#27 | João Cancelo - 2021/22 Performances

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Poor game and lost the ball too much but I suppose he had to try something different to try and win us the game. If that long range effort that hit the post was a few inches to the right or Laporte finishes the rebound he's a match winner, but poor again on the whole
 
Apart from a lost Bernado, Cancelo is the root cause of our ineffective game.

Cancelo is often rush and inpatient when facing physically strong team because he is not very strong in terms of ground duels if you compare him to other PL full backs. It is not necessary a very bad thing as long as the left midfielder/left winger are good physically. It was also the reason why Pep often played Grealish in front of him when facing physically abusive team - to keep the ball and shield him from duels. Thus Cancelo could make the most of his ability : runs, collecting the loose ball and pass under less pressure. (E.g. 2 games against Chelsea this season. Both Grealish and KDB are very good phycially and they took the most duels burden) But this plan needs to execute on one condition - he passes to the left winger.
And for some unknown reason, sometimes he just ignores left winger completely even if the winger is in a better position. It happened with Foden/Sterling/Grealish and was very obvious today.

In this match, when he had the ball and should played with Grealish with some small pass to create a strong side, he rushed and switched the ball way too early to the right side despite the space created on the right was not enough. It costed Mahrez because he had to make more body contact with the defenders and it was something we have to avoid given Mahrez age and style. Thus Mahrez was exhausted in the last 20 mins.

In the derby, Cancelo sat more deep and Bernado had more ball control on the left side in the first half. Bernado was more patient and was more willing to cooperate with Grealish&Foden. And they successfully attracted enough MU's defenders to the left side - before made the switch. KDB&Mahrez often had plenty space to finish the chance. Mahrez was not tired at all in the 1st half and had enough energy in the 2nd half to execute his fantastic finishing skill when the opposite was tired out.
 
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Apart from a lost Bernado, Cancelo is the root cause of our ineffective game.

Cancelo is often rush and inpatient when facing physically strong team because he is not very strong in terms of ground duels (if you compare him to other PL full backs). And for some unknown reason, sometimes he just ignores left winger completely even if the winger is in a better position.

In this match, when he had the ball and should played with Grealish with some small pass to create a strong side, he rushed and switched the ball way too early to the right side despite the space created on the right was not enough. It costed Mahrez because he had to make more body contact with the defenders and it was something we have to avoid given Mahrez age and style. Thus Mahrez was exhausted in the last 20 mins.

In the derby, Cancelo sat more deep and Bernado had more ball control on the left side in the first half. Bernado had more patient and was more willing to cooperate with Grealish. And they successfully attracted enough MU's defenders to the left side - before made the switch. KDB&Mahrez often had plenty space to finish the chance. Mahrez was not tired at all in the 1st half and had enough energy in the 2nd half to execute his fantastic finishing skill when the opposite was tired out.
I agree with your comment about him just losing his wide man. It happens regularly and yet Pep ignores this obvious flaw. Cancelo and Laporte are very fragile defensively.
 
Expect too much from him. He's high risk, high reward, as such, the things he tries won't always work. We have to accept that to get the times when he's a match winner from fullback. He did his work defensively, provided the link from defence to attack better than our midfield and offered a threat in attack but was off in his final ball. He was fine tonight just not great.
 
He's scored 3 goals this season, which sounds fine until you realise he averages over 2 shots every single game.

He's got 4 proper assists* from crosses from around 20 attempts. Not too bad but half of those were against Bruges in a single game.

As a ratio of how many goals and assists he gets to how many he attempts overall, he's really quite ineffective this season. There are so many fullbacks without half of his talent who are actually producing more regularly in lesser sides.

*Not counting the mediocre cross against Newcastle which only reached Dias because their defence fucked what should have been an ineffective ball.
 
He's scored 3 goals this season, which sounds fine until you realise he averages over 2 shots every single game.

He's got 4 proper assists* from crosses from around 20 attempts. Not too bad but half of those were against Bruges in a single game.

As a ratio of how many goals and assists he gets to how many he attempts overall, he's really quite ineffective this season. There are so many fullbacks without half of his talent who are actually producing more regularly in lesser sides.

*Not counting the mediocre cross against Newcastle which only reached Dias because their defence fucked what should have been an ineffective ball.

Sky put up a graphic after he hit the post that it was his 60th shot in the league this season(the most in our team and far more than any other fullback in the league) and he has 1 goal to show for it. It'd be alright if he shot like he did last night more often but the majority of them get blocked or go about a goals height above the bar.
 
Rubbish last night

palace attacks were often down his side with other defenders doing his covering work.

meanwhile he is trying to do worldy cross field balls to mahrez .

when one on one always comes inside on his right and defenders know it.

he is a very good footballer but the team is so much more balanced and better team with a left footed zinny playing at leftback.

I don’t even know how he ended up as a left back. To me he isn’t even a defender he is a midfielder .
 
Outside a couple of individual brilliant moments- I dare say he's a liability. Poor body language on top of it all.
 
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