10 Jul 2018 12:16:49
Now most fans if asked towards the end of the season to pick the key area of weakness in our squad would have answered with the same answer. Our fullbacks.

It seems common knowledge that Valencia and Young are not ideal options at fullback. Both are converted wingers who ironically struggle with creating chances from open play. They are also both 32/ 33 by the start of next season and clearly cannot go on forever in what is probably the most physically demanding position on the pitch.

And yet the latest rumours are that we might not sign another fullback having already signed Dalot, a player who has played 7 first team games in a much less demanding league. Meaning we will go though next season with more or less the exact same fullbacks and the exact same problems as last season.

Now, we have no way of knowing how accurate these rumours are. At this time of year the media will tell you we are about to sign roughly 1957383 players this summer. Which obviously never happens.

However, maybe we should consider this rumour to be true. After all Mourinho has been at our club for two whole seasons now. This is his fifth transfer window and Dalot is so far the only fullback he has attempted to sign.

Maybe the issues we see with our fullbacks aren't issues with their ability, but them faithfully following the tactics our manager puts forward. After all Young has been far more creative and gets forward far more for England than he does for us.

Mourinho typically likes to have one full back who'll push forward and one who'll stay deep and help protect against counter attacking threats. Even at Madrid where you had Marcelo who practically plays as a winger Mourinho also chose Arbeloa as his RB. A player who'll sit alongside the centre backs.

Mourinho is a pragmatist and a defend first coach, it would be foolish to expect him to want his defenders to be more offensive than defensive.

We may not see any other fullbacks come in as Mourinho may well be very happy with the job our current fullbacks are doing.

1.) 10 Jul 2018
10 Jul 2018 12:34:43
Its maybe because all the top clubs know we want new full backs and they are over pricing their players and is porbably the reason we haven5 signed a top lb yet.

Its more to do with negotiating a reasonable fee to get the deal done as we are still interesrinf in signing Sandro and the only thing holding back is the fee.

2.) 10 Jul 2018
10 Jul 2018 13:09:53
Singh,

When has it ever bothered us paying over the odds? We do it all the time.

3.) 10 Jul 2018
10 Jul 2018 12:40:28
Ed has said on the European pages that we are still interested in Alex Sandro. Perhaps we're just trying to move on the likes of Blind and Darmian before moving for him. Especially if wages were an issue for the club earlier in the year.

4.) 10 Jul 2018
10 Jul 2018 13:43:10
Let’s not forget about guys like fosu mensah and Tunazebe (I know he’s not a full back but has been used there for us) coming back for pre season. Is he giving these guys a chance? Who knows.
Full backs are a tricky position to sign in the modern era with how important they are. Danny rose the price being thrown around is 50 million, Alex Sandro around the same and he’s in the final year of his contract. That amount of money is ridiculous and with FFP applying to us I think it’s too much money to potentially waste.
Unfortunatley we do need upgrades in the full back position, but we have some young talent in fosu mensah, dalot, tuanazebe and I guess we could still consider shaw but I think he’s got no chance unfortunatley.
It will be interesting to see what we do regards the positions.

5.) 10 Jul 2018
10 Jul 2018 15:29:04
I think the World Cup has shown we've got a strong good squad littered with some very good players.

In my opinion the priority should be trying to sign a RW. I think adding a quality right winger would have the biggest impact on the team. It's become a problem position with no obvious solution. Lingard is better centrally, Mata is often ineffective when deployed wide and beyond that there isn't really anybody else?

I'd like us to target a more traditional wide player. Somebody that stays wide, makes the pitch bigger, somebody willing to beat their man and put quality crosses into the box for Lukaku. This will create more space for the likes of Sanchez, Lingard and Pogba. It will help to reduce congestion in the middle of the park and provide us with a different kind of threat and more ammunition for Lukaku. We've seen at this WC that Lukaku thrives from quality deliveries into the box.

Whilst I think it would be a mistake not to target a RW if one wasn't forthcoming I would even consider playing Ashley Young in that position. Cue the sniggers and laughter but just hear me out. He's probably the best crosser at the Club and his job would predominantly be to offer width and provide crosses for Lukaku. He still possesses decent pace and dribbling ability. He works tirelessly, is positionally astute and is able to follow instructions. I know I've probably lost most of you already but I think we just need some balance on the right and it may just release the likes of Pogba, Sanchez and Lingard whilst providing Lukaku with more opportunities.

Failing that we need new full backs that can overlap and cross a ball! Come full circle with that post. I fear I may have just committed football banter suicide 😂.