GG is clearly up for the challenge. Don't expect him to score every game, but I expect him to help our attack tremendously.
He could be our poor man’s Benzema. As I’ve always said—even when Benzema was seen as “bad”—he was the perfect partner for Ronaldo. García isn’t as big or strong as Benzema, but he’s can be a threat in the air. What made Benzema special was his hold-up play alongside Ronaldo. I’m not sure if García can do that—they have different builds. Still, García’s link-up play in the box is solid, and like Benzema, he’s good at short passes and quick combinations for a striker. He also knows to be a fox in the box. He also works hard, presses well, and has good speed. I haven’t seen much of his dribbling yet.
He improves the attack's balance tremendously with his positioning, movement, aerial game and ability to play one-two's as a real striker. That alone improves the entire team
I think he looks better than Morata, who was better than both of those strikers. Remember, he's still only 21. He won't get any taller but he can fill out more.
Morata is too stationary. Garcia can move around and help the main scorer which would be Mbappe, I think.
Yeah there’s no way in hell Mbappe will agree to playing way out wide on the wing where he will be asked to put in crosses for Gonzalo to score from and chase the opposing teams RB all the way up and down the field. Never happening at Mbappe FC, but if it did wow what a royal clusterfudge it would become due to the fact Mbappe isn’t nearly as good at dribbling past players as Vini and Rodrygo and he’s also not nearly as willing to pass the ball to an open teammate with a goal scoring chance.
GG's understanding of space as an attacker is top notch btw, reminds me a lot of young Higuain or even Raul.
Yeah I tend to agree. He played an absolute blinder of a game yesterday against a really good team. The building blocks (finishing, runs etc) are all clearly there, but he has not passed the eye test for me all other (limited) times we have seen him after the CWC. He is a bit rough around the edges like how Morata was in the beginning, but even if he can play a Joselu/Morata backup striker role for us to good effect I would 100% take that luxury.
Yeah I think there is a middle ground between all the "bench Mbappe/Vini and start Gonzalo" and Xabi's previous mode of give Gonzalo garbage minutes every 2 months. Clearly the guy is good enough that every now and then its ok to rest one of Mbappe/Vini and play the other on the LW. Gonzalo is a very confusing player though, he started off as a very quick and skillful winger with Castilla, but with the first team he has been very poor with the ball at his feet and a shockingly good target man/hold up player/poacher. I am very confused at how good his heading is, maybe its because we havent had a traditional striker scoring headers in a long time, but the Raul comparisons are very valid, similar stature and similar strengths.
I been following him for a while, and the transition is not that surprising. He has never been the kind of winger that will use trickery or amazing dribbling to take on a defender in the open. He actually played a lot as a right winger in the lower ranks, where he would run down the flank and cross the ball. His ability to pressure and defend was so good that the Spain youth teams actually played him at RB in a couple of crucial games. Sort of like Valverde when he plays right wing or right back. The heading ability, his ability to read the opposition, and basic fundamental skills where uses very few touches were always there despite his earlier positions. He was playing striker last year in Castilla already. The transition already happened before reaching the 1st team. Ths is not a fluke, this is his actual skillset.
I'm usually careful not to kneejerk into positive or negative predictions, but hell, let me get carried away for once. Gonzalo Garcia as a striker has a future. I hope he continues this form until Mbappe comes back as that would give us two different time windows of G.G. replacing KM10 for a while and making us more than happy with the result. That's no small feat.
Joselu about Gonzalo: "I said it back then: when he trained with us, it was clear that his greatest strength as a striker was his nose for goal. What I like most about him is his Madridismo; he's a player who truly feels the colors, and that shows in every match he plays. He gives everything for the badge. From the moment he came up to train with us, you could see he was a young man with many qualities and an impressive nose for goal. Ultimately, to succeed at Real Madrid, besides having footballing talent, you have to feel it, and I think Gonzalo is a young man who, from the moment I saw him working together, showed glimpses of that in training. It doesn't surprise me at all; I'm incredibly happy for everything he's achieving and for his successes at the club.”
Because you are realistic, have a good game and you're the next best thing........ until you aren't ......game by game determinations, but, not new
If GG shows a decent showing these next couple of games, I think it's best for Xabi to include him in the regular rotation once Mbappe returns. Play him 20-30 mins. per game subbing off either Mbappe or Vini, whoever is playing worse and if its Kylian, move him to the LW and see how that goes.
Xabi needs to survive these next couple of games first. There is no guarantee he returns from Jeddah with a job.
It will be interesting to see how much Arbeloa uses him when all the front 3 are back. Xabi never gave him any minutes. I'm worried Arbeloa will do the same. Right now he deserves to get minutes in every game, starting some of them and if not then 25-30 minute sub appearances every match.