Kylian Mbappe

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Interesting claim in the Sunday Times that the deal with Real Madrid was more or less done but he backed out when he was told that he would be replacing Ronaldo (who would be sold to United). Allegedly he didnt want that pressure.
 
Interesting claim in the Sunday Times that the deal with Real Madrid was more or less done but he backed out when he was told that he would be replacing Ronaldo (who would be sold to United). Allegedly he didnt want that pressure.

Sounds and smells like A1 BS.
 
Wenger is putting the best face on things. Truth is, no world class footballer would for a moment consider any offer made by Arsenal at the moment given the free-fall that the club are in.

Lamar to Arsenal unexpectedly fell through - and due to the ineptitude at Arsenal this was their only deal to replace Sanchez should he be sold - which scuppered our move for Sanchez.

Mbappe appears to be the "real deal" - a bit early to judge though - it'll be interesting to see how good he actually becomes.
'Becomes'? One needs only one game and a pair of eyes to see that he is already worldclass. Watching now France - Luxembourg, I'm a big admirer of Griezmann, but Mbappe is simply on another level in terms of awareness, speed of thought. Not even mentioning ridiculous technique and physical attributes.
 
'Becomes'? One needs only one game and a pair of eyes to see that he is already worldclass. Watching now France - Luxembourg, I'm a big admirer of Griezmann, but Mbappe is simply on another level in terms of awareness, speed of thought. Not even mentioning ridiculous technique and physical attributes.

You make him sound almost as good as Rashford.
 
'Becomes'? One needs only one game and a pair of eyes to see that he is already worldclass. Watching now France - Luxembourg, I'm a big admirer of Griezmann, but Mbappe is simply on another level in terms of awareness, speed of thought. Not even mentioning ridiculous technique and physical attributes.
MBappe does indeed appear to be extremely special - his pace, ability to dribble past defenders, and perhaps, his astonishing skill in the box - the ball comes to him, one touch and it's a shot on goal, leading immediately to a score or forcing a great save.
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But... he's so young in his career... that I hesitate to anoint him just yet - might he pick up an injury that ruins his career? - might he have some sudden lack of confidence perhaps brought on by personal crisis? - etc.

That said, MBappe looks to be the real deal. Not sure that he's quite got the dribbling skills of the real Ronaldo - but for now - given his pace - his skillset is more than adequate.
 
MBappe does indeed appear to be extremely special - his pace, ability to dribble past defenders, and perhaps, his astonishing skill in the box - the ball comes to him, one touch and it's a shot on goal, leading immediately to a score or forcing a great save.
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But... he's so young in his career... that I hesitate to anoint him just yet - might he pick up an injury that ruins his career? - might he have some sudden lack of confidence perhaps brought on by personal crisis? - etc.

That said, MBappe looks to be the real deal. Not sure that he's quite got the dribbling skills of the real Ronaldo - but for now - given his pace - his skillset is more than adequate.
Agreed, we're not talking the kind of flair a Neymar or Messi has, what he does have is the killer instinct in front of goal and a dangerous amount of pace(Henry is a good comparison and the one that most compare him to) coupled with good movement off the ball it's more than enough to put him up there.

What I don't like is the over hype he's had which will probably do him more harm than good, he's approaching world class already but he's NOT the finished article yet. Also lets be more down to earth about the type of player he is, he's not dibbling past whole defences on his own, he's not scoring screamers from way outside the box all the time, I don't recall seeing much variety in his goals yet but there's time for him to show it(overhead, scissor kicks, headers, both feet I've yet to see much like that from him). Also after Monaco's good run in the Champions league, defenders were bottling it before he'd even done much to get past them last season(the game against England for example, backing off way too much making it easy), beating themselves before making a challenge. I don't rate the level of defending in Ligue1 but it will probably do his confidence and development a world of good if he is a confidence player(that's maybe why Roberts went back to Celtic). The tie against Juventus was quite telling for how far he has to go IMO, they have good solid defenders who were more than up to handling him, he didn't have a bad game but they kept him very quiet.

I think some of his more vocal fans should give it time before they massage their armchair scouting egos by personally handing him an balon d'or before he's earned one and lets not compare him to generational talents such as Messi and Ronaldo just yet, he shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath yet(miles away, that only comes with as many years doing the business as they have) as it's disrespectful to what they've done for the sport.
 
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He's ridiculous. I watched that game, he played mostly as RW alongside Griezmann, Giroud, Lemar and the greatest player ever Pogba and was France's best attacker, absolutely comfortable on the right.
 
He's ridiculous. I watched that game, he played mostly as RW alongside Griezmann, Giroud, Lemar and the greatest player ever Pogba and was France's best attacker, absolutely comfortable on the right.
For me, Mbappe is deceptively good - why "deceptive"?

Because as he receives the ball and moves forward he doesn't appear to do anything particularly tricky or skillful.
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What seems to set him apart is the pace at which he make his moves. He gets the ball - does some "meh" move - and instantly he's past a defender in good position - next thing you know he's made a shot on goal.
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I'm not at all sure that he's the next (real - Brazilian) Ronaldo - haven't seen him dribble past a bunch of set defenders - but he may be close. He gets the ball - does some quick move that defenders often can't cope with and has an on-target shot demanding a save from the opposing keeper.
 
For me, Mbappe is deceptively good - why "deceptive"?

Because as he receives the ball and moves forward he doesn't appear to do anything particularly tricky or skillful.
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What seems to set him apart is the pace at which he make his moves. He gets the ball - does some "meh" move - and instantly he's past a defender in good position - next thing you know he's made a shot on goal.
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I'm not at all sure that he's the next (real - Brazilian) Ronaldo - haven't seen him dribble past a bunch of set defenders - but he may be close. He gets the ball - does some quick move that defenders often can't cope with and has an on-target shot demanding a save from the opposing keeper.

Your comment about Mbappe's deceptiveness implicitly suggests that dribbling is somehow more valuable that quick passing game, doesn't it? It's maybe more spectacular but not necessarily more effective. You can stop any dribbler using the right tactics and commiting the right number of players. But there's no antidote to a clever passing game, especially in our era of 'soft' refereeing favouring attackers.

KM is surely not the greatest dribbler, but he doesn't have to be, you can see that he knows his limitations. Like you said, he reaches the same result using different tools, it's not like he's trying pointless dribbles and fails all the time. The mere comparisons with Ronaldo mean that he's doing something right :) On the other hand, I get the impression that Mbappe can play as a spearhead whilst pre-injury Ronaldo was quite average in the box. Mbappe is lean but powerful, guess he'll become a bit bulkier and more suitable for 9 role soon.
 
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Phone rings
Mbappe : "Hi this is Kylian"
Wenger: "Hi Kylian, this is Arsene Wenger..."
*Click - phone hangs up
Wenger: "So close..."
 


Wenger is fast becoming a deluded joke. He should have left in the summer. He deserves some respect for the job he's done but you can't see this ending well for him. His press conferences are becoming cringe worthy.
 
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