salfordbluetrue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 2 Jul 2013
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- 3,639
Not a fan of hype but that was a decent performance against two awkward pacy if not incompetent attackers, Pep picked the right players to play against certain players
Certainly not one with such high football intelligence and tactical nous at this age in quite some time. There are perhaps a few with equal or greater technical ability, and certainly a few more physically developed, but they’ll only really ever have those as advantages, whereas Garcia can continue to develop those attributes over the next 15 years to add to exceptional mental traits that are very difficult to improve if you don’t naturally posses them. The way he acts away from the pitch is quite impressive, as well.Has anyone seen a 19 year old CB as good as this lad looks ? And I agree he could play as DM too.
I agree, and the same applies to Phil for me, both still learning the game, but they are both fantastic talents, and being managed in the best possible way.Certainly not one with such high football intelligence and tactical nous at this age in quite some time. There are perhaps a few with equal or greater technical ability, and certainly a few more physically developed, but they’ll only really ever have those as advantages, whereas Garcia can continue to develop those attributes over the next 15 years to add to exceptional mental traits that are very difficult to improve if you don’t naturally posses them. The way he acts away from the pitch is quite impressive, as well.
To be fair to John and Nico, their data universe is substantially larger, so they are always likely to have substantially more recorded errors (in the same way Maldini, Kompany, Van Dijk, Cannavaro, and Chiellini will have far, far more recorded errors). And he has tended to play in lower profile matches when he has appeared in the first team, so is less likely to be put in positions to make consequential errors. Not to mention he’ll often get a pass for more minor errors since he is so young and promising, which will see those disappear in to oblivion, unlike the scrutiny John and Nico receive, where even minor errors are discussed in detail. The only way we could fairly compare them in that regard would be when Garcia has accumulated a similar number of minutes playing for the first team as each of them.He genuinely deserves to be 2nd choice CB after Laporte. He hasn't put a foot wrong yet while Stones and Otamendi have a host of times.
To be fair to John and Nico, their data universe is substantially larger, so they are always likely to have substantially more recorded errors (in the same way Maldini, Kompany, Van Dijk, Cannavaro, and Chiellini will have far, far more recorded errors). And he has tended to play in lower profile matches when he has appeared in the first team, so is less likely to be put in positions to make consequential errors. Not to mention he’ll often get a pass for more minor errors since he is so young and promising, which will see those disappear in to oblivion, unlike the scrutiny John and Nico receive, where even minor errors are discussed in detail. The only way we could fairly compare them in that regard would be when Garcia has accumulated a similar number of minutes playing for the first team as each of them.
That said, I do agree that Garcia already *seems* to consistently read the game as well, if not slightly better, than them both of them and it *might* be a correct assumption that he would *likely* make fewer mistakes than both of them if given a similar number of minutes in a similar composition of matches.
I think we should be giving him more minutes, at the expense of Otamendi specifically, as I still haven’t written Stones off completely yet (though, I know I am nearly alone there).I agree there, there's no guarantee that Garcia wouldn't make a similar host of errors as the pair. But, when a player is performing at this level, consistently making the right decisions and not making these errors, surely he would warrant the opportunity to increase their data universe as you put it. Why do we persist with defenders we know have been liable to mistakes and, especially in the case of Otamendi, don't have long-term futures at the club? The league is done and we're very comfortably going to get top 4 so why not reward a player that could prove to be a viable long-term solution at the club? This is the season where we can legitimately establish the link between the academy and the first 11 with no real consequences on our league position.
While everything you say is true, in my opinion, he has shown a deeper understanding of defensive positiioning and area awareness than any of the defenders he has played next to.To be fair to John and Nico, their data universe is substantially larger, so they are always likely to have substantially more recorded errors (in the same way Maldini, Kompany, Van Dijk, Cannavaro, and Chiellini will have far, far more recorded errors). And he has tended to play in lower profile matches when he has appeared in the first team, so is less likely to be put in positions to make consequential errors. Not to mention he’ll often get a pass for more minor errors since he is so young and promising, which will see those disappear in to oblivion, unlike the scrutiny John and Nico receive, where even minor errors are discussed in detail. The only way we could fairly compare them in that regard would be when Garcia has accumulated a similar number of minutes playing for the first team as each of them.
That said, I do agree that Garcia already *seems* to consistently read the game as well, if not slightly better, than them both of them and it *might* be a correct assumption that he would *likely* make fewer mistakes than both of them if given a similar number of minutes in a similar composition of matches.
You’ve not read my other posts in this thread, then? ;-)While everything you say is true, in my opinion, he has shown a deeper understanding of defensive positiioning and area awareness than any of the defenders he has played next to.
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He is the best player at positiioning on our entire defense. And I say this with all due respect to our defenders. I'm not sure his positiioning isnt bordering on World Class.
Please don't confuse that with saying the kid is World Class, he isn't. Hasn't played anyone or enough to be World Class. But his tackling, positioning, line readjust, support defense, combination work and general awareness of his surroundings are all fundamentally sound.
I recognize his, height, phisicality and strength may not match those of the average WC Centerback, so I'll pause and see how he develops. But from watching his few games, he seems tactically light-years ahead of all the others. Including Laporte.