Me too…all whilst looking like he was blowing hard and has a fair bit to go re peak fitness…
Hugo Boss
- Thread starter Brizzle
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Modo, it was his first game in a friendly.
On your first day at a new job you spend half your time figuring out how to log into your new companies bullshit network, an hour scouting out the coffee machine situation, and most of the afternoon figuring out exactly how long you can acceptably stretch out a shit break.
Calm yourself old pal, let's wait at least until the end of preseason before the agendas role in.
Mate I haven't written him off, I just didn't think he played well. I'm well aware of the fact that he's new to the team etc.
My first day at a new job, I was usually dozing off after reading some reference book or manual, or bored to shit surfing the company intranet on some common PC, as the company didn't know what onboarding meant. Clearance wasn't there, equipment and accounts weren't ready, the senior guy I was to learn stuff from was on leave, etc. Sometimes that lasted a week, sometimes it was three.
And that happened not just with one company. Must've been how Chiesa felt most days last season. Boring, but hey, free money!
Haha as someone partly responsible for onboarding I recognize this. I just throw tasks at people and see what sticks and how smart/not smart/annoying they are
You can't tell anything from that tbh. Didn't look great but also didn't look shit. Had some good first touches and pretty much kept it simple all game.
Seems like a great lad. The fact that he speaks pretty good English and can communicate with everyone is already a massive upgrade in all honesty.
View: https://youtu.be/ukhSkrT9ES8?si=Ig-lFPGVaUlLpqbL
View: https://youtu.be/ukhSkrT9ES8?si=Ig-lFPGVaUlLpqbL
How was Wirtz in comparison who playing what his second game?
He does seem a good lad - humble and excited to be here.
Lets face it, his direct competition is going to be a Swede, so Modo's just putting his markers down early.
I think he needs to do some good stuff relatively quickly just because of how he looks and moves. There will be some on his back for that.
With Nuñez, you think, well, all the ingredients are there, it's just that someone incomprehensibly puts the cake in the oven upside down about two thirds of the time, and now the house is on fire.
Ekitike is like you baked a cake made of elbows, inside a nice shoe. If he's not productive you aren't as likely to think "it'll all come together, it has to."
I don't know whether Nunez being so disappointing ultimately is a helpful preface either, or not. It's further complicated if Isak was to come. It might mean he's seen as a project we can actually develop who doesn't need to start all the time, or it might just make him somewhat overlooked.
THe top red move is to wait a while and really Support the young man. Unless he's shit, that is. Like evidently so. Then you blame shrinkflation in the striker market.
With Nuñez, you think, well, all the ingredients are there, it's just that someone incomprehensibly puts the cake in the oven upside down about two thirds of the time, and now the house is on fire.
Ekitike is like you baked a cake made of elbows, inside a nice shoe. If he's not productive you aren't as likely to think "it'll all come together, it has to."
I don't know whether Nunez being so disappointing ultimately is a helpful preface either, or not. It's further complicated if Isak was to come. It might mean he's seen as a project we can actually develop who doesn't need to start all the time, or it might just make him somewhat overlooked.
THe top red move is to wait a while and really Support the young man. Unless he's shit, that is. Like evidently so. Then you blame shrinkflation in the striker market.
I am confused.
You and I usually agree on stuff, but watching those highlights, I couldn't disagree more. It's only one game, but from what I saw in those highlights, I was actually impressed (not blown away; but I thought it was a good debut; positives to build on). I am not sure if he's ready to be the main man yet, but I don't think he's far off - like one season of acclimatising).
Here's why. In preseason, what I want to see from new players is their ability. When I watched Darwin in his first preseason games, I saw a guy scoring a couple of goals, but also a guy with an average to poor first touch, very poor link-up play, poor decision-making, poor finishing and non-existent dribbling (it was kick and run). I wasn't impressed and whilst he's improved over his time, he's still not at the level we require.
With Hugo, based on the highlighted clips, here's what I saw:
0:25 - Excellent pressing from behind, wins the ball back. Salah heads it out.
0:34 - Quick to loose ball and wins 2 v 1 challenge by using his length to get a lovely little flick off to Szobo and get us possession, who then gets it off to Salah in a dangerous position.
0:38 - Excellent forward run between defenders, decent first touch with the outside of his boot to hold up possession, then a poor 2nd touch as he tries to touch it with the outside of his right foot and he misses the ball (as he's concerned about the defender). Then the defender nudges him off balance as he’s about to try a drag back to retrieve the ball. (replay around 0:55 shows this more clearly)
0:46 - Playing between the lines. Intelligent link up play and awareness with a simple lay-off to Bradley, but what’s more impressive is the desire he shows to join in after the lay off. Gets well away from his tight marker after the lay off.
