8 | Mateo Kovacic - 2023/24

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Little moment in the first half when Grealish flighted the ball in and the chance was there but Kovacic had set off just a fraction too late and the ball drifted behind. It was the kind of chance that Gundogan became adept at taking and it’s an area of his game that Guardiola will help develop.
 
He will be great for you guys, he's IQ and understanding of game is really great. He's skills and experiance are top and he's also great professional - never any problems (not in Dinamo, Inter, Real or Chelsea), willing to work, listen to manager and really nice guy. It's just crazy how Chelsea let him go for €30m but that's Chelsea.
 
I wanted the ball in his hand in the attacking 3rd when we were down. I trusted his decision making more than Foden, Jack,Cole, or Akanji. Him and Rodri were the only 2 I hoped to see on the ball
 
handsofstone said:
Kovacic is absolutely class, he's a brilliant player

Is a shame he kind of falls apart in front of goal, doesnt have that ruthlessness Gundogan had inside the box

But absolute class player and a big asset
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Hopefully it's something he can improve on

Gundo wasn't always ruthless. He was only managing about 5 goals in all competitions a season until 3 years ago.

Granted its still more than Kovacic was getting at Chelsea, but if Gundo can suddenly up his goals tally at 29, there's no reason why Kovacic can't add a few goals to his game
 
Loads of positives but...he gave the ball away a lot against Burnley. Keeping judgement reserved.
 
Keeper! said:
If he can improve his game in the final third and become a goal threat , he would be the complete midfield player.
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this

his defensive work is excelent and his running with the ball is also very good....very tidy on the ball and get when under pressure....

As you say however he lacks in the fina/ third - He is getting in scoring positions but doesnt look an accomplised finisher...maybe its something he could develop.....?....Id like him to look for the harder pass as well (maybe that will come as well?) - to try and be that bit more creative rather than safe
 
Kovacic's quality is very obvious.

But if you think that he did very well in this game you don't understand Pep ball.

His lack of positional awareness and rhythm are the main reason why the attacking was out of order in the first half.

He contributed a lot in defense but his movement is not quick enough to close the gap. Again I am not blaming him. But after watching this game, I guess we will definitely buy Paquetá because Kovacic's profile does not fit in the attacking midfielder role, especially the left eight role in our current system.
 
applejuice said:
Kovacic's quality is very obvious.

But if you think that he did very well in this game you don't understand Pep ball.

His lack of positional awareness and rhythm are the main reason why the attacking was out of order in the first half.

He contributed a lot in defense but his movement is not quick enough to close the gap. Again I am not blaming him. But after watching this game, I guess we will definitely buy Paquetá because Kovacic's profile does not fit in the attacking midfielder role, especially the left eight role in our current system.
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He did well in this game, and I understand Pep football.
 
applejuice said:
Kovacic's quality is very obvious.

But if you think that he did very well in this game you don't understand Pep ball.

His lack of positional awareness and rhythm are the main reason why the attacking was out of order in the first half.

He contributed a lot in defense but his movement is not quick enough to close the gap. Again I am not blaming him. But after watching this game, I guess we will definitely buy Paquetá because Kovacic's profile does not fit in the attacking midfielder role, especially the left eight role in our current system.
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Fucking hell. If Kovacic was the reason our attacking was poor in the first half i don’t understand football. One of the few playing to our level and looking like he could make things happen. His weight of pass is superb.
 
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Top player. But I don’t like him playing high up between the lines, he’s much better deeper in the 1st and 2nd phases of the game where we can also utilise his incredible ball carrying ability to escape opponents press.

If pep can tweak his 3241 formation into a 343 diamond it can allow kova to play deeper and allow Phil/Julian to play as the free 10 behind Haaland with less defensive responsibility asked of them.
 
Craig said:
Fucking hell. If Kovacic was the reason are attacking was poor in the first half i don’t understand football. One of the few playing to our level and looking like he could make things happen. His weight of pass is superb.
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It is not all about through ball to be a good midfielder. Otherwise could you explain why Pep switched him & Foden in the 2nd half and the whole team performance turned to be much better? Because Kovacic was very uncomfortable to step up the pitch in the build up stage and always shifted the ball too early. Many times there were pockets of space in the left half space when Grealish&Gvardiol dragged the defenders out of place. Gundo would attack those spaces. But Kovacic did not. It does not mean that he is a bad player but he is not on the rhythm.
 
applejuice said:
Otherwise could you explain why Pep switched him & Foden in the 2nd half and the whole team performance turned to be much better?
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The link up play between Foden/Palmer and Grealish/Kovacic was too laboured and predictable, particularly on the right-hand side where Phil and Cole were mostly holding the ball and then passing it back to the defence.

Two left footers on the right and two right footers on the left were limiting our inside passing options and Sevilla were more than happy to concede possession out wide.
 
applejuice said:
It is not all about through ball to be a good midfielder. Otherwise could you explain why Pep switched him & Foden in the 2nd half and the whole team performance turned to be much better? Because Kovacic was very uncomfortable to step up the pitch in the build up stage and always shifted the ball too early. Many times there were pockets of space in the left half space when Grealish&Gvardiol dragged the defenders out of place. Gundo would attack those spaces. But Kovacic did not. It does not mean that he is a bad player but he is not on the rhythm.
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It’s alright saying he needs to play deeper and on Saturday it might work well. When a team sit as deep as they did last night though there’s not much point in him dropping deep if you have centre halves comfortable on the ball plus Rodri they can do that. For me the biggest differences 2nd half were Gvardiol pushing further forwards to crate overloads, us just being a bit crisper with our passing and them ending up shattered as our intensity and relentless started to take its toll.
 
Really good football player. Looks great in midfield, linking up and passing as part of the general pattern of play, and looks good running with the ball. But he appears has absolutely no goal threat in the box for an assist or a goal.

Also a few ball’s to Håland were not quite hit with enough pace or far enough into the space for Håland to run away from the defender and onto the ball (Håland gestured to him after one of them that he wants more on the pass).
 
Craig said:
It’s alright saying he needs to play deeper and on Saturday it might work well. When a team sit as deep as they did last night though there’s not much point in him dropping deep if you have centre halves comfortable on the ball plus Rodri they can do that. For me the biggest differences 2nd half were Gvardiol pushing further forwards to crate overloads, us just being a bit crisper with our passing and them ending up shattered as our intensity and relentless started to take its toll.
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That is what I originally said. Kovacic is a skillful player but he is not the correct profile for the left eight for the current team. The first half he was reluctant to join the front attacking line. It made the left side quite awkward.

Actually I think Stones/Rodri role in the last season suit him better. But we are short of hands right now. When the new signings arrive (hopefully) I would love to see how he perform as a six.
 
He’s good, but not as an 8. We need Paqueta so that we don’t need to play Kovacic higher up as often. Kovacic as a 6… fantastic. Leave him there.
 
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