Didn’t Liverpool’s goal come from that side as we tried to play out? Think he played the nothing ball to Bruno, but I’d have to watch it back. Either way, it’s clearly a weakness for him, no need to debate that. Not trying to be negative, as like I said before, I thought he did incredibly well in the circumstances.
29
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 25
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 5
Was excellent today, if he could produce that level of energy going up and down the line 90% of the time he’d be some player.
I like him at left back when our left backs ar missing.
Surprisingly, RB might be our most stable position all of a sudden. If we fix the gaping hole on the other wing, that is.
Hats off
Did well. I thought it was a weird decision to have him at LB when Dalot could have played there but it turned out, that AWB is usable at LB as well. Well done. Game itself wasn't great though so it is moderate praise, he did better than expected but it wasn't anything to create some highlight reels.
He was actually quite good at LB today.
I was a bit harsh about him in the frustrating moments of the second half, but a very good performance given the circumstances.
Very good performance after spending quite a bit of time out. He is our most underappreciated player by far. We needed him back.
Refreshing seeing 2 fullbacks for us, was very good for the first 35 minutes.
Quality performance. He looked like a natural at LB. Some fantastic overlapping runs - in the first half it felt like most of our attacks came down the left flank.
Looked very good tonight.
He’s got a really good short passing game - probably the biggest part of his development over the last 12 months and certainly a player who Erik has improved. He can play one and two touch passes in triangles really well. Seemed to build a bit of confidence in Rashford also.
Coming back from injury and playing like that. Take a bow sir.
He's looks less 'gangly' on the left - I wonder if it's just the camera is further away?! I like how he's getting more aggressive coming forwards now. Good game.
Him being back and being able to play with two actual full backs will make a big difference.
Also with Martinez back we could have a really good defense for the rest of the season
Probably to counteract Salah cutting back inside, but anyway, a full back in the full back position is always better I think.
Superb today, especially coming back from injury. Great to have him back
It wasn’t planned. ETH said in his post-match presser that Evans was set to start but got injured in the final training session. Would have presumably been Lindelöf and Dalot at full back again.
Been fighting his corner for a long time. He’s a top class full back. Tbh, all 3 of our first choice full backs are very good players. This is the issue with injuries. Imagine him against Foden 2 weeks ago. Completely different game.
Yeah, he was very good today.
After so long out, I didn't think we'd risk him as a starter so soon. But very glad we did. We, unsurprisingly, looked a lot better with two full backs playing. And, thankfully, he seemed to come through it unscathed.
With Shaw and Malacia out for the season, hopefully Dalot and AWB will manage to stay injury free for the rest of it and allow us to at least have two competent FB's out there each game.
After so long out, I didn't think we'd risk him as a starter so soon. But very glad we did. We, unsurprisingly, looked a lot better with two full backs playing. And, thankfully, he seemed to come through it unscathed.
With Shaw and Malacia out for the season, hopefully Dalot and AWB will manage to stay injury free for the rest of it and allow us to at least have two competent FB's out there each game.
Immense performance
He has some strengths and some weaknesses, but this was some of the best I’ve seen him. All over the pitch.
His ‘weaknesses’ are largely optical illusions and self-fulfilling prophecies IMO. He’s not Trent, but he’s not ‘bad on the ball’ in comparison to any number of full backs who are NOT referred to as bad on the ball, apart from the fact that he unfortunately just LOOKS awkward with the ball. From there, any time he doesn’t complete a pass or something it’s like ‘see what I mean’, but he’s far more in control of what he does on the ball than may meet the eye.
Then you say he has some ‘strengths’, which is sort of true. I don’t think the word does it justice. Unless we would describe Trent’s crossing as simply a ‘strength’, then fair enough. But his best traits are THE best. Not just good. Completely elite and unmatched. He’s harder to beat than pretty much any full back in the game, and he’s probably the best tackler in world football. He has good athletic qualities and I think he’s a fantastic player personally.
I was arguing with someone in the transfer forum about a month ago who insisted right back was a priority position as ‘none of ours could play for City, Liverpool or Arsenal’. That is just underrating of our players - both Dalot and Wan Bissaka could easily play for City or Arsenal. Liverpool have a complete one-off of a right back that can’t really be replaced.
Immense. I like his underrated body feints
He is my favourite United player and I think he is very underrated.
His dribbling is beautiful to watch and actually reminds me of a defensively positioned Ronaldinho. He also makes very quick short passes which makes it hard to get the ball off of him.
His weaknesses have improved under Ten Hag - like his back post defending & heading; before it used to happen every game as a weakness the opposition would try to exploit - but this season it has only really happened once or at maximum twice. Though when it does happen our fanbase talk like it always happens because they remember the mistakes he used to make 2 seasons ago and still count them as a number on his modern games & performances.
Would be gutted if he left.
I actually think the "shots vs us during the game" will actually reduce in number now that Wan Bissaka is back.
His dribbling is beautiful to watch and actually reminds me of a defensively positioned Ronaldinho. He also makes very quick short passes which makes it hard to get the ball off of him.
His weaknesses have improved under Ten Hag - like his back post defending & heading; before it used to happen every game as a weakness the opposition would try to exploit - but this season it has only really happened once or at maximum twice. Though when it does happen our fanbase talk like it always happens because they remember the mistakes he used to make 2 seasons ago and still count them as a number on his modern games & performances.
Would be gutted if he left.
I actually think the "shots vs us during the game" will actually reduce in number now that Wan Bissaka is back.
