The Lucas Digne Thread | Page 4 | Vital Football

The Lucas Digne Thread

gmvillan said:
Just when I thought I'd completed a depressing recall of our worst left-backs in recent years you have to remind me that we once had Kieran Richardson on our books... :shake::shake::shake:
Don't forget we also had Hutton playing left-back for a while too.... I think that was the legendary back four with the three right-backs:
2. Elmo, 4. Bree, 5. Elphick, 3. Hutton.... :slap::slap:
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I think it was actually Tuanzebe in that back 4 as the sole CB as Elphick had been sent out on loan. The funny thing was that Tuanzabe had been played at RB earlier in the season because Bruce had been playing Jedinak at CB.
 
JW1985 said:
I think it was actually Tuanzebe in that back 4 as the sole CB as Elphick had been sent out on loan. The funny thing was that Tuanzabe had been played at RB earlier in the season because Bruce had been playing Jedinak at CB.
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Good knowledge JW, but something I would rather forget :ROFLMAO:. It just amazes me how recent that was and what a desperate state we were in.
 
Villan57 said:
A good sign is Everton fans, in general, are not happy he's gone. pretty sure we have a good un. Matt Targett had Southampton fans laughing at us at the time .

In truth, we've got two good left-backs now
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The vast majority of criticism I've seen is about his defending this season but most acknowledge you're asking an attacking fullback to not attack. Rolls into the overall criticism of Rafa that he is a dinosaur interested only in sitting back and being compact.
 
"Merd" said:
Good knowledge JW, but something I would rather forget :ROFLMAO:. It just amazes me how recent that was and what a desperate state we were in.
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It was the game after Brucey got the bin and a few days later Smith was appointed. Seems crazy now that we were desperate to get Tommy Elphick back from his loan so we didn't have to play James Bree at CB. Imagine if someone had told you that less than 4 years later we'd be signing Coutinho and Digne in the January window.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
The vast majority of criticism I've seen is about his defending this season but most acknowledge you're asking an attacking fullback to not attack. Rolls into the overall criticism of Rafa that he is a dinosaur interested only in sitting back and being compact.
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Maybe they'd like to buy Matty T?
 
JW1985 said:
I think it was actually Tuanzebe in that back 4 as the sole CB as Elphick had been sent out on loan. The funny thing was that Tuanzabe had been played at RB earlier in the season because Bruce had been playing Jedinak at CB.
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I remember the three right-backs quite clearly, but couldn't remember who it was at CB. Could have been Jedi or a half-crippled Chester too.... Embarrassing beyond words....
 
Gazvilla said:
We might be offensively better with Digne but defensively Mings needs all the help he can get. I do worry that it weakens us in this area.
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I actually thought about this too, a full back 30 yards up the pitch (which at times is what I want) will test Mings. He looks poor when he’s expected to defend with a space to the left and in front of him, his decision making becomes more questionable.

Happy to see what he’s made of, but we haven’t signed Digne to sit alongside Mings all game when we don’t have the ball, which is what Targett does well.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
The vast majority of criticism I've seen is about his defending this season but most acknowledge you're asking an attacking fullback to not attack. Rolls into the overall criticism of Rafa that he is a dinosaur interested only in sitting back and being compact.
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Given where we are with Targett, I'll take someone who can even run at PL pace for starters. I'll worry about the defending/attacking later.
 
Spoke to a couple of Toffees today, they say great going forward, sometimes gets out of position at the back. But any attacking fullback/wingback will do that at times really. I am chuffed we have a manager very obviously building a team to get the ball forward quickly .... sorry, that should be to PASS the ball forward quickly and supply the strikers.
 
Johnny Too Bad said:
Awkward for Targett, as Digne has been brought in to take his job. There will be no competition for it. This might be the last few months of Targett at Villa.
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I don’t see him here next season. I think the club know what’s good for business and what’s good for business is selling a player entering his peak years. Unlikely to improve much further and a much better and more capable talent occupying his place.

Pick up a nice fee and bring in a younger understudy to Digne.
 
I wouldn’t begrudge Targett moving to a lower premier league side who play a flatter back 4 than what we want to play as he’s proven himself in the league. A Southampton or Palace type of club, I think he deserves it - as much as I’d like him to be in the squad as if we do eventually get into Europe we’ll be playing near enough 50 games per season, that could be a few years away yet and is unfair on him.
 
There are a lot of full backs that can foray up the pitch and are questionable at defending. This may be why Guilbert hasn’t made it here. I think the difference with Digne must be, and the stats show it, when he does foray he creates chances and goals.
 
Love it how people are already selling Matt Targett as if he's yesterdays man :ROFLMAO:. Let's just see what Digne brings to the party before writing him off completely. It's also very useful to have an understudy who can just slot in when required.

I'm not aware of one of the youth team currently knocking on the door so I suggest that Matt Targett will remain in and around the squad, picking up games until he's either fed up and wants out or a ridiculous bid comes in for him (which I don't see happening).
 
This is a perfect signing, Matt Targett is a decent PL fullback who if we are happy with where we are is well good enough but in theory, at least Digne is a current French international and a level higher than Matt.

This is what I and many others on here get at when we mean improving the Squad/team bringing players to replace already decent players.
I can't see us bringing in a backup just for cover other than for Martinez as it would be difficult to find a better keeper in world football but the rest are replaceable.
They don't all need replacing just yet but they will in the next season or three. It's law of the Jungle sort of thing
 
Villan57 said:
This is a perfect signing, Matt Targett is a decent PL fullback who if we are happy with where we are is well good enough but in theory, at least Digne is a current French international and a level higher than Matt.

This is what I and many others on here get at when we mean improving the Squad/team bringing players to replace already decent players.
I can't see us bringing in a backup just for cover other than for Martinez as it would be difficult to find a better keeper in world football but the rest are replaceable.
They don't all need replacing just yet but they will in the next season or three. It's law of the Jungle sort of thing
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It's hardly rocket science. Digne fits the Gerrard style as well. The big question is how far this can go...how much money will the owners throw at it. Some signal is that they voted for ffp changes for Newcastle to try to prevent them spending.
 
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