#26 | Riyad Mahrez - 2020/21 Performances

[Neville Kneville]

I don't particularly like the way Mahrez plays & I thought he was fairly shite last night but I do think he's putting the effort in, & I know for certain he's a seriously talented footballer.

If he keeps up the workrate, there will be occasions where the talent wins us games.

We have quietly slipped into being a very predictable team at times & although we all 'think' we know what Mahrez is about to do, he still comes up with potentially game changing moments.

He's not ideal, but it's not his fault we are predictable & shit in some games, it's a team thing.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I think he plays quite selfishly in his own mind, wouldn't be the first who does that with an over reliance on his tricky feet.

He has a clear vision of what his outcome always needs to be but sadly it is not often conducive to what this current team really needs.

His work rate is only focused towards driving with the ball inside, otherwise Walker needs every bit of his unbelievable pace to hold down the best part of seventy yards in transition.

The best comparison I can make is with Adam Johnson (ability wise, obviously)

Capable of some amazing stuff but will always have his manager going nuts with some of his weaker games.

 

[cjn]

I’m not sure what the answer is. Our spine for the last decade was Zaba, vinnie, Fern, David, Yaya, Kun. None of them were 100m. Now we seem to be transitioning to a spine which will include Eddie, Laporte, Walker, Kev, Phil, Raheem Which is pretty decent when they are all fit but would anyone say it was better than what it has replaced? The obvious weak spot is replacements for Fern and Kun. I really doubt we will get back to our peak until those two positions have been resolved. And Rodri is not the answer for Fern. We always had hit and miss recruitment round the spine of the team. For every Tevez or Sane their was a Fernando or Mendy.

Signing a 23 year old Kun today would easily cost 100m. David Silva and Yaya weren't exactly cheap either, especially in terms of wages. Fees for Kev, Raheem, and Stones were all at the near the top end of market when we signed them as well. It's really only been the last few years we've decided not to compete in that way any more.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

we all 'think' we know what Mahrez is about to do, he still comes up with potentially game changing moments.

He's like an Allman Brothers live album. You know the song and you know how it ends but he'll improvise and take you on a ride and then, eventually, it will end up finishing in a familiar place. But he's 100 tracks deep now and the self indulgence wore pretty thin after the first couple.

 

[Neville Kneville]

He's like an Allman Brothers live album. You know the song and you know how it ends but he'll improvise and take you on a ride and then, eventually, it will end up finishing in a familiar place. But he's 100 tracks deep now and the self indulgence wore pretty thin after the first couple.

I think though, that in legitimately criticising Mahrez, people are letting the others have a free ride.

All the attacking players are guilty of similar stuff, even Sterling.

 

[Mike Cledford]

My Mrs thought his full Arabic name was El-Mahrez because l keep shouting 'bloody El-Mahrez' and 'Flipping El-Mahrez' at the television.

 

[kippax4ever]

That I'll agree with. He does make more of an effort to close down now, even if it does seem tokenistic at times.

I disagree if your checking back or closings down the opposition no point in tokenistic,you should be fully committed
Seen his tokenistic lastnight jogged back no intensity what so ever & the guy came inside Walker and he fking stopped with them nearly scoring..
As I said in another thread dont usually slag players off,
But he not not the big fish in a small pond anymore,& has had time to adjust
Me personally I bench him,

 

[vasan]

I think though, that in legitimately criticising Mahrez, people are letting the others have a free ride.

All the attacking players are guilty of similar stuff, even Sterling.

Couldn't agree more.Become quite a thing to blame the same players like rodri or mahrez when we don't play well, overlooking other more favoured players's poor performance or mistakes.
For ex, Sterling apart from his goals has hardly made that any contribution and has struggled in the last two games where he has had to play in middle, behind the striker.For instance, the shot at goal by mahrez, it was raz whose pass was bad rather than bad finishing from mahrez but saw raz with bad attitude moaning -
something you don't see from someone like kdb when raz misses.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Couldn't agree more.Become quite a thing to blame the same players like rodri or mahrez when we don't play well, overlooking other more favoured players's poor performance or mistakes.
For ex, Sterling apart from his goals has hardly made that any contribution and has struggled in the last two games where he has had to play in middle, behind the striker.For instance, the shot at goal by mahrez, it was raz whose pass was bad rather than bad finishing from mahrez but saw raz with bad attitude moaning -
something you don't see from someone like kdb when raz misses.

I don't think our attacking players link up well at all at the moment, Mahrez just being one.

You could see the difference, with Foden & Torres, actually having a picture of what they might do & making it happen.

Often it seems players are receiving the ball, then thinking about what they'll do & who they might pass to, after they get it.

 

[dronefromsector7G]

My Mrs thought his full Arabic name was El-Mahrez because l keep shouting 'bloody El-Mahrez' and 'Flipping El-Mahrez' at the television.

My missus thinks it’s Fahfook Sheikh Mahrez :-)