1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

It was more of a point to people saying he can't tackle. Using how many tackles a player makes is a perfectly good metric to use to show a player is more than capable of 'tackling'.

I'm not even sure about that.

Check out last season's stats. These were the top ten fullbacks in terms of tackles made:

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Category:  TacklesInterception FoulsCardsOffsidesClearancesBlocksSaves ShotsGoalsDribblesPossession lossAerial        PassesKey passesAssists

Sub category: Success

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R		Player	Apps	Mins	TotalTackles	DribbledPast	TotalAttemptedTackles	Rating
1		Erik PietersStoke, 28, D(L)	35	3098	116	37	153	6.98
2		César AzpilicuetaChelsea, 27, D(LR)	36	3201	114	28	142	7.05
3		Christian FuchsLeicester, 30, D(L),M(L)	30	2689	98	55	153	7.59
4		Alberto MorenoLiverpool, 24, D(L),M(L)	28	2489	87	29	116	7.16
5		Kyle WalkerTottenham, 26, D(R)	33	2943	87	25	112	7.19
6		Patrick van AanholtSunderland, 26, D(L),M(L)	33	2970	85	39	124	7.11
7		Nathaniel ClyneLiverpool, 25, D(R),M(R)	33	2970	84	16	100	6.79
8		Daryl JanmaatNewcastle United, 27, D(R),M(R)	32	2755	80	28	108	6.85
9		NyomWatford, 28, D(LR)	29	2430	79	24	103	6.81
10		Nacho MonrealArsenal, 30, D(CL)	36	3240	79	30	109	7.30

 

Given the wide variety of abilities, performance ratings and tackle success rates, it's hard to make conclusions on how good someone is at tackling just by how many tackles they made, let alone extrapolate that to make conclusions about their defending ability as a whole.

 

^ Agreed, if it were an accurate reflection on how good a full-back is, Christian Fuchs would be at least two places higher.

5 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

"Most tackles" alone aren't a good metric to show performance for a defender, though.  For example, according to Whoscored, Azpilicueta has averaged roughly the same amount of tackles/game over all of his seasons with Chelsea, despite differences in performance. 

Defending is about positioning mostly which you cannot measure with stats.

22 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Going by this logic, we should be worried about Cahill, Luiz and Azpilicueta because there was a few times in the game that Lukaku beat them in the air to knock the ball on.

No player wins every single dual.........unless you are Ashley Cole dealing with Ronaldo that is.

Like some of the guys have said I'm not talking about aerial duels (of which Cahill and Luiz deifnately won the majority) I am talking about every time he gets isolated 1v1, the defender beats him or he looks susceptible. Its a fact that he doesn't have the acceleration or athleticism of a top Left Back.

He works well in the 3-4-3 system. I think his good form is attributed to the formation more than his individual capabilities.

Long term, I still see him as a handy depth player at best but he's doing well at the moment.

This is the position i worry about, if Alonso gets injured we have nobody else to play this role.

Unless Azpilcueta can play there and Zouma drops into defence, I'm not sure if Dave has got the tools for the job tho.

It would make sense to try and find cover for Alonso in January.

2 minutes ago, coco said:

It would make sense to try and find cover for Alonso in January.

Or competition. Alonso's been good and i'm very satisfied with his performances but if we could somehow find a leftsided player in the mould of Moses that'd be great in my view.

can we bring back kenedy? poor kid's rotting in watford's bench

he got all the attributes to be an excellent wing back, maybe even better than alonso

1 hour ago, coco said:

This is the position i worry about, if Alonso gets injured we have nobody else to play this role.

Unless Azpilcueta can play there and Zouma drops into defence, I'm not sure if Dave has got the tools for the job tho.

It would make sense to try and find cover for Alonso in January.

Wouldn't bet against Moses playing left wingback and Dave, Ivanovic or Willian playing on the right. 

3 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Wouldn't bet against Moses playing left wingback and Dave, Ivanovic or Willian playing on the right. 

Beat me to it, thats how I see it going too. We have cover at right WB so can move Moses to the left. We also have the choice of playing Willian as one of the wing backs too.

