gamechannel
Active Member
Yeah I would have no problem if he would pick up the ball, go head down and try to beat his man. If he loses the ball or his cross/shot gets blocked then fair enough. At the end of the day even the best dribblers in the world only complete about half of their take-ons.
If you're not going to do anything with the ball then its best to just pass it on quickly and try to make an off the ball run to create space. Easily coachable though so it makes me wonder what we do in training.
Also the price argument really needs to be dropped. Market is inflated and 60M or however much he cost doesn't buy you a WC winger, Pulisic cost Chelsea 60M as well and he hadn't even had a season half as good as Pepe's in France and wasn't even a starter for Dortmund. Sterling looked like a waste of money to some until Pep coached him into the player he is.
I agree with you on your comment about moving the ball and moving without it.
I do however disagree with you on the price argument. Its absolutely justified to talk about the price when discussing his merits because at 72mil, you expect a ready article at the age of 25. Your comparisons are not apt because both - Pulisic and Sterling were 20 years old. They were not finished articles yet had shown incredible potential. Pepe, on the other hand, is 25 and only has had one good season in a far interior league. Sterling is British - sold within the league to a competitor which also inflated his price. Even in that case, to discuss their first seasons with the cost as a factor would have been justified.
Also, Pulisic and Sterling went to Sugar Daddy clubs. For them, their respective fees is not a big deal as they'd spend even more to correct their mistakes had these 2 players flopped. Us on the other hand are tight fisted by Koronke so for us, 72 mil is a big ****ing deal - failure of this investment would tie us down even more when it comes to future transfers.