[sherrinford]

Is it only me that think he'd be a very good DM? Has all the attributes IMO

Sadly, no. Ridiculous to think he has ‘all the attributes’ to play there. It’s a comfortably worse idea than the other, terrible suggestion of fielding him in a back three.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I think what people need to do is being positive on this lad. We can see that he’s already making improvement and still working on to make further improvement with his attacking threat. He might not be a completely world class attacking full back but he has potential to be decent in going forward. If big improvement is not shown in the next 2-3 years, you can start questioning his ability in going forward.

 

[Martialfc]

Can people stop slating AWB saying he isn’t good going forward. For god sake. He’s a defender! This kid is unbelievable. In all the games this season I think I’ve seen him been beaten 1 on 1 once! And that was by Sterling. Thats about it! He’s been our best player in the majority of our games and he’s like what 22? The mans ridiculous.

Give me AWB over TAA any day. We will truly see the benefits of this kid when we sign a decent right winger. Imagine Mahrez in front of this guy. But instead we have to watch Lingard. He’s our best signing since RVP.

 

[Brwned]

I think what people need to do is being positive on this lad. We can see that he’s already making improvement and still working on to make further improvement with his attacking threat. He might not be a completely world class attacking full back but he has potential to be decent in going forward. If big improvement is not shown in the next 2-3 years, you can start questioning his ability in going forward.

Better to just accept he'll never be that and appreciate him for what he is. Setting those false expectations and continually feeling like he's not meeting them year after year will not do anyone any good.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Better to just accept he'll never be that and appreciate him for what he is. Setting those false expectations and continually feeling like he's not meeting them year after year will not do anyone any good.

Player can improve, why don’t you think he can improve? There is positive sign that he showed, little by little he has shown some improvement on it.

 

[Brwned]

Player can improve, why don’t you think he can improve? There is positive sign that he showed, little by little he has shown some improvement on it.

Wes Brown became a little less inconsistent with his crosses but was always a bit rubbish going forward and was very uncomfortable on the ball. No amount of experience on the pitch changed that. It's really obvious AWB is uncomfortable on the ball and strikes the ball poorly. He might get less uncomfortable but players don't just start striking the ball differently in their pro careers.

Scholes was one of the best technicians I've ever seen but he could never cross it like Darren Fletcher never mind David Beckham because of the different ways they struck the ball - that's firmly drilled into your game by that point. The change we're seeing in AWB is he's trying a bit more. That'll wax and wane with confidence and I suspect as he matures he'll become more conservative because his hit rate is so low and after a bedding in period fans will start giving him grief for it.

 

[Freeney]

His defensive positioning and awareness is terrible. He leaves his man alone and joins Lindelöf in the middle to defend one guy. It happens every game. He needs to step up if he wants to be here for a long time.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Wes Brown became a little less inconsistent with his crosses but was always a bit rubbish going forward and was very uncomfortable on the ball. No amount of experience on the pitch changed that. It's really obvious AWB is uncomfortable on the ball and strikes the ball poorly. He might get less uncomfortable but players don't just start striking the ball differently in their pro careers.

Scholes was one of the best technicians I've ever seen but he could never cross it like Darren Fletcher never mind David Beckham because of the different ways they struck the ball - that's firmly drilled into your game by that point. The change we're seeing in AWB is he's trying a bit more. That'll wax and wane with confidence and I suspect as he matures he'll become more conservative because his hit rate is so low and after a bedding in period fans will start giving him grief for it.

Wes Brown spent one full season as a right back only doesn't mean you should ignore the fact that he spent other season or whole of his career as centre back. Scholes was never winger, he had no reason to improve his crossing. Fletcher on the other hand played as right midfield in his professional early days, it makes sense that he trained his crossing before.

Bissaka on the other hand was originally started as striker, changed to winger during his non professional football career and now he's been a right back since his professional debut and he will continue to be a right back. He has better reason to practice his crossing than Scholes or Wes Brown had.

He might not be a complete attacking top full back since it requires talent as well but he can improve his attribute in going forward to do decent job at it and he showed it little by little this season the improvement he made, so it's not impossible through training. I meant how is it impossible when he had done it? He just need to keep practice it until he can do it in consistent basis. If within 2-3 years, we see no further improvement then that's where people can start questioning it.

 

[Hoof the ball]

So, it's been said time and time again that Aaron has elite level defending with very ordinary offensive ability. Does Aaron have the ability to make the transition to centre-back? Let's just, for hypothetical sake, assume he can. It would maximise his defensive abilities in a much needed area and provide a lot of pace to an otherwise slow-ish backline. Furthermore, it would allow for a more attacking full-back to play on the right and possibly improve our output overall from that area.

