Yet another I didn’t like about that deal. You are right that it looks worse a year on. With luck he will kick on, but to turn it back to the thread topic, I don’t think he is as good a fit as Ekiteke for what Slot is trying to do. Slot’s style just doesn’t create those run-through opportunities in the center that to me are Isak’s stock in trade, it is much more prone to creating wide space.
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I don’t even know what Slot’s style is.
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We either sell him on and accept the loss or we get him to play like he used to play at Sociedad where he was a much more multifaceted forward.
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Yes, but …
I think of it as sort of a temu tiki taka. Possession above all, but replace the give-and-go central attacking runs that Spain/Barca perfected 15 years ago with open wide runs as the defence is forced to be more compact. The problem as we saw is that that is the space most defences are willing to give you first in order to protect more dangerous areas, and we now have relatively few players who can make dangerous use of that space.
Here is our heat map for Brentford.
It is not great, all the penetration down one side and relatively little inside the box. However, take away one player and the problem becomes glaring.
Just a couple of touches in the box, dead center - very likely with the back to the goal. Otherwise, kept safely out of the attacking quarter of the field.
Guess who that removed player is?
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Salah, surely?
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Yes - Slot’s passing creates a chance for the wide forward to run at or behind the fullback, starting about 20-25 yards from the goal line. No one ever made that run on the left, and it disappeared when Salah went off. We are so frequently reducing to passing the ball around in a massive C shape centered about 30 yards out, relieved only by passing backwards to retain possession. The heat map without Salah damn near makes a C
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I think we will get much more out of Isak with better coaching for the whole team, and a couple of key additions, especially on the wing.
I think Wirtz could link up with him a treat too, through the middle, and indeed it was a nice little pass from Wirtz to Isak, who scored against Spurs, only to have some Dutch caveman flying into him, full heft at pace, to break his leg.
I also think Isak will look a lot better with productive wingers in the side.
Don’t get me wrong, we paid a lot, he has been unfit and then injured, and the age is creeping up a bit so he should be peak prime, rather than at the start of a nice journey. So there are legitimate causes for concern.
But for me the jury is still out, as I know he is a good player and can do a lot better than this. I’m not the guru, but better coaching for him and the whole team, plus better options on the wing, and we’ll see what’s what.
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Diaz was 29 in January, Isak is 27 in September and was considered a reliable goalscorer based on his previous history of scoring.
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In a system completely different to our own. With no consideration given to owners fit into our defensive scheme. And we already had Ekitike in the bag. And if that wasn’t bad enough. We sell the one player (Diaz) most likely to be setting up chances for him.
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David Lynch mentioned one of his most recent video on the coaches that supporters are hoping to replace Slot. He mentioned that under Andoni Iraola, AFC Bournemouth has a long list of injuries, and that would be a concern. I just looked up the full list of absence/injury in 23/24 to 25/26. It is indeed very long. Would that be the intensity of the training and attacking football that Iraola demands, similar to Kloppo? Or it’s just looking at glass as half empty?
Our system was supposed to be moving to something different anyway, so I’m not sure how relevant that is.
At Newcastle he did press. Not as intensively as people would like but I think this has been more an issue with the coaching set up here than the player.
A young player with a limited history and a need to adapt to the rigours of premier league football.
Although he’s just hit 23 assists in one season in Germany, Diaz’s record here was 23 assists across 4 and half seasons, similar to Gakpo’s output over the same length of time.
Prior to winning the league last season there were a number of fans on here suggesting he should be sold because despite his effort, his output wasn’t that great.
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Cant really win though mate. Training intensity is low under Slot and we’ve had tons of injuries but we had a few under Jurgen when training intensity was high.
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Possibly. Someone posted a video recently of Semenyo talking about the training regime at Bournemouth being fairly intensive - I think they were training virtually everyday.
There may be some mitigating circumstances though. A club like Bournemouth doesn’t have the biggest budgets available so is going to pick up a lot of players with sometimes questionable fitness records because they are affordable. They will also have a lot of youngsters in and around the squad and sometimes they have muscle problems because they haven’t finished growing yet.
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And that got them UEL despite the whole team being gutted by all the bigger fishes in the pond…
Then get one and not the other. Ekitike money could have been used for a winger or a centre back. And is our scouting setup so bad that we have to supplement a buy with a more expensive player of the exact same profile…because we don’t trust ourselves?!
These look worse the more you scrutinise them.
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Yep, I got into an argument with one where I was saying that February onwards it was Diaz that was the player that carried us towards the title with his overall work ethic, performance and important goals.
They countered with Mo and Gakpo’s numbers, which were similar for that period but, Mo’s included penalties, it wasn’t just the numbers going forward with Diaz it was his all round relentless play.
The person I had the disagreement with now regularly berates the management for selling him.
Sometimes you don’t always appreciate a player until they have gone.
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What a shite post
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