The left back situation... - ...an old problem
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:08 pmThe current left back situation is a bit of a worry I think most people will agree. Insua can be forgiven for inexperience at times, but his performances this season have been consistently poor imo. He struggles positionally and most of all he is just too slow and gets stripped for pace when isolated against any winger with a bit of speed. He's young and learning still, he'll get better positionally, but he'll not get quicker. Compare him to the left backs at our rivals - Evra, Cole, Clichy are light years ahead of Insua and if we want to get back up there challenging then we need a better player in there.
It got me thinking though - when was the last time we had a good left back? You could argue Aurelio last season when he managed to stay free of injuries for long spells. But before that there's been a long list of failures. Traore, Ziege, Dossena, Harkness, Dicks etc etc.
Riise was a good player but always better coming forward. Carragher was probably our most solid left back when Houllier played him there in our treble season, but offered nothing going forward. Warnock has come on at Villa and is a decent player, but imo never as good as some make out. Under Evans we played with wing backs but even then it was McAteer and Jones so we never had a natural left footer unless the distinctly average Bjornebye played.
I think you need to go back to Steve Staunton's first spell at the club for the last time we had a genuinely quality left back (he was too slow to play fullback when we brought him back and was past it to be quite honest).
We were continually linked to Evra before United signed him, shame we didn't get him as he is top class. So any suggestions for who we could bring in? We may have missed the boat with Bale, I think we could have got him a season ago when he was out of favour at Spurs. I think Drenthe could be a good attacking full back although left mid seems to be where he gets played, and he doesn't get much game time at the moment. I'm struggling to think of any decent suggestions to be honest, but we need to do something.
It got me thinking though - when was the last time we had a good left back? You could argue Aurelio last season when he managed to stay free of injuries for long spells. But before that there's been a long list of failures. Traore, Ziege, Dossena, Harkness, Dicks etc etc.
Riise was a good player but always better coming forward. Carragher was probably our most solid left back when Houllier played him there in our treble season, but offered nothing going forward. Warnock has come on at Villa and is a decent player, but imo never as good as some make out. Under Evans we played with wing backs but even then it was McAteer and Jones so we never had a natural left footer unless the distinctly average Bjornebye played.
I think you need to go back to Steve Staunton's first spell at the club for the last time we had a genuinely quality left back (he was too slow to play fullback when we brought him back and was past it to be quite honest).
We were continually linked to Evra before United signed him, shame we didn't get him as he is top class. So any suggestions for who we could bring in? We may have missed the boat with Bale, I think we could have got him a season ago when he was out of favour at Spurs. I think Drenthe could be a good attacking full back although left mid seems to be where he gets played, and he doesn't get much game time at the moment. I'm struggling to think of any decent suggestions to be honest, but we need to do something.
