Lindelof at left-back

[Bastian]

Is this really the best option we currently have? Watching us play out from the back yesterday was excruciating, being held in our defensive third playing it between two centre backs who can't dribble and have no pace. Every time Lindelof got the ball they had runners closing in on him, an obvious game plan. Seems to me that even if Lindelof is better defending at left-back than other options, it is still a net negative because it drastically impacts our collective game. And with no Hojlund to contest the long balls it just looked completely impotent.

The benefit of playing Dalot at right back is quite slight when we can't play the ball out properly. We might as well play him at left back and play Lindelof in a position where he is less of a liability in possession. Playing Antony at left back is a risk but playing out from the back would immediately go up a notch. Which is not to say that he has the positional awareness or the instincts of a defender, he of course doesn't, but I'd hazard a guess that it'll be less disruptive than the left side of our defense being Maguire-Lindelof.

Maybe if we were coming up against City it would be more understandable - maybe - but against Fulham at home one would expect a bit more courage.

Even a change in formation might be more preferable with two wing-backs to make up for a lack of a left back.

 

[Nickelodeon]

I’d like to say anyone at LB than Lindelof. But the depths this team can sink to is astonishing and it’s not surprising to think that the worst is yet to come.

 

[bosnian_red]

It was the same earlier with Amrabat... Surely it makes more sense to play the guys somewhat closer to an acceptable position for them? Like I think Lindelof at RB would do far better than at LB both going forward and defending, while Dalot has proven to be a very decent left back when he's played there (and on loan at Milan).

Then you look at how it impacts their wingers, do you maybe want to keep the garnacho and dalot relationship on the right or do you want to get the all round group playing to a decent level. For me it just makes more sense to not have a complete hole like Lindelof at LB, and put him in at RB where he's played plenty of times.

 

[Sandikan]

Amrabat there would at least give someone who can vaguely make a pass. But you have the same issue with a lack of pace there.

To be utterly lacking a central striker and full back option shows the sort of mess we've got ourselves into squad wise.

Hopefully that is something the new management team can improve quickly

 

[100]

Surely we have a youth team left back that can be thrown in at the deep end.

 

[Bobski]

The worst part about it was the last 25 mins chasing the game when he kept popping up in attacking midfield roles getting in the way of Bruno/Eriksen/McT, creating wild clutter rather than space.

 

[El-Manos]

He was ok but obviously contributes nothing to that left wing. Solid defensively.

 

[Bastian]

He was ok but obviously contributes nothing to that left wing. Solid defensively.

It's in possession that it is a disaster.

 

[Cutch]

He's as bad an option as you can possibly imagine. Hasn't a single redeeming quality that says he could do a job at left back. Offers nothing going forward or on the ball. In defence he has 2 signature moves, one is shoving the attacker over before he gets a turn to run at you, or the other is let him run at you and retreat all the way back to your own goal line. It's nowhere near good enough

 

[AaronRedDevil]

What a out that Fernández lad?

 

[Mike Smalling]

Surely we have a youth team left back that can be thrown in at the deep end.

I have no clue who we have at left back for the U23s, but I agree it can hardly be any worse. I remember when we used Borthwick-Jackson at LB due to injuries, and he did quite well under the circumstances. Brandon Williams also looked good for a while. We must be able to field a young left-back.

 

[Shane88]

It's the move of a coward.

He's first team squad so throw him in and hope he does a job instead of making the ballsy move of giving a youth player who plays the position a chance.

 

[Rood]

Lindelof is an awful option at fullback but there is pretty much no youth player anywhere near ready for that position

We got rid of them all - Fernandez, Williams, Laird, Jurado


I'd say Amrabat was a better emergency option but still pretty bad

This why getting rid of Reguilon without a replacement was a bad move

 

[macheda14]

It's the move of a coward.

He's first team squad so throw him in and hope he does a job instead of making the ballsy move of giving a youth player who plays the position a chance.

Sam Murray is our u21s LB and he is very poor even at youth level. Harry Amass who looks a real talent is only 16. Who would you play from the youth squads?

