Aina looks the all round better player for me. He switches off/gets caught out of position at times but this was only his 2/3 senior start. Clark doesn't get judged as harshly because he's from Hull
Bowen did a better job tracking back than Grosicki, in fact it was when Grosicki was moved over to the right and Bowen to the left that Aina had the most difficult time, and was at fault for their goal. Just after that Slutsky moved him back over to the left.
Disagree. Aina is an absolute attacking force and a great athlete, but so far his defending has been very poor.
He's put in some great tackles, the sliding tackle in our box against Villa springs to mind. He also came away with the ball a few times today when it looked like he was beaten.
Come the end of the season I know which one will still be in the starting 11. Clark won't make it past August
Grosicki's allergic to tackles, he was the same ahead of Robbo last season, he's not going to offer any protection at all. Bowen does more, but Aina still ended up caught out on several occasions and at least twice he lost the ball doing pointless trickery in dangerous areas. That said, his attacking play in the second half was absolutely brilliant.
It is a real trend in modern football that full-backs are more seen as an attacking outlet and the ability to defend is almost immaterial.
That's true,which is why many sides opt for a flat back three, with five across the middle, one of them been a defensive holding type as the two full backs* move forward to support the front two. * = loose term TBH I loved the days of 2-3-5
The team was doing this from goal kicks. Two or three times Clark and Aina pushed on. Hector and Dawson split and went to the edge of the goal area (Left/Right) with Clucas withdrawing to the edge of the 18 yard area. Creating a 3.
He's done better than I expected, considering he's not been playing left back for a season or two, he's looked pretty comfortable.
Aina was the one that received a 'rocket' from Slutsky at half time. To save time I won't be revealing on here how I know this, and don't much care if anyone takes it at face value or not. The views expressed in my [posts are not necessarily mine.