2 - Pau Cubarsí

[Barcaman]

Araujo would have been getting death threats if he had done that.

It is not the first time Cubarsi makes a huge error in the CL.

Didn't do well for Fratesi goal too.

Media were too quick to hail him as best CB or something as they did with Balde or Kounde etc but kid seem grounded and will grow in quality with age.

 

[Loki]

He's clearly overplayed. Just turned 18, can't expect him to physically dominate Inter's beasts after having the whole season in his legs.

 

[serghei]

One of our youngsters who are overrated by the fanbase I feel. He's young, and good on the ball, but in terms of traditional defending, he makes a lot of bad errors.

Red card away to Benfica with a similar stupid challenge. Pen today. Pen vs Dortmund in CL also. Fuck-ups add up if you count them.

 

[JohnN]

not a finished product surely. Good overall but two decisive errors are too much fir a defender.

 

[Gazzznigga]

He was okay. Good player if you truly know football.

I was skeptical at first, especially with all the early accolades last season. He is legit.

 

[jamrock]

Our defenders including him look much worse than they are, because they are hopelessly exposed when the offside trap fails.

 

[Behrox]

He's great when he has solid defenders like Kounde and Inigo beside him. Araujo is a donkey that left him acres of space to cover on his own when he chased Thuram to the by-line and got skinned by someone without legs

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

Just realized both he and Yamal have no one to look up to since they're better than everyone else. We just have to recruit equally talented players so they can set standards as a collective until they're 'seniors' in a few years.

 

[kush]

While Cubarsi is def good for his age, the lack of Christensen has been a bigger loss than people may have realized. He probably should've came on for Cub late on to help seal the deal.

 

[Iniesta Ultra]

Yeah Christensen should've been on. Flick fucked up most of the rotations and subs this season focusing on athletes over footballers, and Martin's barely an athlete even sadder.

 

[ajnotkeith]

One of our youngsters who are overrated by the fanbase I feel. He's young, and good on the ball, but in terms of traditional defending, he makes a lot of bad errors.

Red card away to Benfica with a similar stupid challenge. Pen today. Pen vs Dortmund in CL also. Fuck-ups add up if you count them.

Be fair. He has been sensational this season and expecting him to be good every game is unrealistic for any defender let alone an 18 year old defender (in a position where experience is very important).

It is true that he struggled massively in this tie. He was not physically strong enough to deal with Inter's attackers.

 

[ajnotkeith]

Our defenders including him look much worse than they are, because they are hopelessly exposed when the offside trap fails.

Usually, it doesn't fail, we need to see more to tell if this was just a bad tie defensively for us or if the offside trap has to go.

Inter are well placed to exploit it and probably we had to change our strategy in the 2nd leg. They have many strong fast players and a great tactician as coach.

 

[jamrock]

Imagine if this kid played in a team with a stable defense like Inter or Liverpool.

Wooow, in a sense flick will hold back his development, because we aren't focused on actual defending, just playing off side.

 

[M3ls]

I wrote it in another thread, I'll repeat it here:

This team — with the style of play it uses — is desperately lacking center-backs who are strong across all three key areas: technical (on-the-ball ability, etc.), tactical (football IQ, positioning, aerial play, etc.), and physical (height, speed, acceleration).


Araujo has only 1 out of 3 in this arsenal. He’s physically gifted, but very weak technically and tactically.


Inigo and Cubarsi have 2 out of 3 — high football IQ, good positioning, and excellent ball-playing skills — but they struggle in aerial duels (due to a simple lack of height) and have issues with pace and acceleration.

Yesterday, that damn Thuram was winning almost every long ball. He was not only heading the ball down to his teammates, but also chesting it down (!!!). It drove me crazy the whole game.


Remember the penalty incident — there was a very similar one against Benfica — Cubarsi simply couldn’t keep up with Lautaro, who’s not even that fast, due to a lack of both initial burst and top speed.

A player like Saliba would’ve eaten Lautaro alive in that situation purely thanks to his pace.

 

[Temptation]

Definitely didn't look like worst player on the pitch.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1920427206230081706