Aurier with two assists in about 5 minutes in the Ivory Coast - Japan game. Has definitely had his ups and downs but moves well, is very useful in the attack and has a nice consistent cross on him. Add to the fact hes 20 years old and I say he would do nicely here.

Have no idea how he is instructed to play for his club, but for Ivory Coast here he certainly wasn't playing as a fullback when they gained possession; he played a lot more like a right winger. I don't mind FBs pushing up at all, but he was hardly ever a passing option when the ball was with the CBs. He was also constantly out of position when they lost the ball. Not too thrilled with the idea of Mertesacker having to cover for him as much as Zokora had to do in this game.

Yea but that could just as easily be coaches instructions Rex. He's bombing forward, staying there, and not getting screamed at...must've been asked to do it.

Watched the game. Those crosses were delicious. Wonderful whip. The type that none of our fullbacks have been delivering with consistency.looks good

Wilshere wrote:

21 and a half, but your point stands.

Ah my bad. But yes those crosses were great and I think if hes told to keep shape he will. Clearly not a ton of discipline tactically with the way Ivory Coast set up.

I gave up and went to bed for the game, so I've only skipped through it. There was a fair bit of bad things I noticed that bothered me, but he can really cross a ball and his touch and short passing game looked solid. Not sure at this point, need to see more and against better opponents - Japan were crap.

Neither was I. But you can only play what's in front of you and he didn't have much of chance to show what he can do.

his stats look good for the first game, but I missed it. What is are the thought of those who actually watched?

Gung-ho going forward as he is in france or more restrained?

Only half watched it, but I wasn't impressed. An ok player, but looked nowhere near Sagna's level.

He does have a quality cross on him.

Was noticeably more reserved in positioning during today's game. Like that he doesn't cross every time at the same height too - actually a lot of low crosses that Giroud does well at.

Certainly not opposed to him signing.

This guy seems great. Pace, strength, put in some good tackles. However his tackling technique worryingly reminds me of André Santos's. If it succeeds it looks great and you're ready to pounce forward, if you don't you're punished. Would buy.

Wrote this in the match thread, I'll post it again here to save having to type something similar:

Ricky1985 wrote:

Just flicking through the Colombia-Ivory Coast game now. You can see Aurier is a quality player with the ball at his feet - he's got good touch in tight spaces and he can beat his man from a standing start, decent balance, good short passing and he moves well to make good angles for others, he can obviously cross with pace and accuracy too. Downside is that he ball watches ALOT defensively - that'd need some work, but he's only young. Looks fairly calm and measured in everything he does on the pitch, which is promising.

Think he could turn in to a very, very good player with a little work. I'd definitely take him.

After watching him, I find myself wanting to talk about him. Looks a big talent to me. He was definitely shifted further forward in the second half, with Tiote sitting deep on that side to cover. Aurier was the pass the midfielders and forward looked for nearly every time they moved forward, and he put in some really decent crosses, too.