Over the past week, Amad Diallo has made a significant mark as he has been seen as one of Manchester United's most effective weapons and one of their most obvious weaknesses.
The Ivorian's stunning volley against Nottingham Forest helped his side regain a point. Although he has been praised as a factor that makes a difference in Man United's attack, most of the post-match analysis focuses on his weakness in defensive ability.
Both aspects of Amad's playing style are clear. He is not the only attacking player who has not mastered the aerial skills in the penalty area or has not been able to effectively stop the players running on the wing at high speed.
The difference is that, unlike other top attacking stars in the Premier League, Amad often has to take on defensive duties to play as a wing-back in Ruben Amorim's 3-4-3 formation.
In a few games, he has temporarily escaped this responsibility, but Forest seems to have taken the initiative to target Amad and fully exploited that weakness. Man United's upcoming opponents - Tottenham, Everton and Crystal Palace - will certainly also pay attention to this.
A closer look at Amad's role in the "Red Devils" squad shows more clearly the limitations Amorim is facing, and at the same time sets for him another problem that needs to be solved.
Amad started his first match for Man United under Amorim as a right-back against Ipswich Town. He was the one who assisted the opening goal for the Amorim era, scored by Marcus Rashford. Although the English striker was left out of the plan by Amorim less than a month later, Amad quickly became an indispensable part of the Portuguese coach's system.
Man United have had a truly turbulent summer on the wing, with Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony all grouped as "bomb teams" - having to train separately with the rest of the first team.
In that context, Amad stayed and affirmed his position. He has played in 8 of the 9 Premier League games he has played for this season. Despite being deployed as an attacking midfielder three times, most of the time - 6 matches - Amad took on the right wing-back position and gradually became Amorim's number one choice, forcing Diogo Dalot to move to the left wing.
Amorim praised Amad's adaptation to the wing-back position in his December speech:
"He is very suitable for that role (wing-back), but also plays well in the midfield area because of his ball control and speed when he has the ball. He can play in many different systems.
In the wing-back position, the most important thing is physical strength - not physical strength, but mobility. And that is Amad's strength. He has the perfect technical qualities for this position."
Although no one can deny that Amad is strong enough to play as a full-back, his physical weakness was exposed when Morgan Gibbs-White jumped higher to head the equalizer for Forest.
"Amad is a difficult problem. He was in the squad thanks to his attacking ability, but could not play in the 10th position because Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were playing very well.
He has to play as a right-back and sometimes has to defend - which is not his forte," said former Wales captain Ashley Williams.
