Taki might object to such liberal expectations of his tongue.
That’s why with potentially 6 months left and a chance to be involved in at least some action before the close and us going on all 4 fronts I can see why he would stay, I can also see why clubs would wait for a free I’m not sure they would be any higher to be honest.
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Taki on the scoresheet in Japan’s WC qualifier against Saudi.
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Read somewhere recently that 5000 LFC shirts a day are sold in Japan with his name on the back…!
No wonder he ain’t going anywhere just yet eh :0)
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Nice little promo, surprising its taken so long. I like the guy a lot and he’s scoring goals just not sure how he fits in as the team is evolving. Shares some traits with Firmino so when he was brought in it made a lot of sense as we were missing a Firmino cover for a while but the team seems to be evolving past the need for a false 9 now and Taki doesn’t seem a good fit to cover Jota.
Think its best for him to stick around another year as a flexible, versatile, attacking mid/supporting strike who can offer emergency cover on the wings. Got a feeling there’ll be some changes in midfield and attack this summer and we tend not to want to change too much at any one time.
He should ditch that hairstyle from the 70’s and get himself a badass Harvey cut
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Something clicked in him in the last 10 mins of the first half against Cardiff. Rather than play the safe pass, he dropped a shoulder and took on a player or two. Did it a few times from that point, breaking into the space behind the Cardiff midfield and also winning free kicks.
Needs to be braver on the ball like in that game. Will get more chances then.
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I have no problem with his look, although think he looks cooler when he has his lil goatie, but he just needs a bit of fire and cockiness. He’s too timid and just needs to grow into bit more of a self assured bad ass! Fly Danny Agger in with his tattoo guns!
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Not playing on the right helps him, he’s crap out there. Way too weak and not quick enough to get into 1v1s with fullbacks. Better if he can drift in centrally from the left or start there, though he lacks a bit of strength to do the Firmino role as well.
He’s definitely got a goal scoring instinct and weaker elements of his game are less evident against the poorer sides. He’s doing well in the domestic cups.
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He’s more like a number 10 than anything and we don’t play with one. Player he reminds me of the most maybe is Yossi Benayoun but Yossi was a bit quicker so more useful in other roles. I think.
Taki is definitely having moments. On Sunday it wasn’t just the goal, but it was his clever play that earned us the free kick from which Jota scored. There is a player in there and he’s shown plenty of glimpses of it, the issue is how much he still finds himself on the outside of a game. When a player is showing glimpses of what he can offer there is always a chance of it clicking, but after being here this long for every game it doesnt happen the chances go down considerably.
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Bonk!
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So, so, happy to see he is enjoying. So proud of Henderson and VVD for hyping the crowd up. Even when Takumi leaves, he will have a lot of fond memories.
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Very impressive last night, the goals were both excellent but his all round game seemed to go up several levels. He held the ball up, made space, broke the lines and was constantly moving and dragging defenders around.
For £7.5mil he is a brilliant squad player.
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Definitely a lot of behind-the-scenes work being done in training and we’re starting to see the results of that.
Mostly against not very good teams but his goal per minute ratio this season is insane.
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Thing is his spacial awareness and ability to get in seems to have improved.
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I think we bought him for this - it’s just taken him a bit longer than hoped to adapt to our patterns and for others to know his movements. def made harder by Covid and language/cultural issues - hopefully we’ll see the Taki we expected now
Think we also have to remember this is his first “full” season with us. Likely not to ever challenge for a regular starting spot, but there’s definitely minutes for him, and if we do transition to 5 subs next year like planned, I am sure he will play a decent role.