I don’t want to appear pedantic but ‘sat on the spectrum’ or, which gets my vote, ‘lay in the ditch’?
Agreed. Lascelles has impressed me when he has played this season. Howe has improved him. He dealt with Haaland well.
DPP was out here peddling the notion Schar cannot play in a back 4 for a number of years, so he's simply holding a slightly more neutral position now to save face.
Unfortunately the great rafa and dpp have been proven wrong because he's now part of the best defence in the best league in the world.
Correct. He’s having a good season. Personally don’t think that would continue indefinitely as previous seasons (not just under Bruce) showed otherwise
I have said a few times that I would like to see Targett tried out to see if he brings something different. However Burn epitomises the ethos and spirit in the team now and Howe will not want to lose that. I don’t think he is a liability. He will be replaced eventually but it’s not critical it happens soon. There seem to be a few on here who think every time a player gets beaten it’s a mistake by him or he is not good enough. Generally the flair players on any team are on the wing. Full back is one of the hardest positions to play. You are going to be up against somebody who is running at you at pace intent on taking you on. Think Trippier has it good. He always has players in front of him who are willing to track back (Almiron, Murphy) and a player with great positional awareness (Longstaff). Burn has neither of those. I would say he is the most exposed of our back four because of that and so is likely to be caught out because of that rather than his own weaknesses.
Nothing lasts forever... in football its very easy to just wait until a player is replaced or for a dip in form, but he's imo been our best cb since he signed and now he looks even better because he's playing with better players.. I'd say the same with all our improved players though... it's not just better coaching it's working with better colleagues. We've got the best defence we've ever had in my life and the best in the league , so I find it bewildering to see and hear people after Burn an schar.
You said he couldn't play in a back 4 and he's demonstrated otherwise and now you're turning to he's just having a good season to save face.
Never thought Schar was a particularly poor player, in fact he's a very good one. but I do have doubts about his attitude tbh, I presumed he was just an unlucky lad and really injury prone. But now we are playing well, he seems to be tough as nails and never injured. He was never out for the Swiss either. So he was probably playing a bunch of sickies when Ashley was here and couldn't be ****ed.