Whenever he played, he didn't suck at all. If Verratti or Pogba did the move at 1:45 the internet would've broke
I think we would have been a far superior force against Frosinone had Ucan been playing instead of Totti. But there you go. Shame.
Yeah, he's clearly something special on the ball. He's shown it every time he's come on. It's frankly remarkable that he could show so much poise on the ball when his confidence should be in the Mariana trench with the treatment he's gotten from Garcia. He'll be another Jedvaj. He'll end up somewhere else and show the ability we knew he had.
I think a lot of comments on Garcia/Ucan are a bit strong since no one really knows how good he looks in practice, especially after being injured much of last season and missing so much practice time. I agree that it's a bit of an exaggeration to say Garcia hasn't played young players. Rudiger just started instead of Castan, if you want to an example from the very last match. I guess I've also had a bit of patience in regards to Ucan since a couple of friends whose opinions I value and who follow Fenerbahce / Turkish NT were both a bit perplexed/upset that Ucan went directly to Roma and didn't stay with Fenerbahce on loan. Both felt he was hardly ready for the move even though his skills on the ball are silky smooth due to simply being extremely raw reading the game and probably that's why Garcia hasn't played him so far. I do agree though that it will certainly be the time in the next few weeks that we see how Garcia feels after Ucan has had a full year in the system (even with the injuries). However, the added complication is that he's not likely going to be playing if both Dzeko and Totti do. He's almost certainly not going to be playing midfield in a 4-2-3-1 since the 2 mids in that formation need to be excellent in reading the game and defending. I would guess the "depth roster" for those 2 midfield positions are 1) De Rossi 2) Naingollan 3) Keita 4) Vainqueur 5) don't use 4-2-3-1 formation So, if it's 4-2-3-1, Totti would be benched for him to play. If it's 4-3-3 and Pjanic's role which is his more natural fit, again, it means either Totti or Dzeko don't play.
Wouldn't mind going after Zuniga. Wasn't that long ago that he was one of the best RB's in the league and Napoli are trying to force him out.
Sooo... Just so im alligned with the rest of you guys, are we still hating on Iturbe or is he ok now? In fact, someone just tell me who we are allowed to like and who is off limits :O
His performances in friendlies show he has the quality. Technically the only player we had better than him in that one pre season game was totti. Maybe he is a really bad trainer. He does seem the laid back chill dude, maybe he just doesn't work hard enough.
coaches and media hate this...its why Ozil is criticized so much, looks "languid" to people a lot...only coaches' pet can get away with it
He has EU passport? If not then he can't play for us anyways. MDS is fine, lets just hope Czny doesn't break again.
More than anything we need a fullback who can play both sides, Rudi's crazy (and sometimes unnecessary) rotation will need that as the fullback position is the most physically taxing when playing three competitions, we needed it this summer, we didn't get it, we still need it - Anyone saw Torosidis today? Gervinho should have been sold (basically was sold until he demanded a chopper an hoes) and all of the money we got for him used on Darmian (he went to Man u for only 17m!!!) I don't know who else we can buy in January that comes close to him? I would love Rodriguez, but that won't happen, we missed that boat too. Peres? Not sure he can play both sides, but he seems the only choice.
Make the jump to Rodriguez and we are a big step closer to closing out smaller teams and being prepared for the Champions League.
We're fine with Digne as a starter in that we don't need Rodriguez. However, selliing Cholevas is still a dumbfounding move (unless he absolutely refused to be second fiddle). Digned backed/rotated with Cholevas would be incredibly strong. Torosidis, not so much...
The Holebas sale makes sense if the idea was to buy a younger LB that we think could be just as good short term with more talent to perhaps develop into a real asset. However, one wonders if Emerson is really that player.