#8 | Ilkay Gündoğan - 2020/21 Performances

[supercity88]

A great performance again. Driving us forwards and getting into positions to score.

Some stick on his defensive game but he will never be a tough tackling quick DM. That is why Rodri is in there and Pep has essentially 3 back sat defending behind him.

Excellent at intercepting and his passing is neat, decisive and aimed at getting us moving forwards.

 

[clarion]

Our MVP at the moment. He provides smooth and quick transition between the lines. The player who replaced Merlin the most.

 

[ws01]

He didn't play against Arsenal.

He was decent against Southampton, probably not 8/10.

West Brom, MotM performance, easy 8/10 probably higher, done. And we didn't even win.

What you praised him about tonight is what he does all the time. It's just if we don't win you will say he doesn't do those things. He's always passing forward, he's always trying to score, he's always passing and moving quickly to create chances.

He had just had a very good game, not far off MoM. However, there's no reason to keep push flat out lies and mistruths like this, apart from pushing what seems to be a blatant agenda.

His test isn't shit tier opposition like Brucey's bunch of battlers - he seems to always do pretty well at this level. It's the likes of our next two fixtures where he's consistently struggled - if he's able to be effective, then we'll know he's turned a corner.

 

[Easy]

This is what we’ve been missing from Gundogan, end product. He’s influencing games much more now and scoring a lot. Great to see. Hopefully the days of him being invisible are behind us.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

If you forget defenders for a second, this guy has been our best player this season, hands down.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

If you forget defenders for a second, this guy has been our best player this season, hands down.

Indeed. Plus our defenders had a terrible start to the season, Dias and Stones weren’t playing from the start of the season, whereas Gundo has been at this level from the off.

 

[Segga]

Player of the month!

 

[FantasyIreland]

Player of the month!

Probably Stones

 

[Dax777]

He had just had a very good game, not far off MoM. However, there's no reason to keep push flat out lies and mistruths like this, apart from pushing what seems to be a blatant agenda.

His test isn't shit tier opposition like Brucey's bunch of battlers - he seems to always do pretty well at this level. It's the likes of our next two fixtures where he's consistently struggled - if he's able to be effective, then we'll know he's turned a corner.

I feel your pain :)

 

[OB1]

Playing Ake as a nominal left back, which actually translated at times into a back three allowed Cancelo to push into midfield which then allowed Gundo more freedom to get forward as Rodri sat as the shield.

It was a nice tactical switch as we dominated the ball and they were reduced to long ball to try and hit the big lump up front, where we had 3 CBs all of who are good in the air to deal with the threat.

It allowed Cancelo to have possibly his best game for us as he was allowed freedom to get forward which again offered Gundo more attacking options to pass to.

Some of our interchange play was fabulous and when we do that it is easier for a CM as he has more options, they double marked Kev mostly which left Gundo pretty free to dictate tempo which he did with aplomb.

We are in danger of running into a serious vein of form and if we can put a good run together we are in with a great chance of the title.

Good summary.

Pep referred to a back three in one of his post game interviews and it did give some freedom to others.

The oft maligned Gundo had another good game. He's perhaps our underrated player. He is intelligent and technically able. His movement for his goal and precise finish were the work of a top striker.

Pep has persevered with his revised team shape, giving it time to bed in, and hopefully it is starting to pay dividends. The next three games will be an acid test of that.