Cameron goes 90 in midfield as Stoke defeats Man City 2-0. "Vocal" Stoke supporter @Sergei_Shtaniuk had this to say:
During the game the commentators said "Whelan and Cameron are there to protect the back 4 and pass the ball to the good players"... Cameron was pretty good until the final 15 where he had 1-2 give aways and just didn't look as sharp. They really should have had at least 4 today...City's defense was just getting sliced apart.
Yes, he passed it right to City several times late in the game. Worrisome if he can't keep his concentration for 90 minutes. He did play very well for most of the match, though. He tackled the ball off their midfielders quite a bit.
Going to have to download this one. gCam was always a dmid, he just needed some time to grow into the role.
He did kind of fade a bit at the end there, but compensated w/ hustle to recover and limit damage, and overall played another really strong game in central midfield harassing attackers, intercepting the ball, and playing a one touch right to another teammate to start the attack the other way which he is incredibly underrated at. I heard the comment about deferring to better players and it was pretty insulting and off base. They just play different roles. They aren't better because they can shoot accurately and pick out a pass in the box. That's why they are in there at advanced positions. And Cameron was in there at withdrawn positions because he can anticipate defensively, hustles, plays w/ mettle, is good in the air, plays simple but positive balls mostly quick and accurate, and supplies the occasional hero run. He was vital to Stoke's big win today and I wouldn't say anyone was clearly better than him in their role. A bunch of good EPL starters out there, playing as a team, it looked like.
It irritates me when people don't understand the value of simple, accurate passes from contested areas to teammates in uncontested areas.
You mean like Klinsman? I totally agree with what you are saying. It seems that a ton of American players, coaches, and fans just don't get this. Put the ball into space that your teammates will arrive first, rather than their feet.
The commentators were exactly right, it wasn't a slam. Whelan is a top notch CDM and his job is to get the ball to the play makers. Geoff role was the exact same as well. Shaqiri, Bojan, and Arne are world class right now.