Doesn’t mean they are similar players.
Its like saying Yamal and Olmo are similar becuase they can both come central or stay wide…
Not really. Yamal stays wide a lot and gets behind his full back.
Again, I never said similar players. I said he likes to ttake up positions Wirtz will be in
Think people need to realise we’re evolving and that burning pace and goal threat on the wings we’ve been used to for the last few years likely won’t be the way we go in future.
The goals are predominantly going to come from more central players with the wider players being more providers whilst chipping in with some goals. What we won’t see is Salah and Mane levels of 20-30 league goals coming from the wings.
I think this lad would give us good balance and variety. You want pace to run in behind, well we’ve got Munoz and Frimpong for when we’re not up against low blocks that negate that threat quite easily. You play against a low block we’ve got tricky and fast twitch in Ngumoha or crafty and creative with Akliouche. Plus whatever Gakpo is.
I suspect we’ll also see a return of the more attacking intent of our fullbacks to bring some of that pace and overlapping threat so it’s not just on the forwards to offer that pacey threat.
Plus the lad is left footed and brings positional flexibility which is no bad thing to have. I’d be more comfortable with him than Barcola if we’re only adding one more and he’s less one dimensional than a Minteh who I think has some of his weaknesses masked by just his sheer pace.
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That’s the real trick isn’t it, how the whole team comes together. I assume if we are really considering Akliouche, then Iraola must have some idea of how to make him and the whole team balance work.
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Yamal also comes in centrally to take up the #10 role; Olmo also drifts wide.
Like Akliouche and Wirtz, all these players have different ways of interpreting the game, and that’s the point…
Football isnt changing in this aspect. Pace and goals out wide will still be massively important.
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Nope. Don´t agree at all.
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Completely agree…
I’ll just add that it seems like the evolution is also in the direction of multi functionality, with players of the profiles that enable the team to play in different ways…
I´d imagine wed want pace on the other side and with Aklouche we want even more help to find the runs of our strikers.
But as you say, Iraola must have a vision of it.
Watching PSG, Barcelona, and Spain, I see that attacking positions are all about positional play. The connections and rotations matter more than fixed roles like RW, LW, or ST.
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Surely you see all three of those have pace and trickery out wide? As do Bayern.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Doué both rely on their technique. They’re far from being speed merchants. The one who depends the most on pace is actually Dembele.
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Could just be a bit of gamesmanship to hurry PSG along but if he is a target maybe the plan is to have a lineup option with the width coming from overlapping wing backs - both Kerkez and Frimpong were more attacking at their previous clubs. Wirtz and Akliouche to start wide and drift in to support the central striker 2 CMs and a DM that can drop back to form a defensive 3 when needed.
For other games go for more traditional wingers like Rio and Munoz with Wirtz or Dom as the central 10, full backs as part of a back 4 and two CMs.
It would be nice to see a bit of tactical flexibility that isn’t just move a midfielder to right back.
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They´re decently quick and tricky.
And they stay fairly wide.
What game is that? His entire season including when he plays in the middle?
I´m talking about when he is on the left
Ok we done here.
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He switched flanks
Notice barely anything in the middle
What are you trying to prove here?
They are very fluid and switch positions consistently, and are far from sticking to the flanks like you said. They also don’t rely on pace much either.
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