But the main question is, can Wan-Bissaka be converted into an elite CB, rather than continue as an imbalanced, but defensively superb full-back?

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Give me AWB over TAA any day.

I know we hate the dippers with a passion but this is utter nonsense and you know it. Trent isn't even a poor defender either. Might be slightly worse defensively than AWB is but on the ball he's on a different stratosphere. Come on be fair.

 

[Rake]

His defensive positioning and awareness is terrible. He leaves his man alone and joins Lindelöf in the middle to defend one guy. It happens every game. He needs to step up if he wants to be here for a long time.

This is something all of our FBs do, so it must be part of the defensive drills. Not watching nerly enough football to comment if the FBs of the other teams do it as well.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Wes Brown spent one full season as a right back only doesn't mean you should ignore the fact that he spent other season or whole of his career as centre back. Scholes was never winger, he had no reason to improve his crossing. Fletcher on the other hand played as right midfield in his professional early days, it makes sense that he trained his crossing before.

Bissaka on the other hand was originally started as striker, changed to winger during his non professional football career and now he's been a right back since his professional debut and he will continue to be a right back. He has better reason to practice his crossing than Scholes or Wes Brown had.

He might not be a complete attacking top full back since it requires talent as well but he can improve his attribute in going forward to do decent job at it and he showed it little by little this season the improvement he made, so it's not impossible through training. I meant how is it impossible when he had done it? He just need to keep practice it until he can do it in consistent basis. If within 2-3 years, we see no further improvement then that's where people can start questioning it.

I keep hearing what a liability AWB is with the ball at his feet but it's clear he can put a decent ball in and doesn't lack for attacking instinct when the time is right. He's not TAA and chances are he never will be but the idea that he's some kind of corpse with boots on with the ball at his feet is unfair and wrong in my opinion.

 

[gajender]

So, it's been said time and time again that Aaron has elite level defending with very ordinary offensive ability. Does Aaron have the ability to make the transition to centre-back? Let's just, for hypothetical sake, assume he can. It would maximise his defensive abilities in a much needed area and provide a lot of pace to an otherwise slow-ish backline. Furthermore, it would allow for a more attacking full-back to play on the right and possibly improve our output overall from that area.

But the main question is, can Wan-Bissaka be converted into an elite CB, rather than continue as an imbalanced, but defensively superb full-back?

He most probably would be disaster at Center Back he is good one on one defender in the wide areas who loves to slide into tackles with very suspect positioning ,apart from that he is weak in air as well not to mention his apparent discomfort on the ball so I don't think he could be anymore than average center back if played there.

 

[Skills]

Wes Brown became a little less inconsistent with his crosses but was always a bit rubbish going forward and was very uncomfortable on the ball. No amount of experience on the pitch changed that. It's really obvious AWB is uncomfortable on the ball and strikes the ball poorly. He might get less uncomfortable but players don't just start striking the ball differently in their pro careers.

Scholes was one of the best technicians I've ever seen but he could never cross it like Darren Fletcher never mind David Beckham because of the different ways they struck the ball - that's firmly drilled into your game by that point. The change we're seeing in AWB is he's trying a bit more. That'll wax and wane with confidence and I suspect as he matures he'll become more conservative because his hit rate is so low and after a bedding in period fans will start giving him grief for it.

I called it when we signed him. He's in for a rough time here. He'll be one of our fanbases favourite players to hate on in the upcoming years.

 

[Irwin99]

I called it when we signed him. He's in for a rough time here. He'll be one of our fanbases favourite players to hate on in the upcoming years.

I've been a bit underwhelmed by some aspects of his game but that's a grim prediction. I said after his first few months that we'll probably have people saying that he might be better being moved to a centre back role than staying as a full back (look at what people have said about Shaw over the years) but time will tell.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

AWB is a developing talent btw, he's got time to improve his skills by quite a lot. He only just turned 22..

Quiet you. This is Redcafe. If a player isn't ready for the first team and a world beater by 15 and 236 days he's shite.

 

[Andersonson]

People saying he's awful in attack, but his crosses is better than Luke Shaws.

And he's way better in defence.

 

[bond19821982]

If Poch takes over, he will not survive unless he improves his attacking output considerably.

 

[Bebestation]

I like what I see out of Wan Bissaka already.

Whilst I would never say that he is better than TAA - & these are the comments that will make Liverpool forums laugh at us, i do want to see what happens when Klopp leaves Liverpool one day & their immensely well organised system isn't so well organised anymore.

Will TAA one day get caught out more defensively? Even though his individual attacking ability won't go away anywhere will his ability to attack in a team be not as good with a different manager, different tactics possibly a different RW someday?

Who knows maybe he will do just as well and do better. Maybe Liverpool after another top 3 years go down hill whilst we get a good manager for ourselves and manage to get the best out of Wan Bissaka some day.


