Do we have another goal scoring Spanish LB/LWB on our hands 😀

4 hours ago, Ph.c. said:

And how exactly does it help the ref make correct decisions when every little contact results in players rolling around like they’ve had a foot chopped off? That’s just a stupid argument. Also, yellow cards for diving are very rare and can’t be dealt by VAR (that would be nice, though). And there’s plenty of players who don’t do it. They’re not all Vinicius.

Anyway, let’s just say we don’t agree. You care about winning and nothing else, I care about the integrity of the game itself.

It helps the ref because the game slows down enough for them to have to look at the situation. The games in the Prem are fast, very rarely do refs actually catch it on time if players don't make a meal out of it. Try refereeing a semi-pro tournament at least, you'll understand once you try it.

Yellow cards for dives are not rare at all, players just dive smarter these days. Show me examples of these players that don't do it. You have never once given any example or evidence where there is an advantage of not diving or give me any example where a player stood tall after a foul and the ref awarded the fouling player a card.

I am being realistic, you're just naive tbh. Football is a business, the "integrity" died back in the 1920's and it never revived. Dives are here to stay, it's disgraceful and hilarious at times but it's part of the modern game.

1 hour ago, El regreso said:

Do we have another goal scoring Spanish LB/LWB on our hands 😀

Yes. Yes we do!

20 hours ago, Deino said:

It helps the ref because the game slows down enough for them to have to look at the situation. The games in the Prem are fast, very rarely do refs actually catch it on time if players don't make a meal out of it. Try refereeing a semi-pro tournament at least, you'll understand once you try it.

Yellow cards for dives are not rare at all, players just dive smarter these days. Show me examples of these players that don't do it. You have never once given any example or evidence where there is an advantage of not diving or give me any example where a player stood tall after a foul and the ref awarded the fouling player a card.

I am being realistic, you're just naive tbh. Football is a business, the "integrity" died back in the 1920's and it never revived. Dives are here to stay, it's disgraceful and hilarious at times but it's part of the modern game.

Your posts come across as condescending and you don’t seem to have any interest in or ability to understand other people’s perspectives. And if you really think that diving hasn’t increased since the 1920’s there’s no point in going on.

Hope you enjoy your semi-pro refereeing and good luck with your professional football career.

55 minutes ago, Ph.c. said:

Your posts come across as condescending 

Hope you enjoy your semi-pro refereeing and good luck with your professional football career.

Wow....that's some outstanding irony...

23 hours ago, dkw said:

Wow....that's some outstanding irony...

Well, I have to assume he’s both since he has used me not being a professional footballer or referee to undermine my points. 

Never assume, it makes an ass out of u and me...

And there's no 'i' in 'team'

On 21/12/2024 at 16:22, Ph.c. said:

Your posts come across as condescending and you don’t seem to have any interest in or ability to understand other people’s perspectives. And if you really think that diving hasn’t increased since the 1920’s there’s no point in going on.

Hope you enjoy your semi-pro refereeing and good luck with your professional football career.

Ironic seeing as you didn't even try to understand my pov when I gave plenty of examples why yours doesn't work in the real world.

Thanks, I'm retired anyways from both. 

We are half the team without him. He is key to our attack.

We missed him today. We needed his centre-forward play. Getting in the box and attacking crosses in the air.

22 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

We are half the team without him. He is key to our attack.

I'm hoping it was just a blip and this isn't the case, because if this is the case, it will get found out eventually and teams will start focusing on taking him out of the game.

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I'm hoping it was just a blip and this isn't the case, because if this is the case, it will get found out eventually and teams will start focusing on taking him out of the game.

He is a big part of it.

If Cole does not put on a Cold display the rest of the team has to step up, and Cucu driving us one is key.

Him and Caicedo are our two most important players imo. We don't function well without them, we can cover when Cole dips, but only with those two in the side.

10 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I'm hoping it was just a blip and this isn't the case, because if this is the case, it will get found out eventually and teams will start focusing on taking him out of the game.

 

33 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

We are half the team without him. He is key to our attack.

 

33 minutes ago, just said:

We missed him today. We needed his centre-forward play. Getting in the box and attacking crosses in the air.

He is. Cucu is so important to how we play as a team. 

7 hours ago, Deino said:

 

 

He is. Cucu is so important to how we play as a team. 

I said that before the game - take nothing away from Caicedo who's doing a great job, he's like the oil in our engine that makes all the other parts work - sh*tty conditions and hard place to play yesterday but we really needed him.

Hope he learns to behave...

 

On 22/12/2024 at 17:27, Deino said:

Ironic seeing as you didn't even try to understand my pov when I gave plenty of examples why yours doesn't work in the real world.

Thanks, I'm retired anyways from both. 

I did understand you and replied politely every freaking time. Not once did you give an answer to what I actually wrote. Instead you’ve answered me as if I were an imbecile. We can’t all be sociable, I guess. Over and out.

