In a situation when doing more could led to a foul being called and a PK given. It's what top defenders do.
Here's a video of some of Miazga's action in the Europa league game on Thursday. Hopefully it just gives you an idea of his game and his touch on the ball these days. I know I hadn't seen much of him since the U20 World Cup in 2015. https://streamable.com/qk46a @2:50 shows why he picked up the yellow card.
Good insight of his game. Yeah, he not at Brooks level when it comes to passing from the back. He has time to learn.
@Starman* Thanks for that. Was going to watch the whole thing, just to see how MM played, but given it was Zulte (Alors?) much nicer to just get to see the touches. Rep.
He still can't control his behavior on the field. His passing to me looks slightly improved, but I'd still call it below-average. Its not that he's big, John Brooks is a very good passer and he's even taller than Miazga, its the confidence, IMO. As butters mentioned, it looks like he's pressing. You can see he's aiming too much with some of his passes, which is why he's not hitting them as well as he should. His passing is better than Gonzalez though, and he's not as much of a tronco as Gonzalez, so I think he'll be fine. You don't need to be like an EPB level ball playing and mobility CB to play the position for us. Miazga's doing well with Vitesse, and has done well before with the NT, YNT's and with NYRB. He's going to make his mark defensively, his game is not really about passing the ball or being all that fast, though I think his mobility is slightly underrated. He looks like he is slow, but he's not.
Starts: Opstelling #Vitesse: Pasveer, Dabo, Kashia, Miazga, Büttner, Serero, Foor, Bruns, Rashica, Matavz, Linssen #heevit pic.twitter.com/1VM3V08i8n— Vitesse (@MijnVitesse) October 22, 2017
Not a huge fan of whoscored (some of their player ratings can be wonky) but they gave Miazga an 8.34, that puts him as 3rd best player on the field https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...ds-Eredivisie-2017-2018-SC-Heerenveen-Vitesse
Cripes 'veen were poor today. MM got the general-vicinity assist-ish on #4 on a knock-down header in the box. Vitesse up to 3rd. (PSV, Ajax, Vitesse... sorry Feyen... tough day.) Kik didn't seem to be specifically poor or directly the cause of any of the goals, but I thought he (like most of 'veen) seemed indecisive and out of sync.
Thanks for the highlight video. I see a guy who's comfortable on the ball and makes the right pass for a CB and lays it off so his teammate can come onto it into the right space.
He looked a little tentative to me on the ball. He can make a simple pass but nothing more advanced. His dribbling is a little better.
I will admit to not having kept an exceptionally close eye on MM while in MLS as he was not with a team I had any particular interest in. But compared to his first few outings with Vitesse he seems much more composed on the ball these days. Clearly Arnhem have no issue getting him the ball. From what I've seen he's been pretty clean, long balls have not been bad. He saw a lot of the ball v. 'veen as well. I don't think we're ever going to see JOB level LCD quarterbacking out of him, but he's for sure improved to my eye.
To me it looked a bit like the opposition was forcing the ball to Miazga to make him play with it by pressuring everyone else, but not really easy to tell just from highlights. Overall I like the player and think he was a bright future (borderline present) for us.
He's becoming what I expected: one of the best defenders in the Eredivisie.* I pray he gets a proper chance once the loan is over. --- * https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/us...1-november-2016.2035519/page-10#post-34773768
Proper chance at Chelsea, with the national team, on a permanent move elsewhere, or two of the above?