Riyad Mahrez

Status
Not open for further replies.
mattcity5 said:
Okay, let me ask you a question. Why didn't Mahrez get selected to start in any of the following games towards the end of last season?

Arsenal at home, 4-1
Bayern at home, 3-0
Bayern away 1-1
Real away 1-1
Real home 4-0
united cup final 2-1
Inter CL 1-0.

The biggest games.

Not sure where I said most academy forwards could do what Mahrez does? I'm not saying Mahrez isn't good, this isn't about that. He just isn't key, I don't see how anyone can deny that. He wasn't picked in the biggest games, he played in lesser games towards the end of the season. Something other younger talented players could manage.

There are games he has a big impact in, but if City don't think Palmer could get to that level with regular games, then there's no point persisting with him, we may as well sell him now.

Foden could certainly do well there as did Bernardo.

Alvarez is different. He isn't as reliable in possession, but has way more desire and energy than Mahrez.
Click to expand...

Those are all games at the end of the season.

Simple. Against Leipzig (first Leg), Mahrez scored the only City goal and was MOTM. In the second half of that game, Leipzig dominated and Pep saw that the right side needed more defensive solidity as Leipzig dominated. Right after that, Pep put Silva in the right side to bring more defensive solidity. Since then, it has been Silva as RW til the end. So, the simple answer is: defensive duty.

Mahrez does not have a strong physical body to play as defender (he does what he can) but no one matches his attacking skills on the right wing. He has scored against Cheslsea, Liverpool, Tooteenham, Sevilla, Leipzid, ...

Don't forget that his G+A in all comps is better than those of Foden and Silva this ending season.
 
Last edited:
HelloCity said:
Because Bernardo is better and in better form.

This idea that a younger player could just fill in the gap left by Mahrez is nonsense and what would lead to our squad becoming much weaker. This is a player who is consistently within our top performers for G/A. If you want a player to play back up to a better right winger (Bernardo) then you aren't going to get better than Mahrez. People overlook this when they judge people on whether they should start or not. Not a huge starting key player but very important to our squad quality.

Keep in mind that if Bernardo goes as well then losing Mahrez on top of that would be a huge blow to our squad and leave the right hand side of our attack requiring a ton of money to bring back up to the same level, and from what I can tell, there aren't many good right wingers available.
Click to expand...

Fair points.

Disagree about the reason Bernardo was selected slightly though - I'd say it was mainly the increased workrate and ability to influence from a deeper position centrally as well, while Mahrez is always under instructions to stick out on the touchline. I think Bernardo played himself into form, but wasn't necessarily in it when picked over Mahrez initially.

We managed without a centre forward for a season though. It's not always about replacing like for like. As people have pointed out there aren't many RW options available to buy, I just feel we have the players to cope. And then we can buy when/if the better option appears and is available.

Any of our young players mentioned could do a job against the likes of Everton, Luton, Wolves etc.
 
Constantine said:
Those are all games at the end of the season.

Simple. Against Leipzig (first Leg), Mahrez scored the only City goal and was MOTM. In the second half of that game, Leipzig dominated and Pep saw that the right side needed more defensive solidity as Leipzig dominated. Right after that, Pep put Silva in the right side to bring more defensive solidity. Since then, it has been Silva as RW til the end. So, the simple answer is: defensive duty.

Mahrez does not have a strong physical body to play as defender but no one matches his attacking skills on the right wing. He has scored against Cheslsea, Liverpool, Tooteenham, Sevilla, Leipzid, ...

Don't forget that his G+A in all comps is better than those of Foden and Silva this ending season.
Click to expand...

Agree with you on all of that. :-)

Just think that we'd find a way to cope, it's what we (or more specifically Pep) do.
 
Del_Bosque said:
If he goes fair play but he’ll need replacing with proven high quality not McAtee, Palmer or Bobb
Click to expand...
The replacement should be Bernardo IMO. Bernardo as a full time winger to replace him. Reckon Pep will love Kovacic, so we’ll probably see Foden out wide as well (my guess is 50/50 in midfield and out wide). Bernardo and Foden as the primary options, and then Bobb and McAtee as backup options. Apart from Rodrygo and Saka, who’s not available, I don’t think there is a single RW on the market that would be a significant upgrade on what we already have and be a starter right away.

Cherki and Olise would be good options, but would be prospect signings and I’m not sure they’d be a much better option than Bobb/McAtee. Would make more sense to sign a midfielder if Mahrez goes IMO
 
HelloCity said:
Replacing a player like Mahrez is a lot harder than people think. You won't buy a player as good as Mahrez right now just to sit on the bench that's for sure. Yeah, he's frustrating at times but he's also a good option when we need to change things up.

If we were to lose Bernardo as well then we'd be struggling badly on the right.

Alvarez is brilliant in the middle, decent in attacking midfield and completely unproven on the wing, while Palmer didn't progress last season and looked a bit like a 'random youth player on the wing' type.
Click to expand...
The problem we have Mahrez doesn't want to sit on the bench I think he wants to go no smoke without fire pep will always rotate his players there doesn't seem like there's many options out there
 
Looks more like Jack to me. Moves around a lot more with the ball, often in a horizontal fashion. Makes sense that pep likes him.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.