Yeh you're pretty spot on. Im convinced he's just a but thick tbh.
2
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 36
- Clean sheets
- 6
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 4
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) chats to author, Dan Williamson, about his new book 'If I Hadnt Seen Such Riches' which chronicles our 1990/91 European Cup Winners Cup victory, which is a trip down memory lane for those old enough to remember it and a vital history lesson for those who don't.
Yeh you're pretty spot on. Im convinced he's just a but thick tbh.
With the amount of chances he gets I’m convinced it’ll just click for him one year and he’ll score 10 goals in a season. He’s what - 27? He’s just entering 4 years of what should be his peak. We should make use of that instead of trying to replace him after suffering through his play for 7 years.
Also I think the majority of people who think he isn't good enough to be part of our squad likely don't watch the other RBs in the league...
Some (unconfirmed) rumors that Mourinho might want him at Real Madrid with Carvajal leaving this summer. Mourinho was full of praise for Dalot when he signed him for us, so maybe he'll go for him again. Would we actually sell though, i think he'll be tough to replace.
Several poor passes in the first half but he has an underrated quality to play passes inside (which doesn't happen on the other side of the pitch) when under pressure, which opens up our game as our midfielders get on the ball in good positions with the whole field in front of him. Then in the second half, he could have had an assist for Mbeumo's handball incident and almost scored a goal himself after doing well to take the ball off Bruno late in the game.
Concentration issues and consistency is his problem. Once/if (?) we get some midfielders that actually control the game for us in the summer, I expect him to improve in these aspects.
Concentration issues and consistency is his problem. Once/if (?) we get some midfielders that actually control the game for us in the summer, I expect him to improve in these aspects.
Continues to be a player with a target on his back here. As a right back, I maintain that he's a pretty great option to have in the squad. Physically and technically solid, always available and a great mentality on the pitch as well. Seems to really love the club too. Brainfarts are the only thing holding him back, but when he puts it together, he can be fantastic (as we saw in ETH's first season). Now, if he added shooting to his locker? With the amount of good positions he finds himself in, that could be massive. Only 26 too, so still plenty of room to fix up these aspects. The fundamentals are there.
Saw someone saying they'd sell him for 30m..
How good do you people think other right-backs are? Below are his stats from this season (the numbers on the right show how he compares to other RBs as a percentile). Obviously, there is significant context that he played further forward as a wingback for a large portion of this season.
Going back a few years to ETH's strong first season in 2022/23 (so pre donut formation), where Dalot played fullback throughout:
And 23/24, the year he won player's player of the year:
Are there really that many fullbacks out there as well-rounded as him? I'm doubtful. One may accuse me of cherry-picking, but I'd rather not put much stock in his performances in the dysfunctional teams of 24/25.
Saw someone saying they'd sell him for 30m..
How good do you people think other right-backs are? Below are his stats from this season (the numbers on the right show how he compares to other RBs as a percentile). Obviously, there is significant context that he played further forward as a wingback for a large portion of this season.
Going back a few years to ETH's strong first season in 2022/23 (so pre donut formation), where Dalot played fullback throughout:
And 23/24, the year he won player's player of the year:
Are there really that many fullbacks out there as well-rounded as him? I'm doubtful. One may accuse me of cherry-picking, but I'd rather not put much stock in his performances in the dysfunctional teams of 24/25.
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Why three seasons? He was our player of the season in 23/24 and was basically the only player to come out of that season with any credit at all. Then he spent the next 18 months being played out of position (first as a LB under ETH, then a LWB and to a lesser extent RWB under Amorim) and he was mostly poor. Then Carrick came in and Dalot's form instantly improved again as he's settled back into rightback. Not as good as he was in 23/24 and he still has had a couple of bad games, but overall he's been solid. I doubt we'll sign a new RB next season so hopefully he'll get back to that 23/24 form as he settles back into his natural position.
Even during that poor 18 months, the only period where he actually had a decent run of games at RWB (around February-April last season if I remember correctly) his form noticeably improved. The rest of the time he spent the large majority of it on the left which has almost certainly played a huge part in his struggles.
While he's not world class or anything, I really do think people go overboard and put too much emphasis on how he was playing when he was clearly out of position. Him being able to cover leftback is great in an emergency and he did have some good games there, but it's obvious that he shouldn't be played there consistently.
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23/24 was actually his best season. In 22/23 he had a strong first half of the season, but from memory he picked up an injury and was then a bit shaky in the second half of the season (I could be wrong but I think he was also playing a bit on the left then as AWB had a strong end to that season on the right). Then Dalot built on that in 23/24 and was basically our only player who could hold his head up high that season.
