With Ashley Young playing RCB in a back three, it translates to essentially a 2-6-2 because he attacks the flank so well and isn’t really a post-up defender that his position requires. This will either be a master-stroke to control the midfield or they’re gonna get steamrolled.
Agreed. Bilva may be my favorite current footballer, even granted that there are a handful of elite players objectively better than him. I maybe found him slightly more fun to watch last season than this, but every match I watch him in amazes me.
And that happened right after Fernandinho went off for Sane, B. Silva moved in as the 8, and Sterling went right wing. Which was a change I was hoping for (swap Sane for Gundo) when Gundo went down injured near the end of the first half, because of how stacked Man U's back 5 was against the inverted wingers
It's been interesting to see how KDB's prolonged absences have impacted Pep's "dual-free-8" concept that was deployed for so much of last year. It's a skillset he's much more suited for alongside Bilva than Dilva or Gundogan are.
Hmm you mean because of the shooting / goalscoring threat?
KDB is probably the most deadly passer on the team when fit, so he can create ball progression from central, deep, *and* wide, or find the final pass around the box, or take the shot himself, and he has the pace to get anywhere he needs to be. I feel like Dilva and Gundogan can both do a subset of those things but maybe not all of them.
Pretty sure everyone agrees that the contact was exaggerated by Fabinho Issue is the disciplinary committee isn’t penalizing them.
As a wise man once said -- I think it was PT Barnum -- no one has ever gone broke overestimating the odds of an Arsenal or Spurs collapse.
