#27 | João Cancelo - 2021/22 Performances

[coliotte]

imaging Grealish is the one with 3 assists tonight
probably a statue of him will be ready by the morning
Cancelo is a starter for me, sry zin

 

[samarasra]

Any defense will give chances from time to time, but Zinchenko is way stronger defensively. Against Chelsea we could have played with !Emmy there and we would still receive 0 shots. I want Cancelo on my squad for sure, he is a good player. I am just saying he makes stupid mistakes and is weak on defense. Against offensive elite competition is a problem. Even today, all the attacks from Brugges came from Cancelo’s side and his defense was lackluster.

Coincidently 75% of our goal assists came from Cancelo's side, maybe he defends by attacking and if he was less lacklustre we would have scored from the other 3/4 chances he created.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Superb player,but can be inconsistent,sloppy and frustrating.

He made some great plays last night,but equally he made some poor choices too.

 

[samarasra]

Wasn't Cancelo one of our best players in Paris a month ago? Against the best attackers?

It's a myth Zinch is a better defender. I'm afraid the evidence will arrive as soon as he starts PL games. As it often happens, the longer a player is out injured, the better he becomes.

Why set one against the other, can you not see they are substantially different types of players both offering different value to the squad, both with strengths and weaknesses, a great bonus for Pep who can play whichever he feels suits a particular game. Are all those trophies Zinchenko has earned, predominantly as a defender, a myth, those PL medals a myth, look at his record for evidence not your predictions.

 

[Smiless]

Another class performance. 3 assists from left back. LB Dilemma seems like old news now.

 

[alexmcity]

Why set one against the other, can you not see they are substantially different types of players both offering different value to the squad, both with strengths and weaknesses, a great bonus for Pep who can play whichever he feels suits a particular game. Are all those trophies Zinchenko has earned, predominantly as a defender, a myth, those PL medals a myth, look at his record for evidence not your predictions.

Orher posters set them one against the other by claiming Zinchenko is the better option against the better teams. I disagreed with them, why not? Imo, when Cancelo is on form and doesn't need to be rested, he starts. He lost form after February last season and Zinchenko replaced him with success. But it's a myth Zinchenko is the better defender when both are on form. Zinchenko has his defensive weaknesses as well. What Zinchenko does better than Cancelo is keeping things simple and letting the ball move and do the work. That's an important quality for a Pep team. Cancelo over complicates things at times. But he is generally the more talented player and it's not particularly close either. If he had Zinchenko's quality to keep things simple, he would be the best FB in the world. Zinchenko is a great squad option.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

What Zin does better than Cancelo is that he actually retains his defensive position and always gets back.

Cancelo only wants to go one way and is more of a midfielder than Zinchenko actually is.

He's a weak link when it comes to exposing our back line and the best teams will exploit it every time.

His first half yesterday was very poor.

 

[lightning Rodri]

That's down to Grealish more than Cancelo.

I think that's more to do with both being right footed and can't make the best of spaces on the wing created by other.

 

[lightning Rodri]

I'm starting to think he has eclipsed KDB as our best playmaker.

It does feel like when KDB is not playing, he's the one 'allowed' to make risky creative passes.

 

[alexmcity]

He's a weak link when it comes to exposing our back line and the best teams will exploit it every time.

Similar to Rodri who was a weak link and had to be upgraded in the summer?

Cancelo was a firm starter in the big games last season when we won 21 games in a row. Lost form after that. We were defensively solid with him in the team when he was on form, our defensive record back then was absolutely outstanding.

When we play without a striker we can do with one of the best attacking FBs in the world. If we had Haaland up front, we wouldn't need Cancelo's attacking qualities, not to the same extent anyway.