Player Watch: Serge Aurier

[Marty]

Don't get the Serge is the worst crowd. He was bad with moments of quality. He has improved and making fewer of the bone headed plays we were accustomed to. I say keep him to see if the present trend continues. Better recovery runs, staying on his feet and better positioning could make him a solid option. Jose is good at teaching defending principles

My problem with Aurier is more that if we play him exclusively to his strengths, his mere presence in the lineup affects the midfield negatively because one of the two CMs has to drift too far wide to cover for him when he bombs forward. We saw it time and again with Sissoko drifting wide leaving Dier or Winks or Ndombele completely exposed in the middle of the park, we are ridiculously easy to play straight through when this happens. The only way to stop this from happening is playing a back three with Aurier as wing-back, where the RCB can come over and cover and we still have two CMs who can then stay centrally.

But I have to say his attacking contributions since Mourinho came in have been very good indeed.

 

[slartibartfast]

Playing regularly has helped him

This.
Annoys the fk out of me when a player is made to do the hokey cokey, in out in out shaken all about, and then consequently gets blasted for putting in inconsistent performances.
Off thread here but I wasnt impressed with JMs use of Tanganga either. Put him in his position, does really well, everyone praising him. Next game, now play at Lb. Eh? Ooh, had a poor game, really struggled (well of course he fkin did). Next game, drop him.
Seriously how is that going to help him improve or do his confidence any good?
Wasnt impressed.

 

[Japhet]

My problem with Aurier is more that if we play him exclusively to his strengths, his mere presence in the lineup affects the midfield negatively because one of the two CMs has to drift too far wide to cover for him when he bombs forward. We saw it time and again with Sissoko drifting wide leaving Dier or Winks or Ndombele completely exposed in the middle of the park, we are ridiculously easy to play straight through when this happens. The only way to stop this from happening is playing a back three with Aurier as wing-back, where the RCB can come over and cover and we still have two CMs who can then stay centrally.

But I have to say his attacking contributions since Mourinho came in have been very good indeed.

Mourinho has played a back 3 when he expects us to be under pressure. We also have the more defensive option of Tanganga at RB when required. I'd like to see us go 433 in some games once Ndombele is fit but Jose seems pretty besotted with Dele at 10 (regardless of how bad he's playing). Everyone is finding their feet though with new roles to play and Aurier seems to be one of the main beneficiaries.

 

[muppetman]

So much of our attacking play goes through him and last night he was asked to do very little defending, consequently he is doing quite well.


I think having him as one of our better players is a great illustration of where we are as a team and a squad at the moment.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Am I the only one who thinks that he's been decent this season? He's getting in good positions and providing assists and goals. He's definitely not the best defensive right back we've had, and we can of course improve on him. But he's alright.

 

[Japhet]

Am I the only one who thinks that he's been decent this season? He's getting in good positions and providing assists and goals. He's definitely not the best defensive right back we've had, and we can of course improve on him. But he's alright.

Not sure how we'd improve on him without spending significantly north of 20-25m and with the emergence of Tanganga I think we have RB fairly well covered. If anything, I think LB needs looking at more urgently.

 

[muppetman]

Am I the only one who thinks that he's been decent this season? He's getting in good positions and providing assists and goals. He's definitely not the best defensive right back we've had, and we can of course improve on him. But he's alright.

I think if you overlook that he often wanders back rather than busts a gut to do so, that he will often track a single player all over the pitch, that he cannot jump properly for headers, that he is often defensively suspect (particularly getting the wrong side of a player) and that he often totally switches off then he's had a decent season from an attacking point of view.

I sit (well stand actually) to the right of the goal in the south stand lower so he is in my eyeline for half a game every time he plays and that's what I see. I don't have a vendetta against the guy and hope he comes good but I am struggling to understand why we are having Sessegnon play defensively so that this guy can go rampaging forward. However, I wanted Dele off last night as I thought he was contributing nothing and then 5 minutes later he scored so I have to concede I know fuck all!

