The Douglas Luiz Thread | Page 36 | Vital Football

The Douglas Luiz Thread

I still drool about that screamer he scored in his first appearance for us. More of that please Dougie.
 
Much like Mings he's been nowhere near as bad as some would like to make out. He's had a mostly poor second half of the season but very few outside the defence and Watkins could say they've been much better.
 
Another nothing sort of performance from Luiz. He doesn't influence games enough, doesn't protect the defence enough, his touch is sloppy and his tackles are powder puff. I think he's part of the problem and isn't the solution
 
Silhillvilla said:
Another nothing sort of performance from Luiz. He doesn't influence games enough, doesn't protect the defence enough, his touch is sloppy and his tackles are powder puff. I think he's part of the problem and isn't the solution
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that player on loan at Swansea mate, keep up
 
Quite often you can look at each player individually and say yep they are OK, I like them. BUT then you also have to say our midfield as a whole isn't working.

I'm glad I'm not the manager as I have no idea how you go from a set of OK players to an OK midfield.
 
Gillette said:
Quite often you can look at each player individually and say yep they are OK, I like them. BUT then you also have to say our midfield as a whole isn't working.

I'm glad I'm not the manager as I have no idea how you go from a set of OK players to an OK midfield.
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We're missing a no.10. They're the key to the entire system and it's no coincidence that all our best performances were all the handful of good Barkley performances. That position is the easy give ball for the 2 deeper midfielders, a transition between the full backs and the wide forwards, and the person bridging the gap up to Ollie. Without someone there who can take, move and give the ball under pressure there, it affects all the positions around them and means more turnovers of possession.
 
JW1985 said:
Much like Mings he's been nowhere near as bad as some would like to make out. He's had a mostly poor second half of the season but very few outside the defence and Watkins could say they've been much better.
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I've seen performances where he's just not at the races. But they're pretty few. Dean resting him helped. I've also seen performances where he covers an enormous amount of ground, is decisive in what he does, and you couldn't ask for more. The comparison with Mings is apt; Mings is huge in defence as we find out when he's not playing.

The problem is we're missing a few pieces from the jigsaw, which will hopefully be found in the summer. With the right quality, there will be a benefit throughout the team and players like Luiz will have more chance to shine.

There is a problem though; with 2 or 3 real quality signings who makes way? Players like Luiz and McGinn could make a big contribution but they can't all play. Glad Dean has got the problem not me. I suspect it's a problem he wants though.
 
Sadly, I think McGinn has the lower ceiling between him and Douggie, but ideally we'll see players improve simply through having to battle for their places. If that happens there's no reason why we wouldn't start to see a little more rotation from Smith in some positions.
 
Platypus said:
We're missing a no.10. They're the key to the entire system and it's no coincidence that all our best performances were all the handful of good Barkley performances. That position is the easy give ball for the 2 deeper midfielders, a transition between the full backs and the wide forwards, and the person bridging the gap up to Ollie. Without someone there who can take, move and give the ball under pressure there, it affects all the positions around them and means more turnovers of possession.
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I think you are right. We improved enormously when Jack played 10 and Marv held the midfield.
 
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