - would help us tremendously.

We can field a side lacking a true DM - but that may not meet with success, as we've recently witnessed.

Look - sometimes the ball turns over - and then we press. A gifted DM means that we'll emerge from such turnovers even more likely in possession of the ball - or - maybe, their promining break is thwarted and they instead pass the ball sideways/back at the crucial moment, which might not have occurred sans the play of a gifted DM.

And agree - should you raise the point - maybe we can play with a metronome at deep-lying mid with energetic midfielders compensating on defense.

At present though - I think we're best served by signing a class DM to help us when the ball turns over. This would seem to least change our side while simultaneously offering a large, tangible benefit.
 
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LongsightM13 said:
He even missed Scotland’s opener after picking up yet another injury.
Sad as he would be absolutely perfect for us otherwise, like you say
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Hmm, dunno that I'd write off a 24 year old on that basis, mostly because I remember something similar with Bale between 2008 and 2012. He had a whole string of problems after leaving Cardiff, almost disappeared completely before coming good.

Mark Hughes tried to get him on loan in the winter transfer window after the takeover. Didn't see much action that season, but by the end of the next he was regarded as world class.

Hughes might have heard from his Welsh connections that the injury problems were over and he'd developed physically into the freak of nature he was.

Tierney isn't the biggest, has a young look about him. It wouldn't suprise me if he's still developing physically.
 
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