 

[davidmichael]

I have no clue who we have at left back for the U23s, but I agree it can hardly be any worse. I remember when we used Borthwick-Jackson at LB due to injuries, and he did quite well under the circumstances. Brandon Williams also looked good for a while. We must be able to field a young left-back.

We have Sam Murray and Harry Amass at left back, I’ve been saying that Amass should be given minutes based on our injury crisis at left back as he’s the best under 18 left back in the country for me.

It wasn’t that long ago that Will Keane being injured meant a young kid called Marcus Rashford was given a game in Europe despite not ever training with the first team then a couple of years later Greenwood did the same, in the last 18 months we’ve seen Garnacho and Mainoo become first choice starters whilst Kambwala has broken through.

Even if Dalot starts at left back then Amass came on for the last half hour it’d make more sense than fecking Lindelof at left back seeing as Lindelof is bad enough in his best position let alone a different one and one where he’s having to use his weak foot, it’s frustrating that ETH knew Malacia has been out all season and that Shaw has an injury in him each season yet loaned Fernandez out when he’s probably better than Malacia anyway.

 

[EdinburghDevil]

Too many players not playing in natural position. We offered nothing yesterday going forward down the left from full back.

My only assumption with how January panned out was EtH thought Malacia or AWB were closer to a return than he has been.

I'd rather see Dalot LB and Lindelof RB if Amass isn't ready

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He's a fecking terrible left back

I'd honestly rather play Evans there. At least he's not a coward.

 

[tomaldinho1]

He was ok but obviously contributes nothing to that left wing. Solid defensively.

Wasn’t it him who got rolled by Muniz when they hit the post? Whoever that was shouldn’t be played PL level football as a CB.

 

[red_de_pologne]

We have Sam Murray and Harry Amass at left back, I’ve been saying that Amass should be given minutes based on our injury crisis at left back as he’s the best under 18 left back in the country for me.

It wasn’t that long ago that Will Keane being injured meant a young kid called Marcus Rashford was given a game in Europe despite not ever training with the first team then a couple of years later Greenwood did the same, in the last 18 months we’ve seen Garnacho and Mainoo become first choice starters whilst Kambwala has broken through.

Even if Dalot starts at left back then Amass came on for the last half hour it’d make more sense than fecking Lindelof at left back seeing as Lindelof is bad enough in his best position let alone a different one and one where he’s having to use his weak foot, it’s frustrating that ETH knew Malacia has been out all season and that Shaw has an injury in him each season yet loaned Fernandez out when he’s probably better than Malacia anyway.

Amass is 16 years old, it would be reckless to throw him in a PL game. Rashford debuted at 18. Also, ETH didn't decide on Fernandez loan it was a financial decision by the club.

 

[arthurka]

He isn't athletic, strong or quick. He is weak as piss, slow and clumsy. So far away from being good enough for a PL team and that's in his best CB position.

 

[UnRational]

make It stop

 

[Oranges038]

Lindelof should be leftback to Sweden

 

[2 man midfield]

Antony is a better option. At least he works hard and is left footed. That and the fact he’s Erik’s love child make me surprised he hasn’t done this.

 

[Stadjer]

Antony is a better option. At least he works hard and is left footed. That and the fact he’s Erik’s love child make me surprised he hasn’t done this.

Antony came on as a left winger against Wolves and Wolves scored over that side multiple times after that. He was a disaster and that is coming from someone who doesnt trash Antony in every post about him. I dont think Antony is as bad as some here like to make it out. However i wouldnt take the risk to put Antony as a left back after seeing Antony his performance on the left in that game.

 

[MalaysianRed7]

We know that he had never played there before this season, and as far as I’m aware, he never played there for Benfica either.

