Yeah I would like him to come here and prove those doubters wrong much like Eddy has done to an extent
Jules Koundé | Signs for Barcelona
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tbf the videos show him heading balls away successfully. But it doesn't show those aerial battels that he loses.
He will be our new Angel of defense.
Personally feel that Harry is strong in the air so don't see it as a major issue
Yeah agree. I think he more than makes up for his height.
Agree. We have Maguire who’s going to do the heading job. Kounde is still good header of the ball but if you want to mark someone like VVD, DCL or Andy Carrol, let Harry or Scott does the job. As long as Kounde is not easily outmuscled and outpaced, that’s already covering Lindelof’s weaknesses as Lindelof problem is not about in the air only but how he can be outmuscled easily by players, has no pace to cover Maguire his partner and very passive defender, these problems occurred when Zaha outmuscled him and scored against us this season and Obafemi scored that last minute 2-2 last season, Giroud scored that easy tap in in FA Cup, Bergwijn outdone Maguire and Lindelof has no pace to cover for his partner and etc.
This is the PL, one CB being able to dominate in the air is not enough.
Unless they’re members of the Boy Scouts Association, no
Just Zaha?
In that clip he seems to push players over a lot
Is he worse in the air than Lindelöf or Bailly? Bailly has height and a brilliant leap, but his timing is often off, more often than not resulting in him heading with his neck. Lindelöf is not an aerially strong player and often loses aerial battles to much smaller players anywhere on the pitch.
Are you sure that is still the case? Take City - Stones is not dominant in the air, but he's done OK, and they are quite decent in defense. Last season, Liverpool did OK, and if one might say one thing about Gomez, then he is certainly not the strongest defender in the air. There aren't many big forwards around anymore.
Exactly. Because they play a pressing game with a high line it pretty much negates the need to be aerially strong, the ball just gets lumped over their heads and they either win the foot race, or the goalkeeper sweeps it up. This is the way we want to play but need the players to adapt.
Yes. Pace is the key, not heading ability.
How many times do you see City having to defend in their box? teams barely even get a touch inside their area.
Thes best way to defend is keep the ball away from your goal, win the ball in their half if possible.
We also need to stop giving away stupid free kicks when players have nowhere to go, especially the set piece wankers that just want to lump it into the box.
It appears to be an issue with Lindelöf judging from this forum, and I'm pretty sure he plays next to Maguire.
Both Stones and Gomez might not be Vidic or VDD in the air, but are formidable headers of the ball. There are quite a few imposing strikers in the league, and not sure how you based that there aren't many. Chelsea have Giroud, Wolves have Jimenez Jimenez, Everton have Calver Lewin, Spurs have Kane and that's just on top of my head, in addition you have players like Antonio or Vardy who might not be that tall but are very physical and will cause problems to a CB who is not imposing. Kounde looks strong and can handle himself, but I think a short CB is always a disadvantage
A slow centre back is also a disadvantage. Right now, we have Maguire who is one of the best in the air, but he is also very slow on the turn, albeit with a decent top speed. Then we have Lindelöf who is not good in the air and is also slow. Bailly is plenty quick, but he is very erratic in the air. I think both of them are at least to Gomez' quality in the air and about equal to Stones. If you have one really dominant aerial defender, you don't necessarily need another if they make up for it with other attributes. Giroud, Jimenez, Calvert Lewin and Kane are players Maguire can handle. Kounde should definitely be able to handle players like Antonio, Vardy and also Calvert Lewin and Jimenez. Perhaps more pressing is how many goals we concede from corners etc, where one of the biggest concerns is DDG and his reluctance to come off his line.
Would you really categorize Gomez as formidable in the air?
Edit: Ramos is only 6cm taller than Kounde, and there are certainly not many centre backs better in the air than Ramos at 1.84m.
Kounde isn't weak in the air, but Maguire is better from what I've seen. But Kounde has the wider skillset that makes him a better partner for Maguire than Lindelof, who everyone can see just doesn't really work in partnership with old slabhead.
heading is more about timing and positioning than actual height. if you read the cross and get to it first it doesn't matter how tall you are.
The only time height really matters is if a ball is dropping out of the sky, but then often winning the first header isn't that important, winning it when it lands (the 2nd ball) is.
Stones and Dias are rarely ever having to head the ball clear as the team doesn't let crosses into the box, and if they do then with their higher defensive line Ederson is flying out to get it.
Those bold ones are very strange statements when you put them together.
Stones and Gomez might not be Vidic or VVD in the air but are formidable headers of the ball? So why can't Kounde be in the same category or better then? Stats show Kounde is better in aerial duel than Stones & Gomez.
Kounde is about on the same height as Antonio and taller than Vardy. So if height is not the problem for Antonio & Vardy then not sure why should Kounde's height be a problem as long as he's built strong with muscle and good balance and capable to bully strength to strength with strikers.
It won’t matter. Football clubs will operate with the assumption that things will be partially open next season with revenue streams stabilizing as a result. Sevilla won’t care about poor United not making as much money and will demand the buy out clause or something close to it. The fact you believe the floor for Kounde would be £40 million is naive and ridiculous.
