In what appears to be a bit of wishful thinking, ESPN has RR going 90 as part of a 12 man Silkeborg line-up in a 3-1 loss (though mads madsen did not get of the bench and was kind of pissed.) In reality, it appears he did not make the bench, but everything else in the ESPN report is true... http://www.espnfc.us/lineups?gameId=449898
Scored a PK in a reserve match: Mikkel Vendelbo, Morten Pedersen og @RubioRubin kom alle tre på tavlen, da SIF i dag besejrede @EsbjergfB i reserveligaen. #silkeborgif pic.twitter.com/5fSK6qtsqH— Silkeborg IF (@SilkeborgIF) March 23, 2017
On the bench: Her er dagens start-11'er. På bænken sidder Rinke, Gertsen, Salquist, Agger, Madsen, Albers og Rubin. Kickoff om en time! #agfsif pic.twitter.com/O0UN3IiFu0— Silkeborg IF (@SilkeborgIF) April 10, 2017
On the bench: Der er genvalg til samtlige spillere i dagens start-11'er mod @viborgff. En time til kickoff. #silkeborgif #sldk #sifvff #100årsjubilæum pic.twitter.com/E0jY343wMP— Silkeborg IF LIVE! (@sif1917_live) April 21, 2017
You predict all our players are going to fail. You should be very proud of yourself. The gloating when they struggle is also a very good look. Keep it up!
Heck no. I expected Green to do well, same for Wooten. I was wrong about the former, and it's still undecided about the latter. Actually, the list of "misses" for me is far too long. Guys I predicted to do well who did badly include Yelldell, Gatt, Whitbread, Gyau, Parkhurst, and Lichaj, among others. Others I did expect to do poorly, like Picault, Shea, Aronjo & Zelalem. I just never saw it with them, and I was right. I expected a lot from Rubin, heck three years ago I thought he could be a Donovan-like playmaker/scorer in the making. It's only after two years of watching him panic in front of goal that I realized kid was going nowhere fast.
Gyau and GATT were an injury and a little early on Zelalem. I never thought Of Rubin like that... lacks the pace. I still he can have a decent career. You (along with many others) were way of with Wood.
Wood is pure desire, but to be brutally honest, I don't think the technique is there. That's also a reason why I think sticking to HSV is good for him. In a bigger club, his technical limitations would get him benched quick. For Pulisic, for example, the sky is the limit. Also, I feel invested in Perry Kitchen, a guy who has his moments but is not doing as well as expected. I think we all have guys we "like" and guys we don't, based on how they play. Rubin is a case for me where I like what I see, but the mentality is just not there. It's frustrating.
Curious what technique you don't see. Could you be more specific? Not necessarily disagreeing, but I don't see massive gaps at all so I'm wondering what you've identified as being deficient technique.
Finishing. Yes, he nets some nice ones, but he misses just as many. Also, his dribbling is fine but not superior. And we're talking here about he belonging in the elite or near-elite, teams like BVB or Liverpool. To be the regular starter in those teams you need top ball control, top dribbling ability, and top finishing. Bobby is a battler but he's not up there with the best.
Possibly or even probably correct. But I don't know that I've ever seen him in a team with enough other threats around him to make a solid call. I don't think he's on the same level as Firmino, for example. But when Firmino doesn't have any other creative players on to reduce attention, he can look a bit lacking, too. So while I agree that Bobby hasn't necessarily proven to have what you mention, I'm granting him an incomplete for now.
Got it, thanks for the heads up. Except, don't we have to bench you now, because of the watch gesture?
Rubio was a standout on our very good u20 team and had a good first season in Holland. I wonder what is happening to him right now. I have speculated that he still isn't the same from his injury but who knows. Silkeborg probably aren't going to offer him a contract at the end of the season based on his performances.
I suspect that Rubin reached physically maturity earlier than his peers at the youth level. As his stature in the physical dimension has evened out in the past two years, things have stalled. His greatest strengths as a player always seemed to be psychological. At the professional level across the technical, tactical and physical domains, he's below average to average. I get that he produced an assist here, a goal ther, as an 18yo in the Eredivisie, but sample size and qualitative analysis are important. I'd be more interested in understanding his actual play and relative ability. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him play much in that league so I can't speak on it.
this is the first time I've ever noticed that Clint looks disturbingly like Carter Page's beer-drinking twin.
Rubio was on track at Utrecht and I think probably got sidelined by a triple (or quadruple, probably) whammy. 1) his first season (I think it was his first. Maybe second. I'm too lazy to check) He got a decent amount of game due to other injuries. But Utrecht was not the team it is this season. They are good. 2) Coaching change. Formation change. RR is a bit more a tweener and ten Haag's 4-4-2 was better built for Haller and Ziv. 3) Haller. He performed better than many people expected and just was irreplaceable. RR did not seem to play as well with Haller as Utrecht might have hoped. And Haller was supposed to leave a couple of times, which would have given RR more chances. Add Ziv for speed made more sense. 4) RR was sometimes/often starting over Bazarite (to be fair, Nacer was hurt a bit) but when the coach changed and Nacer got healthy to start this season, RR could not unseat him from the 10. RR is a bit of a tweener. 5) RR just didn't score when he had the opportunities. Why that is, I don't know. Fans commented that he was their best #10 at the end of last season, I think it was, but with his goal drought the past 12 months or so, it just seemed like he was not going get back in 10H's plans. 6) RR seemed to be a bit less effective player after his injury too. And with Utrecht getting better and him not getting back to his peak, the overall team ambition/ability seemed to outstrip him. It seems like a number of things conspired to knock him off his game. But for sure there were patches at Utrecht when he looked 100% like he belonged and could develop along a Bradley/Jozy/Arjo path where he would leave the Ered by stepping up, not sideways or down. I still have seen enough of him to know that when he is on, he is very good. But I also had kept an eye on his fall at Utrecht and he was not taking advantage of the few opportunities he had, for whatever reason.
Looking back the 14/15 season (which is when ten Hag came) RR had 3 goals 5 assists in 21 starts (with 7 sub apps for 28/34 appearances). This was the season he looked like he was going to establish himself, to me. While Alflen benched him a few games at the end, but ten Hag started him all 3 games after he took over. He started 15/16 as a late game sub (came in at 60 or later 5 of the first 8, started and went 90 in another and benched for 2) Then he broke his foot in early Oct, was out until March and never really managed to sneak back in the 1st team (one appearance before the end of the year.) He was fairly decent over the summer/preseason, and when August came he got 3 straight starts, but didn't cement his place, got kicked to the bench and never was able to make a good enough case to get back in. Hard not to look at the broken bone as the turning point - and no reason to think he can't get his mojo back. For much of the 14/15 season he looked like he 100% belonged on a midtable Ered team... Can he get beyond that? I don't know, tbh. Interested to see how Silke turns out.
På to mål af @RubioRubin og et enkelt af Morten Pedersen vandt reserverne i dag 3-1 over FCN. https://t.co/zEYNgBlDeX #silkeborgif pic.twitter.com/andq0L1Z88— Silkeborg IF (@SilkeborgIF) April 24, 2017 Translation: On two goals by @RubioRubin and a single by Morten Pedersen won the reserves today 3-1 of FCN. http://bit.ly/2oEkHSm #silkeborgif
On the bench: Her er Peter Sørensens udvalgte til aftenens kamp mod @agffodbold. En time til kickoff. #silkeborgif #sldk #sifagf pic.twitter.com/MLcStOHXv2— Silkeborg IF LIVE! (@sif1917_live) May 1, 2017