Rio Ferdinand may, in hindsight, have accepted that he was a little tough on Aaron Wan-Bissaka after assessing the development of the Manchester United full-back.
In fact, it was a little strange to hear the legendary former united Defender slams Wan-Bisaka for a feature that many others would claim is the strongest in his warehouse. intervention.
“I’d like to see him sometimes he doesn’t have to resort to sliding interference because if something happens and things go wrong for you, you’re on the ground and you’re out of the game, but when you get off, it looks great,” Ferdinand said.
“in a [the PSG] In the match, Neymar and Mbappe were going: ‘Who the hell is this guy? – He kept passing on the ground.
“I just hope he’s on the training ground, if you have a weakness in your game, you’ll know what he’s going to work on, because we all see him. There are no bunkers in the training ground.”
Ferdinand may have a point of view, but it is unfair to call Wan-Bissaka a weakness. It has been near the top of the Premier League’s tackling statistics for the past two seasons in a row. In any case, the BT Sport expert might have changed his mind after watching United win over RB Leipzig. These initial comments were made in the preamble to the match, and after 90 minutes Wan-Bissaka showed his tackiness and other aspects of his game as well, impressing him with his energy and range of passing.
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Many have been cited Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Additional team depth as a vital component in improving United overall this season. The arrival of Donnie Van de Beek, Alex Tillis and Edinson Cavani led to competition for places in their locations. It has been noticed how the midfield has performed better as a unit in recent matches, while Luke Shaw in particular appears to have reached a new dimension since Teles signed on Deadline Day.
But Wan-Bisaka is a completely different case. It would be a mistake to claim that United have a real opponent to grapple with the right-back position from the former Crystal Palace star.
The fact that Solshire was not ready to rest Wan-Bissaka until the last few minutes against Leipzig, when Axel Tuanzebi was introduced, said it all. Arguably his only position on the field where United lacked competition after Diogo Dalot sealed his move on loan to Milan in the summer transfer window.
This is with all due respect to Brandon Williams, who nominally regards the second choice as a right-back at Old Trafford these days, yet has played the majority of football on the other side. United are keen to give the 20-year-old more chances on the right, thus playing 90 minutes there for U-23 against Everton last week.
Williams might get playtime and prove to be a worthy competitor to Wan-Bissaka as the season continues. Perhaps United will need it. Wan-Bissaka definitely cannot play twice a week on an ongoing basis, given the hectic nature of this unique season. You shudder when you think about how much of a loss a 22-year-old would suffer if he got injured.
But he appeared to have taken advantage of Dalot’s presence as a true competitor last season, as he eliminated the Portuguese and finished first for the team throughout the entire season. That is why we are now in this current predicament.
So Wan-Bissaka’s impressive form, which came without needing someone to compete for his place, is a warning to United. After a sticky correction at the end of last season and the beginning of this season, he reminded everyone how great he was, with room for improvement.
But United may not be able to rely so heavily on a single player. They’ve learned it in other situations recently, showing that wan-bisaka is a complete one-off.
