Prior to the Monday Night Football encounter between Sunderland and Everton, Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher was joined by former Manchester United defender Jonny Evans.
In the 90 minutes prior to kickoff, they went through the usual routine of discussing the weekend’s action and previewed the Monday Night game.
Part of the coverage was a discussion of United’s 2-2 draw away to Nottingham Forest, where they discussed the system under manager Ruben Amorim. The main focus of the discussion was their ability to play with three at the back and two wing-backs, which led to discussions over Amad Diallo and Diogo Dalot.
Carragher discussed the need for wingbacks to go forward but also defend well, praising Amad Diallo but raising his doubts over Dalot’s ability to do this, commenting: “He [Amad Diallo] is more of a winger, he’s probably more suited to that position.”
He continued: “But then Dalot is the opposite where he may be able to deal with that better. But when gets on the last line and they actually get the ball to Dalot, he can’t beat a man. he’s not going to play a clever pass, he’s not going to get a cross in.
“So for me, that’s a little bit of the downfall in terms five on the last line, is whether these players have the quality.”
The quality of Dalot should not be misunderstood. To have played 219 games across all competitions, he has had a very respectable career as a United player.
During the infamous Piers Morgan interview with Cristiano Ronaldo that saw his time at the club come to an end, he was quick to praise Dalot for being “smart”, “intelligent” and “very professional”.
Dalot is a right-back born in the wrong era, with his defensive capabilities overshadowed with limited production going forward. 20 years ago, when full-backs weren’t expected to go forward, Dalot would have stood out a lot more.
