The flaw in this whole piece is the line “if he had scored in line with his xG then” (I am paraphrasing).
He didn’t. Thats the issue. Great players always exceed their x anything. That is why they are great.
I was at OT last week. Notwithstanding the teams utterly atrocious positional discipline (they played like 7 year olds - following the ball). I got increasingly frustrated with Wirtz.
I came to the conclusion that he is a shit Thiago. Silky etc but ultimately changes the rhythm of the game. Lots of quick passes but always slowing down the game. No switching of play. Dinks dinks dinks.
Basically, all of these good underlying stats are well and good but it needs to be in the context of the team. It could well be that to achieve these numbers, other players numbers get worse thereby being a net negative. Which is probably why no got frustrated last week…!
While I broadly agree with your points, don't forget that even the greatest players underperform against their expected goals. Salah's done it, Mane did it, Firmino routinely did it...
I understand the praise. He clearly has talent. The vast majority of the time that he's moving the ball, whether passing or dribbling, shows you that. My issue with him is the consistent inability to retain the ball or make something of his possession when he's not moving it. Nominally, he's a #10 and he clearly has the skill to be so. When he played in the Bliga and when he plays for Germany, he's masterful. But when he's involved in what the PL has become- the wealthiest league with the majority of the best players, focused on speed and strength -he seems like he's a step below. He's not strong enough to retain the ball in difficult spots in the same way, say, Dom or Curtis or even Hugo are. Dom is our player of the year and the bearer of that stat you mention because he IS like Stevie: he scores, assists and gets through tough spots in the middle third because he has the strength and speed to do so. Flo isn't there yet and since you can't really teach speed (whereas you can become stronger), he may never be. I don't believe in a "Bundesliga tax." Hugo stepped right into our lineup and excelled in physical situations AND scored most of the time that he should have (another thing that can be developed, unlike speed.) Flo may not be physically capable of competing at the level that the PL now demands. Yes, I get both Opta's fancystats and what the fabled "eye test" says about the passes he can deliver. But if every opponent is simply going to close on him with two men as soon as he touches the ball, he may never reach the heights that everyone in red hoped for.
He came into a horrible situation. We'll need more from you next season, though, Flo.
Andrew
The flaw in this whole piece is the line “if he had scored in line with his xG then” (I am paraphrasing).
He didn’t. Thats the issue. Great players always exceed their x anything. That is why they are great.
I was at OT last week. Notwithstanding the teams utterly atrocious positional discipline (they played like 7 year olds - following the ball). I got increasingly frustrated with Wirtz.
I came to the conclusion that he is a shit Thiago. Silky etc but ultimately changes the rhythm of the game. Lots of quick passes but always slowing down the game. No switching of play. Dinks dinks dinks.
Basically, all of these good underlying stats are well and good but it needs to be in the context of the team. It could well be that to achieve these numbers, other players numbers get worse thereby being a net negative. Which is probably why no got frustrated last week…!
While I broadly agree with your points, don't forget that even the greatest players underperform against their expected goals. Salah's done it, Mane did it, Firmino routinely did it...
I understand the praise. He clearly has talent. The vast majority of the time that he's moving the ball, whether passing or dribbling, shows you that. My issue with him is the consistent inability to retain the ball or make something of his possession when he's not moving it. Nominally, he's a #10 and he clearly has the skill to be so. When he played in the Bliga and when he plays for Germany, he's masterful. But when he's involved in what the PL has become- the wealthiest league with the majority of the best players, focused on speed and strength -he seems like he's a step below. He's not strong enough to retain the ball in difficult spots in the same way, say, Dom or Curtis or even Hugo are. Dom is our player of the year and the bearer of that stat you mention because he IS like Stevie: he scores, assists and gets through tough spots in the middle third because he has the strength and speed to do so. Flo isn't there yet and since you can't really teach speed (whereas you can become stronger), he may never be. I don't believe in a "Bundesliga tax." Hugo stepped right into our lineup and excelled in physical situations AND scored most of the time that he should have (another thing that can be developed, unlike speed.) Flo may not be physically capable of competing at the level that the PL now demands. Yes, I get both Opta's fancystats and what the fabled "eye test" says about the passes he can deliver. But if every opponent is simply going to close on him with two men as soon as he touches the ball, he may never reach the heights that everyone in red hoped for.