8 | Mateo Kovacic - 2023/24

[applejuice]

Was interesting to see him used as the left centre back and Ake pushed into midfield whenever Ortega had it/we tried to build from the back. A vote of confidence from Pep in terms of trust.

Really? It is more a vote of non-confidence of his midfield ability because LCM has much easier task than CM when we build from the back.

Pep tried to play Walker and Stones in the midfield last season and then decided to go with Stones as 1st choice. Whose build up ability does Pep trust more, Stones or Walker?

Kovacic was bullied off the ball by Saka Ødegaard and even Jorginho in this game and gave away dangerous counter attacks even when he played LCM. Difficult to image how hilarious it would be if he was in the midfield.

 

[Stelea]

A real conundrum of a signing.
A really good brave, technical player but will never win a game.
So when is the right time for him to play?
Start a game or finish a game?
Opponents dependant i suppose.
I do love the way he picks the ball up in difficult positions in our own defence and bravely /quickly charges forwards and lays it off to others.
His downside is that he is totally in-effective to any attack or build up 25 yards from the opponents goal.

 

[Gorbachev]

A real conundrum of a signing.
A really good brave, technical player but will never win a game.
So when is the right time for him to play?
Start a game or finish a game?
Opponents dependant i suppose.
I do love the way he picks the ball up in difficult positions in our own defence and bravely /quickly charges forwards and lays it off to others.
His downside is that he is totally in-effective to any attack or build up 25 yards from the opponents goal.

I think he was bought as a squad rotational player, not a first team starter.

Someone we can rely on in the lesser games when we needed to give De Bruyne or Foden a rest, but the De Bruyne injury and the underestimating of how big Gundogan's loss was changed it for us and as a result we have become quite reliant on him.

He isn't that player though, it's a level down.

I think if we can get our midfield recruitment correct in the summer, people will see how important he is for us when he can slot in a midweek PL game or a game against a lesser side when we need to rotate our better players.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Really? It is more a vote of non-confidence of his midfield ability because LCM has much easier task than CM when we build from the back.

Pep tried to play Walker and Stones in the midfield last season and then decided to go with Stones as 1st choice. Whose build up ability does Pep trust more, Stones or Walker?

Kovacic was bullied off the ball by Saka Ødegaard and even Jorginho in this game and gave away dangerous counter attacks even when he played LCM. Difficult to image how hilarious it would be if he was in the midfield.

It’s neither. It was to make Arteta change his pressing approach.

It was a game of chess last Sunday.

It wasn’t the most thrilling game, but it was a tactical masterclass by both teams.

 

[skillman]

Really? It is more a vote of non-confidence of his midfield ability because LCM has much easier task than CM when we build from the back.

Pep tried to play Walker and Stones in the midfield last season and then decided to go with Stones as 1st choice. Whose build up ability does Pep trust more, Stones or Walker?

Kovacic was bullied off the ball by Saka Ødegaard and even Jorginho in this game and gave away dangerous counter attacks even when he played LCM. Difficult to image how hilarious it would be if he was in the midfield.

He was in midfield in every other aspect of the game (he didn’t play centre half) aside from receiving it from the keeper in the early build up so I’d say a massive vote of confidence because he trusts him not to lose it and be able to take the ball under pressure to start any attack.

Otherwise, may have just used Ake and not messed around tactically.

 

[bondsman]

Has added nothing to the team. He’s just meh, just a squad player as he was at Chelsea.

 

[clarion]

Kova is our No2 DM. Needs to start!
I would like to see Rodri in front of him playing like Belllingham at Madrid.

 

[supercity88]

In the CL knockouts away from home I'd start him. In these must win games I wouldn't unless Rodri is told to get into the box more. Even from episode 1 of the netflix documentary you see the impact of Gundogan. It's all about timing. He stayed disciplined and made things happen, and got into positions to win the ball back but he timed his runs into the box with perfection.

This season we've either left Rodri to do all the work himself and been cut open. Or we've played Kovacic too and been toothless in attack as a result of not having much to aim at in the box.

In big games Rodri is always going to be needed to mop things up defensively so you wouldn't push him forwards, but you lose that extra man in attack and when our game is reliant on pass and move football rather than dribbling around people, you need one.

I'd try Foden in that role. If you tell him to predominantly work in the middle and pick his times to move into the box I think he'd be effective. Grealish wide left, Bernardo wide right and De Bruyne and Foden behind Haaland.

 

[applejuice]

In the CL knockouts away from home I'd start him. In these must win games I wouldn't unless Rodri is told to get into the box more. Even from episode 1 of the netflix documentary you see the impact of Gundogan. It's all about timing. He stayed disciplined and made things happen, and got into positions to win the ball back but he timed his runs into the box with perfection.

This season we've either left Rodri to do all the work himself and been cut open. Or we've played Kovacic too and been toothless in attack as a result of not having much to aim at in the box.

In big games Rodri is always going to be needed to mop things up defensively so you wouldn't push him forwards, but you lose that extra man in attack and when our game is reliant on pass and move football rather than dribbling around people, you need one.

I'd try Foden in that role. If you tell him to predominantly work in the middle and pick his times to move into the box I think he'd be effective. Grealish wide left, Bernardo wide right and De Bruyne and Foden behind Haaland.

Kova was bullied off the ball multiple times at home by a lukewarm version Saka who carried an injury...

How will he be able to hold the ball in a CL knockout game facing Real Madrid?

However his performance as a sub is always better. Same in his Chelsea days.

 

[Blue warrior]

Hmm I’m not that keen tbh