He`s a solid player playing out of position. We need to play him more at RB
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 36
- Clean sheets
- 18
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 10
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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I don’t think so. Barring a bad offside miss in the first half (Maguire and Lindelöf has made worse several times this season, and VVD), and a horrible misplaced pass in the second, he dealt with everything that came his way in a more convincing manner than his partner, and his passing was also quicker and more incisive, mainly in the first half when it was actually needed.
I've gotta lot of time for Tahith, and he did well when he came on, but they were on their knees for the last 20 minutes.
No more LB for him
Why so? And don't say because he's right-footed as that's a dumb argument.
You saw that cross in the 2nd half right? Jokes aside, I think he can serviceable there but its clear to me that he isn't left foot isn't strong enough to compensate. Crossing on his left is evidently not natural to him.
And? Denis Irwin, who by a country mile was the best fullback(left or right) i've seen at Old Trafford in over 50 years rarely if ever put a cross in with his left foot.
And I'm sure he was. But from what I've seen so far of him, their have been too many instances where he gets himself into a good position for a cross and it either takes him too long to play the ball on his right foot or his left footed cross is garbage. I've never seen much of Irwin and what his style of play was but its clear to me that BW dosen't have it figured out
I was too young to watch Irwin but the game has changed a lot since the 90s, the full backs are crucial to the modern game for providing width in attacks, and at the top level there's just not enough scope for a player that has to cut back on to his right foot each time as it significantly limits the width and depth a left back can provide. Imagine a right footed Robertson, Marcelo etc, it just doesn't work.
I presume Irwin played more games in a 4-4-2 formation, where there was far more scope to cut back and put a cross in to the two strikers. But that formation died during the 2010s, now the top teams all play 4-3-3 and they don't cut back in to cross, usually the fullback overlaps the wide forward for width.
Could've started against LASK with Chong at LB and Williams at RB. Would've looked much better.
Because he's right-footed, he plays much better down the right. Tackles, passes, and crosses better.
Clearly watching something very different to you with much higher expectations. He is not a a Northampton Town player.
Was decent yesterday
Good game from Brandon, he needs to get stronger and work on his crosses.
I know you like the guy and think he has potential too but if you can't see how a left footed LB makes our attack and build up play better than Williams in that position then I don't know what you you're watching
He had 2 moments of quality. That cross that James or Lingard at the back post should have got on to. Then there was one first time pass to free James but other than that he was pretty bad. Gave the ball away cheaply, passes going out of play, not being aware of what is around him, sitting back watching the game.
Considering the space he was given and the way we worked him in to positions to be wide open he didn’t do that much with the ball and at times the crossing was just woeful.
His best attribute is that he is combative. Not sure that is enough to make it at the top level. just seems like he is caught in a position where he isn’t a great attacker and he isn’t a good defender.
Considering the space he was given and the way we worked him in to positions to be wide open he didn’t do that much with the ball and at times the crossing was just woeful.
His best attribute is that he is combative. Not sure that is enough to make it at the top level. just seems like he is caught in a position where he isn’t a great attacker and he isn’t a good defender.
The fullback equivalent of McTomminay.
Like,putting them in for a start.
Yes, something like that. I can't understand how can pro footballers earning so much fail to do a simple fecking cross at times.
Agree. It irritates me and confuses me at the same time.
Another ok-ish performance.
I like the kid - his mentality, workrate and desire are up there with anyone in the squad. You know he is really trying his best. Thats why he's starting - his mental attributes mask his lack of talent.
He's not a bad footballer, but he's not great.
A very good back up FB - but unlikely to ever to be the level we need long term as a starter.
Can cover LB and RB and always good for an unspectacular yet solid performance.
I like the kid - his mentality, workrate and desire are up there with anyone in the squad. You know he is really trying his best. Thats why he's starting - his mental attributes mask his lack of talent.
He's not a bad footballer, but he's not great.
A very good back up FB - but unlikely to ever to be the level we need long term as a starter.
Can cover LB and RB and always good for an unspectacular yet solid performance.
He put our best cross of the match in with his left foot against West Ham, and the same again last night(the one that both Ighalo and Lingard missed by inches)
Not sure the game has changed that much, and if fullbacks are so crucial why are there so few great ones around?
When have you seen him on the right to come to that conclusion?
