4 hours ago, Slojo said:

Yeah but tbf Kovacic at one point had the highest assists there, and Madrid were only happy to let him go because they had the best midfielders in the world. I mean it would be hard to fit him in when you have Kroos and Modric ahead of him, that's not a huge insult. 

Well it's not an insult at all, I'm just realistic since it took Kova some time to find his place. Next season when he starts shooting he will be a complete midfielder.

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

Well it's not an insult at all, I'm just realistic since it took Kova some time to find his place. Next season when he starts shooting he will be a complete midfielder.

That I completely agree with, as good as a game he had on sunday, there were two moments where he should've shot and he chose to go for the pass. This has been quite common with him, he needs to go for the shot more in situations like that. Maybe someone like Cesc could pick out the perfect pass in that opportunity, but there were too many United players marking our players and giving Kovacic a lot of space. 

He's saying to him:"You won the ball, and still gave away the free kick" ... 

THIS is why there were no British refs at the world cup! Total disgrace.

Edited July 25, 20205 yr by Gol15

Kova was rock solid in the midfield today. Did his job extremely well.

Selfishly, I keep hoping Kante stays injured for a while.

3 minutes ago, haviet1 said:

Kova was rock solid in the midfield today. Did his job extremely well.

Selfishly, I keep hoping Kante stays injured for a while.

I was hoping Kante would be a lot better after the restart, decent game against Villa, but I also don't think Lampard played him in the best position. 

I have to say it hsa been his worst season and if I'm being honest we've been a lot better without him in the side. I fully expect him to be part of Lampards plans though, when he's on form he's immense, he just hasn't been with it this season. But if we do get a good bid coming in for him, could you really say no? 29, lots of injuries, it could be possible that we might never see the real Kante again. 

We struggled for 20 mins, then Kovacic stepped up big time, and started to make a few things happen with his ball carrying ability. 

Fantastic player. 

This guy is good. You can complain about his shooting but he's consistently putting in a shift,  blocking off passing lanes,  starting attacks and dribbling out of pressure plus decent passes at a good range. 

Sarri really did hold him back

Edited July 26, 20205 yr by Deino

For me was also good offloading the ball after coming forward, that has not always happened.

He has also scored two if I remember correctly, one was against Valencia in the 2-2 draw.

Great player.  We need more goals/assists from midfield and hope he can add 4-6 goals a season to his game.  That aside though, his tenacity, technical ability and work rate are superb.  He has some speed also with/without the ball.  Good range of passing, but I like it when he starts dribbling forward.  Often an asset to break the first line of defense - creates a lot of space for others when he does this.

       Kante

Kovacic Havertz

That will be a good midfield.

On 27/07/2020 at 13:55, jack_super_class said:

       Kante

Kovacic Havertz

That will be a good midfield.

That's orgasmic mid field with gilmour,mount and rlc to rotate.

4 minutes ago, Keda said:

That's orgasmic mid field with gilmour,mount and rlc to rotate.

Has a nice balance to it too.

On 22/07/2020 at 12:44, EdinburghBlue said:

This thread has to be one of the most split on here. I do think a lot of people overestimate how good a player he is. He’s certainly not world class in my opinion, but he is a very good player. If he could get that end product then who knows? But if you’re a CM that isn’t in a defensive role or Registra etc you should at least be chipping in with a few goals and assists here and there. Kova doesn’t do that and it’s something he really needs to improve which is certainly possible - he’s still 26 which surprised me as I actually thought he looked older!
I do wonder where he’ll fit if we go with a sitting CM and two attacking 8’s, it’ll be interesting to see how we line up next season! If we get Havertz we should have some really good depth in midfield and attack.

Pretty much how I feel too EB. But there is no argument that he has been a huge improvement on last season and IMO he has had a solid season overall. I have moved on from expecting any consistent end product / creativity from him in the final third. It's not in his locker anymore than a burst of speed and a mazy dribble is in Jorginho's. 

Up to the red card today he was one of the more consistent performers. Never a red and yet with Kovacic I always fear once he has been booked that he is walking a tightrope. He's a player who takes too many risks in dangerous areas and lunges in to challenges which always run the risk of another card and today, although an incorrect decision by the c**t of a ref - his rashness cost us. Slightly disappointing that Lamps did not sense this and sub him earlier.

Notice Lamps did mention post match that we had ourselves to blame by being too slow on the ball and dawdling on it and as good as he has been at times, Kovacic is one of the worst culprits. He holds on to the ball - runs with it, trying to make things happen, but it rarely comes to anything.

2 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Up to the red card today he was one of the more consistent performers. Never a red and yet with Kovacic I always fear once he has been booked that he is walking a tightrope. He's a player who takes too many risks in dangerous areas and lunges in to challenges which always run the risk of another card and today, although an incorrect decision by the c**t of a ref - his rashness cost us. Slightly disappointing that Lamps did not sense this and sub him earlier.

Notice Lamps did mention post match that we had ourselves to blame by being too slow on the ball and dawdling on it and as good as he has been at times, Kovacic is one of the worst culprits. He holds on to the ball - runs with it, trying to make things happen, but it rarely comes to anything.

Him and Pulisic the only player who takes ricks though and i like them for that. Everyone else is happy to pass back and keep it safe.

The ref was just looking for an excuse to send him off. The only way for him to keep playing was to never get involved in any situation, he got in 1 and he was sent off. 

