8 | Mateo Kovacic - 2023/24

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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.
 
TP2707 said:
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
Pain in Dias said:
What does kovacic do??! Has no end product in the final 3rd, and defensively doesn’t seem to offer anything… can pass sideways yes and dribble occasionally well but we already have one passenger in the squad being grealish, can’t have 2. Enlighten me what am I missing I have never seen the hype in this guy.
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I’m about 99.9% certain that this was said about Gundogan when he first arrived.

Central midfield is bloody hard in Pep’s systems. It takes time for players to get it. I’m more convinced that Kovacic will come good than Nunes, as he’s got more experience and a bigger brain.

Nunes is physically better though and has more time to learn.
 
His experience will kick in when we need it; he’s having to be overused, despite the niggles

Certain that when the balance comes roaring back, he'll be integral the back end. Currently he’s a jammed revolver, a little greasing and we’ll have the dead shot at 10 paces before we know it..

Still mega excited by what he’ll become, rather than the enforced actions we are seeing!
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
I’m about 99.9% certain that this was said about Gundogan when he first arrived.

Central midfield is bloody hard in Pep’s systems. It takes time for players to get it. I’m more convinced that Kovacic will come good than Nunes, as he’s got more experience and a bigger brain.

Nunes is physically better though and has more time to learn.
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Thanks for your comment, better than some other bloke who simply told me to shut up and watch an other sport! Yeah I have to say I think nunes has potential to be our new attacking mid, obviously not perfect yet as you say but I like the potential there. Yeah perhaps we should give kovacic time, but then again why would you sign a 29 year old if you weren’t expecting instant results? Gundogan was younger, but you are right peps impact on his development is clear I am just concerned that kovacic is in/ past his prime and time is seriously of the essence. Feel like he flatters to deceive at times, he reminds me of jorginho or Thiago- not massively influential in the game, perhaps good in possession but not someone who is going to win you games with their quality in the final third or win you games by influencing the defence significantly. Be interesting to hear your thoughts, cheers.
 
Stelea said:
Absolutely unbelievable at passing sideways 5 yards
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Yep, reminds me of Thiago and jorginho, who all flatter to deceive in my opinion. All the players mentioned are perhaps good in possession, but kovacic, jorginho and Thiago are not players who have any real reasonable stack of g/a and are not someone you would want on the pitch to create chances. Nor would you want any of them protecting the defence, as none are particularly strong defensively. Be interesting to hear your thoughts, cheers.
 
Pain in Dias said:
Thanks for your comment, better than some other bloke who simply told me to shut up and watch an other sport! Yeah I have to say I think nunes has potential to be our new attacking mid, obviously not perfect yet as you say but I like the potential there. Yeah perhaps we should give kovacic time, but then again why would you sign a 29 year old if you weren’t expecting instant results? Gundogan was younger, but you are right peps impact on his development is clear I am just concerned that kovacic is in/ past his prime and time is seriously of the essence. Feel like he flatters to deceive at times, he reminds me of jorginho or Thiago- not massively influential in the game, perhaps good in possession but not someone who is going to win you games with their quality in the final third or win you games by influencing the defence significantly. Be interesting to hear your thoughts, cheers.
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I think there’s more to Kovscic’s game than Jorginho and more defensive than Thiago.

His age is a slight concern, but for his price, it’s an excellent signing. Time will tell how good as he adapts to Pep’s methods and also gets over his frequent injury niggles.

Gundogan improved hugely under Pep, but he has a huge footballing IQ and had 6 months injured to learn his way without a prolonged adaptation period.

Kovacic won’t be a Gundogan. He will be about 75% of him though, once he gets up to speed.

The floating spot next to Rodri doesn’t create much for our team, but it allows defensive stability and also frees Rodri to go forwards and be creative too.

As always, with midfield signings, Pep demands loads and only the best survive. We shall see how it goes with Kovacic, but the worst that can happen is that we get most of our money back.
 
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