Ilkay Gundogan - 2017/18 performances

[Utter bobbins]

I want to see more.

Your a balloon

 

[BigOscar]

In perfect control all game against a pretty pathetic opposition, on the incredibly rare occasions Chelsea did press him he easily saw it coming and outmanoeuvred them, never looikng at all bothered.

Can't say I'm as in love with the passing statistics as others are, I'm not that impressed by him and Zinchenko rolling the ball back and forth under no pressure at all. Nice "record" to have, but I think it said far more about Chelsea than it did about us. Far sterner tests will come, I doubt either will have had an easier game of football in their entire career than that.

 

[domalino]

In perfect control all game against a pretty pathetic opposition, on the incredibly rare occasions Chelsea did press him he easily saw it coming and outmanoeuvred them, never looikng at all bothered.

Can't say I'm as in love with the passing statistics as others are, I'm not that impressed by him and Zinchenko rolling the ball back and forth under no pressure at all. Nice "record" to have, but I think it said far more about Chelsea than it did about us. Far sterner tests will come, I doubt either will have had an easier game of football in their entire career than that.

I think we'd see the real benefit of Gundogan at 6 later as the rest of the team get used to the different benefits he offers and also against a team who aren't just refusing to take part in the game.

I think we've seen some real Barcelona-esque passages of rapid 1 touch football with Gundogan in the midfield, we don't get that with Fernandinho. Something about the way Gundogan just loves to link players and offer himself for 1/2's, not to mention his love of flicks and quick feet has seen us put together some beautiful moves. Goals like the 3rd vs. Arsenal on Thursday, and some of our attempts to unlock Chelsea today were breathtaking, pinball type stuff.

I hope we see him play a few more games there before Fernandinho comes back, I think if Gundogan-Silva-KDB midfield gets 5 games in a row we might see something pretty special happen.

 

[Neville Kneville]

In perfect control all game against a pretty pathetic opposition, on the incredibly rare occasions Chelsea did press him he easily saw it coming and outmanoeuvred them, never looikng at all bothered.

Can't say I'm as in love with the passing statistics as others are, I'm not that impressed by him and Zinchenko rolling the ball back and forth under no pressure at all. Nice "record" to have, but I think it said far more about Chelsea than it did about us. Far sterner tests will come, I doubt either will have had an easier game of football in their entire career than that.

I couldn't go today due to serious problems but although I fully agree with what you are saying, he also had it easy v Arsenal twice & was imo poor on the ball. Today, he looked for the progressive pass & found it quite often, I thought, having watched the recording.

Pretty good at pressing, anticipating & occasioally nicking the ball too I thought, which was his Dortmund game.

But once things go wrong & he's out of position, he is a fish out of water imo & it's that part which will decide his future & where he is still not the same player. His passing & positioning isn't so special someone else can't do it.

But I was happy to see him today as I thought it was a step in the right direction.

I don't think he will be the eventual first choice player though.

 

[BigOscar]

I couldn't go today due to serious problems but although I fully agree with what you are saying, he also had it easy v Arsenal twice & was imo poor on the ball. Today, he looked for the progressive pass & found it quite often, I thought, having watched the recording.

Pretty good at pressing, anticipating & occasioally nicking the ball too I thought, which was his Dortmund game.

But once things go wrong & he's out of position, he is a fish out of water imo & it's that part which will decide his future & where he is still not the same player. His passing & positioning isn't so special someone else can't do it.

But I was happy to see him today as I thought it was a step in the right direction.

I don't think he will be the eventual first choice player though.

I think him as a holding midfielder and Zinchenko as a leftback are very similar. Both very comfortable but unspectacular with the ball and pretty good when the opposition has it as long as it's in front of them with interceptions and pressing, but as soon as it's behind them they are completely out of the game. Both find themselves out of position too often and incapable of getting back when the do.

But I think we've also shown this season that we can be so dominant against a lot of teams that these things frankly don't matter a lot of the time. Chelsea not once bothering to try and get at Zinchenko after he'd been booked being a prime example, they are so shit scared about what we'll do to them that they don't even consider the best ways to get at us.

Both are doing a good job in the easy games, but really I wouldn't want them in those positions in the tougher games against teams with the balls and ability to target them. Bit of a side point, but I can't wait for Mendy to come back, I think people have almost forgotten what a ridiculous threat we've missed out on all year.

 

[aguero93:20]

I think him as a holding midfielder and Zinchenko as a leftback are very similar. Both very comfortable but unspectacular with the ball and pretty good when the opposition has it as long as it's in front of them with interceptions and pressing, but as soon as it's behind them they are completely out of the game. Both find themselves out of position too often and incapable of getting back when the do.

Mate players that aren't useless defensively when the ball is behind them are rare :)

 

[CityFan94]

Extremely comfortable on the ball.

I can’t see him displacing Silva or De Bruyne at any point, but a great squad player and more than good enough for 90% of our games.

 

[BigOscar]

Mate players that aren't useless defensively when the ball is behind them are rare :)

Nah, we just are a bit averse to signing them! Fernandinho and Walker show what it's about, Delph does as well to a lesser degree. If we're going to attack in such numbers then the few up and down lads we have really need to be pretty mobile and quick to realise when it's time to leg it back

 

[Dax777]

I think him as a holding midfielder and Zinchenko as a leftback are very similar. Both very comfortable but unspectacular with the ball and pretty good when the opposition has it as long as it's in front of them with interceptions and pressing, but as soon as it's behind them they are completely out of the game. Both find themselves out of position too often and incapable of getting back when the do.

