Aurelio the left back?

[marls]

Kewell's better than Gonzales mate.

I think so too, but injuries and so on aren't helping him...he's got a lot to proove before January. Rafa has really bolstered his left side and competition is fierce.

[shadow]

He takes a mean free-kick though!! That was in if it had'nt hit Konchesky on the suede
Aurelio is superb around the dead ball

[Diego]

Kewell's better than Gonzales mate.

well maybe, i quite sure gonzales has a lot more to offer than he has shown us, also kewel can play on the right and him and pennant switching it up could be a good thing...

i just hope he gets mach fit and can show us his best moves...

[Red_Polo]

Aurelio needs to get used to the rough and tumble of this league and head the ball a bit more aggressively. If he can do that he'll be fine, although I agree that he will probably be used primarily as a LM.

[JermainePennant]

I think we signed him for the left wing and for his free kicks.His distribution was not great today but he is very good on the ball and is better then the other two left backs.

There was a few times today when he was under pressure and he was calm and made neat passes instead of just blasting the ball up the other end of the pitch like riise would.

I think he had a hard game today as he was under a lot of pressure from the right back and right midfielder and the strikers were constantly going out to the right wing.

I wouldnt like him playing left back against the top teams but think he would be fine against most teams and if momo was playing today I dont think the ball would have got out wide as often as it did today.

[carrsim]

fabio has been a bit hit and miss so far, but i thought the west ham game was his best so far. he got booked after winning the ball due to a crunching tackle.

i think he'll be fine once he settles in, gets used to rafa's system (again)

same goes for speedy. i have seen enough to know that the talent and ability is there, just a case of settling in and getting into the swing.

it will take time, as i can't think of any club in world football with as much pressure and expectation as ours this season

[G_Man]

Just said this on another thread Shanks, you're right AGAIN. He's been caught out of position for both the goals against us in the League so far.

Bring back JAR

[Abro100]

I thought aurelio was man of the match today, he wasgreat goin forward and got stuck in well in the challenges.
He wasnt great in the air but dont forget west ham are a good side in the air most of them big lads.
He wasnt caught out of position today he was just left exposed by luis, i said to my grandad after 5 mins they have spotted our weakenss. All they had to do was play the bal round the back 4 luis would go chase it, then they play it to there right back and right mid and just bombarded aurelio all game, i felt sorry for the lack of support he was getting this afternoon anf Rafa adressed is by switching pennant to the left for a while to stick on the wing with there right mid.

[Shanks65]

Just said this on another thread Shanks, you're right AGAIN. He's been caught out of position for both the goals against us in the League so far.

Bring back JAR

Just read your comment on the other thread mate. Agreed.

Where the hell was Fabio for the Zamora goal? Zamora had all the time in the world.

Hmmm. Hopefully time will prove me (us) wrong, but I'm far from convinced about Aurelio's defensive attributes. Hopefully he won't be used there much once JAR is back.

[kanban111]

I'm pretty sure he's said himself that his preferred position is left back & was a bit miffed at being played in midfield when at Valencia.
I get the feeling Rafa sees him as a wing back ala Alves on the right hand side,all adding to our attacking cutting edge but you still have to defend & i admit that positionally he's looked out of sorts at times which is surprising considering he's been nurtured the Rafa way at Valencia but we also have to remember that he hasn't played too much first team football for a while.
I think lots of our players look a bit rusty at present,hope that's all it is.

[El Diego]

He seems very hard tackling for a Brazilian in Europe( See how I said Europe as I have seen some of the worst tackles in the Brazilian league)

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Bollocks. He's the dogs bollocks is this lad. Great set pieces and isn't afraid to get stuck in either.

I don't think he was helped much at the weekend by both Garcia and Gonzalez when he came on. He was left exposed.

There were a few errors positionally but he'll improve and feel more comfortable the more he plays. Riise finally has competition. He's had it too easy recently with the mediocre Bambi.

[DonkeyKong]

Bollocks. He's the dogs bollocks is this lad. Great set pieces and isn't afraid to get stuck in either.

I don't think he was helped much at the weekend by both Garcia and Gonzalez when he came on. He was left exposed.

There were a few errors positionally but he'll improve and feel more comfortable the more he plays. Riise finally has competition. He's had it too easy recently with the mediocre Bambi.

All fair and well, but the lad can't defend for toffee. As evidenced by the two goals we've conceded in the league thus far.

[G_Man]

All fair and well, but the lad can't defend for toffee. As evidenced by the two goals we've conceded in the league thus far.

He certainly has no positional sense which is an essential component of the art of defending. Fullbacks have to be very positionally aware, I play left back and it's one of the major part of my game-reading the play. Fabio needs to work on it.

[DonkeyKong]

He certainly has no positional sense which is an essential component of the art of defending. Fullbacks have to be very positionally aware, I play left back and it's one of the major part of my game-reading the play. Fabio needs to work on it.

The lad is nearly 27. The should have learned about how to position himself by now mate.