We are not signing a 3rd LB.

And no, we are not selling Nacho.

Aurier's last game was effectively played at LB.

It is important to know that he is by far their best player going forward and defensive so the team look for him and get him involved in most of the play. This bumps up his stats compared to what he would get here, but also shows his important as it is rare that a fullback is you best player. I can only think of Dani Alves at Sevilla as a comparison of importance,

marv3llous wrote:

We are not signing a 3rd LB.

And no, we are not selling Nacho.

some club will want gibbs.

Meatwad wrote:
marv3llous wrote:

We are not signing a 3rd LB.

And no, we are not selling Nacho.

some club will want gibbs.

Ba-dum-tshh!

Meatwad wrote:
marv3llous wrote:

We are not signing a 3rd LB.

And no, we are not selling Nacho.

some club will want gibbs.

Not really.

evoh wrote:

Aurier's last game was effectively played at LB.

It is important to know that he is by far their best player going forward and defensive so the team look for him and get him involved in most of the play. This bumps up his stats compared to what he would get here, but also shows his important as it is rare that a fullback is you best player. I can only think of Dani Alves at Sevilla as a comparison of importance,

This sounds good, exactly the sort of RB I'd like

Aurier's been highly rated for a while, he's 21, which is a good age to make a step up. He is built like Sagna (strong), same height, and he can get his head on balls in the air. Big difference is his ability going forward is a clear upgrade, although we lose experience, positioning (likely as not), and a good character. Aurier has every chance to gain all of those attributes himself, though.

I think I'd rather get this guy than spend big money on Coleman. The money we save can go to someone else.

Can Aurier go at his opposing fullback and take him on? That's what I'd like to know.

As excellent as Sagna's crosses into the box have been this season, I'm so fed up of teams happily leaving their left back isolated against Sagna, knowing he doesn't have a hope of beating him. Teams would think twice about overloading the centre to try and contain us if they knew a quick switch of play to our right back could spell big trouble for them.

marv3llous wrote:

And no, we are not selling Nacho.

Awwww ๐Ÿ™

Ricky1985 wrote:

Can Aurier go at his opposing fullback and take him on? That's what I'd like to know.

As excellent as Sagna's crosses into the box have been this season, I'm so fed up of teams happily leaving their left back isolated against Sagna, knowing he doesn't have a hope of beating him. Teams would think twice about overloading the centre to try and contain us if they knew a quick switch of play to our right back could spell big trouble for them.

I hear ya. I'd like to see us have a more attack minded fullback.

Sometimes Sagna was camped in the final third

Yep, something that Monreal actually excels in, those run ins behind the defenders.

Monreal doesn't excel in anything, in my opinion.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Monreal doesn't excel in anything, in my opinion.

Agree. He does tend to try hard in attack, but whenever Gibbs is not playing I feel a bit sick.
To me the great loss with bac leaving is his fighting attitude. We always had that in our great teams (the famous back 4, Sol, now Kos, perhaps Per, and Gibbs seems to be growing there). Stay close the box and go to the line when attacked Monreal attitude, or other "cool" defenders (eboue post 2006) are not what we need.
The big question with Aurier to me has to be his attitude. The rest seems to be fine.

We may gain something offensively with another right back, but we will lose a whole lot with pretty much everyone out there all those times we are under massive pressure late in games. There isn't a single player I'd rather have over Sagna in our defense when we are under pressure. He is the ultimate warrior, and he is brilliant in those scenarios. Unfortunately, we are under that kind of pressure late in games, defending a narrow lead, even against most shit sides.

Sagna's offโ€”got to accept the new reality and move on. Aurier or similar won't be as good but he doesn't look like he'll embarrass us.

We're not going to find our improvement searching for a Sagna equivalent or upgrade because that's a pretty small marketplace.

I refuse to think about Sagna being off until there are irrefutable facts to sustain it. :mad:

We picked up Sagna himself as a relatively unknown, out of the blue signing so I wouldn't give undue concern to that position. They'll get it done for some change and move on.

Rex wrote:

I refuse to think about Sagna being off until there are irrefutable facts to sustain it. :mad:

Gazidis just said he was off at the supporter's meeting. :egg:

Since when do we trust him around here?! Also, he ALLEGEDLY said that...

No, he did say that. Everyone who went for the meeting tweeted that.

Doesn't make it less hearsay. ๐Ÿ™‚

Haha, poor Rex. Denial is never an easy thing to deal with.

Would have thought he learned the hard way from his last wishlist

That was different; I wanted Lewandowski to join us, but I fucking LOVE Sagna. ๐Ÿ™

1.denial
2.anger
3.bargaining
4.depression
5.acceptance

Sagna has been an amazing servant, he will be missed. Shame he's not going to retire here.

5 days later

Been watching a few vids of him and have changed me mind. He's more composed on the ball than I had thought. Powerful stocky and quick guy

This guy would be ยฃ20m if he were a young English bloke. Sign da player Wenger mon! Big ups if ya do seen.

Aurier is so young, are we really gonna try to win a title starting a 21 year old defender in his first year in England?

Title is not the target.

The Prize is the target.

innervisionscm wrote:

Aurier is so young, are we really gonna try to win a title starting a 21 year old defender in his first year in England?

At rightback? Of course.

If surrounded by quality players, even Jenkinson could be a starting player on a PL winning team. It's a theory at least, but I'd rather not find out.

he's a very experienced 21 year old. he's not carl jenkinson with 50 odd games at 22.

innervisionscm wrote:

Aurier is so young, are we really gonna try to win a title starting a 21 year old defender in his first year in England?

Alaba is 21 and plays every week for Bayern.

He's at the perfect age. Excited about this signing.

looking forward to his offensive contribution, think he will be outstanding

Immense header at 2:00 or so in that video Dules posted.

Isn't Aurier going to be off to the ACN next season?