How much was he ? 60m absolute fekkin bargain . Brighton couldn't believe their luck .

So far very underwhelming. Yet another case of a player who looked good playing for a small club but right now, looks out of his depth.

If I was coach, I would make him get his f**king hair cut and then give him 4 games to improve.................

3 minutes ago, Nibs said:

So far very underwhelming. Yet another case of a player who looked good playing for a small club but right now, looks out of his depth.

If I was coach, I would make him get his f**king hair cut and then give him 4 games to improve.................

Surely give him 4 games to improve then, if he doesn't, insist on the haircut? Otherwise we'll soon be out of options. 

Joking aside, he doesn't look great. Has way more pace than Alonso, but is worse in attack, worse in possession, and also doesn't seem to be significantly better defensively. 

On 07/11/2022 at 18:53, Nevamind said:

i liked him at the start of the season but so far he regressed. The thing he had over Chilwell was his very rapid and kinda creative approach in attack.
Now that wears off he just seem a very average player. He is kinda fast but not very fast and his defending is no better than Chilwell or Alonso. One of the latter two would have surely gotten on the score sheet lately. He is weaker and his passing is nothing special.

That how i see it so far but it can very well change, so lets see what the season holds for him.

His pace is what surprised me the most, and not in a good way. Several times wingers were just blowing past him making him look Alonso-esque slow.

What is he good at exactly? Chillwell seems WAY better in every respect despite the constant injuries. Alonso has a way better left foot and more footballing IQ. I am not even sure he is an upgrade over Alonso at wing back at this point.

He looks leggy. As if he just ran a bloody marathon and collapses when asked to contain a player one on one. 

There is something wrong with him. 

Give Dylan Williams a game tomorrow, we may well need him to step up quickly at this rate.

With Chilwell out injured, he will have an opportunity to play his way into form. He had looked superb at Brighton last season and it is probably that the big Club spotlight and responsibility is weighing heavy on him.  Anyway, we havent got any other LB options

£60m and it seems we had an infinitely better player in the academy the entire time, seems to happen far too often with big money signings. Signed Cucu and Hall is better, signed Pulisic and CHO was better, signed Fofana and Chalobah is just as good, signed Kepa and Bulka was just coming through and looking good that pre-season, signed Lukaku and Tammy was a better fit, Mason is 10x what Havertz is. I'm by no means saying start an 11 witgh academy players but we've got to be smarter with our signings. Surely promoting Hall and buying a cheaper alternative for cover would have been the better idea here. Christ, i'd imagine Maatsen could put just as good a shift in as Cucu atm.

I think many are going a bit OTT with Cucurella at the minute.

Yes he's had some genuine shockers but he's getting criticised even when he wasn't atall bad, like last night.

I didn't even think he was that bad against Arsenal either in general play, god knows what he was going for the goal and I get that's what counts above all else but Saka who he was directly up against did f**k all in the match.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

I think many are going a bit OTT with Cucurella at the minute.

Yes he's had some genuine shockers but he's getting criticised even when he wasn't atall bad, like last night.

I didn't even think he was that bad against Arsenal either in general play, god knows what he was going for the goal and I get that's what counts above all else but Saka who he was directly up against did f**k all in the match.

I’m with you on this, he has definitely had some bad games for us but I actually like that he looks to pass forward a lot of the time.

With a bit more movement in front of him he’d look better.

I’m not giving up on him yet.

5 minutes ago, 2211 said:

I’m with you on this, he has definitely had some bad games for us but I actually like that he looks to pass forward a lot of the time.

With a bit more movement in front of him he’d look better.

I’m not giving up on him yet.

I think his passing and positioning in the first and second phase build up is really good. When at LCB he seems to know exactly when to drift into fullback positions and he keeps things ticking over well.

In the final 3rd he's a clear downgrade on both Ben and Marcos but he's convincingly better than both in the build up, in my opinion.

Saw an interview where he said that he dreams of playing for Barca one day. Maybe he should actually focus on his performances rather than talking to the press. Honestly tired of these mercenaries coming to our club, show some respect.

58 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Saw an interview where he said that he dreams of playing for Barca one day. Maybe he should actually focus on his performances rather than talking to the press. Honestly tired of these mercenaries coming to our club, show some respect.