On 22/12/2024 at 16:52, Scott Harris said:

I'm hoping it was just a blip and this isn't the case, because if this is the case, it will get found out eventually and teams will start focusing on taking him out of the game.

He's one of the older players, amazingly, at 26, a recent international trophy winner and obviously a big voice in the changing room so I expect it's aa much about younger lads looking up to him as the way he plays on the pitch.

He's done superbly to get to where he now is for us, though I still don't think hes solid defensively, everything else he does now negates that.

Not every club is going to play like Everton and even then those clubs won't be as organized (Dyche impact) nor will they have the footballers to implement such a defence. We literally faced one of the best defences in Europe atm and I think struggles were down to our attack having an off day vs missing Cucurella. 

Should have put us 2-0 up. That header had nobody near him, watched it all the way and was very close to goal.

Needed no extra power, just put it in one of the two bottom corners. Very poor miss and it cost us.

He got MOTM last night, but I still hate the way Maresca is using him. Against Southampton, it's not a problem, they're terrible, but having Cucurella literally being everywhere hurts us in most games. With Cucurella taking up positions in attack, even as high as you expect a striker to be at times, it's leaving massive holes when we lose possession, even more so if Gusto is over the half way line too. You have Colwill and whoever we have him paired with desperately backing off, no midfield because Caicedo is trying to fill in the space left by the fullbacks and Cucurella desperately chasing back to get into position. As soon as we lose possession, there is no shape, we're just hoping the opposition have a loose touch or get the end product wrong.

Cucurella also tends to take up positions in attack that often hurts our attacking game. He's getting in the way a lot of the time and they need to move somewhere else to make space for him.

I would rather we went back to him being the extra man in midfield when we have possession, but no higher than that. Help us build from the back and beat the press, no need to complicate it further by joining the attack yourself.

22 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

He got MOTM last night, but I still hate the way Maresca is using him. Against Southampton, it's not a problem, they're terrible, but having Cucurella literally being everywhere hurts us in most games. With Cucurella taking up positions in attack, even as high as you expect a striker to be at times, it's leaving massive holes when we lose possession, even more so if Gusto is over the half way line too. You have Colwill and whoever we have him paired with desperately backing off, no midfield because Caicedo is trying to fill in the space left by the fullbacks and Cucurella desperately chasing back to get into position. As soon as we lose possession, there is no shape, we're just hoping the opposition have a loose touch or get the end product wrong.

Cucurella also tends to take up positions in attack that often hurts our attacking game. He's getting in the way a lot of the time and they need to move somewhere else to make space for him.

I would rather we went back to him being the extra man in midfield when we have possession, but no higher than that. Help us build from the back and beat the press, no need to complicate it further by joining the attack yourself.

Wise words.

I miss when attackers would to the attacking and defenders would do the defending.

As annoying as it is seeing him in the box playing as a striker, I must say he is an extremely talented footballer and also has the work rate to match so I can understand why Enzo gives him the freedom he does.

2 hours ago, Remodez said:

As annoying as it is seeing him in the box playing as a striker, I must say he is an extremely talented footballer and also has the work rate to match so I can understand why Enzo gives him the freedom he does.

My alternative viewpoint is that the club has realised that he is a pretty limited left back, and that they got done not only on the fee but also on the wages, so they have tasked Maresca with trying to hide all that by using him in a different way on the pitch that masks all his deficiencies behind a veneer of "activity" and "innovative tactics", with the end game being to sell him back to one of the big Spanish clubs next summer 😎

On 26/02/2025 at 23:46, Scott Harris said:

He got MOTM last night, but I still hate the way Maresca is using him. Against Southampton, it's not a problem, they're terrible, but having Cucurella literally being everywhere hurts us in most games. With Cucurella taking up positions in attack, even as high as you expect a striker to be at times, it's leaving massive holes when we lose possession, even more so if Gusto is over the half way line too. You have Colwill and whoever we have him paired with desperately backing off, no midfield because Caicedo is trying to fill in the space left by the fullbacks and Cucurella desperately chasing back to get into position. As soon as we lose possession, there is no shape, we're just hoping the opposition have a loose touch or get the end product wrong.

Cucurella also tends to take up positions in attack that often hurts our attacking game. He's getting in the way a lot of the time and they need to move somewhere else to make space for him.

I would rather we went back to him being the extra man in midfield when we have possession, but no higher than that. Help us build from the back and beat the press, no need to complicate it further by joining the attack yourself.

Good point. We've seen this before too under Tuchel, Conte and even Lampard, Alonso, Chilwell and James were essentially given a 'free role' like Cucurella and it works really well until it just...doesn't. It fell apart under Tuchel when Chilwell and James got injured, or under both Tuchel and Conte when Kante got injured and we didn't have a midfielder fast enough to cover the channels.