#27 | João Cancelo - 2021/22 Performances

[Tage Takleik]

Never been a good defender, nor very impressive offensively. But he got a kind of renaissance when he was used more as an IW, and got to play more centrally. Out on the flanks he is often exposed, is not very good in terms of position nor 1 vs. 1, and lacks the extreme speed.

 

[Withnail]

With Cancelo you have to look at both the positives and negatives. Quite evident his main qualities are offensively, great passer/crosser of the ball and his contribution in the final third. Unfortunately, defensively as we saw last night he is not the best, sometimes not stopping the crosses before they get into the box. He is a better lb than rb and if a fit Walker had been on the pitch would have got through to the final. Overall his strengths outweigh his weaknesses imo.

 

[Chak19]

Just watched the final few minutes again as much as that hurt and the amount of stupid decisions he made was incredible, first on a short corner he inexplicably crosses it while we have one guy in the box and Courtois easily claims it, from there we never manage to get hold of the ball again, enter the 90th minute a Madrid player is looking for Benzema at the far post everyone steps up to play him offside except Joao who steps back and plays him on and then instead of trying to block him he just stops running and allows Benzema the freedom to cut it back into the six yard box, yes Ederson and Dias should do better but Cancelo instigated all that.

From kick off Ederson stupidly gives the ball straight back to Madrid, Courtois hoofs it towards Vinicius and Cancelo makes a ridiculous attempt to win the ball, misses it and allows Vinicius to go behind him, Rodri saves it but unfortunately he passes it to none other than Joao who tries a chipped pass to Foden, Madrid intercept and go to the right side where the cross comes and Rodrygo scores again.

Now the guy usually has brainfarts every game but we mostly get away with it, not this time.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

I like him. He is a fantastic footballer and I certainly don’t buy into the idea that we would be better off without him. He is not a bad defender, but he does remind me of a dog with a balloon. He makes decisions without considering the bigger picture. Most weeks he/we get away with it because we are nearly always much better than the opposition. Against the very best opposition mistakes are far more likely to be punished.

What I will say is let’s not kid ourselves that this is limited to Cancelo. I watched the scousers the night before and both of their “best in the world” fullbacks were culpable for goals they conceded.

I agree with this, but it's probably easier for Liverpool to justify their fullbacks' defensive limitations when they're putting up north of 30 assists between them season after season

Cancelo should be hitting 15+ assists given his ability. The reason he isn't is the same reason he makes defensive mistakes - lapses in concentration and really questionable decision making

 

[Stiff Little Wingers]

Just watched the final few minutes again as much as that hurt and the amount of stupid decisions he made was incredible, first on a short corner he inexplicably crosses it while we have one guy in the box and Courtois easily claims it, from then we never manage to get hold of the ball again, enter the 90th minute a Madrid player is looking for Benzema at the far post everyone steps up to play him offside except Joao who steps back and plays him on and then instead of trying to block him he just stops running and allows Benzema the freedom to cut it back into the six yard box, yes Ederson and Dias should do better but Cancelo instigated all that.

From kick off Ederson stupidly gives the ball straight back to Madrid, Courtois hoofs it towards Vinicius and Cancelo makes a ridiculous attempt to win the ball, misses it and allows Vinicius to go behind him, Rodri saves it but unfortunately he passes it to none other than Joao who tries a chipped pass to Foden, Madrid intercept and go to the right side where the cross comes and Rodrygo scores again.

Now the guy usually has brainfarts every game but we mostly get away with it, not this time.

Kudos for the resilience to watch again. I agree with the pros and cons about him but the biggest issue for me is mentality. Somewhere deep down he wants to be the star rather than just doing what’s best for the team.He needs to be reigned in to understand sometimes simple is best

 

[K-Bo]

I thought he was the worst player last night, and he's definitely the dumbest player in our team. He is probably one of the most gifted technically if not the most, but low intelligence play and awful decision making is as much a part of him as the pin point passes, the skill and quality. He's just an absolute wildcard, and last night he felt a liability rather than an asset. You see why he lost his place in the run in last year.

Personally I've thought he's needed dropping for weeks, there's errors in every game right now and one of the main reasons to sign a full back is so in games where we need discipline, we have a quality option to rotate this guy out.

 

[Tevez City]

Changing his positin left, right, left right isn't ideal I think.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Just watched the final few minutes again as much as that hurt and the amount of stupid decisions he made was incredible, first on a short corner he inexplicably crosses it while we have one guy in the box and Courtois easily claims it, from then we never manage to get hold of the ball again, enter the 90th minute a Madrid player is looking for Benzema at the far post everyone steps up to play him offside except Joao who steps back and plays him on and then instead of trying to block him he just stops running and allows Benzema the freedom to cut it back into the six yard box, yes Ederson and Dias should do better but Cancelo instigated all that.

From kick off Ederson stupidly gives the ball straight back to Madrid, Courtois hoofs it towards Vinicius and Cancelo makes a ridiculous attempt to win the ball, misses it and allows Vinicius to go behind him, Rodri saves it but unfortunately he passes it to none other than Joao who tries a chipped pass to Foden, Madrid intercept and go to the right side where the cross comes and Rodrygo scores again.

Now the guy usually has brainfarts every game but we mostly get away with it, not this time.

Spot on. Idiotic play from him.

 

[eastmanc]

He’s a bit like that Trent character at Klanfield , he’s alright going forward but he’s a liability when defending.

 

[Bluewars]

Just watched the final few minutes again as much as that hurt and the amount of stupid decisions he made was incredible, first on a short corner he inexplicably crosses it while we have one guy in the box and Courtois easily claims it, from there we never manage to get hold of the ball again, enter the 90th minute a Madrid player is looking for Benzema at the far post everyone steps up to play him offside except Joao who steps back and plays him on and then instead of trying to block him he just stops running and allows Benzema the freedom to cut it back into the six yard box, yes Ederson and Dias should do better but Cancelo instigated all that.

From kick off Ederson stupidly gives the ball straight back to Madrid, Courtois hoofs it towards Vinicius and Cancelo makes a ridiculous attempt to win the ball, misses it and allows Vinicius to go behind him, Rodri saves it but unfortunately he passes it to none other than Joao who tries a chipped pass to Foden, Madrid intercept and go to the right side where the cross comes and Rodrygo scores again.

Now the guy usually has brainfarts every game but we mostly get away with it, not this time.

This is EXACTLY what I noticed the second time of watching.This loss was on Cancelo and no-one else he has let down his teammates and the club, it was that bad.