My earliest memory of Axel Tuanzebe dates back to a very sunny afternoon in North London where he bullied prime Alexis Sanchez all game in front of a packed Emirates! Playing as the outside right centre half of a back three, his pace, strength and aerial prowess was just too much for that Arsenal attack. Fast forward a year and he was leading Aston Villa’s backline in their promotion charge from the Championship. The Championship that season had quite a lot of promotion candidates. Farke’s Norwich combined with the Yorkshire clubs of Sheffield United and Leeds United led the pack for vast majorities of the season. But Dean Smith’s men edged the play-off, went up, stayed up and recently dropped 7 on Jurgen Klopp’s head. But Axel stood out head and shoulders above any other defender in the Championship.
Superb 1v1 defender
What stands out about Tuanzebe’s defensive attributes is his 1v1 defending. His speed and strength make him a very difficult defender to get past, and his positioning is usually very good. His body positioning is superb, with his feet side-on to be able to move in every direction.
Positioning:
Tuanzebe also impresses with his positioning, highlighted by the 3.9 clearances he makes on average per game. These statistics indicate that he often finds himself in the right position. As a cross is about to come into the box, Tuanzebe makes sure he sees the ball and the opponent closest to him by being side-on towards the ball. This also allows him to be able to cover a potential cross towards the first-post area while retaining the possibility to follow a run if the ball is played short into the striker.
Progressive in possession
Despite his defensive qualities, Tuanzebe strongest claim to play at United this season will be his quality in possession. This is an area where United are very weak since none of their centre-backs is particularly good in possession. By contrast, Tuanzebe really is. He had completed 84% of his passes for Villa but his main strength is stepping out from defence with the ball.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stepped into the summer transfer window with the hope of adding a quick, strong centre-half to his ranks and came out of it let down, as usual. The idea behind a Benoit Badiashile from Monaco, a Pau Torres from Villareal or an Ibrahim Konate from Leipzig was to add the recovery pace next to Maguire or Victor. The pace of Eric Bailly but with composure, football intelligence and consistency. Watch the away game at Stamford Bridge last season and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The ball over the top, the second ball falling to a quick, direct player like Steven Bergwijn away at Spurs last season, the transitions, each of these scenarios require a fast centre-half with a cool head. The Rio Ferdinand to a Vidic, the Varane to a Ramos. Against PSG, his first game back in over 9 months, Axel Tuanzebe showed exactly what United has been missing. The recovery pace and the 1v1 prowess to counter the Mbappes, the Neymars of the European stage and the Adama Traores and Wilfred Zahas of the Premier League. There was another instance when Axel sprayed a 50 yard ball in behind PSG’s backline for Telles to chase. This, once again showed his ball-playing attributes. If he can stay fit all season, United will have a lot of their defensive frailties masked.
Up next: Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
Into Added Time 