Now that our frontline and midfield are pre-occupying and driving teams right back into their defensive third, we're seeing absolutely oodles of space and opportunities for our full-backs to influence the play. Indeed, if you put two world class offensive full-backs in this current side, the chances to contain us as an offensive force would be remote.
When watching us in the flow and momentum we currently have, there are pretty distinct pauses and losses of superfluous movement when our full-backs have to make a decisive action in the final third. Both of them are actually getting up in support of the attack, but neither of them really know how to hone in on the openings they're being presented with.
Shaw, for instance, will have time and the space to really thrust into the box or take a shot on or attempt a threatening pass or cross, but what he ends up doing is hesitating and then recycling the play to someone higher up the chain of command. He nullifies his threat with decisions he makes where, there is a good reason to believe there's a goal or two in it for him as well as a fair amount of assists or the winning of corners/free kicks/penalties if he'd take to the play and make decisions without that hesitation and doubt he has.
Wan Bissaka doesn't make the same kind of driving initial runs as Shaw, so his threat is not so much about getting chances on goal nor winning us set-piece plays, but as Mason darts diagonally towards the box, Bissaka often finds himself flanked wide on the overlap with the opportunity to really dribble to the edge of the box, thus drawing men to him (and away from their intended marks), if not that, the same time and space affords him a window of opportunity to play balls in, but he is hesitant to take on challenging aerial crosses or use the time and space he is being afforded to try and play the most threatening driven balls into the box he can. His first instinct seems to be to turn back inside and hand the offensive duties over to an offensive player - being the offensive threat in his own right is a secondary consideration.
Of course, both players are regarded as defensive full-backs first and foremost, and as such, you're not going to get Marcelo and Dani Alves in the final 3rd, but in the modern game, and particularly with what our midfield and attacking units offer us in pinning teams back, the importance of our full-backs could really be taken up at least a notch or two if they can somehow pick up the confidence and intricacies of the role they have the potential to play as this team re-shapes and starts to think of itself as challengers and contenders rather than plucky go luckys who are merely in good form. I think it's evident that with Pogba and Fernandes in tandem, and the development of Greenwood, we're on the precipice of being more the former than the latter, but to solidify it the offensive threat from the full-backs needs a boost.
Whether it's Greenwood or Sancho out on the right flank next season, what is absolutely guaranteed is that Wan Bissaka will have a plethora of opportunities to influence the game in an offensive capacity. Sancho requires a two-man operation to contain, and it isn't out of the question that six months down the line Greenwood will, too. Point is, irrespective of whom it is of the aforementioned: Bissaka is going to become a player with even more opportunities than he has now to be an influential and decisive cog in this team.
My question is as stated in the header. Do you believe it's a case of familiarity with almost constantly finding themselves in space so high up the pitch will eventually engender confidence and take them up a level or two, or even, do you think they can be coached (and coaxed) out of their shells to be influential and legitimate offensive threats? Directly or indirectly, there's a good 10-15 more goals to be had over a season if our full-backs are up to par with what title challengers demand from their fullbacks these days.
When watching us in the flow and momentum we currently have, there are pretty distinct pauses and losses of superfluous movement when our full-backs have to make a decisive action in the final third. Both of them are actually getting up in support of the attack, but neither of them really know how to hone in on the openings they're being presented with.
Shaw, for instance, will have time and the space to really thrust into the box or take a shot on or attempt a threatening pass or cross, but what he ends up doing is hesitating and then recycling the play to someone higher up the chain of command. He nullifies his threat with decisions he makes where, there is a good reason to believe there's a goal or two in it for him as well as a fair amount of assists or the winning of corners/free kicks/penalties if he'd take to the play and make decisions without that hesitation and doubt he has.
Wan Bissaka doesn't make the same kind of driving initial runs as Shaw, so his threat is not so much about getting chances on goal nor winning us set-piece plays, but as Mason darts diagonally towards the box, Bissaka often finds himself flanked wide on the overlap with the opportunity to really dribble to the edge of the box, thus drawing men to him (and away from their intended marks), if not that, the same time and space affords him a window of opportunity to play balls in, but he is hesitant to take on challenging aerial crosses or use the time and space he is being afforded to try and play the most threatening driven balls into the box he can. His first instinct seems to be to turn back inside and hand the offensive duties over to an offensive player - being the offensive threat in his own right is a secondary consideration.
Of course, both players are regarded as defensive full-backs first and foremost, and as such, you're not going to get Marcelo and Dani Alves in the final 3rd, but in the modern game, and particularly with what our midfield and attacking units offer us in pinning teams back, the importance of our full-backs could really be taken up at least a notch or two if they can somehow pick up the confidence and intricacies of the role they have the potential to play as this team re-shapes and starts to think of itself as challengers and contenders rather than plucky go luckys who are merely in good form. I think it's evident that with Pogba and Fernandes in tandem, and the development of Greenwood, we're on the precipice of being more the former than the latter, but to solidify it the offensive threat from the full-backs needs a boost.
Whether it's Greenwood or Sancho out on the right flank next season, what is absolutely guaranteed is that Wan Bissaka will have a plethora of opportunities to influence the game in an offensive capacity. Sancho requires a two-man operation to contain, and it isn't out of the question that six months down the line Greenwood will, too. Point is, irrespective of whom it is of the aforementioned: Bissaka is going to become a player with even more opportunities than he has now to be an influential and decisive cog in this team.
My question is as stated in the header. Do you believe it's a case of familiarity with almost constantly finding themselves in space so high up the pitch will eventually engender confidence and take them up a level or two, or even, do you think they can be coached (and coaxed) out of their shells to be influential and legitimate offensive threats? Directly or indirectly, there's a good 10-15 more goals to be had over a season if our full-backs are up to par with what title challengers demand from their fullbacks these days.