I mean Carlo's post game conference quotes pretty much confirmed that Mendy was his #1. A bit disappointing because if Fran made the types of blunders Mendy has this year, he'd have been buried on the bench without seeing a minute.
I'm not the one touting Fran Garcia as a quality player and Mendy as a scarecrow. I'm not going to spend my evening comparing two serviceable players for nothing in return. Subscribe to my patreon for that.
Look at me educating you about football. Just for fun: Fran Garcia has not played through a single game against a team with a positive goal difference this season. The best team he's played through against was Getafe who have a -3 goal difference but with 10 goals scored to 13 conceded. He's faced teams like Valladolid with a -22 goal difference, Espanyol at -12, and so on. In general, he plays against teams that are not a goal scoring threat so he can push forward with minimal risk. He basically is fielded as an additional winger against the worst offenses in the country.
Yeah, he might not care what Liverpool fans say (or he might, who knows), but the way he himself would look back at it as well is a point worth noting.
I'm saying whoever was responsible for your education has clearly failed at his job. Fran Garcia is so bad at defending that the coach only plays him against teams that can't score. That is statistically proven.
Not really. If you see a guy being a turnstile all week you know what you have. Carlo can't come out and say that Fran Garcia can't defend a single blade of grass because he'd completely crush the player in public, but that's basically what has happened since he joined us. Mendy isn't top level any more, but Fran Garcia is simply not a good defender.
H Huh, now i understand. You have no substantive claim to make and you realized that you were wrong, so you get down to personal lines and cry all day. impressive
Either respond in context to Fran Garcia or i'm deleting your shit. Going to wrap this kind of attitude up right now.
Not sure i follow this, we're looking at the completely wrong kind of player here. Wirtz is talented but we lack nothing of which he offers.
True, but Kroos as a younger player was playing attacking mid whilst having the attributes to slot into central midfield. Wirtz has been playing attacking mid with the attributes to slot further into attack.
Is it Fran's responsibility to be chosen against the teams Mendy was selected to play against or Carlo's?
No, but my argument was never to compare them, but to point out that A/Bing team stats when both of them have had a vast difference in difficulty in opposition and a completely different objective to fulfill simply doesn't make sense to me. Does Fran Garcia deserve a run against players that will challenge him defensively? Maybe. Does Fran Garcia's track record serve as a basis to make an assumption on how he'd perform there? No. I'm not saying teams would crack Fran Garcia in half, I'm merely pointing out that he played against some of the worst offenses in the country, and looking at the entire catalog, it seems intentional.
WRT the Fran vs. Mendy debate; Mendy seems out of form right now, but for anyone saying just play Fran, we have seen Mendy get it done on big European nights. I can't recall ever seeing Fran do that. Fran puts in a lot of effort, but he’s never quite seemed to settle into our squad, and I’m not sure he ever will. That said, Mendy’s injury record and limited contribution going forward would have me considering options for a long-term replacement. Neither player for me is performing a level I'm comfortable with.
Wow. Clear as day. Those stats speak for themselves. When Fran plays this season the team scores more goals and concedes fewer goals than when Mendy palys. Puts into numbers what it feels like I'm watching.
Not on recent form, but Fran Garcia defends as well as a training cone and the staff is fully aware of that. I was merely pointing out that the stats brought to the table are shockingly flawed.
Problem with Mendy being off form is that when his defense s*cks, he's useless. At least with Fran he combines with attackers and his "inferior" defense isn't that far off from Mendy's off days.