1:00 - Pressing (although I’d have liked to have seen it more curved).
1:06 - Excellent first touch and positive driving run. Runs into too many players though. Should have retain possession, but I like the fact he control the ball so easily with his studs.
1:19 - Good pressing from behind again. Wins ball back.
1:25 - Checks shoulder and engages with defender, then times his run across CB to get a flick shot at goal. Had the ball been played in from of him and not behind him, it would have likely been a one-touch goal. But the movement here was sharp and well-timed.
1:41 - Tries to step across and hold off defender. Loses ball as he’s nudged off balance. Needs to work on his strength. Would also have liked to have seen him press after losing it.
1:50 - Negative slow play. Could have utilised a 2 v 1 with Gravy there, but could have been instruction from Slot to slow the play down a bit at that moment and not go gung-ho end-to-end as we always did under Jurgen.
2:01 - Reacts fast to loose ball. And good one touch off to Salah, then looks to get the return. Simple, intelligent link-up play. Not greedy poor decision making. He also has a good instinctive reaction (to press) when he sees we lose the ball.
2:13 - Nothing to note here.
2:18 - Finds space in the box, but not a great touch to control. It comes at him fast, and there’s a defender who jumps in front of it; it required a special touch, but wasn’t able to do so.
2:24 - Wins a duel for a loose ball he’s not favourite for, and gets it off in one touch to Bradley.
2:33 - Excellent pressing. Almost wins the ball.
To surmise:
Good intelligent link-up play.
Reacts fast to loose balls.
Generally a good first touch.
Sharp movement in box. Understood it would take a one-touch finish and positioned himself as such.
Generally good pressing and first reaction when we lose the ball.
Good aggression to attack space once he’s laid it off.
He looks pretty mobile too.
Needs to work on his body strength as he may get bullied in PL, if he tries to be physical and hold off defenders; which may affect his link up and hold up play.
This is my opinion just based on the clips alone. Maybe he had another 100 shocking touches that I haven't seen that wasn't clipped. But on these clips, I see a technical foundation that can be built upon and is good enough to be effective in the PL.
For comparison, if I compare some of the clips I've seen of Gyokeres:
View: https://x.com/CF_Compss/status/1950914817763733649/video/1
Now, maybe it's unfair on the lad as he's hardly had any training, but his 15 min cameo, I didn't see much to be excited about except his movement and instinct to run in behind.
0:04 - Misses a header after good movement to get.
0:14 - Shite ball to him, but in Portugal, he's have knocked over the defender when they bumped into each other. In the PL, it's different. Danso looked just as strong. If his game is about creating finishing opportunities through his physicality, Arsenal fans are in for a rude awakening.
0:23 - Shite ball to him, but again, in Portugal, he's making up ground on the defender, nudging him off the ball, and possibly creating a chance here. With Danso, he makes up no ground, but is still fortunate that Danso makes a mistake, but is unable to capitalise.
0:32 - Excellent double movement and strength to bully Porro, and a better ball would have got in front of goal for a finish.
0:39 - Good movement and good timing to run into channel. Dowman doesn't play pass.
0:47 - Loses duel in air with Danso.
0:54 - Loses duel on ground with Danso.
Summary:
Good intelligent movement.
Seems to have aggressive instincts to always get in behind and attack the box, as I saw him trying to get in behind a few times (not in the clips), but the ball was not played by Arsenal midfielders.
Much of his game is about physicality. In Portugal, he had a decided advantage over his opponents with his physicality. In the PL, he won't enjoy that advantage as much as he did there, and his technique will have to hold up against the top defenders.
We weren't able to see much of his technique/ability today as barely had a touch (maybe 2).
View: https://x.com/CF_Compss/status/1950914817763733649/video/1
Now, maybe it's unfair on the lad as he's hardly had any training, but his 15 min cameo, I didn't see much to be excited about except his movement and instinct to run in behind.
0:04 - Misses a header after good movement to get.
0:14 - Shite ball to him, but in Portugal, he's have knocked over the defender when they bumped into each other. In the PL, it's different. Danso looked just as strong. If his game is about creating finishing opportunities through his physicality, Arsenal fans are in for a rude awakening.
