Tyler Roberts was supposed to be a third choice striker for the season behind Kemar Roofe and Patrick Bamford. However, injuries and departures have made a lot of changes into Bielsa’s plans, and he has had to chop and change often to find solutions with the squad he has at his disposal.
Roberts has been shifted to play in an attacking midfield role since Jack Clarke has been unavailable, and Bielsa decided to use Ezgjan Alioski in the left back role. Therefore with no options for the wide regions, Pablo Hernandez was shifted to play in wide areas instead of the attacking midfielder’s position which he occupied after the departure of Saiz.
Roberts had a poor outing against QPR where the Whites went down timidly as they suffered a 1-0 defeat. However, his performance against his former side West Bromwich Albion was impressive, and he made some smart plays and assists.
Maybe he was more motivated to do well against his former side, but Bielsa would hope that he can turn up with performances like that regularly. With the likes of Kemar Roofe, Adam Forshaw and Jack Clarke out; United need someone to step up at the plate to make a difference in the final third. A lot will rest on Roberts’ shoulder in the next few games as well.
One of the things which he did right in the game against the Baggies was that he kept his composure in the final third to find his team-mates. He has often been guilty of making the wrong decision. One of his major assets is his movement in the attacking third and he uncannily finds himself in spaces. To exploit that, he needs to bring more quality and hopefully, a performance like the last game would bring him that much-needed confidence to his game.
Playing him also allows Hernandez to be played in wide regions. Alioski is better suited to play as a left back than a winger as his work rate is impressive and he seems much better in playing in from the deep where he can carry the ball forward instead of straightaway receiving the ball in the final third.
Therefore we expect Bielsa to continue using Roberts in the no. 10 role. However, there is someone like Izzy Brown who is currently fit and waiting for his chances He was specifically brought in the summer of 2018 to play in that role and maybe something like that would keep Roberts on his toes as he must be aware that Brown could replace him now that he is fit.
