The usual suspects were at it again for Man Utd in their loss to Bournemouth, but Diogo Dalot’s poor form is not entirely his own fault.
As the absence of Luke Shaw and Patrick Dorgu continued, the experiments at LB continued, with Diogo Dalot taking over from Noussair Mazraoui.
Mazraoui was awful vs Como, but Dalot wasn’t much better against Bournemouth, especially with the ball at his feet in the final third.
There is a lack of quality, yes, but he’s not helped by Michael Carrick refusing an easy fix, which makes him worthy of being sacked.
Diogo Dalot is being set up to fail
Before going into detail, it must be made clear that this piece is not in defence of Dalot, whose best ability is availability, and not much else.
Having said that, these are the kinds of players who managers love to have in the team because they can do a job in multiple positions, are model professionals, and are always available.
Instead, Dalot has become the first name on the teamsheet, almost suffering from his availability, and he’s being set up to fail by Carrick.
Against Bournemouth, Dalot was the recipient of many groans and moans from the Old Trafford faithful when he found himself in the final third with the ball at his feet.
As the left-back, more often than not, the ball came onto his left foot as he ran on the overlap, which is his weaker foot.
Repeatedly, he either killed the momentum of the attack by cutting inside onto his stronger right foot, or hit a wayward cross with his weaker left foot.
Neither of those options are very good, and while it’s easy to say that Dalot isn’t a very good player at right-back either, the fact is that he’s set up to fail at left-back.
If only Carrick had a natural left-back in the ranks…
Michael Carrick’s distrust of Harry Amass is sack-worthy
Nobody is arguing that Harry Amass is a potential world-beater just waiting for a chance before he becomes the world’s best left-back.
What he is, at least, is a left-footed player who calls LB his natural position, which is something nobody available at United can say right now.
If he can’t get a game in this situation, when can he? Give him a chance, and then leave it up to him to show everyone whether he is up to it or not.
Instead, Carrick took him out of the squad entirely, with Tyler Fletcher making the bench when everyone knew he wasn’t going to come on.
Amass fills a position of need, with the ideal playing profile missing in this team, but he was replaced by Tyler Fletcher as Dalot skied one cross after another.
Carrick has been failed by the board, but this is a clear case of the manager being sack-worthy as well.