Ten Hag knew that Malacia was out for the season but still got rid of Reguilon and Fernandez because he was banking on Shaw staying fit. Now Shaw’s out for the season. It’s nigh on gross negligence in squad building, especially when you consider that Reguilon has started decently as Brentford aside from the shocker he had against Liverpool and Fernandez was wanted by and has gone to Benfica of all places, a club who pride themselves on developing young players into £100m ones. We won’t make top 5 simply because of this and our failure to recruit a backup to Højlund.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Antony is a better option. At least he works hard and is left footed. That and the fact he’s Erik’s love child make me surprised he hasn’t done this.

So am I, doesn't mean he's a competent left back. Would be pretty damning to see a 100m forward signing be punted into a fullback spot.

 

[2 man midfield]

So am I, doesn't mean he's a competent left back. Would be pretty damning to see a 100m forward signing be punted into a fullback spot.

But pep does it and everyone thinks he’s a genius. He’s had Grealish everywhere but in goal!

 

[foolsgold]

Is this really the best option we currently have?

Sadly I think it is, it's a bloody awful option and speaks to dreadful squad management but there's no creating a new LB out of thin air at this point, people seem to rate Amass but he's 16 and excepting him to cope with Silva or Foden next week just isn't realistic or fair on the boy.

 

[Ekeke]

He's an awful leftback. Firstly because hes not a very good defender, but in particular at leftback one of the issues is highlighted on the first goal we conceeded against Fulham.

The corner we gave away that resulted in the goal. Varane overhits a pass in attack on the right and Fulham get the ball and start to work it towards our left side. The ball comes to the fulham right back who plays a pass to Wilson right on the line and makes a run inside him. Garnacho tries to slide in and stop the one two working but it works. Meanwhile Lindelof had gone tight on Wilson and tries to push him but Wilson managed the return pass anyway and now the Fulham rightback is marching into space in an inside position and Reed is in a right wing position behind Lindelof, who instead of quickly getting on with the game and doing his best to play leftback he does a frustrated gesture with his hands and looking down, then starts to slowly jog back while Reed tries to cross the ball and Eriksen is trying to fill in for Lindelof. The mishit cross has to be tipped over by Onana and from the resulting corner Fulham get the luck of the bounce and Bassey smashes it home.

He doesn't like defending. He does it with a grimace and an attitude where he's doing you a favour by doing it. He doesnt want to tackle or win the ball thats why hes made his career by running away from it and shirking responsibility. And now we're playing him at leftback with the idea he can cover and offer some defensive solidarity? First Amrabat and now Lindelof this manager loves picking bad choices at leftback.

 

[edgecutter]

He looks exactly what he is, a poor center back trying to play a position he hasn't got a clue about.

This club.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

Lindelof at LB isn’t the answer, I know we’re hardly stacked in that area but fecking hell there must be a better option than that somewhere.

 

[Hughes35]

Everybody can see that Anthony is the next best option. Lindelof is about as bad a LB as you can imagine.

 

[Lentwood]

It's the move of a coward.

He's first team squad so throw him in and hope he does a job instead of making the ballsy move of giving a youth player who plays the position a chance.

I am as disgusted with anybody with Lindelof at LB but due to the incompetent way we have built and managed our squad there are no youth team options.

All the lads in the right age bracket are on loan. Then there's a huge gap down to Harry Amass who is starring for the u18s but is 16/17 and you'd be risking a serious injury if you threw a kid that age into a Premier League game.

 

[pacifictheme]

Lindelof is an awful option at fullback but there is pretty much no youth player anywhere near ready for that position

We got rid of them all - Fernandez, Williams, Laird, Jurado


I'd say Amrabat was a better emergency option but still pretty bad

This why getting rid of Reguilon without a replacement was a bad move

Williams is back from his loan isn't he but not available for selection.

 

[justsomebloke]

He was ok but obviously contributes nothing to that left wing. Solid defensively.

Agreed. Which makes quite a lot of the posts on this thread more than a little over the top. Going on about rather using untried kids and suchlike. Total nonsense.

That said, I too will breathe more easily once a proper FB is back in action on the left.

