8 | Mateo Kovačić - 2024/25

Status
Not open for further replies.
We might as well cut and paste the same remarks for every player in each player performance thread this season
 
Yue Wollongong said:
I don’t think a healthy Rodri can do better for the current team than Kova.
Click to expand...
Yes Rodri can. And a half fit Rodri can do better than Kova in his best form.

No disrespect but it is embarrassing to compare the two.

Kova is a good player. We should be grateful for his contribution. But still he should not be bought as a backup for Rodri (maybe it was not the plan but that was how things ended up as) and that was on Txiki's poor planning. Not on the player.
 
He has always been a good player, rather than a great player but he is easily our best CM at the min. He gets some stick but it’s not his fault he isn’t Rodri.
 
Full of energy and drove at their defences with the ball trying to make shit happen several times.

He’s nowhere near mk.1 Gundogan levels but definitely brings a lot to the table.
 
Great today. One of the few that actually makes a tackle and doesn't just look to stand in the way. His driving forward was brilliant too, had a few examples of it but one in particular where he carried it most of the pitch was fantastic, just nobody else bothered to get up with him other than haaland. If foden or savinho had burst a gut to support him, that likely leads to a goal.

If we get a real 6 in January having kovacic play his real position as an 8 will add so much to our midfield. People forget that we don't just lose rodri with him being out, we also lose Kovacic by way of him being forced into a role he isn't suited to.
 
Played well with the ball at his feet but I felt he was the main reason Leicester kept getting through us.

He kept on running out of the area in the middle of the pitch in front of the defence to go and win a tackle or make an interception further up field but he was doing it as a rogue presser on his own and Leicester were just passing it around him or dribbling past him and exploiting the space he’d left.

Must have done it eight times through the game and Leicester nearly scored from a few of them.

He did drive the ball forward really well though and take us further up the pitch. On one occasion he ran up to the box with the ball and nobody else had run with him, everyone just hung back… why?!

Hit and miss today. But he’s not a defensive midfielder and it’s not his fault he’s being made to play there when it was obvious over a year ago that we needed cover for Rodri when we lost all four games without him earlier last season.
 
Is it me or he has lost some pace? He used to be one of the fastest central midfielders in the world, now it seems he can't reach a lot of balls. Hes still a great utility player but his pace made him worldclass because he was lacking a bit in the cerebral/tactical part of the game.
 
Belgian Flash said:
Is it me or he has lost some pace? He used to be one of the fastest central midfielders in the world, now it seems he can't reach a lot of balls. Hes still a great utility player but his pace made him worldclass because he was lacking a bit in the cerebral/tactical part of the game.
Click to expand...
He was never one of the fastest honestly not slow but not fast either
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
Played well with the ball at his feet but I felt he was the main reason Leicester kept getting through us.

He kept on running out of the area in the middle of the pitch in front of the defence to go and win a tackle or make an interception further up field but he was doing it as a rogue presser on his own and Leicester were just passing it around him or dribbling past him and exploiting the space he’d left.

Must have done it eight times through the game and Leicester nearly scored from a few of them.

He did drive the ball forward really well though and take us further up the pitch. On one occasion he ran up to the box with the ball and nobody else had run with him, everyone just hung back… why?!

Hit and miss today. But he’s not a defensive midfielder and it’s not his fault he’s being made to play there when it was obvious over a year ago that we needed cover for Rodri when we lost all four games without him earlier last season.
Click to expand...

This. For all the fun of his driving runs & leading the press, he shouldn't be making them as we don't have the cover for it. Honestly surprised that Pep wasn't going apoplectic about it.
 
Belgian Flash said:
Is it me or he has lost some pace? He used to be one of the fastest central midfielders in the world, now it seems he can't reach a lot of balls. Hes still a great utility player but his pace made him worldclass because he was lacking a bit in the cerebral/tactical part of the game.
Click to expand...
Didn’t know he ever had any to be honest but can’t say i’d really ever taken much notice of him. He’s certainly not had any pace since he got here. He’s quite a good dribbler but tends to keep going instead of passing it after he’s beat a couple and invariably gets caught. I’m not slagging him he’s a decent squad player for the money.
 
Craig said:
Didn’t know he ever had any to be honest but can’t say i’d really ever taken much notice of him. He’s certainly not had any pace since he got here. He’s quite a good dribbler but tends to keep going instead of passing it after he’s beat a couple and invariably gets caught. I’m not slagging him he’s a decent squad player for the money.
Click to expand...



At Madrid nobody could catch him when he started those runs from deep. Hes a lot more conservative now, maybe because thats his role in the absence of Rodri, but I have seen him try once in a while and come up short. Hes 30 so he shouldn't be slowing down just yet, but he also has a long list of injury history which likely contributed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top