Lack of pace on the wings

[King Jay]

I don't remember Stirling ever being devastating on the break even though he did have devastating pace

He was devastating when he was off ball during the counter. Against liv there were like 2 counters where we slowed down because Grealish didn’t have the pace.
I don’t know how people can say that Pace isn’t necessary when literally every top club has pacey wingers. Mahrez is fine he will always score and assist but the combo Grealish + Mahrez is too slow and too predictable in my eyes. Foden + Alvarez were much more intense even tho they ain’t Sané/Sterling quick either.

 

[Keeper!]

I don't remember Stirling ever being devastating on the break even though he did have devastating pace

you must have a very short memory.

Sane and Sterling were a wonderful watch in season 2018, our counter attacking was devastating.

 

[alexmcity]

He was devastating when he was off ball during the counter. Against liv there were like 2 counters where we slowed down because Grealish didn’t have the pace.
I don’t know how people can say that Pace isn’t necessary when literally every top club has pacey wingers. Mahrez is fine he will always score and assist but the combo Grealish + Mahrez is too slow and too predictable in my eyes. Foden + Alvarez were much more intense even tho they ain’t Sané/Sterling quick either.

Tbf, we created better chances before Foden and Alvarez were subbed in. I also prefer Foden and Alvarez for their energy and willingness to help in defence (and predicted in the Alvarez thread weeks ago that we might use Alvarez, Haaland and Foden as our front 3 in some big games), but we weren't worse creatively or defensively wise before their appearance on the pitch the other day. We had a bad day at the office. On another day, we score 4 goals from those chances.

 

[B\connellblue]

None of our wingers are exactly slow, but they don't have either Sane's lightning pace or Sterling's burst of acceleration.

But Mahrez has some of the best close control of any current player anywhere, Foden has plenty of trickery, and Grealish has his changes of pace and direction. Alvarez, Palmer and anyone else we might consider playing on either wing also have their own ways of getting out of tight situations and past defenders.

Of course pace is important. But it's just one of many important attributes and it seems the players we have are the ones with the balance of skills Pep wants.

They're slow , at least by professional athletes standards. Cutting back all the time makes us slower still . Only genuine pace we have is walker, the runs he makes are the sort that our wingers should be capable of. If they'd rip it across first time it mightn't matter so much.

 

[half & half derby scarf]

We were already looking cumbersome compared tp previous seasons then we ripped all the pace out of the side in the transfer window. Jesus sale was a big mistake IMO + we should have gone for a Sane like winger.
Hope we can pull it out of the bag but Grealish really needs to step up.

 

[Lauz9888]

(Just got these from Google so haven't had chance to cross reference any figures...).

Top recorded speeds.

Foden 37.12 kph
Haaland 36.00 kph
Sane 35.48 kph
Walker 35.21 kph
Grealish 35.1 kph
Sterling 34.97 kph
Jesus 33.3 kph
Mahrez 32.00 kph

In terms of top speed our current wing options (I couldn't find a figure for Alvarez unfortunately) are up there with the players we've lost.

Walker doesn't just have pace, he also has space to run into because he's a defender, and the stamina to run up and down the pitch all day.

Sterling doesn't just have pace, he also has incredible short distance bursts of acceleration.

Sane doesn't just have pace, when he played for us he also had midfielders looking to ping balls to him early, so he could run at goal without hitting heavy defensive traffic.

We need to play in a way that benefits the skills our current wingers have in addition to pace, and what they have over the Sterling/Sane partnership is close control, accurate passing and strength on the ball. They're built for getting through defences, not bypassing them.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Well Mahrez and Grealish are no Robben and Ribery pace wise. Foden is quick but not Sane quick. We saw how much Vunicious troubled us with his pace in CL last year. With Sterling gone dont know how we will switch to quick transition from defense to attack that we did in the centurion season.

Mahrez relies on pure skill, slow CBs can outrun him in a straight line dash for the ball. Grealish has some pace but rarely uses it. Phil is seriously rapid. But talking about pace, it's about how quick you are with the ball at your feet.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Sterling was the only winger we had with electric pace and he didn’t start in most of big games last season or seemingly effect how we played most of the time.

Would start foden, Grealish, Alvarez, mahrez over him any day. It’s not as if they are slow either

 

[trevorriley]

no not really, its an excuse if we appear to attack poorly.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

We have double pace in the team, Grealish and Mahrez.





They're about as fast as Hale and Pace; )