1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gives away the goal then f**ks off for another 4-5 weeks. 
 

Need Santos in my life. 

No only Santos, need Lesely back as well as a backup to Santos and Caicedo, for when they need a rest.

Lavia is overrated anyway, imo. Another overhyped savior by the media/our fanbase, much like Nkunku and Fernandez.

20 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Lavia is overrated anyway, imo. Another overhyped savior by the media/our fanbase, much like Nkunku and Fernandez.

Age is on his side, but he’s been so disappointing. 

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

We can’t! You do that and the Strasbourg fans will riot.

"Say... you're a fan of those cat adverts right?

"How about a Felix pick and mix?"

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

No only Santos, need Lesely back as well as a backup to Santos and Caicedo, for when they need a rest.

Lavia is overrated anyway, imo. Another overhyped savior by the media/our fanbase, much like Nkunku and Fernandez.

Its pretty spectacular that I manage to disagree with everything you ever say 😂

35 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Its pretty spectacular that I manage to disagree with everything you ever say 😂

It's a gift.

16 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gives away the goal then f**ks off for another 4-5 weeks. 
 

Need Santos in my life. 

Sanchez got beat at his near post. Are we really blaming Lavia for this one?

12 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Its pretty spectacular that I manage to disagree with everything you ever say 😂

I don't know how anyone can watch Lavia and think he's over rated. No surprise we completely lost control of the game when he went off last match. 

Some wild opinions on Lavia on this thread. He’s absolutely immense, just look how much more solid/in sync the team is with him on the pitch. Whenever he goes off we go off as a side.

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Sanchez got beat at his near post. Are we really blaming Lavia for this one?

Not blaming Sanchez for that one myself. Was a terrific hit. I would not expect Tibo or Petr to save that one.

Edited January 18, 20251 yr by axman2526

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I don't know how anyone can watch Lavia and think he's over rated. No surprise we completely lost control of the game when he went off last match. 

You leave Caicedo alone to do the work of 2 against a good team, you lose control. He ain't the Kante triplets, they would be able to cover for Enzo being a none entity.

How has Lavia been disappointing??

Every time he plays we look immense and a different team all together.  He is the only true press resistant player we have in that position.

 

6 minutes ago, El regreso said:

How has Lavia been disappointing??

Every time he plays we look immense and a different team all together.  He is the only true press resistant player we have in that position.

 

If that one is directed at me then I did not call him disappointing, I called him overhyped, mostly by our fan base.

I don't see him as immense, I see a lot of raw potential that still have a lot to learn but, unfortunately, his body is stopping his game developing. 

Thing is though, when he is fit, he allows Caicedo to be himself, which makes us a better team. If we have a Mikel, or an Essien, or our own Andrey Santos, alongside Caicedo it would make the same difference to our side that Lavia makes, even more of an improvement with Mikel or Essien, possibly with Andrey, imo

Which to me shows it is more about freeing Caicedo and providing him an actual midfield partner who can manage the physicality of this league while being responsible, than it is about Lavia himself improving us. 

Therefore pointing to our real issue, Enzo Fernandez.

3 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I don't know how anyone can watch Lavia and think he's over rated. No surprise we completely lost control of the game when he went off last match. 

Agreed, I get the annoyance with his injuries but he's inarguably a really good player and for his age I think he plays beyond his years.

19 hours ago, axman2526 said:

No only Santos, need Lesely back as well as a backup to Santos and Caicedo, for when they need a rest.

Lavia is overrated anyway, imo. Another overhyped savior by the media/our fanbase, much like Nkunku and Fernandez.

Enzo Fernandez is a worldclass player that is used in the wrong way.

17 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Enzo Fernandez is a worldclass player that is used in the wrong way.

World class players can adapt to different positions and systems. I wont offer my personal opinions of him other than we could have built a squad for the price we paid for him. 

20 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Enzo Fernandez is a worldclass player that is used in the wrong way.

Used in the wrong league.

4 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I don't know how anyone can watch Lavia and think he's over rated. No surprise we completely lost control of the game when he went off last match. 

We lost control of the game long before he went off. It was his mistake on the half way line that led to the equaliser for Bournemouth. I don't really blame Lavia though, I blame the tactics. Every player is getting caught on the half way line at some point. Once teams step up on us, we lose complete control of a football match.

57 minutes ago, bluetrooper said:

World class players can adapt to different positions and systems. I wont offer my personal opinions of him other than we could have built a squad for the price we paid for him. 

This is not always the case, there are obviously world class players that have to be playing their way or in the role which makes them world class.

Put Kante at the base of the midfield and he loses possession as history has shown but give him the freedom to read the game and he will win you possession.

Enzo is the best while at the base of the midfield, that's how Argentina won the World Cup.

Unreal if he’s injured again. We can’t build a team around players like Lavia, Fofana and James. Have to accept that and move some of them on. 

Hoping/assuming he's just being rested and eased slowly back into things.

5 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Hoping/assuming he's just being rested and eased slowly back into things.

I hope that’s the case, but reality is since join in we’ve played 83 competitive games. Lavia has managed 13 appearances in that period, most of which we know are less than 60 mins. I’m not sure I’ve even seen enough to think he is that good, but happy to be wrong. 

We need other options. Simple as. 

A fit Lavia is just as important to us as Caicedo is. His passing that breaks the lines is superb.

I don’t think he’s going to suffer with injuries in the way James has so he is most definitely worth persevering with.

We are a much better team with him in the side.

4 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Enzo is the best while at the base of the midfield, that's how Argentina won the World Cup.

Yeah, nothing to do with Messi's 7 goals and 3 assists. 

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Yeah, nothing to do with Messi's 7 goals and 3 assists. 

Not that I Disagree with you on this but, just for my own curiosity, do you set out to always disagree with Gol? 

Come on, you'd try and convince him the earth was flat if you could right?  ;)

11 hours ago, Gol15 said:

This is not always the case, there are obviously world class players that have to be playing their way or in the role which makes them world class.

Put Kante at the base of the midfield and he loses possession as history has shown but give him the freedom to read the game and he will win you possession.

Enzo is the best while at the base of the midfield, that's how Argentina won the World Cup.

And therein lies the problem. Maresca doesn’t want to build through the middle, and he wants Enzo getting into the box which is wild. He had a purple patch when he notched some goals & assists but it was never sustainable. So even though all the metrics look good when you look at him in the middle of the park; and he was arguably our player, it’s still a head scratcher. 
Maresca knows we are a better team with Lavia giving Caicedo the freedom to roam around, but it seems his solution is to play Caicedo as a RB inverting to accommodate Enzo. That isn’t just sustainable long term with Lavia’s situation, cos once he goes off/ isn’t starting and you stick Enzo next to Caicedo we lose all control.