Right now, Wan Bissaka is one of my favourite players at the club - he may not be complete & he may never be, but defensively he gives us a tactic that literally the rest of the Premier league & possibly one day the CL will hate playing against.

I'm happy if this guy perfects an attacking aspect to his game under a manager who can do that and I'd still be happy if he doesn't because his defensive game is genuinely that good to me & I feel like he is genuinely learning game by game having only started his career as a defender so recently.

 

[dev1l]

He s still 22 ffs

 

[jackal&hyde]

If Poch takes over, he will not survive unless he improves his attacking output considerably.

Good thing he isn't then.

He is clearly working on his attacking game. I see him be more decisive in the final third and like the vids above show he can put a decent cross in.

 

[the chameleon]

Not read much of the above posts but I can see him as a solid central defender. Him along with a ball player could be a nice experiment. Could free us up to get Aarons.

He can still play right side but would mainly be a centre back.

thoughts?

 

[EngimaMK]

Honestly baffled by any hate for the guy here. He is an immense DRB. I know he's not amazing going forward but there's at least one moment every game where I say "shit, what a tackle from that lad". If he can improve just a little bit going forward then great. But seriously confused by people questioning his defensive contribution. The guy is excellent at showing the summer space and then perfectly timing a stopping tackle. Big fan of the boy. 50m, maybe not? But tax off the 15m United tax and he's great. Honestly one of the bright parts of the season for me. He's still so young that unless he falls victim to the recent man United malaise, he should go on to be a mainstay of the team for years. Big fan.

 

[bond19821982]

Not read much of the above posts but I can see him as a solid central defender. Him along with a ball player could be a nice experiment. Could free us up to get Aarons.

He can still play right side but would mainly be a centre back.

thoughts?

Because he can tackle , he would be a good CB ?

I rest my case.

 

[the chameleon]

Because he can tackle , he would be a good CB ?

I rest my case.

If you read my post properly. You might be able to decipher (if you have a capacity to do so) that was throwing a suggestion. I even used experiment, because it might not work out.

You normally experiment to test a particular hypothesis.In this case seeing if AWB can play as a centre back or not. Most likely an experiment like this would fail, but occasionally, if it works, it might open up new opportunities for the team.

Is that cLear enough?

 

[Martialfc]

I know we hate the dippers with a passion but this is utter nonsense and you know it. Trent isn't even a poor defender either. Might be slightly worse defensively than AWB is but on the ball he's on a different stratosphere. Come on be fair.

You put Trent in our team he would look very average. He’s in a system that any fullback would look good in. I personally think AWB is a better right back. TAA doesn’t have to defend in that current Liverpool team and that’s credit to Klopp tbf. He’s getting the best out of his players.

 

[edgar allan]

People saying he's awful in attack, but his crosses is better than Luke Shaws.

And he's way better in defence.

My Nan crosses are better than Shaws.

 

[DeeDee7]

Lots of crazy talk on here. I would first like the debunk the uncomfortable on the ball myth.

Uncomfortable on the ball??? no! I have actually been surprised how good he is on the ball. He has those gangly legs that look awkward in possession but is almost midfielder like in the way he can move the ball out of trouble in very tight situations. Yes he has yet to utilize this in a attacking go forward way consistently, but he clearly has skill with the ball at his feet.

He still has so much raw talent that to start predicting that he will be a future player we love to hate is a joke. He played the majority of his youth football as a winger, so the timing of his runs ect will take time to learn yet fit in the system.
In terms of the system, it has not exactly been easy going for him. He has had to try and form a partnership with a fellow new player in Dan James. James also has a weird impact on how our right backs will function in that he never slows the play down for an overlap, his first intention is to always drive the ball forward, either up the sideline or towards the 18 yard box in which Martial makes a diagonal into the area AWB may occupy. It also does not help that James is a natural left sided winger.
So this leaves AWB as an occasional/chime in attacking fullback, which is what highlights his bad crossing which i accept needs work.

Defensively he is obviously a one on one brick wall. I will also touch on the fact that our defensive system is interesting in that he tucks in abit leaving his man which probably highlights is one other issue in a lapse of concentration on occasions. He just needs to remain switched on and never flat footed as on a couple of occasions he has let the winger put in a dangerous cross without pressure. Sometimes id honestly just let him of all players shut down the cross as he is so good at getting a block in.

Otherwise for his age and experience in a United shirt of all things he has been a breathe of fresh air!

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Wes Brown became a little less inconsistent with his crosses but was always a bit rubbish going forward and was very uncomfortable on the ball. No amount of experience on the pitch changed that. It's really obvious AWB is uncomfortable on the ball and strikes the ball poorly. He might get less uncomfortable but players don't just start striking the ball differently in their pro careers.

