Matthijs de Ligt

He plays as first choice for MANCHESTER CITY in Pep Guardiola's second season, at THIRTY THREE YEARS OLD. OF COURSE he is one of the best in that position.

People read books on Pep & say 'ah he wants this' then he starts Fernandinho every fucking week for two years & they think he doesn't really want him.

Such utter tripe.

Jorginho CAN'T do what Pep asks Fernandinho to do, full stop. We will probably have to change, in order to replace Fernandinho, as we will struggle to find another player who can do what he does. Why ? Because he's one of, if not 'the' best & allows us a flexibility few teams can match.

Fernandinho starts every fucking week for two years because who else can play his role? Old Yaya? Fernando maybe that plays hot potato? You want to play Dave there? Or maybe you want to play one of our best attacking player De Bruyne there? Gundogan plays DM for us against big teams and we haven’t lost a single game.

It’s the same fucking reason why Kolarov or Clichy starts every fucking game for us in his first year, we have nobody else to play there. Unless your logic also says Kolarov and Clichy are the best in the world too?

I’m not suggesting Dinho is shit because he’s far from that. But he’s not the best either.
 
Your point is true but that’s why I said he’s fine against 90% of the opposition, but to be the best, we have to beat the other 10%. Dinho’s role isn’t anything unique, we’re not the only team in the world that plays a DM that must be able to attack and defend. I’d say Thiago is a better fit for us. Lahm was also a better DM for Pep at Bayern than Dinho. Again I don’t want to derail the thread even more. I’d be happy to continue this in Dinho’s thread.

Thiago has similar passing ability to Fernandinho (accuracy 91% vs. 90%) and performs similarly defensively when the ball's on the deck (2.2 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game for Thiago vs. 1.8 and 1.4 for Fern) but falls way behind when winning the ball in the air (1.2 duels won per game vs. 2.8). We need someone to offer that aerial protection with the incredibly high line our CBs hold.

I'd agree on Lahm, but then I rate Lahm up there with Ronaldo and Messi of players of this generation.
 
Fernandinho starts every fucking week for two years because who else can play his role? Old Yaya? Fernando maybe that plays hot potato? You want to play Dave there? Or maybe you want to play one of our best attacking player De Bruyne there? Gundogan plays DM for us against big teams and we haven’t lost a single game.

It’s the same fucking reason why Kolarov or Clichy starts every fucking game for us in his first year, we have nobody else to play there. Unless your logic also says Kolarov and Clichy are the best in the world too?

I’m not suggesting Dinho is shit because he’s far from that. But he’s not the best either.

So Pep arrives at City & unlike you guys, who 'know' which kind of player he needs in that position, & how important it is, if Pep wants to play the kind of football Pep wants to play, Pep misses the importance of this point for two years & thinks 'ah I'll make do'.

Then when asked if he could play in this team, replies "No Fernandinho is better", is saying it to take the piss.

Yes that seems likely.
 
Thiago has similar passing ability to Fernandinho (accuracy 91% vs. 90%) and performs similarly defensively when the ball's on the deck (2.2 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game for Thiago vs. 1.8 and 1.4 for Fern) but falls way behind when winning the ball in the air (1.2 duels won per game vs. 2.8). We need someone to offer that aerial protection with the incredibly high line our CBs hold.

I'd agree on Lahm, but then I rate Lahm up there with Ronaldo and Messi of players of this generation.

This could be exactly why de Light is being considered, because we need a different kind of defender/passer behind, when Fern is rested/replaced.
 
This could be exactly why de Light is being considered, because we need a different kind of defender/passer behind, when Fern is rested/replaced.

I wonder if we'll see 3 at the back more with them rotating into the DM role. That could ordinarily be De Ligt or Stones with their passing ability, but they can comfortably drop into CB if, for example, Laporte wants to roam forwards as he did for Athletic which gives us another attacking dimension.
 
I wonder if we'll see 3 at the back more with them rotating into the DM role. That could ordinarily be De Ligt or Stones with their passing ability, but they can comfortably drop into CB if, for example, Laporte wants to roam forwards as he did for Athletic which gives us another attacking dimension.

