Ohhh Mmm Ahhh More Versatile Than A Vienna Sausage - Austrian Distraction David Alaba Thread

We went that entire season with Militao Alaba Nacho and Vallejo as our cb depth. We’ve never gone into a season so thin. This was prior to Rudiger arriving.

It’s almost difficult to fathom now but Militao and Alaba played almost every minute that season fully healthy. Both over 4k minutes.

We dont win that double without Alaba. Obviously what has happened since has been awful, but let’s not discount that

 

Who?

 

We don't win it without Courtois. The defense was leaky and it was his heroics that got insane clean sheets. Alaba will be remembered for his chair celebration. Thanks for that.

 

He's 2nd after Mbappe; it's ridiculous.

 

Nah. He wound down his contract and came on a free transfer. The team needed a CB really bad and the deal made sense, even if he the club had to offer some compensation to facilitate the move.


It's not totally absurd that Alaba is one of the highest earners, his contract was signed years ago. What's surprising is that the club hasn't made sure to bring Fed and Vini up to par wiot himn

What is ridiculous is the difference between Mbappe and everyone else. It appears he's making more than double the amount of every other player on the team. Not a couple of million more, double. That's crazy and makes Vini's wage demands look modest.

If people think Vini needs to play better to get what he's asking for Mbappe needs to be playing for like 3 players at once.

 

Well, until this past season anyway when, in effect, switch out Nacho for Rüdiger and then add that Mili and Alaba were recovering from torn ACLs the previous season while Vallejo played a total of 105 minutes on loan the year before, and that's your CB depth.

I was beside myself seeing this happen and Pérez just letting it happen with zero interest in adding any depth.

 

He was done 2 seasons ago. Not sure what you would call the current situation.

 

Such a shame I feel David would do so well under Xabi and the 3 CB formation that he likes.
David can pass and is a good all around defender.

The season before he got the ACL like weeks before that he looked very, very shaky.

 

I honestly don't think I've ever seen anyone with such bad luck as Militao. Like how do you heal one ACL, come back and immediately snap the other ACL... It's not like he was even overplayed and ran into the ground like some players. He barely started playing again.

Even with Dani, it was just a freak accident. Nobody is walking away from that clash with anything but a destroyed knee.

I know the number of games is crazy high atm, but I wouldn't put these two injuries down to crazy schedule.

As far as Alaba, with him it's a bit different. His age is showing and his body is just not the same. I just hope he can finish this coming season healthy(ish) and give us something positive to talk about. I've no big expectations at all.

 

It's more common than people tink to have another ACL tear in the opposite leg after recovering / healing from an initial ACL tear.

A similar situation occurs with shoulder injuries, as I experienced a couple of years ago, with an initial torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder and then about 6 months later I tore my left shoulder rotator cuff, whilst weight training.

 

IIRC, he was played regularly and maybe too soon. He started featuring towards the end of 24 season and kept playing almost every game until his second ACL in early November.

 

Agree, being tall and lean, my knees ake, my lower back etc.

Some doctors I have visited have told me that if I had a bit more meat on me it would not be this bad.

Still, though, now i'm working on my core etc and im doing good.

 

Experimenting on athletes is the only way to properly test the product tho.

Lab and controlled test could only go so far. Plus the hype on "New Sports Tech" sells.

Remember Nike Air? That air cushion tech is basically useless. But it looks cool and sells shoes.

 

Reebok pumps made me jump higher when I was 12. Facts.

 

I'm pretty sure the big companies like Nike pre-test their products with amateurs and consumers.

Although the standards, methodology and timeframe could be questionable due to non-existing standard testing protocols. Yes, the pressure to put out the product probably supercedes all of these testings at times. Hence the nasty products they pump out. They most probably have accounting do the risk vs rewards for these kinds of releases.

I remember that bad Lebron shoe with that puny outrigger. That shoe almost always caused him to sprain his ankle. Forcing him to use his budget soldier line for the season.

 

Nike used do to a lot more testing with athletes when developing products. Basketball/Football in particular. OG Ronaldo used to come to campus as did Jordan when working on his shoes. That went away due to speed to market and needing to release new stuff constantly.

Now it’s all about aesthetic design and cost to produce. Real innovation has been / was done in running mainly as you’ve seen competition in that space with ON and Hoka eating into margin and they have been compelled to do so.

Nike and Adidas are 90% of the market share for boots. Very little incentive to invest in an area that has such little competition.

Flyknit was developed for running first and then shared with football boots for example.

Material development is pretty much the focus not design. Slightest adjustments in design for heel and sole plates but they just tweak it. The materials are all created from vendors who Nike sources from to build the shoes.