Yes, but remember Wes made that good cross = assist to Ronaldo's header in a CL final which eventually we won. And his consistent supportting run and passing options is always there despite the stated drawbacks you've mentioned. He's not a good crosser but his overlaps and the crosses (even if it's low quality usually) are always a threat.

So not really rubbish going forward, not even a bit.

It seems you've made up your mind AWB is just "bad at going forward". Is he really?

I do agree players generally doesn't change their ball striking "form" or "style" (don't know how to call it) but hey the end products matter. Many of AWB's good crosses, passes and attacks are not given enough highlights.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Isn't his attacks just okay... nothing fancy nor flashy, but I'm fine with that. Good thing is there's potential to improve due to his age. He can either do a Wes Brown at RB or go a step further.

 

[MikeKing]

Poor or uncomfortable on the ball is way off the mark. He is 5 times better on it than even players like Maguire or Lindelof who are supposed to be sort of an icecouple. Put them on the right back and they would look 10 times worse.

The right word for it might rather be; not fully developed yet. Inexperienced going forward, talented but timid.

 

[Brwned]

Yes, but remember Wes made that good cross = assist to Ronaldo's header in a CL final which eventually we won. And his consistent supportting run and passing options is always there despite the stated drawbacks you've mentioned. He's not a good crosser but his overlaps and the crosses (even if it's low quality usually) are always a threat.

So not really rubbish going forward, not even a bit.

It seems you've made up your mind AWB is just "bad at going forward". Is he really?

I do agree players generally doesn't change their ball striking "form" or "style" (don't know how to call it) but hey the end products matter. Many of AWB's good crosses, passes and attacks are not given enough highlights.

Yeah I think AWB is probably as good an attacker as Wes Brown, all things considered. Might get a bit better but not a whole lot. If you think that's better than rubbish, I think you're being very generous considering the standard TAA is setting now, never mind Dani Alves and co. But it seems pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I really like AWB.

 

[thepolice123]

Brown was rubbish going forward, likewise with O'Shea and Neville in his latter years. People tend to forget how much of a hoofball merchant they were. It worked for us because we don't really need them to bring the ball forward.

Imo AWB is better on the ball than them. He has nifty footwork and has shown that he has the street skills to play himself out of trouble. But we shouldn't expect Alves/Marcelo levels of ball control and attacking skills. One thing about us right now is that we don't really shift the ball with speed and precision. Sometimes we find him as an outlet, he will receive the ball under some pressure which he mainly struggles and lacks confidence in. If given some space to take on just a single player on the flanks, I think he decent in that aspect.

 

[Andersonson]

My Nan crosses are better than Shaws.

Is she skinnier too?

 

[Tarrou]

I'd like to see him make more runs beyond the right winger without the ball. Williams doing it creates space for Rashford.

Maybe we need a left footed winger for it be as effective on AWB's side though

 

[MikeKing]

I'd like to see him make more runs beyond the right winger without the ball. Williams doing it creates space for Rashford.

Maybe we need a left footed winger for it be as effective on AWB's side though

He made a very effective run for the opening goal against Norwich. He created the space for Mata to cut inside without much pressure on him. I agree a left footed player similar to Mata would be preferable and offer great balance to the right side. The only player I can think of in the right age with that exact profile and talent is Odegaard. He would bring such balance to our attacking play and he would feed Wan Bissaka perfectly weighted flicks on the overlap as well.

 

[MadDogg]

People saying he's awful in attack, but his crosses is better than Luke Shaws.

And he's way better in defence.

AWB has a better final ball into the box than Shaw. Shaw has better general passing.

Neither of them are good enough at positioning themselves to really utilise those aspects though.

 

[Maluco]

I loved Jose’s great teams and I always loved how he made little tweaks depending on the players that were available to him.

I can remember early on at Chelsea, when he had Cole and Ivanovic, the latter was a great defender and a threat in the box, but obviously he wasn’t the threat that Cole was going forward.

When Cole went forward, Ivanovic almost tucked in to make it a really solid back 3, and the result was a dangerous Cole with more freedom bombing forward and overloading that side, but a really strong 3 left at the back that kept them resistant to counters.

I could see United trying something similar with Williams and AWB. He really is a top class defender, so let him defend. And release Williams to follow the attack and bomb forward and fill the space Rashford is leaving a he cuts in.

It would obviously require some coaching, but could be a very interesting use of both players and may get the most out of AWB’s talents.

 

[FootyGirl88]

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[Walters_19_MuFc]

Got taken on a few times today, but all in all, he was good defensively. Felt he was pretty good going forward tonight, too. Forced the issue at times, following some decent runs which lead to a cross or corner.