He was like this at Villa more times then most people think. I ended up watching him v Derby Play off final...meant to be his best game..to me he just drew foul after foul and went on a couple of runs...V Derby!! Nice bloke he seems, but doesn't improve us at all regardless as the odd price tag..Pep must have see something else, but he doesn't seem a Pep playerIt's not just about lack of pace, it's the fact that Grealish and Mahrez are seemingly devoid of playing with any urgency. They hold onto the ball for too long and slow things down.
If you want to create chances at the highest level you have to move the ball quickly and with purpose. At the moment both of them put their on the ball, take two or three touches before playing a square pass. At this point the opposition defence has reset.
Neither of them are also willing to run behind the fullback, which in turn makes us totally one dimensional.
We've played many a game with Bernardo and Gundo and no KDB. It's never been a problem. No need to run him into the ground. The guy was just dog tired and you could see it from the go. Still dropped a dime on Stones head that would have put this game to bed before HT.Kev is getting older, he has hardly had a rest in two years, and IMO asking him to play three games in a week is unreasonable. The guy is fucking knackered. But he is a quality player and if you leave him out you have to work out how to replace him.
Than Fernandinho in his prime? Absolutely not. Dinho was as good as they come in that role...I am a huge rodri fan and rate him really highly. He is not and never will be better than Fernandinho though.
rice is shit sorry. man literally hides from the ball. that last person to think of as a pep midfielder.
For £100m you expect something truly dynamic - a game changer. 2 seasons in and he doesn't look anything like. Decent enough squad player - average, but nothing more - which is exactly what I thought he'd be. I hope he can reinvent himself but can't see it happening.He was like this at Villa more times then most people think. I ended up watching him v Derby Play off final...meant to be his best game..to me he just drew foul after foul and went on a couple of runs...V Derby!! Nice bloke he seems, but doesn't improve us at all regardless as the odd price tag..Pep must have see something else, but he doesn't seem a Pep player
I have a really bad feeling that if both Bernardo and Gundogan go one of their replacements might be Maddison of Leicester. The way Pep talks about him is the same way he talked about Grealish when Grealish was at Villa.
rice is shit sorry. man literally hides from the ball. that last person to think of as a pep midfielder.
I'd be happy with that. Maddison is the best available, has great vision, passing and dead-ball delivery.
Why would you not be happy with that; what gives you a bad feeling about him?
Hated it since the first day of the season. Adds fuckall and makes us so slow and ponderous. Even with Walker back just ends up having him in midfield doing fuckall passing it sideways or backwards.I'm not a fan of this inverted FB either. I personally think it's a needless gimmick. Pep is hell bent on doing this so get used to it. Call it whatever but it basically amounts to playing a FB in midfield in a 3-4-3 or a 3-2-2-3. If you're going to do that why not just play a real midfielder as the extra guy in the middle of the park? Teams have seen it and it doesn't seem to have troubled anyone with any great effect. It has kept us from keeping clean sheets, that I can say...