24 | Joško Gvardiol - 2023/24

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

It’s all been said…..I hope we don’t shatter his confidence playing him at FB.

 

[HolisticJim]

None of it makes any sense. Absolutely mind blowing that

A) we've bought such a highly regarded CB to then play him out of position.
B) we didn't actually buy a LB..again.
C) it's not even working and yet Pep persists with it.
D) we are leaking goals, could do with the CB position shoring up and actually need him playing with Dias at CB.
E) until last night Dias wasn't playing well either.

Just so much of Peps decisions male Absolutely no sense at the moment.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Still learning the ropes and doing it in a position not natural to him, he’ll learn and be transitioned over to LCB with more experience.

What does concern me here though is his heading ability, average and seems to misjudge the flight of the ball a lot and not quick at reading situations, which obviously isn’t great for a CB.

 

[miha22]

He’s not that strong and his other attributes are nowhere near the level of laportes.

The guy is as strong as an ox. What are you talking about? This has always been mentioned as one of his strengths.

Where was Laporte at his age? They are not even same planet talent/potential Wise.

 

[Lavinda Past]

None of it makes any sense. Absolutely mind blowing that

A) we've bought such a highly regarded CB to then play him out of position.
B) we didn't actually buy a LB..again.
C) it's not even working and yet Pep persists with it.
D) we are leaking goals, could do with the CB position shoring up and actually need him playing with Dias at CB.
E) until last night Dias wasn't playing well either.

Just so much of Peps decisions male Absolutely no sense at the moment.

It's 100% on Pep this season. Too many players being asked to play out of position, and the worst transfer window since Jack Rodwell rocked up.

 

[HoneyMonster89]

He was good last night overall:

Touches - 78
Passes - 51/59 (86%)
Long balls - 1/1 (100%)
Was fouled - 2

Ground duels won - 10/12 (83%)
Aerial duels won - 2/2 (100%)
Tackles - 8
Dribbled past - 0
Fouls -2
Interceptions - 1
Blocked shots - 2

That's a strong defensive performance overall. He was able to win most of his duels vs a physical Villa side. He was poor positionally for the Bailey chance in the 1st half. That was the only major error. He does well to run Bailey into traffic for the deflected winner. It's unlucky that the shot takes the perfect defection off Dias.

Not a perfect performance by any means, but he was one City's better players on the night.

 

[TrentGrisham]

He was good last night overall:

Touches - 78
Passes - 51/59 (86%)
Long balls - 1/1 (100%)
Was fouled - 2

Ground duels won - 10/12 (83%)
Aerial duels won - 2/2 (100%)
Tackles - 8
Dribbled past - 0
Fouls -2
Interceptions - 1
Blocked shots - 2

That's a strong defensive performance overall. He was able to win most of his duels vs a physical Villa side. He was poor positionally for the Bailey chance in the 1st half. That was the only major error. He does well to run Bailey into traffic for the deflected winner. It's unlucky that the shot takes the perfect defection off Dias.

Not a perfect performance by any means, but he was one City's better players on the night.

Bailey is a tough matchup for anyone, but he was poor on his goal. Ran past him and looked like an oil tanker trying to stop.

With that being said, what stands out to me is that he's very, very comfortable using both feet. He'll get there.

 

[kanovic]

I don’t get why pep doesn’t put Akanji on the left side and slide him in the cb position and at least test it out

 

[HoneyMonster89]

Bailey is a tough matchup for anyone, but he was poor on his goal. Ran past him and looked like an oil tanker trying to stop.

With that being said, what stands out to me is that he's very, very comfortable using both feet. He'll get there.

It wouldn't say he was poor. It's not an obvious error.

He's getting tight to Bailey when he receives it. Bailey positioned himself in the half-turn position, which is Saka's go to move when receiving a pass out wide. He then drives inside and Gvardiol follows him/keeps up. He's starting to run into traffic centrally, then does a little manoeuvre to change direction. Dias is a little slow to engage and then the deflection does Ederson. He never actually goes past Gvardiol.

It was a bit like in Basketball where you can play good defence, but the opposition still makes the shot anyway. Bailey is a very tricky player when he's on his game. He's becoming more consistent under Emery. If he could provide goals/assists more regularly, he'd be one of the best wide players in The PL.

 

[sir baconface]

Really harsh on the kid that.
He seemed tall enough last year when he scored against us

Less so when we stuffed Leipzig 7-0.