Lucas is deeper than expected and Alderwiereld is further to the right because they both have to cover for Aurier
At the risk of starting another Aurier-bashing session, over on r/coys they insist that Aurier is the most improved player under Steptonho Apparently they can see a dramatic improvement in his defending and decision-making that none of us had which would justify the term "improved" to be used...
Everyone we play against knows that there's an ocean of space behind him, Toby's not got the pace that he once had and it distorts our central midfield. We're wide open down that flank and sooner rather than later, someone's going to score the right number of goals against us from ripping it to bits. That's on Mourinho He has made some improvement but it's lipstick on the proverbial pig. He's not that great at getting back...or with his final ball and has a mistake in him and I'd still very readily trade him in, come the summer.
Who would you rather play at RB? don’t forget he has to be able to attack because that’s our game. Tanganga is the better defender but attacking wise he doesn’t quite have the menace Aurier has. Maybe we need a new RB?
Actually, we're more of a counter attacking set-up these days, foregoing possession to break quickly. I'd play Aurier in some games, mostly at home, but he'd get nowhere near the team against Chelsea and probably not tonight either, where conceding a soft goal could kill the tie. I'd play Foyth (if fit) or Tanganga in games where we're likely to be doing a lot of defending. There are quite a few coming up as we've now completed fixtures against 4 of the bottom 5, in Norwich, Brighton, Watford and Villa. A lot of our remaining fixtures are going to be hard fought and he's an accident waiting to happen.
No matter what we call it...our RB has to have attacking qualities. Wether bombing forward directly or as an attacking outlet on the break. Tanganga maybe but doubt Foyth cuts it for his pace. Both better defenders than Aurier.
Foyth's back in training, having recovered from a groin strain nobody mentioned before saying he'd recovered from it, and while he doesn't have the attacking instincts Aurier has he does know what this thing called "defending" is supposed to be
Tanganga impressed going forward against Boro. But Maureen clearly sees him as the 'defensive' option and is unlikely to play him in the same line up as Davies - who now needs to start as often as possible as he is our only proper LB. We've experimented with Sess as a version of Aurier on the other flank, but it hasn't worked. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet to say that our back 4 more or less picks itself for the rest of the season. It ain't great but it ain't terrible either. Aurier Dave Toby Davies New LB and RB in the summer are essential.
