Aston_Villan4 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 10 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said: Because of being turned onto their weaker foot away from the other central defender creating a big problem for that defender? Interesting. Never occurred to me. Always looked at the left foot vs right foot debate in terms of passing only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 7 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: So years of 2 right footed defenders in great teams was fine but the mighty Aston Villa can never have 2 left footed defenders! Am I missing something ? its interesting that there are many 2 x right footed central defensive pairings out there, but when people talk about two left footed central defensive pairings, it seems to generate more issues/concerns for some reason. Probably because two right footed pairings are "normal", where as 2 left footed pairings are "abnormal", leading to a bias in perception around how well it would work. Im left handed, so tbh, i call left footed bigotry dating back to the time when left handed ppl used to be burnt for being witches, or sacrificed for being a spawn of the devil........ (joke btw, before someone loses their mind). on a serious note, i do think part of it is two right footers is more common/normal, where 2 left footed isnt, so perceived to be stranger, or less acceptable in some way. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 20 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said: Because of being turned onto their weaker foot away from the other central defender creating a big problem for that defender? Why doesn’t that occur with two right footers? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKP90 Posted June 28, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted June 28, 2023 With Unai's asymmetric system, might we want two righty CBs to channel strikers toward the more defensive of the two full backs (the CB/FB)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Scorpio Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 2 minutes ago, duke313 said: Why doesn’t that occur with two right footers? I always thought that was an equal problem as 2 left footers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adman Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 I'm not convinced it's imperative to have a left and right footer in central defence, I do think in terms of a natural body shape to tackle, block and pass it makes sense. It's more strange that if we go for Torres that he will be the second left footed CB we've bought as "completion" for Ming's who as an outsider (villa fan) has been one of our best players. Either a change in system / combination or the management don't fancy him.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 5 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said: Interesting. Never occurred to me. Always looked at the left foot vs right foot debate in terms of passing only. An alternative view would be that as just under 75% of players are right footed - having two left footed central defenders is likely to mean that most attackers will be trying to beat our centre backs on their strongest side. Whereas if we had two right-footed defenders then those attackers would be trying to pass on their weakest side. It is easier for left footed defenders to tackle right footed attackers or to block shots from right footed attackers. From a passing perspective I can see a potential issue in that one of the defenders will be looking to move the ball more centrally rather than away from goal so that they can play the ball with their strongest foot. It also means that balls from that centre back to the right back are slightly more complicated / less natural because the ball has to be played across your body rather than from a more open stance. In reality it probably makes no difference. The "worst" example that the article above can find is John Terry struggling for 3 or 4 matches when he had to play in a different position. Lots of players have to move the LCB or RCB and adjust OK. If Mings and Torres were to be our "first choice" CB partnership then one of them would be playing at RCB for 40+ matches in the season and in pretty much every training session. It wouldn't / shouldn't take long for them to acclimatise to a slightly different position on the pitch. Funny how no-one talks about having to have a right footed and left footed partnership in CM.... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 3 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said: I always thought that was an equal problem as 2 left footers But teams play with two right footed pairings all time. Man City played the FA Cup final with 3 right footed defenders, 4 if you count Stones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 I think Torres could play in the same way Stones did for City last season. He looks to have all the skills needed for that hybrid defender /midfielder role. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 (edited) I think in the Emery system, it is less of an issue. The passes they're playing are short. The passing issue is more of a challenge when they're playing it long and have to arc the ball down the line. As mentioned, having two left footed CBs against two right footed forwards would actually be an advantage. Its just rarely seen because there are so few left footed centre backs. Emery could be on to something here... hes a bigger genius than any of us so if he really wants Pau, then i have faith he knows exactly what hes doing. Edited June 28, 2023 by MrBlack 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 It will also be interesting to see how long the idea of a LB being left-footed and a RB being right-footed will continue. In the past it made sense as they were facing up against wingers whose job was primarily to beat the defender on the outside and try and get to the byline and get in a cross. In this scenario - it makes sense to want to have a left-footed left back because it means that the winger is trying to beat them on their strongest side, it is easier to tackle that winger with their strongest foot and it is also easier to block a cross with their stronger foot (and then clear the danger). However, as more teams seem to be moving to an Inside Forward type approach where the attacker on the wide right is often left footed and looking to cut in and attack the box to shoot (and therefore attacking the LB's weaker side) it will be interesting to see when / if teams counter-act that by switching Full Backs (almost then trying to push the attacker wide and onto their weaker side). There are already plenty of examples of teams playing with right footed LBs (but very few examples of left footed RBs). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KangarooVillan Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 It looks like Emery might be trying to do a reverse sided version of what Man City played in the latter stages of this season. Keep in mind, they had 4 CBs start in the Champions league final: https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/manchester-city-inter-milan-champions-league-final-tactics/#:~:text=For Manchester City's second Champions,to right-back when defending. Moreno is playing a more bomb forward version of the John Stones role, Mings playing the Akanji role, Torres playing the Dias role and Konsa/Carlos playing the Ake role. This would also give us a bit more height on set pieces considering we conceded the second most goals from set pieces last season. Would also explain why decision on Young was made so quickly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazrim Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 2 hours ago, DakotaVilla said: The problem with cash is that his final ball is typically abysmal. I suspect that he’ll be sold next summer. Every time he blasts a ball straight at his marker Jesus kills a kitten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 7 minutes ago, GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS said: I think Torres could play in the same way Stones did for City last season. He looks to have all the skills needed for that hybrid defender /midfielder role. So could Kamara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, CVByrne said: Emery played with Foyth as his RB at Villarreal. I think we're going to see 3CBs and a Fullback as the primary set up. We saw last season Young was not attacking down his flank and the back three were shifting over as Moreno was attacking. Just think of it as two formations it's easiest to do that. What position is everyone in when we're defending in our 4 4 2 What position is everyone in when we're in our attack shape of 3 box 3 Moreno for example is in LB in our defence and the is the LF in our attack shape The RB is the RCB in a back three in our attack shape. Etc.. Emery has also said he actually prefers 433. If we do switch to that, wouldn't we need two starting fullbacks who are comfortable going forward? Edited June 28, 2023 by Tom13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 6 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said: So could Kamara Very true. So we've got cover for Kamara and Mings. And people say we're paying too much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 (edited) Bayern are getting their target, so that’s Torres to us surely Edited June 28, 2023 by Jareth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Scorpio Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 His wife has been liking posts about signing for us. Then quickly deleted them 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 2 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said: His wife has been liking posts about signing for us. Then quickly deleted them Tony hand me my boots cos I'm about to go skiing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 Bayern have their alternative. His wife is liking posts about him joining us. Its Wednesday....(just) 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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