Fast Forward To The Past
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1 Nov 2015
- Messages
- 226
He did that very well indeed last night, on the whole.
Not so much in many other games, hence the opinion. Usually, once he misjudges a challenge, he's dead.
I thought his fullback play was the best he's produced, last night.
All top players succesfully compensate weaknesses with their talent. As do teams and tactics.
Kimmich has turned into a contender for best rightback in the world, yet he doesn't have much recovery pace at all.
It happens.
Zin is making a strong case for himself defensively regardless of his moderate pace deficiency.
There has even been a lot less danger coming over our left side vs the right where we have a "real" fullback with blistering recovery pace.
(Walker is afforded less cover in some situations. True. But that's literally what he's there for.)
He wins most of his headers, win's most of his ground duels and has a staggering amount of interceptions even against top forwards like Pedro.
How can anybody be anything but utterly impressed??
Will he be caught out in a long sprint someday? Yes.
Is that a risk worth taking, considering what he can bring to the team as a whole? On current form... Absolutely.
To have a player with his passing potential helping out in midfield when we have the ball, has big potential. Very big potential.
If he keeps developing like this, then I would love to find out how much. I hope Pep does too.
In short sprints he's no slouch either, BTW.
He just needs some protection against getting caught in a long sprint against a pacy winger.
Walker's pace affords some extra cover on his side in those situations, and that has worked out very well so far. The same was true with Delph playing LB.
(It's one of the big things Walker brings to the team, despite his lack of form.)