Nolito - 2016/17 performances

[domalino]

Whether or not he goes down as a bad buy will probably be determined by how much we get for him, if we get most of our money back then you could argue he did a job. If however we let him go for next to nothing, as we have done with others in the past he will be considered a poor purchase.

No. you might judge him as a bad buy based on that, but no one who matters at the club will.

He was bought to be a squad player until the young lads came through, he was bought to make an immediate impact as someone familiar with Pep and the style of play being brought in, he was bought at nearly 30 years old with no one expecting to recoup much of the fee.

He'll stay here at least a couple of seasons, if not the full 3, and if all we get for it is a 10 match winning streak to start the season, helping in the transition under Guardiola and a season or two of solid squad player service, he'll have been a shrewd purchase.

 

[blueinsa]

No. you might judge him as a bad buy based on that, but no one who matters at the club will.

He was bought to be a squad player until the young lads came through, he was bought to make an immediate impact as someone familiar with Pep and the style of play being brought in, he was bought at nearly 30 years old with no one expecting to recoup much of the fee.

He'll stay here at least a couple of seasons, if not the full 3, and if all we get for it is a 10 match winning streak to start the season, helping in the transition under Guardiola and a season or two of solid squad player service, he'll have been a shrewd purchase.

Spot on.

 

[Rolee]

No. you might judge him as a bad buy based on that, but no one who matters at the club will.

He was bought to be a squad player until the young lads came through, he was bought to make an immediate impact as someone familiar with Pep and the style of play being brought in, he was bought at nearly 30 years old with no one expecting to recoup much of the fee.

He'll stay here at least a couple of seasons, if not the full 3, and if all we get for it is a 10 match winning streak to start the season, helping in the transition under Guardiola and a season or two of solid squad player service, he'll have been a shrewd purchase.

It's as if you're inside my head but have that ability to express much more eloquently than I could muster. Another great post Domalino.

 

[MeatHunterrr]

No. you might judge him as a bad buy based on that, but no one who matters at the club will.

He was bought to be a squad player until the young lads came through, he was bought to make an immediate impact as someone familiar with Pep and the style of play being brought in, he was bought at nearly 30 years old with no one expecting to recoup much of the fee.

He'll stay here at least a couple of seasons, if not the full 3, and if all we get for it is a 10 match winning streak to start the season, helping in the transition under Guardiola and a season or two of solid squad player service, he'll have been a shrewd purchase.

Exactly.

 

[Blue Hefner]

If the young player do well out on loan then impress in pre-season training, I can see him being sold in the summer to make space for them

He looked good at the start of the season but has quite dramatically fallen out of favour for some reason

 

[OrigamiNinja]

No. you might judge him as a bad buy based on that, but no one who matters at the club will.

He was bought to be a squad player until the young lads came through, he was bought to make an immediate impact as someone familiar with Pep and the style of play being brought in, he was bought at nearly 30 years old with no one expecting to recoup much of the fee.

He'll stay here at least a couple of seasons, if not the full 3, and if all we get for it is a 10 match winning streak to start the season, helping in the transition under Guardiola and a season or two of solid squad player service, he'll have been a shrewd purchase.

Squad players play football, they don't play every week or every minute of every game but they are there when required as part of a squad rotation. Currently Nolito is not part of any squad rotation, he is practically an outcast. He has gone from playing most games to barely getting a sniff over the course of a third of a season. That is not the role of a squad player, that is the role of a player who has fallen completely out of favour with management. What club in the world pays £10m + on a player for a 10 game cameo? It is ludicrous to suggest the club will be content with his contribution and we can just write off the rest of his time at the club based on those 10 games.

 

[Rolee]

Squad players play football, they don't play every week or every minute of every game but they are there when required as part of a squad rotation. Currently Nolito is not part of any squad rotation, he is practically an outcast. He has gone from playing most games to barely getting a sniff over the course of a third of a season. That is not the role of a squad player, that is the role of a player who has fallen completely out of favour with management. What club in the world pays £10m + on a player for a 10 game cameo? It is ludicrous to suggest the club will be content with his contribution and we can just write off the rest of his time at the club based on those 10 games.

He's made 23 appearances so far mate.

And as Domalino has pointed out, part of the reason he was brought in was to help with transition. Looking at Sané now it seems that worked a treat.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

He's made 23 appearances so far mate.