 

[noodlehair]

Is this really the best option we currently have? Watching us play out from the back yesterday was excruciating, being held in our defensive third playing it between two centre backs who can't dribble and have no pace. Every time Lindelof got the ball they had runners closing in on him, an obvious game plan. Seems to me that even if Lindelof is better defending at left-back than other options, it is still a net negative because it drastically impacts our collective game. And with no Hojlund to contest the long balls it just looked completely impotent.

The benefit of playing Dalot at right back is quite slight when we can't play the ball out properly. We might as well play him at left back and play Lindelof in a position where he is less of a liability in possession. Playing Antony at left back is a risk but playing out from the back would immediately go up a notch. Which is not to say that he has the positional awareness or the instincts of a defender, he of course doesn't, but I'd hazard a guess that it'll be less disruptive than the left side of our defense being Maguire-Lindelof.

Maybe if we were coming up against City it would be more understandable - maybe - but against Fulham at home one would expect a bit more courage.

Even a change in formation might be more preferable with two wing-backs to make up for a lack of a left back.

He's not even any good defensively there. Every time he's taken on the inevitable result is a shot or cross into our box. When there's a ball to the far post he is muscled out of it.

On the ball at left back he looks like one of the celebrities in a charity match whre you can tell just from the way he runs that he has no idea what he's doing there.

I'm 100% sure there will be someone in our squad who is better suited there than Lindelof. If there isn't, then it is time to change the system until one of the fullbacks is fit. Put him at CB with Maguire and Varane and then you can put Antony at LWB. Its still shite but honestly we look such a mess with Lindelof at LB that carrying on with it is just not an option.

But then, this was obvious before the game. So I fully expect us to do it again in the next 2 games at least and suffer for it.

It should have been binned off forever after that second half vs Villa where it was an unmitigated catastrophe,but presumably because we won 2-1 ETH decided to simply ignore the 1000 times it could have cost us a goal.

 

[Rood]

Williams is back from his loan isn't he but not available for selection.

He's injured and doing rehab with us, I don't know if he goes back to Ipswich or can stay once he's fit

 

[Bastian]

He's not even any good defensively there. Every time he's taken on the inevitable result is a shot or cross into our box. When there's a ball to the far post he is muscled out of it.

On the ball at left back he looks like one of the celebrities in a charity match whre you can tell just from the way he runs that he has no idea what he's doing there.

I'm 100% sure there will be someone in our squad who is better suited there than Lindelof. If there isn't, then it is time to change the system until one of the fullbacks is fit. Put him at CB with Maguire and Varane and then you can put Antony at LWB. Its still shite but honestly we look such a mess with Lindelof at LB that carrying on with it is just not an option.

But then, this was obvious before the game. So I fully expect us to do it again in the next 2 games at least and suffer for it.

It should have been binned off forever after that second half vs Villa where it was an unmitigated catastrophe,but presumably because we won 2-1 ETH decided to simply ignore the 1000 times it could have cost us a goal.

Yeah, it is mind-boggling. Saw Paul Parker making the same point and he's been at pains to defend ETH throughout this season. Made the point that Lindelof played a number of matches for Benfica at right back too. Ruins our whole setup.

 

[Ekeke]

Agreed. Which makes quite a lot of the posts on this thread more than a little over the top. Going on about rather using untried kids and suchlike. Total nonsense.

That said, I too will breathe more easily once a proper FB is back in action on the left.

He made the mistake that led to the corner we conceded the first from. He also misjudged his jump and didnt make the header for the actual goal but this part wasnt his fault as he was pushed. Coming out to push Wilson and leaving space at leftback was on him though.

 

[justsomebloke]

He made the mistake that led to the corner we conceded the first from. He also misjudged his jump and didnt make the header for the actual goal but this part wasnt his fault as he was pushed. Coming out to push Wilson and leaving space at leftback was on him though.

Well, that was one individual involvement. You can't judge the game performance on that. That the subsequent corner led to the goal is neither here nor there, it doesn't make the mistake any bigger.

The goal was something of a collective failure I think. That was about the third time Fulham used the exact same option, and yet no one seemed to be prepared for it. Maguire, Lindelof and Varane were all pretty passive there.