8 | Mateo Kovacic - 2023/24

[decmancity]

He isn't creating any chances or posing any offensive threat.

Has he ever?

Not really sure what people were expecting when we signed him.

 

[Tevez City]

Has he ever?

Not really sure what people were expecting when we signed him.

You are right, but whoever is playing ahead of the DM is usually involve in Pep's teams to create & score.

 

[burning blue soul]

Control and recycler of the ball

We are not Brentford. No City player can just be that. Especially when we have the best at doing that in the world playing for us already, and he rampages like Yaya, and scores critical goals as well.
I don't see this lad even hitting the target.

 

[burning blue soul]

Has he ever?

Not really sure what people were expecting when we signed him.

I was expecting him not to be in a creators position. I expected him to replace Rodri when he needs a rest. And to join Rodri to see out games.

 

[decmancity]

You are right, but whoever is playing ahead of the DM is usually involve in Pep's teams to create & score.

For sure. I think the expectation was a bit more from Nunes in that regard!

 

[Akira]

Thought he was decent. Nothing spectacular, but not woeful either, just quietly went about his business. I think he will win more fans over once the confidence starts rolling in him and he gets braver with ball.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Thought he did ok today.

Sums it up and this was a great performance from him in our fans eyes. He has zero creativity and goal threat unfortunately

 

[TP2707]

Steady away yesterday. Not been blown away by him at any point other than when he first joined us for those first couple of games pre season (but I recon I was dropping my expectations to begin with).
He's not a starter for me long term.

 

[Crooked_rain]

Steady away yesterday. Not been blown away by him at any point other than when he first joined us for those first couple of games pre season (but I recon I was dropping my expectations to begin with).
He's not a starter for me long term.

Steady away isn't necessarily bad considering at times he was dropping deeper than Rodri at times, sometimes it's what you need.

It's not a bad thing to have a player alongside Rodri who isn't spectacular but keeps things ticking along very well. He also made some nice forward passes through their midfield right into the feet of our attacking players that broke the lines a bit.

We base our football on controlling the game, and at the start of the season we controlled games the best when Kovacic and Rodri were in midfield. And yesterday it was probably the most we have controlled a game for a good while. Maybe thats no coincidence. People can say it was Luton, but ask Liverpool and Arsenal how they got on at their place. neither controlled it like us.

So in terms of the bigger picture, it really doesn't harm to have an unspectacular player controlling the midfield alongside Rodri. We have attacking players that are always receiving praise, so let them deal with the majority of creativity while others keep it steady. You need to balance. If anything that's what we've been lacking in the past month.

Every game whe he has started alongside Rodri we have won, so maybe he's being a bit underappreciated and people are expecting a role from him that he doesn't need to fulfill per se, because his role is cleaely helping us control the midfield with Rodri if the results are anything to go by.


People have been crying out for a month that we haven't been controlling games. Well 7 starts with Rodri and Kovavic and 7 wins and back to winning ways yesterday with more control . So maybe that's the answer. That formula clearly gets results, so who cares if he isn't banging in goals? That would just be a bonus.

 

[super_city_si]

Thought he had a fairly good game. looked a lot more like the guy we saw at the start of the season. He plays deep and I thought he made some good line splitting passes to our forward line (foden/Alvarez). He's not going to be Gundogan popping up in the area and grabbing goals, but he will find De Bruyne regular when he's back.

Like @Crooked_rain above, we have so much more control with him next to Rodri.