Riyad Mahrez - 2018/2019 performances

[Churchlawtonblue]

Lol

I am guessing you thought he was man of the match Karen. Lol

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Where do you get the hate thing from?? Its an objective observation on a player that we broke our tranfer record for and who was playing against a third tier opposition. Im astonished you thought he was class last night?. Out wide he is so predictable. He had a couple of good moments when he moved infield as you mention. But ask him to beat his man or put a decent ball into the box and he invariably cuts back inside and passes sideways. He seems to have lost his confidence and currently isn't a patch on Sane or Sterling.

As I said - he damn near scored twice.

As for predictability - well, Robben, Sterling, Sane, etc. are very predictable too.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

As I said - he damn near scored twice.

As for predictability - well, Robben, Sterling, Sane, etc. are very predictable too.

Do you think he played well out wide last night or against Rotherham when he came on?

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Do you think he played well out wide last night or against Rotherham when he came on?

Didn't see the Rotherham match and have only watched the first half of Burton.

Yes - against Burton - he played well in the first half - had trouble with an over the head pass (those are hard to field) - but nearly scored twice.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

I think his confidence is low but im really not a fan at this stage. Too predictable, often too greedy, decision making poor and does the wrong thing so many times. Also seems a complete coward. He's had a few moments and you could argue he's still settling in but considering his age I dont think he will get too long to prove himself and if he doesn't improve I'd be tempted to cut my losses at the end of the season if we can get someone decent in. Pressure of playing for City looks too much for him so far, but we live in hope. Time and plenty of games to turn it round yet

 

[mosssideblue]

I think his confidence is low but im really not a fan at this stage. Too predictable, often too greedy, decision making poor and does the wrong thing so many times. Also seems a complete coward. He's had a few moments and you could argue he's still settling in but considering his age I dont think he will get too long to prove himself and if he doesn't improve I'd be tempted to cut my losses at the end of the season if we can get someone decent in. Pressure of playing for City looks too much for him so far, but we live in hope. Time and plenty of games to turn it round yet

Not specifically aimed at you but why is it assumed that any new purchase has to land running, and if they dont they are shit? Why not let new players have at least a season to bed in, particularly when having to adapt to a completely new system.

 

[Easy]

I think if you look closely there's a pattern that's emerged with pretty much every City attacker under Pep at some point. Before Pep showed up/they were signed by Pep, they were these extremely high skill players with technical potential to rival the best.

But after decent starts, they all went through spells of losing that flair, subsequently becoming weaker players for us. However, almost as if by design, these periods coincide with these players becoming more functional for us; they start developing into better players for the team.

Then, later on, they start to come back out of their shell and now are both functional to the team and exciting flair players like you thought they were.

Basically, I'm pretty sure Pep has them cut out a lot of the super-exciting stuff until he's sure they understand and are able to play the right way. Then they're back on it.

Sterling being the prime example, but Sané, Bernardo, Jesus, Aguero (to an extent), and somehow Fernandinho have all gone through or are still going through this process. There were even signs Mendy was cutting out his more attacking elements in favour of functional play too prior to his injury.


I think whilst Mahrez adapts we're not going to see the full him. Think about how many times he's probably had to ask himself, 'Do I do my thing or Guardiola's thing?' when in a good position. That's not what a player in full flow probably has to worry about.

I can't say for certain that he'll work out. But given the trends that seem to reoccur in this squad I think we should give him time.

Excellent post.

 

[Neville Kneville]

He's a genius footballer, who is not quite fitting in as he, or anyone would like, makes a few too many wrong choices, but is still doing pretty well.

That could improve overnight at any time, & he could reach another level. He showed stuff against Burton, which is a bit different to our other forwards/mids, which is why he's here. If he replicated some of that, in the Prem, he would be right up there.

I expect he will get considerably better, but even that might not make him a first choice compared to Sterling & Sane, as they are two of the absolute best.

But that doesn't actually matter. He is different; a wild card who can be used as such. If he is 2nd choice & leaves in two years, it doesn't matter, provided he has given us something different, which he does. If he becomes a star in the team, great. If a kid or a new signing takes his place, great. Just play him on merit.

He's a great signing, already, imo. He just shouldn't have been given that pen.

 

[St.Pauli support]

A clear improvement was the 1-2 with David, getting behind the defence and chip the ball perfectly in
with his weaker right foot for Jesus' header.

Nearly undefendable.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Mahrez this year is like Sane or Bernardo in their first year. Lets see how good he becomes under Pep, I dont think any of our players recently have stepped straight into the first team as the finished article, it usually does take a bit of work from Pep