We've always known how good he is - but watching him come back into an already good side on a good run of wins and to see the way he then improves that team, is amazing. He increases the pace, he is free to roam - but always arrives in the right place at the right time, his passing is so sharp and constantly creates danger and what was the stat? - 10 goal involvements in 8 games - what a wonderful player!
A couple of things that make him clearly superior to any other midfielder in the PL:
a) he doesn't have to look half the time. I'm not saying he knew exactly where Phil would be, but he knew very well that the intelligent thing to do was not to put the pass straight across to the goal, where there was a 50/50 chance that it was going to be blocked/cleared, but back at an acute angle into the space that he was pretty sure would have opened up in front of the ruckus. Defenders, and attackers, are attracted to the immediate goalmouth like moths to a flame. Then he knew that Phil is an intelligent enough player to be maybe making his way into that very space. Easy finish for Phil – goal. He does this too often for it to be luck or happenstance.
b) most of the time, he knows where he's going to put the ball before receiving it. Even at my crap level I was always told to do that by coaches. It's easier said than done. Much. Configurations on the field are evolving in seconds, sometimes in micro-seconds. Being aware of where everyone is is just impossible, unless you have an instinct like Kevin's. Of course, they work on this all week in training. But training is not the match, where eleven people are exactly doing their damnedest to stop you doing what you want to do. If he
has to take a third touch — because no-one's in space, or simply to let the team catch up — he does. Otherwise, he takes one touch to set the ball up, and a second to set it on its way. If he can, he receives the ball from behind him on the hoof, and hits it first time to its target. This speeds up our transitions
hugely.
Love Bernardo, but he's a different kind of midfielder, and he doesn't do that anything like as often (he gives us oodles of possession, and has an uncanny knack of being in the right place in the box, so it's chalk and cheese in terms of style).
