24 | Joško Gvardiol - 2023/24

[Phil1]

He’s ace. Going to be a bonofide superstar

 

[St.Pauli support]

Was hard to watch his own pain about his end products.
When he starts to be afraid of making mistakes, he'll be better.
Great effort on our left side.

 

[supercity88]

I thought he was excellent last night for what it's worth.

People really need to give their heads a wobble if they are concerned by his defensive input. He's playing as a left winger a lot of the time, making runs in behind. We're lopsided. Foden, Alvarez and De Bruyne central, De Bruyne consistently playing off Bernardo. He provided the width and was often isolated but kept hold of the ball well and provided an attacking threat, which isn't his strength but he's willing to do for the team.

It's no wonder he's out of position defensively when he's wide left. We wouldn't expect Doku or Bernardo to be in position at LB/RB to deal with a counter attack, so Gvardiol shouldn't be expected to be in position either. Pep clearly wants him to provide width from full back in attacking areas and feels he's good enough on the ball to ensure we retain possession and don't cause ourselves problems with him doing so. And Ake has the pace to cover the gap in the left side on the counter whilst Gvardiol looks to get back.

 

[Middedon]

As a newish consumer of City-related media, this may be obvious to everyone but me, but has there been a recent player who has divided opinion so starkly? Obviously on here it’s either he’s terrible or awesome. Player ratings from the last game were either he is the worst of every player on the field (including Brentford) or one of the better ones. One rating will say he provided lots of offensive opportunities, the other will say he provided no offensive value. I listened to two City podcasts today. One was: he’s a failure, doesn’t get it, won’t/shouldn't play the rest of the season. The other praised him for his unique skill set, talked about his potential, mentioned how he’s getting better every game (obviously discussed how he’s not perfect but generally positive). Maybe Grealish was similar in terms of opinion?

 

[David Silva]

As a newish consumer of City-related media, this may be obvious to everyone but me, but has there been a recent player who has divided opinion so starkly? Obviously on here it’s either he’s terrible or awesome. Player ratings from the last game were either he is the worst of every player on the field (including Brentford) or one of the better ones. One rating will say he provided lots of offensive opportunities, the other will say he provided no offensive value. I listened to two City podcasts today. One was: he’s a failure, doesn’t get it, won’t/shouldn't play the rest of the season. The other praised him for his unique skill set, talked about his potential, mentioned how he’s getting better every game (obviously discussed how he’s not perfect but generally positive). Maybe Grealish was similar in terms of opinion?

Grealish as you’ve said and probably Sterling as well.

 

[TP2707]

He shows the right signs at the moment. He's not quite settled a don't think but I liked seeing him take on a few attempts on goal the other night. Shows he's not caving to any sort of pressure. He's young and no doubt will be a key part in our future.

 

[Phil1]

As a newish consumer of City-related media, this may be obvious to everyone but me, but has there been a recent player who has divided opinion so starkly? Obviously on here it’s either he’s terrible or awesome. Player ratings from the last game were either he is the worst of every player on the field (including Brentford) or one of the better ones. One rating will say he provided lots of offensive opportunities, the other will say he provided no offensive value. I listened to two City podcasts today. One was: he’s a failure, doesn’t get it, won’t/shouldn't play the rest of the season. The other praised him for his unique skill set, talked about his potential, mentioned how he’s getting better every game (obviously discussed how he’s not perfect but generally positive). Maybe Grealish was similar in terms of opinion?

I’d stop listening to the first podcast. It sounds shite.

He’s by no means the finished product but anybody not seeing his quality and potential in this team is likely taking too many drugs.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

He's a 22-year-old left-footed central defender in his first season in English football who spent most of the first half on Monday cutting in from the left wing to take pops at goal with his weaker foot. Nothing about that is normal. His potential is through the roof.

Is Pep giving him the Foden treatment of rounding out his game by playing him out of position?

 

[Mad_fer_it]

Not saying this is the case with you, but I keep seeing this trotted out like it’s a big knock against him. We already had five of the best defenders in the world before he joined - of course if it gets down to the wire you’re going to play those who have more experience in the system. I don’t think this is necessarily a sign he won’t succeed here.

I agree. I think he will be great for us, just not at left back and not this season. His best is yet to come. How many players have we seen go from a bit sus, to incredible after their first year with Pep. For the run in though, I'd prefer to see the back line that won everything for us last year.

 

[Middedon]

I’d stop listening to the first podcast. It sounds shite.

He’s by no means the finished product but anybody not seeing his quality and potential in this team is likely taking too many drugs.

The podcast is from what I think is a local Manchester paper (I’m not from UK). what I find most irritating is how they kind of question why Pep is playing him - and playing him as a LB. I don’t get bothered when regular people on this forum question it, but it seems like lazy journalism for journalists to just say “wtf is going on.” Pep has seen Joško make mistakes, just like we have, but he’s still playing him. So as a journalist, maybe think about what that means - ask Pep what the plan is, look back to see what Pep has done with other players to make a guess about what the long term plan is, look at his positive skills and figure how they might align with Peps goals that particular game. There is more insightful commentary here and I assume most don’t have the behind the scenes access as most journalists.