And as Domalino has pointed out, part of the reason he was brought in was to help with transition. Looking at Sané now it seems that worked a treat.

I agree he was brought in as a squad player but are we seriously saying that there aren't issues when a player barely gets a kick, half a season after joining a new club? You don't give a 3 or 4 year contract to a player, if you only view him as a 6 month stop-gap while the younger players get up to speed. He was Peps guy and now can't get on the pitch for any meaningful length of time. I have been disappointed with his overall contribution and his Lord Lucan act suggests Pep isn't overly enamoured with him either.

 

[Rolee]

I agree he was brought in as a squad player but are we seriously saying that there aren't issues when a player barely gets a kick, half a season after joining a new club? You don't give a 3 or 4 year contract to a player, if you only view him as a 6 month stop-gap while the younger players get up to speed. He was Peps guy and now can't get on the pitch for any meaningful length of time. I have been disappointed with his overall contribution and his Lord Lucan act suggests Pep isn't overly enamoured with him either.

I didn't say he was a 6 month stop gap or that anyone viewed him as such, part of the reason he was bought was to help with transition, another part of the reason he was brought in was to be a squad player.

As for his Lord Lucan act, I'm sure I saw him come on at Palace on Saturday and also came on at West Ham in the cup game fulfilling his role as a squad player.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

I didn't say he was a 6 month stop gap or that anyone viewed him as such, part of the reason he was bought was to help with transition, another part of the reason he was brought in was to be a squad player.

As for his Lord Lucan act, I'm sure I saw him come on at Palace on Saturday and also came on at West Ham in the cup game fulfilling his role as a squad player.

Give over. He came on against West Ham at 4-0 and then came on for 6 minutes against Palace at 2-0. It is crazy to suggest Pep signed him thinking he would be good for 30 mins when winning 4-0 in a cup and 6 mins when winning 2-0 in the same cup almost a month later. Nolito was very much part of the squad rotation at the beginning of the season, now he isnt. I don't even know how anyone could argue this.

 

[aguero93:20]

He still has that record that every PL game he's started ( 9 games ) we've won.

Could have been only the second player after Glauber Berti to leave City with a 100% PL record if it hadn't been for some of those pesky substitute appearances :(

 

[Rolee]

Give over. He came on against West Ham at 4-0 and then came on for 6 minutes against Palace at 2-0. It is crazy to suggest Pep signed him thinking he would be good for 30 mins when winning 4-0 in a cup and 6 mins when winning 2-0 in the same cup almost a month later. Nolito was very much part of the squad rotation at the beginning of the season, now he isnt. I don't even know how anyone could argue this.

Give over what? Pulling you up for exaggerating? The type of sub appearances he made are what a squad player is generally used for.

Riddle me this mate, if Pep has written him off then why not put Garcia in the CL squad and remove Nolito?

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Give over what? Pulling you up for exaggerating? The type of sub appearances he made are what a squad player is generally used for.

Riddle me this mate, if Pep has written him off then why not put Garcia in the CL squad and remove Nolito?

No, give over for suggesting that Nolitos current role in the team is exactly how Pep envisaged it when buying him. I have not looked at the stats but I imagine that Nolito has played the equivalent of no more than 1 or 2 full games over the past 2 months. That is not normal for a new signing who is fit, especially when you take into account that over that time we have suffered with injuries and suspensions. Something isnt right, I know it and you also know it but for some reason, you are arguing for argues sake.

As for the CL squad selection I imagine it comes down to experience, neither are likely to play but if push came to shove and Pep had to throw one of them into a match, I expect he would choose the experience of Nolito 9 times out of 10.

 

[Rolee]

No, give over for suggesting that Nolitos current role in the team is exactly how Pep envisaged it when buying him. I have not looked at the stats but I imagine that Nolito has played the equivalent of no more than 1 or 2 full games over the past 2 months. That is not normal for a new signing who is fit, especially when you take into account that over that time we have suffered with injuries and suspensions. Something isnt right, I know it and you also know it but for some reason, you are arguing for argues sake.

As for the CL squad selection I imagine it comes down to experience, neither are likely to play but if push came to shove and Pep had to throw one of them into a match, I expect he would choose the experience of Nolito 9 times out of 10.

I never said it's exactly how Pep envisaged it, I don't know where you're getting that from.