3 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Wouldn't bet against Moses playing left wingback and Dave, Ivanovic or Willian playing on the right. 

I think Moses would be slightly wasted on the left behind Hazard, i'm sure he could do the job, but i think we will get much more from him on the right and getting some decent support from Pedro.

1 hour ago, havelschayes said:

can we bring back kenedy? poor kid's rotting in watford's bench

he got all the attributes to be an excellent wing back, maybe even better than alonso

He also would improve by playing with better/world class players. Just look at Moses this season.

Edited November 20, 20169 yr by STATS

We should just bring back Kenedy and play him as backup left back. He was decent the few times he played there last season 

I'd rather give jay dasilva those minutes- which will be rare if alonso doesn't get injured- on the occasions where we don't use what we have in our first team squad.

longer term, yes it is a position where we will probably be able to improve (although that could be with dasilva for all we know).

p.s. alonso's best game defensively today. although with the 'caveat' that all of our defenders get- he was well supported by his teammates.

4 hours ago, g3.7 said:

I'd rather give jay dasilva those minutes- which will be rare if alonso doesn't get injured- on the occasions where we don't use what we have in our first team squad.

longer term, yes it is a position where we will probably be able to improve (although that could be with dasilva for all we know).

p.s. alonso's best game defensively today. although with the 'caveat' that all of our defenders get- he was well supported by his teammates.

Jay Dasilva is not ready for the first team. He is a very exciting talent but if you are expecting him to make an impact, you are wrong. He is very diminutive for a start and he defo needs more development before being considered for the first team. If Alonso and others was to get injured, more likely Aina will be playing but highly doubt Jay Dasilva will be considered for first team this season.

13 hours ago, havelschayes said:

can we bring back kenedy? poor kid's rotting in watford's bench

he got all the attributes to be an excellent wing back, maybe even better than alonso

Kenedy is literally Watford's best player and can't even get off the bench.

Edited November 21, 20169 yr by Van Butsen

Problem with DaSilva is inches. I think it's fair to say that one of Alonso's outstanding features is his arial dominance agasint most wingers he has come up against. Moses as well while not as tall has a hell of a leap and I've noticed him coming in to help Dave when crosses come in from the right 

10 minutes ago, barak81 said:

Problem with DaSilva is inches. 

I've got the same problem...

13 hours ago, barak81 said:

Problem with DaSilva is inches. I think it's fair to say that one of Alonso's outstanding features is his arial dominance agasint most wingers he has come up against. Moses as well while not as tall has a hell of a leap and I've noticed him coming in to help Dave when crosses come in from the right 

but how often is a wingback required to win the ball in the air?

I take your point that its a nice bonus that alonso is tall (especially for set pieces) but I don't think it is something that should count against dasilva really. you'd lose on height but gain in speed with him in there.

13 hours ago, Zeta Orionis said:

I've got the same problem...

So your missus was telling me over breakfast...

7 hours ago, g3.7 said:

but how often is a wingback required to win the ball in the air?

I take your point that its a nice bonus that alonso is tall (especially for set pieces) but I don't think it is something that should count against dasilva really. you'd lose on height but gain in speed with him in there.

I think dasilva is a great prospect, I'd have thrown him in last season. The point I'm making is that it's been a noticeable trate and I don't think it's an accident, more by design on the part of conte 

If Alonso sharpens up on his finishing, he could get a decent amount of goals for us this season. He had a few really good chances against Middlesbrough.

I wasn't impressed with Cesar on wing back, but people he is a right back, that played on left back and then turned into a center back and he was phenomenal in every position he played. He can't just walk into a new position and be perfect as he was on every previous, one game doesn't mean nothing. With Zouma soon back i am not certain he will retain his position which is a shame done so well for us over the years and too good to be a squad player in my opinion. Alonso on the other hand is in his natural position and he is pretty solid. He must have cover will it be Cesar, or maybe recall Kenedy in january or a completely new signing it doesn't matter. 

I'm getting the feeling he's probably going to be another Del Horno or Luis or Baba and disappear after 1 season. He's okay going forward and okay defensively, but nothing special in either direction and I think Conte will probably want to improve that position in the summer.

I wish he was as good as Luis!