5 - Pau Cubarsí

His lack of physical attributes was always concerning (size/speed etc) but you always felt his footballing IQ kept him competitive.

Now, the IQ side is waining and without Inigo, he looks every single bit 18 years old when he plays.

Tough for me to see a future for him unless there is change.

serghei said:

By far the most overrated player in the squad in my eyes. I seriously don't understand what some see in him that make them think he is ever going to be a top class defender. Still searching.

Man is not even playing for his NT. Why would he?

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Might be the rest of our defence is so shit we put alot of hope in the only one slightly less crap.
But he has been just as crap as everyone else this year.

Kid has to pay more attention to a suicidal high line than actual defending. He's 18, and his best cb partner left, I'll reserve judgement until a few years. No 18 year old is going to lead a defensive unit, especially under Flick's system.

Had a stinker tbh. Hasn't been himself since last season, Flick needs to give him confidence - Flick needs to stop rotating the CB's so much, start Cubarsi and find the best pairing for him and than stay with that.

Suicidal high line is tied to our pressing approach. We never ditched the super advanced pressing, it's just bad atm because of many reasons. Maybe the pressing will get finessed in time as I hope with Flick. It did with Pep also.

The single biggest difference Flick could make is drop the press by 10-20m, and stop pressing the keeper as much. This automatically drops the high line to a more manageable distance.

Maybe players will be recharged again and the advanced press will get new set of teeth to bite down at the opposition.

Raphinha alone if fit takes care of the pressing on one side. If Yamal wants a real BD and not the tiktok version of who should have won but didn't award, he will fix the other flank.