I know. I also know he’s much better on the left. I also know he’s a damn sight better than Jordan anywhere on the pitch.
Don’t you think he’s best on the left?
I bloody hope “the club” aren’t clueless enough to think a limited player like Gakpo plus a 17 year old diminutive child wouldn’t combine to replace a dynamic street smart player like Diaz!
Otherwise we are in deeper trouble than I thought.
Ekitike and perhaps Wirtz would also be seen as taking up games on the left or up front, spaces Diaz would otherwise cover, then there is Isak up front too.
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I agree with you that Diaz leaving isn’t the only reason for us falling apart. There are even big chances that his performance levels would have fallen off a cliff as well, as most of our players. Maybe Diaz wanted to depart because he felt that it wouldn’t go well this season?
The main reason of what I called our fragility was Slot imo. After his initial great spell, he simply didn’t seem able to get through to the players, and convince them of what he wanted to do.
The situation is changed now. No more fragility. I’m quite sure that Iraola will be able to get through to the players, or else, weed those out who don’t buy into his ideas. Better times ahead.
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To be fair, he has only played on the left for us. And he has been very good. But there is simply not enough games to judge him by for playing on the right, so there is really no comparison. He is showing great promises on the left, but there is nothing to say that he would not be excellent on the right, unless he gets an extended run on that side to prove or disprove that.
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I’m sure he popped up on the right a couple of times.
I don’t get it. Slot commented repeatedly on our need to evolve how we play, with specific emphasis on more control in the final third. This necessitates bringing in a different profile of player…as in not getting like for like replacements for the ones we allow to leave.
You can not like the idea or its execution. But lots of people seem to refuse to acknowledge what it was we actually did and why
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Yeah, a small number of time, often during those “I have no idea what this team is trying to do right now” periods of games. But he definitely had some minutes there. But I think Gasband’s point is still a good one - he has played so little football at this level that I don’t see how anyone who hasn’t seem him work in the flesh can make judgements on how effective he’d be on the other side.
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All I can think of on Diaz and Rio and so on is an agreement was made that he could go and that we would have Gakpo, Rio but also Jota for that position. Maybe once Jota had sadly passed away maybe we should have tried to keep him and not bothered with Isak but I do think we buggered ourselves on that.
I think if Newcastle had held firm it would have been for the best with us then again by that type Diaz had gone. After all Diaz had moved more centrally. I know not everyone would have been comfortable but I would with Salah, Hugo, Jota, Gakpo and Rio as our options with perhaps Wirtz being used up there and Dominik.
@Mascot was right about scapegoating Gakpo.
He’s not a limited player. He’s a player who simply had a poor season, like many others in the team..
There’s no need to go overboard on this.
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Likely the plan was always to rebuild… rarely (unless you are in a 2 club league like La Liga, etc) can you rebuild without a step back and leaving gaps in the process.
I just don’t think the step back was expected to be so big.