I've been watching the Left Footed Luke Shaw, one of the highest paid fullbacks in World football offer next to nothing going forward for the last few years so it's nice to see a far better footballer in Williams playing there(LB)who is more confident/competent using his weaker foot when required.
He's played well at RB with U-23s, and U-18s. He only became a left-back because U-23s didn't have a fit, left-footed LB. He even played RB for the seniors - against LASK in the first leg.
Opponent | | Date | Position | Mins | Successful Dribbles | Rating |
LASK (H) | 2 - 1 | 05-08-2020 | DL | 72 | 0 | 6.4 |
LASK (A) | 0 - 5 | 12-03-2020 | DR | 90 | 5 | 7.88 |
Club Brugge (A) | 1 - 1 | 20-02-2020 | DL | 90 | 2 | 6.45 |
AZ Alkmaar (H) | 4 - 0 | 12-12-2019 | DL | 90 | 2 | 7.59 |
Partizan Belgrade (A) | 0 - 1 | 24-10-2019 | DL | 90 | 1 | 7.62 |
AZ Alkmaar (A) | 0 - 0 | 03-10-2019 | DL | 90 | 2 | 7.23 |
Opta stats show 5 successful dribbles when he played right-back.
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I don't recall him playing at RB for the 18s or 23s too often even with Ethan Laird's many injury lay-offs.
Really? Yes, at the beginning of the season when Williams first started playing he was doing better going forward than he has been lately, and Shaw wasn't doing much going forward at the time. So I'd agree that for a brief period of time at the beginning of the season Williams was perhaps more useful in an attacking sense. But that hasn't been true for many months, and honestly I would say the gap is quite large. Shaw both combines better with Rashford ahead of him and helps out the midfield quite a lot with his very good touch and short passing game. Meanwhile William's attacking game has fallen off a cliff in the second half of the season.
I just think there's more variety to Williams game, with Shaw you know what he's going to do, or try to do when he picks up the ball going forward.
It's not a tactic we use. We haven't done in years. Why would we, when we have forwards who are infinitely better with the ball on the ground. Crossing would just be giving the ball away. We try to run towards the post and pick a pass across the face of the goal or cut back.
I like Williams so far. He is always trying to make things happen. Hes only young so its inevitable he makes mistakes.
I think he'll become a valuable squad player for us, much like O'Shea or a Phil Neville. His ability to play either flank is useful too.
It's good to have academy players for your squad roles, saves money for key transfers and generally academy players are less problematic.
Long run, I see us shipping out Dalot, buying a young LB to challenge Shaw, and we'll see maybe Williams, Shaw, AWB, Laird and maybe a new recruit battling it out for 2 positions. Good competition there, and all of them young.
It's good to have academy players for your squad roles, saves money for key transfers and generally academy players are less problematic.
Long run, I see us shipping out Dalot, buying a young LB to challenge Shaw, and we'll see maybe Williams, Shaw, AWB, Laird and maybe a new recruit battling it out for 2 positions. Good competition there, and all of them young.
Man Utd 1:0 FC Copenhagen
He was a weak link in defence. Awful defending whole match
Looked completely out of his depth tonight, still have hope for him but he’s a defensive liability presently.
Every opportunity they had came down his side. He looks a long way from ready to be a regular for Man United.
Was a difficult night for him but I thought he had at least one or two good moments.
But yeah overall one he'll want to forget.
Worst game I’ve seen him play for us
Maybe nerves
Maybe nerves
I thought he was immense. One time he even covered for Maguire with a big header
Poor game from him
He was really poor. He's still not ready to be in second spot in his position at the moment.
Nothing really happened vs him.
Was a good performance.
Was a good performance.
I don't rate him at all. He was actually a lot better today than he normally is but in the second half I think he fell for every bit of skill a Copehagen player tried on him. It was almost a who can embarrass Williams the most challenge. Tbf to him, he came back stronger in extra time.
What can't be disputed is he destroys our attacking play because of his lack of left foot. It's so bad that I miss Shaw's almost non-existent attacking play because it at least offers balance.
What can't be disputed is he destroys our attacking play because of his lack of left foot. It's so bad that I miss Shaw's almost non-existent attacking play because it at least offers balance.
I agree, defensively he was far from the weak link like somebody just said
Both our FB's are very good in defence but it's in attack where it lets them down
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