SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2009
- Messages
- 57,736
It easier for him to receive, turn, and see the pitch when he isn’t constantly having to take two or three steps backward to receive a ball played just behind him (and going toward our own goal), that is for sure.He played better because he was allowed more space. Him and Gundogan should not start together
He wasn’t at his best against Newcastle, but I think the cries of “he is done” were very much premature; some of it was just him being uncharacteristically loose with passes, but some of it was down to being forced in to more difficult positions than were necessary. It is difficult to constantly overcome that sort of 10-15% drop in overall quality on your own, even for the legend that is El Mago (and yet, he’s still done it on plenty of occasions). That wasn’t only down to Ilkay, by any means, but I do agree that having them in the same midfield suits neither of them nor the team.
Last night he didn’t have to make up the difference, and he was played more incisive, forward-thinking passes whilst he took up those trademark positions in space just outside of Burnley’s box. Some of that was down to Burnley being woeful, but a lot of it was due to Rodri being more progressive in his play and passing, which made their midfield look even worse than it was, and gave David the opportunity to do what he was born to do: wreak havoc on defences.