It's been 5 Prem games over the last month, 2 of which he was named as a sub. The way you're talking it's as if his career here is over.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

I never said it's exactly how Pep envisaged it, I don't know where you're getting that from.

It's been 5 Prem games over the last month, 2 of which he was named as a sub. The way you're talking it's as if his career here is over.

You were throwing stats at me (hes played 23 times) without any form of context. The majority of those appearances were at the beginning of the season when he was rotating in and out of the squad. He would play a game, miss a game, come on as sub next game, start the game after etc. He was 100% a squad player. Over the past couple of months he has barely played. There must be a huge gulf between minutes played at the start of the season and minutes he is getting now, so what is the reasoning behind this? He is either playing ok but struggling to displace players who are better than him or his form has fallen off a cliff and the manager no longer sees him as being as important as he was just a few months ago. Either way the future doesn't look overly bright for Nolito does it?

 

[Rolee]

You were throwing stats at me (hes played 23 times) without any form of context. The majority of those appearances were at the beginning of the season when he was rotating in and out of the squad. He would play a game, miss a game, come on as sub next game, start the game after etc. He was 100% a squad player. Over the past couple of months he has barely played. There must be a huge gulf between minutes played at the start of the season and minutes he is getting now, so what is the reasoning behind this? He is either playing ok but struggling to displace players who are better than him or his form has fallen off a cliff and the manager no longer sees him as being as important as he was just a few months ago. Either way the future doesn't look overly bright for Nolito does it?

It's been one month. He played in 3 from 6 in December, started two of them.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

It's been one month. He played in 3 from 6 in December, started two of them.

Ive just checked his stats (as I am sure you have). In the 10 games since Nov 26th v Burnley, Nolito has played 90 minutes just once and that was in a dead rubber against Celtic. I dont need to tell you the "quality" of the team we put out that evening. Apart from that he totals 198 minutes of football over the 9 other games we have played. To put that into context the 1st 10 games of the season saw him complete 643 minutes and that included him being subbed for Willy in Barca when Bravo was red-carded. That is a huge drop in game-time for a player who has been fit to play.

 

[Rolee]

Ive just checked his stats (as I am sure you have). In the 10 games since Nov 26th v Burnley, Nolito has played 90 minutes just once and that was in a dead rubber against Celtic. I dont need to tell you the "quality" of the team we put out that evening. Apart from that he totals 198 minutes of football over the 9 other games we have played. To put that into context the 1st 10 games of the season saw him complete 643 minutes and that included him being subbed for Willy in Barca when Bravo was red-carded. That is a huge drop in game-time for a player who has been fit to play.

And coincides with Sané's upturn in form.

My bone of contention was you declaring him as a bad buy as if he is finished here, that's all mate, I think you're jumping the gun.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

And coincides with Sané's upturn in form.

My bone of contention was you declaring him as a bad buy as if he is finished here, that's all mate, I think you're jumping the gun.

That's just it though, Sane was injured for a month during this period. This to me says that Pep doesn't even consider Nolito 2nd choice for that position now.

I hope I'm wrong, the 1st few games of the season showed he had something to offer but since then he's gone completely off the boil. Currently I think he's going to struggle to establish himself back in the team and if that is the way it turns out it will be difficult to look at a player who will have had only a handful of good games at a price of almost £14m as anything but a poor buy.

 

[Dax777]

He did ok at the start. I think him popping up in the right place at the right time a few times masked his overall contribution which in my opinion was distinctly average. I don't see him having any future at the club, he is struggling for game time now and I don't see it getting any easier for him. Whether or not he goes down as a bad buy will probably be determined by how much we get for him, if we get most of our money back then you could argue he did a job. If however we let him go for next to nothing, as we have done with others in the past he will be considered a poor purchase.

You can't dissect performance like that. Everything counts. I thought his ability to pop up for goals were unmatched early on.

His support on defense was also very strong.

His interchange with Silva was good from the beginning too.

He was a decent buy. Buy as an ageist, I never liked the purchase. At the time I was pinning for Gabriel, Sane and Dembele as the 3 wingers to join Sterling and form the foursome 4. For some wierd reason ans for the first time ever, management went with my idea and for 2 of those guys. So I can't say I'm not pleased. Even with Nolito.

It turns out management was right to get an older winger to bridge that gap BTW settling down for the younger guys.

I did not think of it like that. I'm happy they did. :) Hence Nolito