How dare he put his foot in the way of an Arsenal players stamp, he could of seriously jarred the guys knee!

Minimum six month ban for the Croatian thug. I demand justice!

Not a great day at the office by any means, but unfortunate to be sent off. I get that opinion is divided, and appreciate all views, but neither the Kova sceptics nor the fans get to rest their case based on today. Let’s see what happens next season.

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

Up to the red card today he was one of the more consistent performers. Never a red and yet with Kovacic I always fear once he has been booked that he is walking a tightrope. He's a player who takes too many risks in dangerous areas and lunges in to challenges which always run the risk of another card and today, although an incorrect decision by the c**t of a ref - his rashness cost us. Slightly disappointing that Lamps did not sense this and sub him earlier.

Notice Lamps did mention post match that we had ourselves to blame by being too slow on the ball and dawdling on it and as good as he has been at times, Kovacic is one of the worst culprits. He holds on to the ball - runs with it, trying to make things happen, but it rarely comes to anything.

Strange I seen it completely different - he was bang average. A few nice dribbles as always but as usual when it comes time to play the ball forward to someone and weight the pass through to an attacker - he can’t do it. 

10 hours ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Strange I seen it completely different - he was bang average. A few nice dribbles as always but as usual when it comes time to play the ball forward to someone and weight the pass through to an attacker - he can’t do it. 

I guess what I was getting at is that he saw a lot more of the ball than a lot of our players so it seemed that he contributed more than others. But you're right, he didn't really do anything with it that hurt Arsenal. Frustrating that at times he can dribble like Hazard but for me he holds onto the ball too long and rarely, if ever plays a killer pass.

5 minutes ago, Nibs said:

I guess what I was getting at is that he saw a lot more of the ball than a lot of our players so it seemed that he contributed more than others. But you're right, he didn't really do anything with it that hurt Arsenal. Frustrating that at times he can dribble like Hazard but for me he holds onto the ball too long and rarely, if ever plays a killer pass.

I can’t claim to be the source for this so I’ll just post the link directly but this is an interesting view on the way we set up. Losing Kante has had a massive affect on the way we were looking to play when it was 4-3-3 before. If we do sign Rice I wouldn’t be surprised to see him playing both CB & DM when Kante is missing as well.

 

 

11 hours ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Strange I seen it completely different - he was bang average. A few nice dribbles as always but as usual when it comes time to play the ball forward to someone and weight the pass through to an attacker - he can’t do it. 

True but this team seems to have too many ball players that can't tackle for toffee. Yes Kova gets booked, yes he'll get reds and yes he us sh*t at shooting but he is one of the very players we have willing and capable of tackling for the ball. Not nicking it off the toes, actual fronted up tackling 

25 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

True but this team seems to have too many ball players that can't tackle for toffee. Yes Kova gets booked, yes he'll get reds and yes he us sh*t at shooting but he is one of the very players we have willing and capable of tackling for the ball. Not nicking it off the toes, actual fronted up tackling 

True, but it looks reckless when he does it. More reckless than it actually is, I've never seen him actually endanger or injure another player. It's almost like the referees are just waiting for him to go for it so the other player can take a dive. What follows is a freekick in a good position (like the one Liverpool that led to a goal after Mané took a dive) or a yellow like yesterday. They know exactly VAR can't intervene in those situations.

Mounts yellow was absurd as well. He didn't even try a tackle iirc. Apparently there's also no need to call a blatant foul against Pedro.

How do you deal with this as a manager? You can't tell your players to stop going for a ball or stop getting stepped on.

2 minutes ago, Vagabond said:

True, but it looks reckless when he does it. More reckless than it actually is, I've never seen him actually endanger or injure another player. It's almost like the referees are just waiting for him to go for it so the other player can take a dive. What follows is a freekick in a good position (like the one Liverpool that led to a goal after Mané took a dive) or a yellow like yesterday. They know exactly VAR can't intervene in those situations.

Mounts yellow was absurd as well. He didn't even try a tackle iirc. Apparently there's also no need to call a blatant foul against Pedro.

How do you deal with this as a manager? You can't tell your players to stop going for a ball or stop getting stepped on.

Although I have no axe to grind this has to be done in pairs and Jorginhos lack of pace often leaves Kova in a last ditch tackle scenario imo. If Mount is going to press high up the pitch and Kova is going to go hunting the ball then the other midfielder need Jorginhos  ability on the ball but a level of mobility similar to Kova which we don't. Throw in a sprinkling of cheers when it comes to defensive duties and we are so easily exposed 

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

True but this team seems to have too many ball players that can't tackle for toffee. Yes Kova gets booked, yes he'll get reds and yes he us sh*t at shooting but he is one of the very players we have willing and capable of tackling for the ball. Not nicking it off the toes, actual fronted up tackling 

Fair point, people might laugh at this but I actually think we should be going in for John McGinn at Villa. I’ve watched him since he was at St Mirren then through his time with my local team Hibs and now at Villa. He has an incredible engine on him and he’s good in the tackle, has a good shot on him and playing with our players would take him on to another level. He fits the profile of what Lampard likes in a midfielder in my opinion. When he was out injured, Villa were horrendous and since he’s been back after the break they’ve performed significantly better. Grealish gets all the praise but McGinn is the engine in their team.