Nah come on. Gabriel is good. And we need the flexibility to be able to play White at right back so we don’t have to see Cedric again.
Saliba is head and shoulders above our other defenders. Need to get his renewal sorted ASAP, along with Saka.
Looks like Ayew flopped in the box but they never showed a replay. If VAR reviewed and it looked like a flop they should hand out yellows as much as handing out a penalty.
VAR cant review for a yellow. They can review for foul in the box vs flop but if they say no foul im not sure if the ref can give a yellow after the fact.
Sampaoli varied his formations, playing with a three man defense early in the season before switching to four at the back for most of the second half of the season. In a four man defense Saliba played as both a RCB and a LCB.
Too early to tell. We forget but Holding was still completely bald to begin the season last year In all seriousness though, Saliba should also clearly be the backup to Gabriel. I doubt we’ll be in for another LCB before deadline—at least I hope we won’t
man, a back 3 to finish the game with saliba-holding-gabriel would be pretty solid both physically and in the air.
yeah, that's my thing. i don't think it was a yellow, either. i think he was trying sort of a swim move to get around the defender that, if done by someone with actual agility, would have put him through but, with xhaka being xhaka, it's a faceplant. but, if you are going to yellow that, fine. i just need you to be fair and yellow at least one of the actual flop-a-thons.
i don't have a problem with white at CB but i wonder if being at RB might suit his offensive game more? you'd think he'd be able to roam forward more freely without worrying about leaving the defense exposed.
Tomi is better at RB than White is, but that said during the season I would be OK with a back 5 where White pushes up into the midfield should we lose a certain player or we have a Xhaka suspension.
Yes, he played on the right side of a 3 with the RWB - usually Tariq Lamptey - playing very high up the pitch which made his role similar to that of a RB. Leeds played a back 4, White had the role of a free defender while the other CB and fullbacks man-marked as part of Bielsa's fairly unique system (that ultimately fell apart and got him sacked).
Modern football and positioning is t as simple as it used to be rather than formations coaches look at zones and how players react in phases of play with and without the ball white often stepped into midfield last year playing advanced passes. He has always been a ball player doesn’t mean he would be a good 6 because I don’t know how well he plays on the half turn
my recollection was he has been out there now and again and could do it but was primarily an RCB (in a 3) or CB.
man, that's the hardest part about those unique systems that takes advantage of certain players' uniqueness: when everything is right, it's wonderful but an injury taking one of those unique players out completely throws the team. same thing happened with us when partey went out last year and arteta had to take multiple games to completely rejig.