- Aug 2, 2004
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Shocking for the second goal, zero effort to track the player, although dier hardly covered himself in glory with it either
And to think we got Aurier over Pereira... Who is now playing for Leicester rather than us ... hold me...
I wonder what bright spark thought that was a good idea...
I don't massively dislike him or anything and I wouldn't be against him being backup but we won't achieve a solid back 4 with him still in it. Definitely has to be replaced in the starting 11 for next season.
He belongs on the bench. Does he not struggle at throw ins as well?He belongs in a 3 at the back formation. Where he can operate as a wing back and not have to worry about tracking back as much. I don’t think he is a bad player at all. I just don’t think his attacking prowess suits us at the moment.
Seems like Sissoko’s main role these days is to keep a lookout on what Aurier is doing, so he can cover the glaring holes he leaves when bombing forward to join the attack.
Now don’t get me wrong. I do think attacking minded fullbacks is great. Walker and Rose were deadly but both of them knew when it was time to defend and to track back and our DM’s of dier and wanyama back then were definitely more competent than sissoko at it.
You could see that Sheffield Utd were targeting Serge yesterday- not by dribbling past him like Gnabry did in the Bayern game, but by pressing our back four to push them to pass to Serge, and wait for his mistake.
The fact that our opponents target him tells us all we need to know. Serge is a significant weakness and needs replacing.
One thing is certain: We will not improve with Serge starting at RB
The decline of our full-back play is as detrimental - and is as much to blame for our regression - as any other positional decline. I can't understand why we have allowed those key roles to be so diminished when you consider how important they were when we were consistently good. Walker and Rose were fantastic. Trippier was decent, if not Walker level. Davies is often solid, but not high level enough. Aurier is erratic.
We're basically down to essentially two guys at full back who should not really be nailed on starters in any serious top half side, without any competition or cover for those positions.
To top it all, we combine a ridiculously erratic and unreliable player in Aurier with a ridiculously predictable lop-sided full back tactic. It's easy for opponents to target Aurier because when they sit off us, they know he'll push wide and forward, Davies will tuck in and stay put, and they can target the space, the erratic player, the predictability, and the indecision that cascades around the rest of our side at the same time.
The decline of our full-back play is as detrimental - and is as much to blame for our regression - as any other positional decline. I can't understand why we have allowed those key roles to be so diminished when you consider how important they were when we were consistently good. Walker and Rose were fantastic. Trippier was decent, if not Walker level. Davies is often solid, but not high level enough. Aurier is erratic.
We're basically down to essentially two guys at full back who should not really be nailed on starters in any serious top half side, without any competition or cover for those positions.
To top it all, we combine a ridiculously erratic and unreliable player in Aurier with a ridiculously predictable lop-sided full back tactic. It's easy for opponents to target Aurier because when they sit off us, they know he'll push wide and forward, Davies will tuck in and stay put, and they can target the space, the erratic player, the predictability, and the indecision that cascades around the rest of our side at the same time.
I think the one thing you can't accuse him of is laziness, the guy is probably one of the most intense players in our team; concentration is an issue but work rate isn't.Can't cross. Can't defend. Incredibly lazy.
SELL SELL SELL to literally anyone who wants him.
I think the one thing you can't accuse him of is laziness, the guy is probably one of the most intense players in our team; concentration is an issue but work rate isn't.
Fair point however I think the two sometimes go hand in hand. Take Sheff Utd second goal, he just let the guy run past him & didn't even bother trying to get back. I think you are right & I also think it's a mix of concentration & a level of laziness from him.
However, I think we both agree that he isn't the answer for what we need going forward.
Walker was sold to City for 50million and they got a bargain. Doesn't look out of place at all in a champion side with his fair share of assists and key passes.IMO there's a lot of revisionism that goes on with Walker and Rose. Although they covered a lot of ground on the flanks they were, IMO, pretty unproductive in forward areas. Aurier manages about 1 decent cross from 10 promising positions, but did Walker do any better? Rose too rarely produced anything offensively from his side. Walker would often burn the turf to snuff out danger, but more often than not it was of his own making. The word 'brainfart' was coined on here in frequent reference to Walker. I'm not an Aurier fan either and he often dozes off or makes rash challenges but I think people's frustration with him often leads to the rose tinted specs being put on when comparing him to Walker.