24 | Joško Gvardiol - 2023/24

[jimharri]

He’s going to be an exceptional signing over time.
I’ve seen more than enough already to be convinced of it.
Some of our support really struggle with the concept of patience it seems.

Well said. You could say the same in the Doku thread as well. More whoppers on there than in your local Burger King at chucking out time on a friday night!

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Well said. You could say the same in the Doku thread as well. More whoppers on there than in your local Burger King at chucking out time on a friday night!

The fact they’re both 21/22 seems to be missed on both threads. Neither are perfect, but they cannot be as they are so young and alien to Pepball.

 

[Bigga]

We hardly had much defending to do v Burnley & he gave the ball away far too much. In big games I would not be playing him & in my opinion he’s no upgrade on cancelo or Laporte.

Unbelievable take...

Hate to tell you but with 96% success rate (104 passes) he had the best pass completion of the night! As a comparison Ake 95% (110 passes), Stones 92% (106 passes), Rico 88% (72 passes), Rodri 87% (113 passes) and KDB 88% (57 passes).

Anyone could tell this, watching the game, and his only meaningful fuck up was the goal at the end. However, the only thing I would say is that LB is not his position; he's just been shoehorned in there.

Long term, maybe as soon as next year, he'll be hybrid CB/ DM, like Stones as he has all the qualities and balance to do so.

 

[urban genie]

lol dude this is a work of fiction, so many inaccuracies…

academy - played all positions except gk, and was good. moving through youth categories there was one coach that didn’t like him and g thought about quitting football, then another coach recognized he’s absolutely best at cb and he actually said at the time that if g doesn’t become an excellent cb he’ll quit coaching and everyone who coached him should end up in jail for failing at their jobs.

senior career - joined first team as a cb. sold to leipzig as a cb. loan to dinamo agreed until upamecano leaves, played second season as lb cause of dinamo’s plans.

total: 10 games more at lb than cb for dinamo zagreb.

2 seasons in germany - played 7 games out of 86 or 87 as lb, everything else as cb. lb games when he arrived from zagreb.
second season zero games as lb.

he was asked many times about the cb/lb thing, every single time the reply was “i am a natural cb, that is my position. i will play any position that my coach asks me to play and do my best”

an interview was filmed after return from abu dhabi and aired yesterday before the game in croatia. he still refers to himself as cb. his fave city game was when he played cb. if he had to ask one city player to be his mentor it would be ruben because “we play in the same position”.

if pep asks him to be a gk he will get those gloves and work hard, he will still be a cb though.

hope this helps

So he prefers to play centre back, but can operate as a left back.

that is my point, whether he prefers CB or not using him being played as a LB as an excuse for any mistakes he makes if a cop out.

The lad has natural talent and his errors have never been through lack or awareness or skill, but concentration, something you would expect of a young player still learning he will be an exceptional player for us once fully settled in, but atm he isn't a better LCB than Ake who has years on him development and Pep style wise, but he will probably suppass many a CB or LB we've had recently and even out of his favoured position is a step up from zivchenko which is evident to see

 

[urban genie]

The fact they’re both 21/22 seems to be missed on both threads. Neither are perfect, but they cannot be as they are so young and alien to Pepball.

As I pointed out this morning a good player and potential great, but only young and in his first 7 months under Pep who demands a level higher than most, once settled he will get better and better and like most that thrive under Pep in whatever postion he moulds him into.

His small rare errors are expected and anyone writing him off is daft.

 

[vanchi]

So he prefers to play centre back, but can operate as a left back.

that is my point, whether he prefers CB or not using him being played as a LB as an excuse for any mistakes he makes if a cop out.

The lad has natural talent and his errors have never been through lack or awareness or skill, but concentration, something you would expect of a young player still learning he will be an exceptional player for us once fully settled in, but atm he isn't a better LCB than Ake who has years on him development and Pep style wise, but he will probably suppass many a CB or LB we've had recently and even out of his favoured position is a step up from zivchenko which is evident to see

cop out? we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.

he not only prefers to play as cb, he IS a cb. and he’s not complaining btw, i am.

because if this isn’t just pep’s way of teaching him the system and he ends up truly stuck in that position it will kill his (cb) career.
if pep leaves what is gvardiol then? and yeah city can always sell him but what will you be selling in that case? a player who used to be a promising young ball playing cb but is now a wingenstein or something?

lack of concentration only? he literally said they don’t have time to train properly and work on his positioning. that is irrelevant then in a pep team according to you? pep and kdb talked about it too btw.

honest question, what was he supposed to do yesterday? i only saw it once but wasn’t the guy literally faster than joško?
and that is one of the things city fans hate about him, lack of pace. cause you’re used to kyle walker on the other side and most of you want a proper lb. i said it many times, he will never be as fast as walker, he can only work on his positioning and so on. and all this is why i was moaning about him missing the pre season with pep.

oh and everyone’s predicting he’ll be totally dropped when things get serious (so, soon then), so in that case your troubles will be over and he’ll be just a hairy face caught on camera for a second, now and then. :D

btw, how did you manage to come up with so many false facts in your previous post, impressive :D

 

[skillman]

He's so slick when he's on the ball. I've not seen a defender like him with it - aside from Jonny Boulders - in the sense of close dribbling and the ball sticking to his foot. And he does it at pace and through challenges too.

Part of me thinks he's actually suited to be a full back because of how good he is on the ball but I can't wait to see him play centre back too. The dream pairing is just to see him and Stones together at some point centrally.

His ability to play with both foot so comfortably is unique to him too. His right foot is an absolute joke and it's worked a few times where he plays it round the corner to a free man because the opposition think he's in the shit on his wrong foot.

Still only 22 as well. Only going to get better, scary to think really. Will be looked upon as one of the bargains in the club's history in years to come.

 

[Blu1]

this is simply not true.

he lost possession 8 times, i believe only ake was better with 6.

he had 120 touches. pass accuracy 96% 100/104 passes. best passing accuracy in the whole team yesterday

you can dislike him and think of him what you want of course, but these are facts.

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Good post. My judgement was clearly wrong but it’s how it seemed

 

[Haaland94]

this is simply not true.

he lost possession 8 times, i believe only ake was better with 6.

he had 120 touches. pass accuracy 96% 100/104 passes. best passing accuracy in the whole team yesterday

you can dislike him and think of him what you want of course, but these are facts.

View attachment 105862

Confirmation bias for some. They will see what they want to see. It's sad you have to post stats every single time, and then people are like: "Why are you defending him?" Because he is unjustly attacked more often than most, if not all City players. "Gvardiol is shit" is like “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." (Goebbels).

 

[oldius]

It's just a rehash of similar threads for so, so many players. There is a complete lack of patience among a section of our fanbase, and a lack of insight. To expect ANY player to not make the odd mistake is ridiculous. To expect players of 21 or 22 to be the finished article is ridiculous. To expect any player coming to a new club and new league to immediately acclimatise is ridiculous.

This guy had a superb game against Burnley. He rarely has a game that is less than good. He is an outstanding prospect - among the finest in world football - and his skill on the ball is unique among defenders. The stats outlined for the Burnley game only show how much misreading there is, and how bias can convince people of anything, despite all evidence to the contrary.

This is a unique time to be a blue. We are at the top of the world game. Enjoy it because these players will not be here forever.