If we played it as a kind of 'bogus' back 3 perhaps.

If deLight played some games in Walker's right back position, then stepped into midfield from fullback as Walker, Delph & of course Lahm used to do, then also dropped into covering the cb area as Fernandinho does, it could perhaps allow someone like Jorginho to play, without it weakening us defensively & without having to play Fernandinho alongside him, & allow Mendy to go forward & the cbs when suitable.
 
So Pep arrives at City & unlike you guys, who 'know' which kind of player he needs in that position, & how important it is, if Pep wants to play the kind of football Pep wants to play, Pep misses the importance of this point for two years & thinks 'ah I'll make do'.

Then when asked if he could play in this team, replies "No Fernandinho is better", is saying it to take the piss.

Yes that seems likely.
I’d argue that there are more pressing needs from other positions while Fernandinho is pretty good at his position, so maybe he replaces the other position first and also buying players quickly before being nabbed by other big teams like Sane or Jesus. It seems like we’re at an impasse, you think I say Dinho is shit, I say Dinho is good but not the best, yet you want me to say he’s the best. Let’s just drop this so people can talk about De Ligt here.
 
Thiago has similar passing ability to Fernandinho (accuracy 91% vs. 90%) and performs similarly defensively when the ball's on the deck (2.2 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game for Thiago vs. 1.8 and 1.4 for Fern) but falls way behind when winning the ball in the air (1.2 duels won per game vs. 2.8). We need someone to offer that aerial protection with the incredibly high line our CBs hold.

I'd agree on Lahm, but then I rate Lahm up there with Ronaldo and Messi of players of this generation.
That’s true Dinho has better aerial ability but Thiago also has much better take on rate than Dinho which is better for evading press. As for aerial ability, I think we can make it up by having other players more mobile and alert to the 2nd balls.
 
That’s true Dinho has better aerial ability but Thiago also has much better take on rate than Dinho which is better for evading press. As for aerial ability, I think we can make it up by having other players more mobile and alert to the 2nd balls.

He also tends to not play as the deepest midfielder with Martinez/Vidal/Tolisso generally used in DM in the league (Thiago seems to play there in the CL). I'd argue you want to pass out of the press rather than dribble too - the ball will always move faster than the man and getting caught out when taking a player on can lead to opposition chances when it's the DM losing the ball.
 
He also tends to not play as the deepest midfielder with Martinez/Vidal/Tolisso generally used in DM in the league (Thiago seems to play there in the CL). I'd argue you want to pass out of the press rather than dribble too - the ball will always move faster than the man and getting caught out when taking a player on can lead to opposition chances when it's the DM losing the ball.
I agree with passing out of the press but there are instances where dribbling ability is useful when against pressing. This is why Moussa Dembele is hard to press because you can’t get the ball off of him. I would say Thiago is the replacement for Dinho that doesn’t give up as much defensive capability. If you ask me, a younger Dinho + Dembele’s ball retaining ability would be the best.
 
That’s true Dinho has better aerial ability but Thiago also has much better take on rate than Dinho which is better for evading press. As for aerial ability, I think we can make it up by having other players more mobile and alert to the 2nd balls.

https://www.tifofootball.com/features/fernandinho-pep-guardiolas-play-doh/

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...andinho-Pep-Guardiola-Premier-League-contract

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle...midfielders-in-the-world-guardiola/vp-BBF7FQv
 
He also tends to not play as the deepest midfielder with Martinez/Vidal/Tolisso generally used in DM in the league (Thiago seems to play there in the CL). I'd argue you want to pass out of the press rather than dribble too - the ball will always move faster than the man and getting caught out when taking a player on can lead to opposition chances when it's the DM losing the ball.

There is no chance that, whoever plays there, they won't lose the ball in big, important situations, regardless.

It happens.

Imo City's biggest problem is the number of such situations have ended in goals.

Maybe deLight could help in that as well ias in possession.
 

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