Our glaring weakness at LB, will it be fixed?

[peter.evans]

Agree - for me we have not had a quality left back - one that is equally good going forward as in defending - since Paul Power - I recall the sight of him getting the ball from the keeper and bombing forward yet always getting back to make important tackles. Kolarov for all those who say he is great going forward seems to hit the first defender on his crosses at least three times out of four. Clichy is too up and down for me, when he is good he is close to what we need but he has really poor moments as well. Unfortunately I'm not sure about Angelino either. Needs addressing.

Surely you cannot be serious !? Paul Power was a good Manc lad etc but he was an average player in a crap side that got relegated ! Kolarov has played his part with many goals and assists as required by a modern full back. As for his defending it is more than adequate despite the fact he and Clichy get no help at all from anyone on the left side of midfield. Geez we lose a friendly with a weakened team to one of the best three teams in Europe and there's only one guy to blame ! All the excellent performance s towards the end if last season now conveniently forgotten !

 

[peter.evans]

I can't believe Kolarov and Clichy have both been around this long.

Every year, they both drop clanger and clanger and they go completely unnoticed. Instead, the centre-back on that left hand side picks up the pieces and takes the flack.

You would think after the endless rotation that alarms might have been ringing over the years for both Mancini and Pellegrini.

Kolarov is certainly a complete fraud. I can only think he subsequently gets a free pass because of his free kicks. He would fit right in at Tottenham, it's just about his level.

Twenty ish goals and countless assists but a complete fraud !

 

[lancs blue]

Agree - for me we have not had a quality left back - one that is equally good going forward as in defending - since Paul Power - I recall the sight of him getting the ball from the keeper and bombing forward yet always getting back to make important tackles. Kolarov for all those who say he is great going forward seems to hit the first defender on his crosses at least three times out of four. Clichy is too up and down for me, when he is good he is close to what we need but he has really poor moments as well. Unfortunately I'm not sure about Angelino either. Needs addressing.

I assume you don't think Zaba is poor going forward so here are some stats for the last 5 PL seasons, the PL site doesn't do cross completion stats but with 16 assists a fair few must have got beyond the first defender.

Zab - 7 goals, 14 assists
Kolarov - 7 goals, 16 assists

Clichy (4 seasons only) - 1 goal, 9 assists

 

[Mr HJ]

Surely you cannot be serious !? Paul Power was a good Manc lad etc but he was an average player in a crap side that got relegated ! Kolarov has played his part with many goals and assists as required by a modern full back. As for his defending it is more than adequate despite the fact he and Clichy get no help at all from anyone on the left side of midfield. Geez we lose a friendly with a weakened team to one of the best three teams in Europe and there's only one guy to blame ! All the excellent performance s towards the end if last season now conveniently forgotten !

I think you must be joking there. Paul Power was so underrated by a lot of fans, yet to those of us who watched him week in week out we knew he was certainly not average - just ask anyone who played against him - I think it tells you everything you need to know about how good he was if you consider what effect he had when he went to Everton - think you'll find they won the league! Concerning your comments about Kolarov - a lot of his best performances were in matches when we bossed games and yes he had a decent run towards the back end of last season but hell, he should as an international player at a cost of 16m+. And, I do think his ratio of assists to times he gets in good positions is poor. I also think I didn't actually blame the defeat in a friendly on Kolarov, I was just making the point that in a lot of important games most teams attack us down his side and he is often out of position. For the record I couldn't care less if we lost in pre-season 10 -nil as long as we are right on Aug 10th.

 

[SebastianBlue]

See where you are coming from and I don't mind high scoring games as long as we win! I just don't think we looked in control of games last season like we did the season before. Even games against the likes of Villa and Leicester at home were nail biters until the end. A lot of this was down to the managers tactics as well as individual defending.

The odd bit of good solid defending wouldn't go a miss though. Going 1-0 up at the swamp and then conceding four for example is not the kind of high scoring game I like!

Hear, hear.

And I am one of the few that thinks our defensive frailties was mostly down to our manager's insistence on playing the 4-4-2 (and Fernando in any system). So I suppose I don't think overall is necessary and that we were actually fairly sound given our house was built on sand from the start.

I will say I would be happy to see Kolarov and Fernando leave—we would only need to bring in a new, younger LB to compete with Clicky until Angelino gains more experience. We have academy players that could do everything Fernando does but actually have potential for improvement.

 

[Dr Jacoby]

Kieran Gibbs?

After all, we are yet to make our obligatory Arsenal signing this window.

 

[g180aj]

Right back was also showing signs of becoming a problem last year too. Hopefully Zab will come back and have a better season this year. Sagna adds nothing for me.

I said this about 4 months back and when you consider what Liverpool have just paid for Clyne he would easily offer us more than Sagna.

 

[gomer27]

Hear, hear.

And I am one of the few that thinks our defensive frailties was mostly down to our manager's insistence on playing the 4-4-2 (and Fernando in any system). So I suppose I don't think overall is necessary and that we were actually fairly sound given our house was built on sand from the start.

I will say I would be happy to see Kolarov and Fernando leave—we would only need to bring in a new, younger LB to compete with Clicky until Angelino gains more experience. We have academy players that could do everything Fernando does but actually have potential for improvement.

I agree completely in regards to Fernando and kolarov, both players games are slow and lacking in many aspects. Especially kolarov who couldn't defend a 12 year old

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

Kieran Gibbs?

After all, we are yet to make our obligatory Arsenal signing this window.

Clichy is better than Gibbs. We need him to play 10 games back to back and build up some form. We also need delph in midfield as he provides the balance on the left we have missed.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Right back was also showing signs of becoming a problem last year too. Hopefully Zab will come back and have a better season this year. Sagna adds nothing for me.

Zaba played well in the last three months or so of the season. But even so he's now 30 and isn't going to get any better, his best years are behind him. We need to start looking for his replacement soon and next Summer hope that we make both full back positions our area of priority for new signings; two 23-25 year old fast fit good defending and good attacking full backs.