0:23 - Shite ball to him, but again, in Portugal, he's making up ground on the defender, nudging him off the ball, and possibly creating a chance here. With Danso, he makes up no ground, but is still fortunate that Danso makes a mistake, but is unable to capitalise.
0:32 - Excellent double movement and strength to bully Porro, and a better ball would have got in front of goal for a finish.
0:39 - Good movement and good timing to run into channel. Dowman doesn't play pass.
0:47 - Loses duel in air with Danso.
0:54 - Loses duel on ground with Danso.
Summary:
Good intelligent movement.
Seems to have aggressive instincts to always get in behind and attack the box, as I saw him trying to get in behind a few times (not in the clips), but the ball was not played by Arsenal midfielders.
Much of his game is about physicality. In Portugal, he had a decided advantage over his opponents with his physicality. In the PL, he won't enjoy that advantage as much as he did there, and his technique will have to hold up against the top defenders.
We weren't able to see much of his technique/ability today as barely had a touch (maybe 2).
Wirtz is top class. He can sleep walk through a game and still be top class. Got the MOM award too.
@ibromurph , I'm not going to quote both your posts cause fuck me you've got a lot free time 🤣.
I don't necessarily disagree with your analysis of both players, but it still doesn't change my view that I thought he was poor. For instance, how many shots on goal do you see in that compilation?
0/4 duels won apparently and 43% pass accuracy. He was on the pitch with Wirtz, Gakkers, Szobo and Salah against one of the bottom teams in the J-league. I'm sorry but that performance didn't impress me at all especially looking at his price tag..
Regarding Gyökeres, like I said, I'm not really a fan, but in his defence he was playing against Spurs.
Hope he does better against Bilbao.
I don't necessarily disagree with your analysis of both players, but it still doesn't change my view that I thought he was poor. For instance, how many shots on goal do you see in that compilation?
0/4 duels won apparently and 43% pass accuracy. He was on the pitch with Wirtz, Gakkers, Szobo and Salah against one of the bottom teams in the J-league. I'm sorry but that performance didn't impress me at all especially looking at his price tag..
Regarding Gyökeres, like I said, I'm not really a fan, but in his defence he was playing against Spurs.
OK, maybe saying that he was "shite" was a bit sensationalistic or hyperbolic, but again, not impressed.
Hope he does better against Bilbao.
So you can look top class even in your first few days at a new club it seems.
I'm getting bedside lamp vibes!
Did he really only touch the ball once? How long was he on for?
Their fans are going crazy after yesterdays game. Arteta out had already started.
Spent a fair bit of time putting this montage together... then found that it took too many words to discuss so I gave up. So I'm just going to leave it here. 😀
Anyway, for context, it shows how Salah/Gakpo/Diaz were getting into the 6-yard box in open play to get shot attempts last season, versus the scarce no. of attempts from Nunez/Jota. Result? Each of the wide forwards outscored the centre forwards combined, across all competitions.
Also shows how Ekitike (and Isak if he joins) is different from Nunez/Jota in this aspect (different tactics, or quality, or both?). And lastly, how Wirtz is more like Nunez/Jota where shot attempts in the 6-yard box in open play is concerned.
postimg.cc
Anyway, for context, it shows how Salah/Gakpo/Diaz were getting into the 6-yard box in open play to get shot attempts last season, versus the scarce no. of attempts from Nunez/Jota. Result? Each of the wide forwards outscored the centre forwards combined, across all competitions.
Also shows how Ekitike (and Isak if he joins) is different from Nunez/Jota in this aspect (different tactics, or quality, or both?). And lastly, how Wirtz is more like Nunez/Jota where shot attempts in the 6-yard box in open play is concerned.
Screenshot 2025 08 01 17 17 44 — Postimages
They should have been that for 2 years already. He's tactically inept
He's done well lifting them out of the drift they were in before he got there, but the signs are that he lacks what's needed to take that final step up to winning big. It's a re-run of the situation in which we found ourselves with GH back in the day.
Will probably be like that for quite a few of our fans as well
View: https://x.com/anfieldedition/status/1951977364356845775?s=46
View: https://x.com/anfieldedition/status/1951977364356845775?s=46
Looked really good yesterday. Some positive signs after just a week of training.
That run, take on and assist for Salah's 1-0 goal was a bit Torresesque.
View: https://x.com/KfjcompsV30196/status/1952465612531552360
That run, take on and assist for Salah's 1-0 goal was a bit Torresesque.
View: https://x.com/KfjcompsV30196/status/1952465612531552360
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