Florian and the (Slot) Machine
- Thread starter Momo
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Wirtz is showing lots of great attributes. One thing I value over most is also his hunger and work rate. The ball often sticks to his feet, and he can beat a man with flair. He isn't quite a player who can win games on his own, and that is fine. Those players are rare. But I think he's a brilliant signing and I hope we sort the squad out so that we are solid enough at the back to allow our attackers like Wirtz, Ekitike, Isak, Mo, Szob to do the business up top
Definitely starting to find his rhythm and feet….hes what 22? Wow, compare him to Stevie at 22 and he’s doing just fine right now.
Consistency is building, I think we’ll see a player of the year contender next season.
Yep hard agree, Xabi is gonna take him to the next level in the Premier league.
Prediction coming along nicely. He's growing. This german has an elite mentality. We're starting to see it.
He's now shooting more too. The next step is for him to start affecting games away from home. Once that starts to happen, the league is on notice.
I think he'll get even better when we have explosive wingers surrounding him, and creating space for him. He's a top, top, talent.
He was too lightweight, anyone who watched the games could see that.
However good players work on their games and improve. He's no longer being brushed aside like a little boy which is a testament to his efforts or at the very least he has found a way to be effective. Hope to see more of him and that partnership with Ekitike looks very promising.
I know people shit on Slot but many players have shown improvement from the early season shitshow, eg, Wirtz, Kerkez, Ekitike etc, you can't tell me Slot doesn't have a part to play in it.
However good players work on their games and improve. He's no longer being brushed aside like a little boy which is a testament to his efforts or at the very least he has found a way to be effective. Hope to see more of him and that partnership with Ekitike looks very promising.
I know people shit on Slot but many players have shown improvement from the early season shitshow, eg, Wirtz, Kerkez, Ekitike etc, you can't tell me Slot doesn't have a part to play in it.
Eh? He clearly was too lightweight and has hit the gym and bulked up.
He also has a long way to go to justify 120m but is on the way.
Yah he looks like he packed on a lot of muscle, and he can read the speed of the game well now. In the first few games it looked like he wasn’t used to just high the intensity can be in PL. and when you’re 120m everyone wants a piece of you
There's only so much muscle mass a professional football player playing at the highest level can gain during the season, due to games and general training. It has to be in the off season for proper transformation (if we're talking about doing it in a short amount of time).
So while he has been bulking up a bit, it's far more likely that his massive upturn in form has more to do with him, at 22, getting used to his new surroundings, team mates, PL football speed/rhythm and physicality, and gaining his confidence back. All in 4 months.
This kid is an absolute gem who's only going to keep getting better.
Signing Wirtz was far less of a risk than re-signing a 33 year-old winger that relied on his pace throughout his career, for 300K per week.
Actually very few players realise their potential or maintain a high standard year after year. See Fowler, Owen, Torres, Hazard, Ozil, Sterling etc. It’s one of the reasons Salah is so exceptional.
He’d also lost a year or two of pace last season and was 32 when he resigned. It’s wasn’t that big a risk as we all knew he would slow down just like Virgil.
Salah is often the victim of his own fitness. He’s almost always available compared to the majority of our attackers over the years.
On the whole strength thing, I took a Geordie to the match yesterday and he said after the game that he was surprised how strong Wirtz was. I guess if we can forget the first few months where he was working his arse off to get to this standard and judge him on his own merits now, there is no problem. The amount of times he gets clattered and wins nothing from refs is nuts. Every one of those challenges last night would have had Macca playing dead for five minutes.
He’s bulked up, which is great, but I think his biggest challenge early on was the speed of the game.
His best asset as a player is his ability to work in tight spaces and make the right intricate passes. At the beginning of the season a lot of those passes were being cut out, because the space closed faster than he was used and he was half a second too slow. Now, his timing is mostly spot on.
His best asset as a player is his ability to work in tight spaces and make the right intricate passes. At the beginning of the season a lot of those passes were being cut out, because the space closed faster than he was used and he was half a second too slow. Now, his timing is mostly spot on.
Just like Salah in his pomp - it's very frustrating.
He also smashed Tonali in the face. Thats a win right there.
