Quote:
Originally Posted by Wotton
Monaco played very well I thought, pressing very high up the pitch, not letting the midfield ever build anything (31 losses of possession for PSG) worthwile and banking on Cavani not being enough to create danger by using the space left behind. The midfield on paper for Monaco has always been excellent and Bakayoko, Silva and Sidibé outplayed the PSG midfield hard.
Motta Verrati were not up at their usual level tonight. Actually come to think of it it's been a long time since I have seen them perform at what my memory (maybe I'm wrong) tells me should be their level. Same for Rabiot. I wonder how someone who's better at isolating individual performances from watching a game like Bjorn would judge their evolution recently
I still don't understand why David Luiz is preferred to Marquinhos. He did a massive blunder again tonight.
I didn't see the game unfortunately.
Yes the time for Marquinhos to push Luiz aside is without a doubt here. It's been here for a while. Now he is getting back from the Olympics though so we'll see when he is really back. Some of these Olympians around Europe are already playing though.
The big thing will be when Krychowiak starts playing and takes control of the midfield. I think that should also free up Verratti (more) for even more exciting things.
It looks like they'll keep Matuidi, who Juve had been pushing hard for, so he'll stay and play his role.
Rabiot? Is he really what he is already? Can he suddenly get stronger? I think that when I thought about his potential when he first broke through (then had the contract dispute setback) the physical package was part of that, expecting him to get strong also, but that hasn't really happened. Guy is tall! And a classy midfielder (who should get stronger).
When it comes to Monaco I just really dislike their coach Jardim. I acknowledge that he is good and get decent to good results but here we have a club where agents, or one agent in particular I guess, showcase a lot of their elite talent. Monaco have so much talent every year and then all we get to see is them playing ultra defensive most of the time. No possession. No shots on goal. No dribbling. Of course their XG is fine and maybe officially they're not some development team for generating agent money, maybe Jardim's results are everything stance is what is keeping illusions of a real football club alive and well.
I just care a lot more about a Kylian Mbappe (best player at U19 EUROS), Bernardo Silva (best player at U21 EUROS) and Ruben Vinagre (best player at U17 EUROS dominating absurdly from left-back) or very emerging right now Lemar and Bakayoko than I do about Monaco. Then I didn't even mention the
other Adama Traore who became notorious last U20 World Cup, but where it's more up in the air what kind of talent that he really is, and I'm sure there are more.
Of course some of these names are such sure things that they can't be stopped playing well for Monaco. It was the same with Martial who had incredible performances under Jardim. And we'll see them shine elsewhere eventually, but for me, mostly, it's depressing that a team with this much talent can be so boring most of the time.
Last edited by Bjørn; 08-29-2016 at 05:20 PM.