[InfiniteBoredom]

De Zerbi blundered today with his tactical set up, they kept trying to feed the ball to March and Mitoma to dribble past our fullbacks. The few times they did quick switches with runners in the middle, they got promising openings, especially that 1on1 Mitoma had with De Gea.

On one side we essentially played with 2 fullbacks with Shaw/Dalot, and on the other being isolated against the winger is probably AWB’s most comfortable tactical situation, and he did great as usual.

 

[CM]

Played a great game vs Mitoma. It's clear he won't ever be the undisputed starter here but I think it's worth keeping him for games like these when we need a great 1 v 1 defender. Especially when we've got teams mugging us off with £10m offers.

 

[atkar83]

Whatever happens I hope EtH does not sell him.

Imagine someone saying this in September

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He's just such a useful tool to totally lock down a side. You already can see the job he'll do on Grealish in the final.

Plus now he's actually adding "ability to play football" into the mix, and well, it's a treat

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Right side on lock.

 

[M Bison]

Really grown to love him this season, was never fully on board with the heavy criticism but could see where it was coming from, but now I think he’s a great asset and is improving week after week in the areas he was most weak.

 

[Ekeke]

 

[Eric_the_Red99]

If he could only improve his shooting and crossing to a reasonable level he’d be undroppable. As it is, he’s been our most consistent FB this season from a defensive point of view. Probably in the form of his life right now.

 

[Plant0x84]

Great to see a determination and an attacking intent to his play. He’s finding himself in some great positions just outside the box, we just need Benni to work with him on finishing or assisting and he would become a legend.

 

[Sylar]

Mitoma needs to do a follow up dissertation piece solely on how it's not a good idea to dribble against awb

 

[afrocentricity]

Love to see Redcafe finally giving the man his flowers!

 

[TMDaines]

He never merited some of the ridiculous views people espoused about him here. I’m very glad ETH eventually gave him his shot as I was pretty convinced there was a top player in there who just needed coaching.

 

[KjaAnd]

Great performance. Held his own against Mitouma but I was actually more impressed with his ability to espace pressure on the ball.

 

[mav_9me]

Best tackler in the world.

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[Rightnr]

What a turnaround. We know about his ability 1-v-1 but it's like he's evolved it in both an attacking and defensive sense. If his previous form was Gear 1, he's definitely got Gear 2 and Gear 3 in his arsenal now (if you know, you know).

He's also sorted his positioning over the past couple of weeks and his backpost defending/awareness is much, much better. It'll be intriguing to see him against City, since that's where he got found out at OT.

Pretty crazy and he's definitely proven me completely wrong. Of all the players EtH was going to singificantly improve, AwB was definitely towards the bottom of my list to improve. Next up is improve his link-up with Antony and make our right-hand side something to be feared in attacking and defensive sense.

 

[arthurka]

Best tackler in the world.

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571 tackles.

 

[afrocentricity]

571 tackles.

Crazy to have such a high percentage over so many games...

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Second consecutive Wembley visit where he has shut down the opposition's most dangerous player. Fair play. Also, that dribbling run he made to start an attack (around 55th minute?) really changed the momentum of the second half. I was worried Brighton were going to score up until then.

 

[OldSchoolManc]

Absolutely brilliant this season and I love the way he shrugs off fouls as part of the game rather than having a hissy fit like most.

 

[humdinger]

He was so good today. Didn’t understand why he was taken off.

 

[Irrational.]

He was phenomenal. What an epic turnaround.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Annoyed ETH took him off. I wanted AWB to slide tackle a penalty

 

[mu4c_20le]

Best tackler in the world.

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Stats like that just makes me laugh out loud .... what the feck

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Brilliant

 

[Red Shorts]

Best tackler in the world.

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You actually can do nothing but laugh at this .

Not only the best percentage, but 2.5x more times than Saliba in the top 5.

He must have one of the biggest shifts from "sell him asap" to "we must keep him", and deservedly so. Looks back to his top form defensively, and contributing much more going forward

 

[SATA]

Fans can finally see why Ole asked the club to splash 50M on him instead of mocking this signing now. AWB will be called up for England soon if he keeps this up

 

[Sylar]

Fans can finally see why Ole asked the club to splash 50M on him instead of mocking this signing now. AWB will be called up for England soon if he keeps this up

Yeah, he just needed a good manager. Not a shot at Ole, but more how some players need proper management and coaching to get to the next level. There's still more awb can do but he's still 25 so who knows what can happen with a big pre season with Eth, competition and a better players

 

[beacon]

Need a gif or clip of that run, anyone?

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[flappyjay]

Yeah, he just needed a good manager. Not a shot at Ole, but more how some players need proper management and coaching to get to the next level. There's still more awb can do but he's still 25 so who knows what can happen with a big pre season with Eth, competition and a better players

I look at someone like Dan James who barely had any pro games when we got him. What would he be if someone like Ten hag got their hands on him.

 

[arnie_ni]

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Conveniently stops before the world's most obvious yellow card that wasn't given. Must be Craig pawson who pulled that clip together

 

[beacon]

Conveniently stops before the world's most obvious yellow card that wasn't given. Must be Craig pawson who pulled that clip together

One of many today

 

[FootballHQ]

He's got one year left hasn't he?

So you need to offer him a new deal (even though Dalot has improved significantly and you're looking at other RBs) or sell him for 25-30m.

Given how Emery has us set up he'd be the perfect RB for his system as the right sided full back has to tuck in amongst the CBs when out of possession while it's the LB who provides the width and crosses which Moreno has been doing very well indeed last 6 weeks.

Can see logic in West Ham aswell given how poor Kehrer has been and he might want to go back to London but you'll have decent interest given he's still mid 20s with very good premier league and european experience now.

 

[Woziak]

He was so good today. Didn’t understand why he was taken off.

Because he’s essential to play on Thursday if Maguire plays right CB which ETH has explained his only position as he can’t turn or operate quickly enough on left and his gate is too exposed, this is the real reason he only plays him at Right CB, AWB covers his deficiencies better than any other full back we have.

 

[Fridge chutney]

Excellent performance today. Lindelof shaded MotM for me but AWB was a close second.

 

[Real Name]

He added dribbling to his game. Dont know who's been working with him but at times he looks like prime Cafu out there. As others have said if he adds crossing and shooting he'll be even better. He's having a terrific season.

 

[Glorio]

He was so good today. Didn’t understand why he was taken off.

Not sure we would have wanted him to take a pen!

 

[Donut]

That tackle and block was truly amazing. Is there a video of it?

 

[golden_blunder]

He's got one year left hasn't he?

So you need to offer him a new deal (even though Dalot has improved significantly and you're looking at other RBs) or sell him for 25-30m.

Given how Emery has us set up he'd be the perfect RB for his system as the right sided full back has to tuck in amongst the CBs when out of possession while it's the LB who provides the width and crosses which Moreno has been doing very well indeed last 6 weeks.

Can see logic in West Ham aswell given how poor Kehrer has been and he might want to go back to London but you'll have decent interest given he's still mid 20s with very good premier league and european experience now.

25-30m?
You’ll get one leg

 

[DWelbz19]

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Full clip

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[Top]

I have this nagging feeling that EtH doesn’t rate him and want to sell him.