I had 2 through balls that broke defensive lines in my rec league today. Does that count as being almost as good as those guys?
Why isn’t Shaqiri closing in on this ball? It’s a damn meaningful World Cup game! He’s two yards away, in the box. He could easily pick this defender's pocket as he’s in the defender’s blind spot. How embarrassing! Oh wait, never mind. This is a 22 year old Alphonso Davies in the 20th minute of a game. My bad. It was so confusing. https://youtube.com/shorts/ESsAeG4HIbE
But how much did he walk though https://www.chicagofirefc.com/news/...ower-switzerland-through-to-fifa-world-cup-r?
“Shaqiri became one of just three players to score in each of the last three men's FIFA World Cup tournaments - joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - and is also the only Switzerland player to score at three separate iterations of the tournament.”
Pfft - Ronaldo and Messi? LOL - I bet those guys walk, too! Gimme 11 players that do nothing but run all of the time over clowns like those any day. Who cares about scoring in the World Cup anyway!
Curious response, young Jiggs. Has anyone said he should not play on the right, as opposed to in the center of the field?
I think it was the third goal but maybe the second, Shaqiri drove right up the middle to the top of the box and passed the ball off to the right wing. The ball then found its way into the box and goal. So I think like with the Fire he floats.
True, but his starting slot is generally on the right side. Personally, he can play just about anywhere in the attacking half and he enhances the Fire.
Issue is with regard to what is expected on D in the way we play our formation. As CAM in 4-2-3-1 he just needs to pester a CDM or CB like a hornet in a small area, but at RW he would need to track back to our box to shut down a midfielder (4-3-3) or wingback(4-2-3-1 or 5-3-2)…and he’s simply not going to cover the much ground/do that much work for us. At the Fire he’s more like a dad playing with kids…trots around and picks his offensive moments, and maybe a D moment if it comes to him. Thing is, he’s playing around men and more ‘runs’ will break them down and help the rest of the team. By runs I’m only talking about aggresssive give and goes… Sounds like they want to replace overlapping Sekulic with full back, to let Shaqiri float to the outside with our wong to overload the opposing teams outside back. I don’t like that because it means Gaston &/or Fede have to make runs into the box…or Kacper is all on his own. Shaqiri clearly has the foot skills and quality to play central CAM line breaker distributor shot taker…just not sure he wants to….or maybe the big CBs bang him around so much…maybe he should be more of a false 9-ish like Messi has been?
Let’s just be clear that if a coach asks Zidane, Modric, Shaqiri, Vela, etc. to regularly contribute on defense you’ve ********ed up. His .68 npxG+xAG in a World Cup shows us he needs to be played in a way that he can be successful.
Right...don't play him at RW in a 4-2-3-1 that expects the wing to have any defensive responsibility. CAM is a good position for a creator that also scores...just don't play it like a winger
Really? I see a lot of similarities in their games. Shaqiri isn't as audacious as Blanco (who is?), but they have a lot of the same tools. Blanco had a lot better team around him too.