United Briefing: Aaron reveals full-back philosophy

With the right-back close to the landmark of 100 appearances for the Reds, we thought it would be a good opportunity to chat with Aaron for an A to Z feature of what makes him tick.

We (literally) ran through the alphabet, from Aaron himself right up to Zaha, and, along the way, the man they call ‘the Spider’ gave a greater insight into some of the key components of his game.

First up, why he thinks full-back is the most difficult role to fulfil…

“I think full-back is probably the hardest position where you need to have the most energy,” Aaron told us. “You’ve got to go up and down and maintain that throughout.

“You’ve just got to focus and take your recovery seriously because we’ve got games every three days, and you have to be mentally very prepared for that.”

Aaron certainly ticks all the boxes for energy, having appeared in 45 of United’s 50 games so far this campaign – a mark only Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes can top.

Wan-Bissaka’s 29 Premier League outings have helped him record more combined blocks and interceptions than any other player in the league, according to WhoScored, but it’s for his unmatched tackling ability that Aaron has become most renowned during his fledgling career.

💪 Most tackles and interceptions combined in the Premier League this season

🥇 Aaron Wan-Bissaka - 135
🥈 Ruben Neves - 129
🥉 N'Golo Kante - 126 pic.twitter.com/saxVYrTL2C

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) April 12, 2021

So, what’s his secret, and why does he love going to ground and winning the ball so much?

“Concentration is a big part of tackling well,” Wan-Bissaka insisted. “Patience too – you have to have patience. You have to stop yourself from diving in straight away.

“I kind of go off the player in possession, just try to take them down the line and then do the rest.

“It’s so enjoyable when you pull off a good tackle – it just makes you want to go again, so you’re ready and up for the next tackle right away.

“You’re all buzzed up for the next one.”

Despite his already burgeoning reputation as one of the country’s finest young full-backs, Aaron is in no mood to rest on his laurels.

He’s revealed, for example, that he has got a taste for goals having opened his United account at Newcastle back in October and followed it up with one in the 9-0 win over Southampton, while there’s also a Reds team-mate who he feels he could look to for inspiration when it comes to his attacking game.

“If I could add any attribute from any team-mate to my game, I’d have to pick Bruno’s vision.

“In training, if I’m against him, I’ll think he’s going for an obvious pass, say over my right shoulder, but then he’ll play it somewhere else in another way. He’s so unpredictable.

“I want to achieve a lot here,” Aaron continued, when asked about his vision for the future. “I think anything’s possible for this club and this team.

“The vision is just to win as many trophies as possible over the next few years. Personally, I want to keep adding more goals to my game.

“Now I’ve had that feeling, it’s something I want to feel every week. If I had to choose between a goal-saving tackle and scoring a goal, I’d go for a goal.”

Read the full interview with Aaron in May’s edition of Inside United.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY?

Tuesday sees the release of our fans-led interview with reigning Player of the Month, Luke Shaw. Keep your eyes peeled to see if we put your question to the England international left-back…

Elsewhere, we’ll have early team news ahead of Thursday’s second leg with Granada, plus exclusive images as the lads return to work at the Aon Training Complex.

As Bayern Munich are in Champions League action, it’s the perfect opportunity to recall Mark Hughes’s time in Bavaria, as regaled to us by the great man in this week’s edition of UTD Podcast.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY?

We continued to provide reaction to Sunday’s brilliant 3-1 comeback victory at Tottenham Hotspur, with this great stat about Mason Greenwood’s involvement off the bench, the Match Quiz and plenty of videos, too.

There was news of the latest player Q&A opportunity, this time with Bruno Fernandes. Find out how you can get involved here.

In-form Jesse Lingard featured prominently in Monday’s Mediawatch, while the latest UTD Podcast – starring Reds legend Hughes – was released. Listen here.