Massive fan as well here. Used to think dalot was the weak link, I now think we have a great 1 2 punch
Not just this, the way people argue that his tackling strength against him is weird, they come up with bunch of useless points like "he didn't have to tackle if he was not out of position" completely ignoring that Fullbacks will deal 1v1 against wingers and you have to tackle to win the ball back.
Guy pretty much locks any player he is up against but some people think he doesn't read the game well and only relies on tackling, that too because he was out of position.
The way AWB's contribution and strengths are played down is weird. Also on the ball part, I would say he is average passer but when it comes to full backs he is among the best at carrying the ball. Even before he joined ManUtd he was at the top of stats for the dribbles completed, he has lot of tricks but for some reason doesn't use it often. The way he body feints and beat people with ease, only few FBs do that.
My opinion of him has also taking a turn.
A big factor is also how there's absolutely no fuss with him. He's been sidelined for long periods, been played in different systems and have had to adapt, been a scape goat amongst us fans and so on. But he's just worked his way out of it. Never failed to give his all. Worked on his weaknesses and shown new sides to his game.
He needs more praise of how he's adopted to Ten Hag's system, and vice versa in terms of Ten Hag keeping faith in him and developing him.
A big factor is also how there's absolutely no fuss with him. He's been sidelined for long periods, been played in different systems and have had to adapt, been a scape goat amongst us fans and so on. But he's just worked his way out of it. Never failed to give his all. Worked on his weaknesses and shown new sides to his game.
He needs more praise of how he's adopted to Ten Hag's system, and vice versa in terms of Ten Hag keeping faith in him and developing him.
Both Wan Bissaka and Dalot have stepped up quite a bit under Ten Hag and have made right back arguably our least problematic position.
I think it might be a confidence and supporting players making a difference.
Playing on the left he always had plenty of passing options and teammates making runs for him on that side of the pitch so he looked confident taking a touch and then playing a pass and making a run like he already knew his options. While AWB can run the ball with some success he's always been more at home at United when he can play 1 or 2 touch passes to make progress. And on the left we had 3s and 4s on that side linking up and overwhelming the opposition.
On the right our fullback generally has 1 winger who will often play the ball back to him, or the winger has gone inside so now the entire right side is free for AWB to go forward into but with few passing options once he does take the invite to run into the space. So he needs to try and run up the entire right side himself or make some progress then turn back and look for a pass to keep the ball. So yeah when he does that he doesnt look very assured.
Dalot looks more assured in the same right back position because he probably quite likes the idea of dribbling the whole way from rightback to right wing and getting the ball in. He's more than happy to emulate a winger and try a trick to evade a player and hes scored some really nice goals in his career. If only he can get some consistency to the good crossing he can occasionally provide he'll have it all.
It reminded me of what Ashley young used to do to salah.
He definitely switches off randomly and relies on instinct more than I'd like for a defender. I think Dalot and AWB is good enough for right back and a bonus is they can both fill in at left back if necessary
Only criticism for me today was those dopey, aimless balls over the top, high in the air. Had a lot of composure most of the time, but I will chalk that that down to rustiness and fitness. From the first 5 minutes you could tell he was going to put a good performance in.
I think he has (or at least has had up until now) weaknesses that are not optical illusions, of course it’s difficult to convince anyone that just assumes I’m hallusinating
I agree AWB have gotten unwarranted critique for being generally bad on the ball, or being clumsy, and I myself am guilty for once writing his playing style looked like Jar-Jar Binks. I don’t think that’s true at all, what I do think is that he has had weaknesses in passing out the back (This has improved immensely, particularily under ETH), particularily when angled onto his left foot. He hasn’t had good flexibility in a short passing game, IMO. His decision making in the attacking third has been frustrating, our RW wingers have generally struggled with getting a natural alliance with him. Both these last issues has put him behind Dalot several times under ETH, who needs passing flexibility and good His crosses high and low has been an issue. Defensively he has struggled with awareness and positioning, but this has also improved somewhat under Ten Hag (and/or age).I have no idea about his personality, but he doesn’t seem to have the keenest footballing intelligence, for lack of a more precise word. But he has been young.
I agree his tackling is the world’s best, at least on his right side. He has often been fooled and struggled with people going to his left side, but whe he’s able to show people the outside, it’s adults vs kids every time. This is useful to a ETH team in winning the ball back high and in quashing counters. His dribbling skills are very good, and his long passing along the line is neat and useful.
What made me joyful yesterday, was that he was good defending both on the outside and inside, and that his passing was more flexible and his contributions in the final third were more useful, IMO. Maybe it’s the move that unlocks his highest level?
A mammoth performance after 2 months out for me. Think the time to sell him is in the Summer but not been anywhere near as bad as some say.
Thought he had a huge game. His ball control despite being out for so long was top notch. He’s a much better player on the ball than many give him credit for.
personally I’d keep him and Dalot and look at other positions this summer
personally I’d keep him and Dalot and look at other positions this summer
He was boxed in the corner with nowhere really to go and found his man (Bruno) who was too weak at keeping the ball (some would say fouled). That's not Wan Bissakas fault
Good game from him yesterday, but he can't be a starter for us. Every player on the pitch has to be capable of contributing in possession and attack, and he's just too passive. No final ball in his arsenal, and a lot of safe passes/passes which put a lot of responsibility on others. I rarely see him taking responsibility...
But as an occasional backup, he's perfectly acceptable.
But as an occasional backup, he's perfectly acceptable.