He is very technical, fast and a great crosser. He defends well when I've seen him in the mid and can cover a lot of ground. I think that he is player that MUST start for us. Look at Jankulovski, when we got him no one thought he could defend, and was used a midfielder before Milan; look at the career he had with us. Another Example Serginho, he was never known for his defending, but was a great left back. I think Urby is our guy, but needs to be trusted. With a Mid consisting of Nocerino, Montolivo and Prince I don't think he will have any problem with coverage issues. He has quickly become one of my favorite players, always works hard for the shirt he plays in and never plays bad. I really like him a lot and think with his quality he should be playing all the time. Thoughts?

He could certainly be used as a backup/filler/temporary LB until we can purchase a better one, but after the last two friendlies have shown how much our disjointed attack benefits from his pace, it would be foolhardy to permanently keep him in defence IMO.

hes been doing well in the preseason, but not at LB, so i reserve my doubts for him at that position, however i do have high hopes for him this season, and this coming from a guy whos never been a fan of urby

I say put him in the midfield at this point. Having someone like him in the midfield to spring a counter would be great. But I think hes too good to NOT be in our starting 11 for now at least

DRK wrote:I say put him in the midfield at this point. Having someone like him in the midfield to spring a counter would be great.

+1

His pace on the counter is invaluable and adds a lot more potency to our attack.

He would be wasted on the bench

Urby is a bit of an enigma. At times he demonstrates real quality but he also seems out of his depth in certain situations. I think his versatility is actually hindering him as a player as he hasn't been able to establish any type of continuity in his role for the club.

I'm still not entirely sure what his best position would be. In our squad, I think he would be the best left back available, but as someone mentioned, we would lose his attacking influence if he was played in a defensive role. One thing is clear, he will have a very important role for Milan this season. I'm not sure if that's a compliment to Urby or if it simply demonstrates the dire state of the club at the moment. From what I've seen, he's a pretty good player, but he has to perform at his highest level consistently to merit a first 11 spot on the team.

ALSO, unless B&G make some purchases, everyone on the team is going to have to perform way above their level if we're going to accomplish anything this season. Juventus of last year is the perfect example of punching above your weight. Hopefully we can emulate their spirit and mentality and overachieve this season, otherwise we're in for a rough ride folks.

He is not strong enough to be a LB. He has characteristics of a winger ,but unfortunately we dont play with them.

I don't think it will benefit us greatly were he to play Lb, also seems a bit pointless since he's proving to be an asset going forward.

Jankulovski was a proven player in Serie A when we bought and had made over 100 appearances. What we have in Emmanuelson is a player who was deemed unfit to play in the full back position in *bleep* Eredivise.

Covering a lot of ground and pressing from the midfield is very different from playing as a defender.

He is a great crosser.Yes, So was Taiwo. The system we play is very narrow and we don't have any towering forward to get in the end of the crosses. All our forwards expect the ball to played at their feet . So, that quality of his will be wasted in our team.

vasanthPato wrote:Jankulovski was a proven player in Serie A when we bought and had made over 100 appearances. What we have in Emmanuelson is a player who was deemed unfit to play in the full back position in *bleep* Eredivise.

Covering a lot of ground and pressing from the midfield is very different from playing as a defender.

He is a great crosser.Yes, So was Taiwo. The system we play is very narrow and we don't have any towering forward to get in the end of the crosses. All our forwards expect the ball to played at their feet . So, that quality of his will be wasted in our team.

Jankulovski was a proven Left Mid in a three back system at Udinese, not at left back. Pato is actually great in the air, and can get on the end of these crosses with ease.

vasanthPato wrote:Jankulovski was a proven player in Serie A when we bought and had made over 100 appearances. What we have in Emmanuelson is a player who was deemed unfit to play in the full back position in *bleep* Eredivise.

Covering a lot of ground and pressing from the midfield is very different from playing as a defender.

He is a great crosser.Yes, So was Taiwo. The system we play is very narrow and we don't have any towering forward to get in the end of the crosses. All our forwards expect the ball to played at their feet . So, that quality of his will be wasted in our team.

Jankulovski was a proven Left Mid in a three back system at Udinese, not at left back. Pato is actually great in the air, and can get on the end of these crosses with ease.[/quote]

He could play both left back and as a left mid with ease, and was great at everything he did back then. Defending, dribbling, long shots, Crosses.

Never knew that Pato was good in the air. Anyways, it certainly isn't going to change our system.

There is a reason why we've tried Urby in a lot of positions yet not at left back for an extended period.

When I've seen Emanuelson play LB he has been more than competent. I've been hoping to see more of him in that position actually. But with this preseason it seems like he's getting more confident in the mid. As long as he's not playing a TQ position, I'm fine with wherever he plays.

Agree with arab.. Everything but TQ would be acceptable. He's got tons of energy dynamism and is very attack-minded. I suggest mid for him, but wouldn't care if he was our starting LB. Allegri will have to figure it out eventually..