Too many declarative statements about the qualities of a lad who turned 18 six weeks ago.
He’s being trusted by a new manager to start games, that’s a big statement about his ability.
He’s 3 years younger than Lewis Koumas, for example.
11 Likes
Let’s not be too quick to call him overrated. As @Sweeting says, he just turned 18. There is plenty more development to come. Seems like Gakpo will leave next summer when we bring in a right wing specialist (hopefully Olise or Rayan) and then Rio can focus more on the left. There will be plenty of minutes available to make him happy.
When he gets played on the right, if he (and this applies to Munoz as well) works on getting to the byline and cutting the ball back sharply (like how Mane used to do and Saka currently does) then Isak would absolutely feast on those!
1 Like
As Liver said, the biggest plus for me was that one pass to Koumas as it shows that he does have the vision and execution of pass to develop and to develop he needs to add variety and then learn to use all his tools in the right situation, which develops over time.
1 Like
It´s not really a big deal to say he´s a bit overrated right now.
Doesn´t mean he won´t be a top player. It just means that right now, people are expecting him to do too much and over estimating what he can do at his tender age.
If anything, it was mostly the club last year.
I just think it has a negative ring to it when there’s nothing negative or abnormal about his development. It’s all completely normal.
Edit: That said, he’s ahead of most 18-year-old attackers, which make hm even more not overrated.
2 Likes
Well it depends doesn´t it, on what people are saying his level is, 18 or 80.
People were expecting him to seriously cover Diaz last year, not least the club. He wasn´t capable of that, nor should he be expected to be.
Everyone 18 year old at the club is ahead of most 18 year olds tbf
Who’s overrates him?
For any one he should be seen as a fantastic young player with real potential.
Anyone looking to sell him is fucking mad 
.
whoever even though that was a possibility should have been fired on the spot. we have a duty of care to protect him and not ruin his career before it has started
Apparently a few people at the club.
Madness.
1 Like
Do you seriously listen to such nonsense?
What people at the club?
#sacknonsensemongersatLFC .
I don´t think I had to listen. He was the only cover.
1 Like
Ekitike and wirtz can and do play on the left
Cover of what? 
You make no sense to me with that 
.
All our players seem to play on the left .
1 Like
On the left wing. The position Diaz was in until we sold him.
Are you drunk? 
1 Like
No but still having difficulty following the conversation, logic whatever.
Rio was not used that much by Slot, unfortunately imo.
It was covered mainly by Gakpo and a bit by Wirtz if I remember correctly.
My question was over who at the club which I thought was evident from my # .
And that is what I said Rio should be learning from Cody. Cody will not be here longer than Rio on paper but look at Cody this season when he gets moved around, left, right middle, he continues making himself relevant and gets involved and the coach will feel confident to put him in even if he knows Cody does not prefer certain positions.
So it’s not a hit on Rio, everyone can see that potential last season but the faster he can adapt to playing in his non preferred position whenever he gets played, the more he will build that resilience and build that confidence the team can have in him. Again no one is saying he needs to do it now or else he is out but at this level where he is no longer just a impact sub option, he will have to learn pretty quickly.
From what I’ve seen he is/does learn quickly. You see subtle and evident changes in how he approaches situations. Last season imo we saw his raw approach to the left wing position. He then went through a phase were he was almost a copy cat copy of Gakpo (so had evidently been working with Gakpo) then you saw him adapting that to something even better.
He started having some outings on the right and seemed to struggle with some aspects (from what I saw particularly protecting the ball when coming inside) first thing we saw was him using the outside more and playing cut backs. He then went off with the England camp and really improved on the right (winning a MOTM in a pre comp ‘friendly’). He’s no longer the player we saw at the beginning of last season.
He’s probably still at the stage where his best role is coming on later on in the match when everyone is tiring however we see the manager using him to start matches as well.
All this is great for us the club and the squad imo.
I hope he gets called up to the England camp some more as it seems to be good for him. Gives him something else to think about and he learns new stuff.
He’s a talented young lad playing at a very high level where he will surely have moments where he struggles and others where he excels. I don’t think there’s anything else to say except let’s just enjoy watching his journey.
1 Like