But I think we've also shown this season that we can be so dominant against a lot of teams that these things frankly don't matter a lot of the time. Chelsea not once bothering to try and get at Zinchenko after he'd been booked being a prime example, they are so shit scared about what we'll do to them that they don't even consider the best ways to get at us.

Both are doing a good job in the easy games, but really I wouldn't want them in those positions in the tougher games against teams with the balls and ability to target them. Bit of a side point, but I can't wait for Mendy to come back, I think people have almost forgotten what a ridiculous threat we've missed out on all year.

Bolded 1 - I've been saying this for ages :) I'm happy others are coming around to this reality. :)

Bolded 2 - Has it occurred to you that part of the reason why it's so easy is because these 2 players are so comfortable with the ball in defensive
areas that it makes pressing less effective?

Finally, I agree with you that the record passes isn't that impressive. But it's worth noting that a player playing the position for the 2nd time achieved it.

 

[AustinBlue]

I couldn't go today due to serious problems

You ok?

 

[pudge]

In perfect control all game against a pretty pathetic opposition, on the incredibly rare occasions Chelsea did press him he easily saw it coming and outmanoeuvred them, never looikng at all bothered.

Can't say I'm as in love with the passing statistics as others are, I'm not that impressed by him and Zinchenko rolling the ball back and forth under no pressure at all. Nice "record" to have, but I think it said far more about Chelsea than it did about us. Far sterner tests will come, I doubt either will have had an easier game of football in their entire career than that.

Funny, I said as much and it was not well received.

Ah well. I agree with you and your other points too.

 

[mccity]

I'll go into it tomorrow when I'm rested, but the passing stats are a good thing for both him and Zinchenko.

But the abridged version is it's not so much about the passes themselves, it's about the fact they were there to make this crazy volume of passes in the first place. They might have been knocking it about casually but it was with purpose.

It's very deliberate the high number of passes, particularly with these two players and their dual roles as anchor and link up players. Before Guardiola we only had Touré who had that kind of ability from a deeper position and it was so important for us at the time.

Zinchenko's passing numbers are the more impressive if anything.

 

[Dax777]

I couldn't go today due to serious problems but although I fully agree with what you are saying, he also had it easy v Arsenal twice & was imo poor on the ball. Today, he looked for the progressive pass & found it quite often, I thought, having watched the recording.

Pretty good at pressing, anticipating & occasioally nicking the ball too I thought, which was his Dortmund game.

But once things go wrong & he's out of position, he is a fish out of water imo & it's that part which will decide his future & where he is still not the same player. His passing & positioning isn't so special someone else can't do it.

But I was happy to see him today as I thought it was a step in the right direction.

I don't think he will be the eventual first choice player though.

Anyway, just so we are clear, Pep disagrees with this opinion. But feel free to carry on :-)

 

[ADegenerate]

I’d like to think that I’m pretty fluid with my opinions on football and don’t claim to be an expert at all. This is one of those times where I might have misread things. I still stand by my stance that Fernandinho adds more value than Gundogan does when comparing skill sets for this position in this system but I definitely have to say that Ilkay is doing much better than I projected him to be. Good on him.

(If I can jog it back a bit Arsenal are beyond terrible and Chelsea almost quite literally quit before the match started. We all need to see more of a sample size.)

 

[Tevez City]

I hope Pep keep using him in this position until the end of the season, he might save the club from spending 50m on Fred.

 

[ADegenerate]

I hope Pep keep using him in this position until the end of the season, he might save the club from spending 50m on Fred.

Yaya's gone. How does Gundogan playing well save us 50m? Reckon 50 is high as well.

 

[Tevez City]

Yaya's gone. How does Gundogan playing well save us 50m? Reckon 50 is high as well.

Yaya only played 97 minutes in the league, there is no need to replace him at all.

We can distribute these minutes to the youngsters.

 

[ADegenerate]

Yaya only played 97 minutes in the league, there is no need to replace him at all.

We can distribute these minutes to the youngsters.

So you'd rather us save the 40-50m, release Yaya, keep Gundogan and have a young player on the bench?

Feels like an arsenal net spend champion move to me. That's how you fall to Burnley levels bud.

 

[Tevez City]

There is no fall, Fernandinho & Gundogan will compete for 1 position, and both of them are good enough to fill it.

 

[NQCitizen]

Thanks for the tag,San Tropez or whatever your previous username was......

I still stand by my opinion,the lad had a decent game today,but let's have some perspective,he was playing in a midfield against a team with zero ambition and not much more effort.He is tidy and he contributes against lesser opposition,but to believe he will be a adequate replacement against teams that are capable of giving us a game and putting us on the back foot is wrong,IMO of course.

And this is the reason we are being linked with others,and we will sign one of them.

Better than Dinho?? Lol.

I didn't think we were looking at anyone similar to Gundogan. Beyond Modric, Kroos, Veratti, possibly Milinkovic-Savic who's really an upgrade?