The fact you are posting non-sense that I never say shows you need to read the post properly before replying someone else post. No one say he would be cost 40m and no one making point about United suffers financially due to covid. End of the day just like what’s going to happen to Sancho and Dortmund this summer, club like Sevilla will suffer financially and might be forced to sell one of their asset cheaper than what they asked for last summer aka his release clause.
I think stats are useless on this one, first of all they play in two entirely different leagues, secondly what does that stat show you? How many headers have they attempted and won? Even after that, Kounde can just as well do what Lindelof does and do not go into duels to not lose them. And to not understand me wrongly, whenever I've watched Kounde, he has been pretty good, but in Europe and I do think he is a very solid player, but in the PL we can't handicap ourselves with a short CB.Those bold ones are very strange statements when you put them together.
Stones and Gomez might not be Vidic or VVD in the air but are formidable headers of the ball? So why can't Kounde be in the same category or better then? Stats show Kounde is better in aerial duel than Stones & Gomez.
Kounde is about on the same height as Antonio and taller than Vardy. So if height is not the problem for Antonio & Vardy then not sure why should Kounde's height be a problem as long as he's built strong with muscle and good balance and capable to bully strength to strength with strikers.
A slow CB is yes also a disadvantage, and we brought that to ourselves because we though Maguire can compensate with other things, personally I think both the club and Ole expected much more leadership from Maguire, but he is the 80m CB we are stuck with and also our by far best CB at the moment.
Our next CB buy must be the full package unlike Maguire, and to go and buy a 1.78cm CB who has never played in the PL for the amounts quoted imo is asking for trouble and an unnecessary risk.
This. Unless we're gambling on a cheap player, 'he's short but he jumps well' just isn't going to cut it. For the prices being quoted, there are CBs without distinct weaknesses out there.
We have to learn our lesson when it comes to CBs and only go for the best. It's one thing to buy midfielders who have some strengths and some weaknesses - they can be partnered to complement each other and they get rotated in and out anyway. But you want to basically pick the same CBs all season long when fit, and they can only cover for each other's weaknesses so far - when Kounde is being out jumped by Calvert-Lewin, it won't make any difference that Maguire is standing three yards away, being tall.
Not useless because the league still has players with tall players ‘’Isak (190cm), Benzema (185cm), Borja Iglesias (187cm), Maxi Gomez (186cm), Negredo (186cm) and etc.
The stats show you that Sevilla relies on him a lot in the air and he takes massive responsibility to challenge players in the air despite of his height and still winning headers more than Stones & Gomez. You can see from pictures below that he‘s one of the best in winning header per game in his own team and he can outjump those tall players.
Gomez and Lindelof are playing with much better players in the air next to them, they have less responsibility because VVD & Maguire take more responsibility in that aspect. Give Lindelof the same responsibility in the same way Sevilla relies lot on Kounde in the air, you will see worse numbers.
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I think the only nonsense is your naivety in thinking Sevilla give a feck about the financial impact of Covid to sell one of their assets for below a reasonable buy out clause. There’s light at the end of the Covid pandemic and it is likely something close to a regular season will be in play next season. Clubs take a long term approach and there won’t be the fire sale that everyone is hoping for when they know regular business will be resuming soon. Either we pay something close to the buyout clause for Kounde or we don’t get him.
I think you might be right on that last part, but I also think Sevilla know that there are some opportunities that they would be interested in exploiting. For instance, there are clubs in France (a market the really enjoy) who have to sell this summer. So £50 mill this summer could be of higher value to them this summer than next.
Why would Sevilla don’t give a feck about their own financial problem?
They are not club with rich owner, if they lose lot of money then they will be forced to sell one of their asset without being too stubborn and 50m-55m is still a big money for it.
Know that they turned down an offer from City but this was pre COVID so feel if a similar figure is offered again they would accept it after suffering financial losses in that last year
did he play vs Barcelona? Anything to note about his performance?
He did and nope, they lost 2-0. I think it might have been Kounde who got suckered in by Messi and he played the ball down the side of him for Dembele to run onto and score.
Thanks. I'd like to keep eye on his performances against the better teams in the league or cups they are in. He is going to need to be near exceptional for the price we are being asked to pay for him.
Jonas Giaever who watches Sevilla, thinks Kounde would be best paired with Eric Bailly. According to him, Kounde likes to maraude forward which leaves Fernando and Diego Carlos to cover him in a higher defensive line which would be a problem for Maguire unless United adopt a low block approach which suits Maguire.
Well Harry would obviously be first choice so maybe that's why the Varane stuff has picked up again because Bailly is still a Lindelof backup in the eyes of Ole and can't see that changing at all
Was completely destroyed by Ousmane Dembélé in two games, one would assume that this is the kind of challenge we would like him to succeeds in.
Not surprised. He’s as good as Lindelof so don’t expect him to outdo the unexpected.
Well Barca seemed to dominate football around the globe with Mascherano as their starting CB so you can bet on it that a big and a small CB can work. Kounde isn't small he is around 6"2 so not exactly small. But he has pace, positioning and strength that only our other CB's could dream off and his ball playing skills are excellent. It's him at the top of the list for sure but the price will be an issue.
To be fair that wasnt down to Mascherano's height and it was more due to the opposition not having enough possession to make an attack.
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