Yeah, I just edited my post after seeing yours -- I got things mixed up in my head! Thanks for clarifying. Further adds to the point that he isn't this absolute calamity that the prevailing narrative suggests.
Dalot isn't bad by any means but he's just someone who has very obvious limitations and is showing no signs of getting past them as he gets older. Aged 27, he's probably reaching his peak in terms of performance level, and I don't think he's the level needed for a title winning team.
There's no rush to move him on. Indeed I think it would be sensible to avoid selling him til next summer. We won't get too much money for him I suspect, so buying a replacement would draw down on our transfer budget for midfield. But if a good offer came in that could change things, and failing that, I'd say he definitely needs an upgrade next summer.
There's no rush to move him on. Indeed I think it would be sensible to avoid selling him til next summer. We won't get too much money for him I suspect, so buying a replacement would draw down on our transfer budget for midfield. But if a good offer came in that could change things, and failing that, I'd say he definitely needs an upgrade next summer.
Dalot is a jack of all trades, master of none type player. Handy to have in your squad but not good enough to be starting for a top team every week, especially with how important full backs are in the modern game.
Continues to be a player with a target on his back here. As a right back, I maintain that he's a pretty great option to have in the squad. Physically and technically solid, always available and a great mentality on the pitch as well. Seems to really love the club too. Brainfarts are the only thing holding him back, but when he puts it together, he can be fantastic (as we saw in ETH's first season). Now, if he added shooting to his locker? With the amount of good positions he finds himself in, that could be massive. Only 26 too, so still plenty of room to fix up these aspects. The fundamentals are there.
Saw someone saying they'd sell him for 30m..
Going back a few years to ETH's strong first season in 2022/23 (so pre donut formation), where Dalot played fullback throughout:
And 23/24, the year he won player's player of the year:
Are there really that many fullbacks out there as well-rounded as him? I'm doubtful. One may accuse me of cherry-picking, but I'd rather not put much stock in his performances in the dysfunctional teams of 24/25.
That's some interesting stats. Never seen those before on these boards. Where did you access this?
Thanks.
I think Kobbie and Bruno also performed quite well that season.
We are at the stage where due to good results people forget all our issues. Dalot is bang average yet we give him a new contract and thus the cycle continues. Standards I guess.
Calling him bang average is harsh. He’s extremely athletic and typically a reliable defender. His attacking end product could be better and I’ve been team we need 2 new full backs but if we don’t upgrade on Dalot its not the end of the world. He’s plenty good enough to start for a winning team.
Winning team? Winning what exactly? He is never staring for a PL title winning team. He’s okay - gives you physicality and mental resilience. He’s not a great defender and he’s rubbish on the ball barring the odd dribble.
We talk about standards yet accept and hype up limited footballers to pretend the team is better than it is.
City almost won the league with Nunes at RB. Arsenal have played plenty of games with Mosquera and White at RB. No one is taking any of those 3 over Dalot.
He’s a solid RB. You don’t have to have a spectacular one to be a very good team.
If the worst player in our squad was Dalot we'd be in a very good place.
Is he the best right back in the world? Not remotely close, probably not even the best in Manchester but he's turned into a solid dependable player and that's not to be sniffed at.
Is he the best right back in the world? Not remotely close, probably not even the best in Manchester but he's turned into a solid dependable player and that's not to be sniffed at.
PM'd.
It only has data for the top 5 leagues and goes back as far as 20/21 I think, but that’s plenty.
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Dalot's ability to play vertical and diagonal balls out from the back through the oppositions first line of defence is something that he's always been good at and consistently gets us on the front foot. Something he does better than any of our other fullbacks (Shaw used to be better but he seems to have lost a lot of that). Indeed it was one of the most important things that Dalot lost when he was playing on the left, as he didn't seem anywhere near as comfortable at beating his first man then playing those passes. Now that he's back on the right it's not surprising that we're starting to see it quite regularly again.
Sideway balls across the field can be a little dangerous at times admittedly, as he does give it away a bit more than I'd like. And once he's in a good attacking position himself (which he does very well) he does tend to lose his head and mess up the end product.
He’s just a daft footballer. With Shaw you know he’s got the quality to play intelligent precise football. Dalot is a tryer I’ll give him that, but we need a much better footballer at RB. This is the usual pretence we see here when we’re in good form. Everyone becomes good.
Worst City team in ages. That’s probably why they lost the title to the worst champions in ages.
