75 | Nico O'Reilly - 2024/25

[St.Pauli support]

Pep on Nico, 4:11 in

 

[Norman kneejerk]

Glad for the lad. He must be incredibly happy of winning his frist title.

I am still with a lot of doubts that he will be a first team player in the future though. Almost every Pep midfielder has exceled in two things: controls and being able to release the ball in 1 touch if necessary. Grealish excels in control, but he needs 3-4 touches with the ball to release it, and he has never played as a midfielder because of it.

Nico (both in preseason and yesterday) has shown a heavier touch (similar to Nunes and the main reason why I don't think he'll make it with us) than a Pep midfielder. The heavy control makes him to have to run to the ball, makes it easier for the opposition to press him, and has him to have to dribble to keep possession. People noticed that he tried to dribble 2-3 players, and lost the ball because of it, but that was consequence that he had the ball far from his feet and that was his only choice sometimes.

His dribbling and physical qualities are superb though, so he could still be a potential

Interesting point on his touch. I thought it was more that he just overran it which is a bit easier to fix but I will keep an eye on it. I do like that he can go past people and finish which will always give him a chance. Different players but even when Cole was looking like an over grown sunflower the ability to beat people and score were still there so i"m more hopeful than not there is a player there..

 

[blue whippet]

Find it incredible that he's gone through 13 years in the academy and been hand picked to train with the best team in the world, only to be written off by a couple of online fans as "not our level" after watching him for an hour.

Made me laugh this post. I thought he did OK in the pre-season games, less so at the weekend. He was caught out a few times whilst holding on to the ball when he should have passed.
I remember an interview with a youth team player a couple of seasons ago, it may have been McAtee, where he said the main difference between youth and first team football was the pace. It's not just the actual play but having to think quickly too.
Your comment is a good one, he is young, we all need a little patience. Pep appears to like him, the more he is included the better he will be.

 

[WallyA]

I just remembered something... didnt he sometimes play striker for the youth team?

He is so tall I get why Pep played him CDM... but what if he was a backup striker option?

He has good ball striking technique.

 

[Tevez City]

Loan him