Since when does criticism and frustration mean knowing more than Pep? I don’t complain when he plays or go out of my way to boo him. He’s obviously a talented player and does many things well. I’d like more from his performances and more final contributions. I that’s fair game for blues to post the same sentiments.
He has improved on the things people called him out for such as defensive work rate and fighting for the ball on lost possession. People don’t complain as much about that. When he does the things that those want out of him the criticism stops.
He tends to be inconsistent with that kind of contibution imo, is one reason I'm not keen on him. He has been more dynamic in that in recent games & is then much less of a handicap & his positive attributes come through better. He was very active, getting the ball back, v Everton.
But I've realised one aspect of his play which really pisses me off, it's been itching at me for a long time, why do my expectations kind of sink, when he gets the ball halfway ?
Well I've sussed, it's his method of often receiving the ball, on the half turn, but his 'half turn' is facing more backwards than forward, so his best, safest option, is almost always a backward pass. To make the forward pass, he sometimes has to do a little half turn thing or take more of a risk, because unlike true World Class players, he does not have a picture of what's behind him. Sometimes, it's space, but he hasn't noticed.
So when he receives the ball, already facing more forward, he is a far far better, more creative player in any area of the pitch. And he is more alert to recovering the ball, going forward, rather than coming back.
When Pep is micro managing players such as Sterling, on that particular aspect, I don't understand why he allows it with Gundogan unless he thinks he's past learning.
Rodri, sets a shining example by comparison, constantly finding forward passes when a backward one would be easy, but rarely losing the ball.