He's frustrating because he could and should be one of the better fullbacks in the league.
The brainfarts and horrible misses/decisions are infuriating. He should also score and assist more because he has the talent.
The brainfarts and horrible misses/decisions are infuriating. He should also score and assist more because he has the talent.
There is a balance, Dalot isn't world class, at the same time calling him rubbish on the ball is silly. Honestly not sure a lot of yall actually watch other fullbacks in the league. Dalot is better than Mazraoui, can we upgrade him? Potentially when we've sorted out other areas. Is he good enough to be part of a squad that is challenging for titles? Definitely, maybe not as a starter but as a squad player who can play both sides, is solid defensively, regularly available and good on the ball (which he is), he is more than capable of being in that team.
Thing is, there is a serious lack of quality in the position he plays, so if we're going to spend a lot of money on his replacement, it needs to be a guaranteed upgrade. And the ones that are guaranteed to be an upgrade aren't available. This can't just be a case of replacing a player because we want something else, like we've done in the past.
This is correct.
I think with some proper coaching with some of our players and the team defending better as a whole would improve someone like Dalot.
The answer is not always buying a new player. Unless you are willing to fork out 80+ mill on a player of hakimi's quality.
There are two gettable fullbacks at Fulham and Brentford who both offer a lot more in different ways.
Yeah Nunes is the reason why they lost the league.
Surely he’s been around long enough to confidently state he isn’t talented enough to score and assist more?
Dalot has been good for the majority of the time that he's played at RB over the last four years. Not amazing, but certainly better than most rightbacks out there. That included a season where almost everyone else in the team was struggling.
It was when he was played in other positions that he was mostly poor (and even then he wasn't as bad as a lot of people made out).
Id only sell for a 40m+ fee because any reliable good fullback would cost that much
You can't coach brains, that's his main problem on the pitch.
We’d be absolute fools to sell him. On his day there isn’t a better fullback available and we have spent 7 years on his development - to sell him just as he’s entering his peak would be daft af. Not to mention he’s one of the few that doesn’t have an injury record and is always available.
He’s a great athlete, good in the air, good on 1v1, and has a decent cross on him to boot. He’s a bad finisher but that’s ok. He does have a tendency to have brain farts while playing the ball across to the midfield but all fullbacks are gonna have that now and again. In general he’s pretty good at playing passes through the press into our midfielders.
He’s a great athlete, good in the air, good on 1v1, and has a decent cross on him to boot. He’s a bad finisher but that’s ok. He does have a tendency to have brain farts while playing the ball across to the midfield but all fullbacks are gonna have that now and again. In general he’s pretty good at playing passes through the press into our midfielders.
I agree. There are lots of better full backs, and he can be frustrating - but he’s not a player we need to replace, and pretty much every position bar Gk needs investment before looking at RB.
To replace him would cost £50m and there’s no guarantee they would settle better.
This is where we buy an exciting young player with potential who can really challenge within the next 12-18 months.
The idea that the only way to replace Dalot is to buy someone of Hakimi's quality is kind of ridiculous.
Besides, aged 27 he's almost certainly the best he will ever be. I know he seems to have been young forever but in truth, this is probably his career peak.
This is not true. Players only start entering their peak at 27. He’s been a mainstay in our team that maintained a title winning form for half a year, so even if this is his best it’s clearly good enough. Maz, someone who everybody seems to think is an upgrade, is clearly not as good as him when he actually plays in front of him.
Well they lost it by a slim margin to a weak champion so if they have a first choice fullback worse than Dalot that’s a major factor.
You're just splitting hairs with definitions. What we see with Dalot now is what we get. Unless you're suggesting he's about to find a hitherto unseen level in the next 2 to 3 seasons, in which case I'd query what you'd base this on.
Maz is a different profile of player, which is why Dalot tends to play ahead of him. Maz is a more defensive style of player, despite the odd flourish from time to time. With a cautious Luke Shaw on the other side, playing Maz on the right would be too defensive in a lot of circumstances. Either way, neither are long term solutions. To my mind it's just a question of which is the best fit for the period while we replace them in the first team, and over what timeframe we do it.
He’s not getting replaced best you get used to that. He’ll be here in 5 years you can save my post if you want. And us winning the league or not doesn’t depend on his staying. His going might set us back years though. People are severely underrating how good of a RB he is. There’s not many in the world that are better and if we were to want to sell him he’d get massive offers from top clubs. He’d kill it with Madrid and we’d be looking and wondering why we let him go.
Your hyperbole is matched only by your enthusiasm. Good stuff.