Obviously you have to assume that Jose is happy(ish) with all of the above and is in fact encouraging at least some of it.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I think if you overlook that he often wanders back rather than busts a gut to do so, that he will often track a single player all over the pitch, that he cannot jump properly for headers, that he is often defensively suspect (particularly getting the wrong side of a player) and that he often totally switches off then he's had a decent season from an attacking point of view.

I sit (well stand actually) to the right of the goal in the south stand lower so he is in my eyeline for half a game every time he plays and that's what I see. I don't have a vendetta against the guy and hope he comes good but I am struggling to understand why we are having Sessegnon play defensively so that this guy can go rampaging forward. However, I wanted Dele off last night as I thought he was contributing nothing and then 5 minutes later he scored so I have to concede I know fuck all!

Obviously you have to assume that Jose is happy(ish) with all of the above and is in fact encouraging at least some of it.

Yep, definitely has limitations with his application, rather than his ability. I sit pretty much bang on the halfway line in East Upper, to give me as full an appreciation of the game as I can get, so yeah... all of that is apparent.

I think it's more that his options are limited to just Serge as the only natural RB in the squad. You never know, a full season might iron out those lapses. Walker improved season on season from the brain farts to pretty much our (not so) secret weapon.

 

[muppetman]

Yep, definitely has limitations with his application, rather than his ability. I sit pretty much bang on the halfway line in East Upper, to give me as full an appreciation of the game as I can get, so yeah... all of that is apparent.

I think it's more that his options are limited to just Serge as the only natural RB in the squad. You never know, a full season might iron out those lapses. Walker improved season on season from the brain farts to pretty much our (not so) secret weapon.

I wonder if Jose might try Foyth or Tanganga sitting at RB and allowing Sessegnon more freedom to get forward?

 

[Gassin's finest]

I wonder if Jose might try Foyth or Tanganga sitting at RB and allowing Sessegnon more freedom to get forward?

I doubt it at this stage. It's more likely that Davies will take up position as the LB that tucks into the CB's, and Sessegnon's future lies further up the pitch. Like a proper, functioning left hand side for once.

Tanganga is definitely a CB and should be developed as such.

Foyth... I don't think he'll be here past the summer tbh.

 

[double0]

The issue Aurier will have now is to change people’s perception myself included ( I’m being to be open minded)

Defensively his been poor in to many games due mainly to poor positioning or tackling especially when the opposition level gets higher.

Under Mourinho his been asked to play a more attacking role and to be fair his been pretty good , strangely also his defending has got a whole lot better Watford away an example.

I have no problem with them staying but insist we find an upgrade that is all round an improvement.

 

[McFlash]

I actually like him and think he's popular in the squad too.
He's played well this season and seems to be brain-farting less too.
If we get a proper 9 in, his crossing will provide an excellent weapon.

I like the video Spurs posted of him and Sonny playing Fifa against Gazza and Sess.
Very funny.

 

[bubble07]

Only Perieira and AWB have won more tackles this season

 

[fortworthspur]

my biggest concern is he's a brain fart waiting to happen. loads of skill but his head goes missing out of the blue. he's been good lately, though.

 

[Wsussexspur]

Much improved but still need to replaced in the summer. This is a massive weakness of ours we really don’t do well at evolving the squad and making tough decisions about when to move players on.

 

[wobwob]

his brain fart cost us another game. played very good until that moment too.

 

[dtxspurs]

my biggest concern is he's a brain fart waiting to happen. loads of skill but his head goes missing out of the blue. he's been good lately, though.

As always.

 

[NEVILLEB]

The David Luiz of right backs.

The first and most important quality you need in a defender is defending.

 

[spurs mental]

Although hes probably been the most improved player and shown some real quality so far I think I'd like to see Tanganga given a run at RB and Davies or Sess at LB. I think we'll keep more clean sheets

 

[Jay.]

He’s costing us too much too often. Forget the odd assist here and there, I’d rather a solid reliable defender. hes not for me. It’s terrifying watching a tight game when he’s playing, terrifying!