As long as they pay £63 million for him they are welcome to him !  Maatsen would probably be a capable back up for Chilwell.

11 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Saw an interview where he said that he dreams of playing for Barca one day. Maybe he should actually focus on his performances rather than talking to the press. Honestly tired of these mercenaries coming to our club, show some respect.

Don't any of these players wisen up?

4 hours ago, Valerie said:

Don't any of these players wisen up?

Let's be fair we knew what we were getting, at least we should have. He made a big fuss when Brighton did not accept Cities bid, made a fuss when ours was not accepted. Only been there a year, a clear case of being a mercenary so I would expect the same if Barca come in next summer.

Footballers interview, either boring or outrageous.  I don't know the context when he said the Barca thing, but it's pretty thing to say at the place and time. He's not good enough to be first pick for country and club, anyone believes  Barca is really into him?

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Let's be fair we knew what we were getting, at least we should have. He made a big fuss when Brighton did not accept Cities bid, made a fuss when ours was not accepted. Only been there a year, a clear case of being a mercenary so I would expect the same if Barca come in next summer.

Did anyone realistically think he would be here for 6yrs considering he isn’t a clear 1st choice?

 

1 hour ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Footballers interview, either boring or outrageous.  I don't know the context when he said the Barca thing, but it's pretty thing to say at the place and time. He's not good enough to be first pick for country and club, anyone believes  Barca is really into him?

They already have Balde the 19yr old as Alba’s backup, helps that he is already in the Spanish team. That has never stopped them though.

The Cucurella deal wasn’t a smart one considering the number of quality LBs that moved in the summer for Bargain prices. Off my head Borna Sosa moved for £7m, Raum moved for £22m, and Sergio Gomez for £11m. All those 3 combined moved for way less than the £60m+ we paid for Cucurella. 

 

37 minutes ago, ducavis said:

The Cucurella deal wasn’t a smart one considering the number of quality LBs that moved in the summer for Bargain prices. Off my head Borna Sosa moved for £7m, Raum moved for £22m, and Sergio Gomez for £11m. All those 3 combined moved for way less than the £60m+ we paid for Cucurella. 

 

We didn't have any scouting system in place to get any of the 3. We had to rely on Todd's magic crystal ball, I don't think Todd would use any of Marina or Petr's list of targets

£60m for a player that isn't even close to the quality of Chilwell. Genuinely think we'd have been better off using Maatsen.

51 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

£60m for a player that isn't even close to the quality of Chilwell. Genuinely think we'd have been better off using Maatsen.

Some have asked what happened to the player ar Brighton. The answer is simple

How he treated Brighton should have been a massive red flag, both with Cities interest to be a back up, and our interest. Unprofessional in the chase for money.

He is a made man now, effort and quality drops. I use this word a lot but he is another mercenary.

He hasn't even been that poor. It's the price tag that has everyone upset as had he cost £20m people would be saying he's been a solid signing. 

Still think of all the signings we made last summer he's a good one. 

Edited January 1, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

I only saw the second half but thought he was one of the better ones of a bad bunch. I don’t think he’s been too bad in general bar a couple poor games where he played as a centre back.

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He hasn't even been that poor. It's the price tag that has everyone upset as had he cost £20m people would be saying he's been a solid signing. 

Still think of all the signings we made last summer he's a good one. 

My issue is that he looks very similar to Emerson. Doesn't do much in attack, not particularly great defensively. Just a nothing player. 

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

My issue is that he looks very similar to Emerson. Doesn't do much in attack, not particularly great defensively. Just a nothing player. 

I rate him defensively, just not going forward. I also admire his ability on the ball and his progressive passes instead of the usual sideways and backwards bollocks we see from others. 

Think under a more technical midfield and attack he'll look like an important clog. 

Edited January 1, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

He hasn't even been that poor. It's the price tag that has everyone upset as had he cost £20m people would be saying he's been a solid signing. 

Still think of all the signings we made last summer he's a good one. 

Everything is about the price though. It's what we might have done with the additional 40m.

This is always the problem with us. We pay a fortune for medicore players and then don't have the funds for someone who might actually improve the team. This is important in the context of a deal for a Bellingham or a Rice.