24 | Joško Gvardiol - 2023/24

[OB1]

let’s not take the piss here, he looks absolutely miles off it at the moment.

You are the one taking the pee. He’s not miles off it: if he was, Pep wouldn’t select him so often.

He’s a very talented young player at new club, in a new country and league, where standards and demands are higher than anything he has previously been exposed to.

I think his biggest challenge is getting his concentration levels to where they need to be, which is not uncommon for young players. Also, his decision making needs to improve but that is also not unusual for a young player.

Young or not, most new players need to be given time before people make lasting judgements of them. A point far too many so called supporters seem hard of learning on.

 

[Middedon]

The Athletic/Sam Lee’s Let Me Talk Podcast had what I thought was fair assessment of him yesterday (although I know some hate Lee, so probably another strike against him!). In summary, he has a lot of WTF bad and WTF good moments. He makes some difficult things look easy and isn’t doing some easy things well. However, he believes it (especially the offensive contributions higher up the pitch) will click for him - this year or next. And it’s clear to see his long term value. He said he’s well liked and valued by the club and thinks he’s getting far more criticism by fans than he deserves. He also talks in general about playing him and on Walker on the wings - and what that offers the team, even though most fans don’t particularly value it.

 

[nellyonthewing]

I really rate him but not as a left back. He lacks pace and agility for that position .He doesn't mark close and is wide open to being passed by a ball going inside ,over or wide of him. Going forward he's a bit like Walker in a lack of a quality ball in.

 

[super_city_si]

The Athletic/Sam Lee’s Let Me Talk Podcast had what I thought was fair assessment of him yesterday (although I know some hate Lee, so probably another strike against him!). In summary, he has a lot of WTF bad and WTF good moments. He makes some difficult things look easy and isn’t doing some easy things well. However, he believes it (especially the offensive contributions higher up the pitch) will click for him - this year or next. And it’s clear to see his long term value. He said he’s well liked and valued by the club and thinks he’s getting far more criticism by fans than he deserves. He also talks in general about playing him and on Walker on the wings - and what that offers the team, even though most fans don’t particularly value it.

Good summary. Has lots of learning to do but has all the tools.

 

[vanchi]

Why is Pep "integrating him into the team" by playing him at LB (when Ake is often available to do that) rather than playing him in his natural CB position? It makes zero sense and must be impacting Gvardiol's confidence as well as encouraging hate from fans.

Pep's doing some seriously weird shit so far this season. He needs to sort it out.

i was told it’s pep’s way to integrate new players. i assume it means he doesn’t trust him as cb if true.

other theory is pep has a vision for him up front.

or he’s gonna park gvardiol at left wing so the actual winger can invert and gvardiol will just exist there and be uttey hated.

who knows. while other young cbs gain experience and thrive he’s now god knows what, a pseudo winger or something and everyone’s bitching cause crossing isn’t his forte. can’t make this shit up.

 

[vanchi]

I made one comment about his passing being poor last night. I’ll stand by that as I’ve seen much better from him already this season.

He’s obviously very good and will continue to improve as he learns how to be a Pep full back.

i’m not into stats, so maybe someone could explain the passing stuff. defenders need to have over 90% pass accuracy, other players can have lower pass accuracy cause it’s normal as they’re making riskier moved close to the opposition box - this is the usual script i always see. so why doesn’t it apply to gvardiol when he’s playing as a winger basically?

best of match thread: dud, ****, shocking, why is he still on the pitch, gomez over gvardiol, killing us, killing the attack, everything breaks down when he gets the ball, poor passing, poor in attack, poor in defense, there’s nothing between his ears, insinuating that he killed bobb’s game, and of course, he’s not cancelo!

this is just one thread btw. this thread was carnage after palace game where he had nothing to do with any of the palace goals.

oh and cancelo had an awesome game last night :D

 

[vanchi]

I've come here to try and find the 4 posters who voted him MOTM last night ;)

Not a full back, needs a chance at LCB

well at least you’re not in danger of being accused of voting for gvardiol, unless we get a ‘crap of the match’ poll.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

i’m not into stats, so maybe someone could explain the passing stuff. defenders need to have over 90% pass accuracy, other players can have lower pass accuracy cause it’s normal as they’re making riskier moved close to the opposition box - this is the usual script i always see. so why doesn’t it apply to gvardiol when he’s playing as a winger basically?

best of match thread: dud, ****, shocking, why is he still on the pitch, gomez over gvardiol, killing us, killing the attack, everything breaks down when he gets the ball, poor passing, poor in attack, poor in defense, there’s nothing between his ears, insinuating that he killed bobb’s game, and of course, he’s not cancelo!

this is just one thread btw. this thread was carnage after palace game where he had nothing to do with any of the palace goals.

oh and cancelo had an awesome game last night :D

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There were numerous times when the attack broke down because he either made the wrong choice of pass as well as a few passes going astray.

Pass completion isn’t the be all and end all.

The obvious one from Friday was halfway through the first half when he crossed the ball miles out of play and Pep showed his frustration.

As I said yesterday, he is obviously a good player, but he had a poorer than normal passing game on Friday.

 

[vanchi]

That is sad...

Well Josko should hire a PR team. Obviously his agent is not good at it at all.

I rarely heard people blaming Cancelo on these. Most people blamed Sterling Grealish and Gundo - the players around him. Although I thought Cancelo really made the others look bad... Much more That was obvious once he left. But Cancelo has a good agent and good PR service.

he probably should but i don’t think he will. whenever he’s trending on twitter it’s due to somebody else’s agenda. like when bbc purposefully shortened pep’s quote to make it seem like gvardiol’s not training well and so on when it was actually about him immediately replacing stones in midfield.

 

[vanchi]

There were numerous times when the attack broke down because he either made the wrong choice of pass as well as a few passes going astray.

Pass completion isn’t the be all and end all.

The obvious one from Friday was halfway through the first half when he crossed the ball miles out of play and Pep showed his frustration.

As I said yesterday, he is obviously a good player, but he had a poorer than normal passing game on Friday.

i didn’t actually write his passing was perfect ;) that was an awful attempt, reactions to it would make it seem like every other squad member always produces perfect crosses though. **** without anything between his ears for example…

the treatment he gets is completely different to fan favorites’ treatment here. when they make mistakes or ghost games it’s either completely quiet and dead in their threads, or they’re being handled like a precious ming dynasty vase. it’s like an internet version of the emperor’s new clothes.