Gravenberch
World class at turning out of pressure with the ball. Very good at running forward with the ball right after
Absolute pants at passing out of it. Literally will pass back to the opposition within five yards or will make a very badly judged pass that will be intercepted easily.
Macca has the opposite problem. Elite passer given a bit of time and space. Can’t sprint or even shift quickly laterally for toffee.
im quite new to this forum but i see you quite often post things like this. Really taken a dislike to Wirtz eh
Doesnt matter though if Jones isnt in midfield either.
Well Mac was pretty good last year but now he looks like he isnt a footballer, unfit, slow and out of the game. Gravenberch looks impressive when he runs forward but he cant really pass and doesn´t have the defensive instincts to sit in front of the back four. Basically a mess of a midfield.
Well, as anyone who has seen Goal will tell you, the ball travels faster than the man.
Plus the fact that every time he charges forward he has vacated the position in front of our defence and so leaves them exposed.
He had a good season last year but I think he´s another one who isn´t quite up to it.
Got to give huge plaudits to Ekitike, after the match. Still has his boot on. He made a huge effort to come and he is hobbling on the pitch to say thank you to the fans. He gets Liverpool. Get well soon Hugo.
Agreed. If we are to improve as a year I think we need to look to replace both Grav and Macca. I’d keep Dom as he can fill in a number of positions temporarily, although he needs to be taught positional discipline. And he’s not very good at keeping possession under pressure. He has to keep moving to maintain possession.
Id do the same but the issue is that Dom probably wouldn´t fancy being a squad player and for me the midfield should be ballplaying CM, DM and Wirtz.
He´s also a player we could get a lot of money for.
Speaking of Wirtz
I’m still not sold on him. For a player who cost so much and was touted so much he really hasn’t shown enough. I remember when we got Coutinho he almost immediately started showing his spark and it only grew from there.
Not seen anything of the sort from Flo. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but jury still out for me.
If he is to be part of a midfield 3 he has to show a lot more steel when we do t have the ball.
Wondering if we can use his as a false 9 à la firmino
I think that’s partly because while they are both creative attacking players, they fulfil slightly different roles don’t they?
Coutinho is much more the guy directly assisting and scoring goals, while Wirtz is often described as the guy who gets the ball to those like Coutinho in a dangerous area doing the assisting and scoring.
Given our team’s lack of movement, it’s not really that surprising that we’re not seeing the best of Wirtz.
I think he shows a lot of quality in how he moves the ball and some good vision and awareness but for that money we need to see him taking the game by the scruff of the neck more.
I do think our midfield never pass to him when they should and the movement ahead is poor but even so, he needs to be demanding it and making things happen.
The big worry is he got better and started to look like the player we bought, then got much worse again.
I mean Phil pretty much picked up the ball in midfield and scored all by himself many times. That right footed curler he used to hit was ridiculous!
That’s when in the second half of the season we strung together three wins in the trot and then the bottom fell out and the team went down spiralling
Yeah but recently honestly it looked like he was hiding from the ball at times.
A far cry from the swagger he had months back. Very concerning.
Coutinho was a magnificent player and that swagger and ability is what we should expect from Wirtz for that fee.
Lots of issues with Wirtz this season. But we have to remind ourselves that he just turned 23. His best is ahead of him.
I just wish I could count on our head coach to get the most out of him. One of the main reasons I wanted Alonso, tbh.
He also got hurt right around then, which sapped his momentum. I also think the season took a major physical toll on him - he was knackered by the end of it.
For me where I expected more was in his clever through passing.
More crispness and more guile. He does it sometimes but often he is happy just to pass it to the wings. Maybe movement is a factor but even so.
I am hoping he turns up like what happened to Bobby where he looked okay and Brendan didn’t know how to use him . Then Jürgen came in and transformed him into the best false 9 in the world for a glorious period. Not saying that’s Flo’s position, just a manager who can unlock his potential.
Lets hope so.
In my view the team absolutely has to be built around him. Get a midfield that brings him into the game, get him in the 10 in his best position (no more shunting him to the left) and get pace and movement in front of him and he will thrive.
There is definitely a very good, special player in Wirtz. What I find to be holding him back in this first season of attrition we call the PL, is the guy; slight in frame anyway; is neither conditioned, nor been trained to a fitness level that is necessary for the speed of the games… and that, unfortunately, is down to Arne Slot and his backroom staff…
Get the lad fit for purpose, and he will probably light games up…
He’s more of a Thiago type player to me, I’ve seen what he can do in Leverkusen.