Piece by Jones about Diaz
Have to post this here too.
Can see DĆaz playing as a CF for us. Looks more a natural #9 than Mo or Diogo do.
We all knew he could beat a player and score a banger, but the other stuff stood out tonight. Held the ball up well, stood up to physical challenges, looked good playing neat little passes round the corner and linking up with Robbo.
He didnāt look out of place for a second. Unlucky not to score at the end there. Very impressive.
Heās done more in one game than Grealish might have done the entire season. More Pep memes in the pipeline surely.
Excellent first PL game. Now he has to maintain this level while adding the goals to it (almost got one or two to be fair). Itās certainly a very encouraging debut!
Donāt think that debut couldāve gone any better, he was sublime.
The sharpness is on another level.
https://twitter.com/AnfieldWatch/status/1491894850245046280
Good luck benching that.
Yeah thatās what impressed me the most we know he could run and hit it but if he fell down in the wind it would be pointless.
He seems like he loves playing as well and his strength was good to see.
His sunken eyes and skeletal cheekbones remind me of Rivaldo.
Loved watching him just because of this. Donāt know if heāll be a Salah-level success or not, but heāll certainly be very good indeed.
Couldnāt have expected any more from him last night! A goal would have been amazing obv, but the way heās just dropped in and got amongst it is remarkable. When he gels weāre going to be so, so dangerous. I still think weāre going to win it this year (and the CL) but if we donāt then next season suddenly looks a lot more exciting!! Absolutely brilliant signing
Andy Robertson on Luis Diaz:
āHe doesnāt speak much Scottish, thatās for sure! He sits next to me in the training room but his English is very, very little. The people who speak Spanish are helping him settle in a lot.ā
āI can help, I just kind of smile and laugh at him and try to make him feel comfortable. But I think I need to learn āman onā or ātimeā [in Spanish] and maybe that will do for now!ā
Crazy how natural those two worked together.
From the Columbia games I saw when we signed him, the few times the ball did go down the left side of the pitch instead of through Rodriguez, Diaz tended to drift in with the full-back overlapping. Think this suits his and our game well.
Yeah, we particularly want our wide forwards to occupy half spaces (at City par example is the opposite, wingers wider, two #8ās pushing higher, full backs tucking inside), especially the left one with Robbo pushing on higher and wider than Trent. At times, when Mane went into his shell this season and started playing with less bravery, due to Robboās lack of creativity 1v1, it was like we hit a wall down that side and the ball just kept coming back to our CMās. There is of course moments/periods in the game when you do need a bit of that, to slow the game down. But already against Cardiff, you could see where Diaz was looking to move, place himself, receive the ball. And thatās exactly what we want in that aspect.
For all those who think he ought to be starting right now, and that heās been amazing so far, JĆ¼rgen just said today that he needs time to adapt.
Imagine what a monster heās going to be when he does.
This lad is a serious talent. The front line wasnāt functioning at all tonight until he came on. Heās perpetual motion. Pops up all over the place. That interchange with Trent was fantastic. Maybe he should have taken the shot first time but itās only a matter of time before he starts banging them in. A very exciting player.
I agree, one of those players that gets you off your seat, not afraid to take players on and seems to find space a fair bit.
He actually reminds me of what ManƩ used to be like in that sense, of always looking to make some runs with the ball.
My exact thinkingā¦.
That chance would have been a great goal.