Agree about the set pieces, he is very poor in my opinion. Given that jonjo can cross etc, I wouldn't mind seeing him taking corners and free kicks now and again as surely he would have learned something from Gerrard in the set piece department.
I can see him still being with us next season, as for various reasons, he hasn't been as good as last season which ATM could be a good thing as it might put potential buyers off him
Bony to take the direct free kicks, now that would be interesting if not painful .Who knows it could work
Can't believe that anyone would think JDG is "very poor" at set pieces. He's actually very good but needs to develop some consistency. Even top players like Ronaldo and Suarez miss free kicks. Until we get better JDG is the best we have at set pieces imo.
Until he develops consistency he's no good then. No point in one corner/ free kick in every blue moon being decent
And that applies to everyone at the club not just one player, management included....consistency has been our problem all season...
The facts and the stats prove you wrong Valley. If he was consistent at set pieces to the extent that he was scoring more often than not from free kicks and delivering perfect corners every time he would be valued at £15M and certainly not playing for the Swans. He's capable but needs to develop consistency. Can you think of anyone in the team better at corners and free kicks? The answer is no by the way.
Put me in midfield and I can pass the ball sideways and backwards 45% of the time. I don't read into stats like that, the main ones are the 2/3 assists created in 20 odd games this season As for corners and free kicks, like I said, I wouldn't mind seeing jonjo having a go, as he must have developed these skills at Liverpool with Gerrard on the pitch. The fact that JDG could be the best of a bad bunch with regards to set pieces is something Laudrup MUST address in the transfer window for me if we are to get the most out of Bony in the second half of the season.
We're never going to agree valley and that's fair enough. But if anyone can pass it sideways and back why aren't they in the top three passers in the Division? That's the way we play, of course. It's based on possession football - perhaps you will acknowledge that's the reason why we're second in the League for possession stats. Part of JDG's role is distribution and the stats prove he does it well with an almost 90% pass success rate. On the assist front he's top in our team. Ki has zero at the Mackems, but maybe the question you asked as to why aren't others contributing more assists is a valid one, rather than criticise De Guzman for not getting enough. Also, "seeing someone have a go" is probably not in Laudrup's thinking as a Premiership manager. That said, as I reacall JJ has always blasted the ball into the wall when he's had a go. When Ki was with us he was equally poor. It's not an easy art to master and right now JDG is the best we have at it imo. For the money we pay out and the fact he's on loan I think you'll find he's a bargain too. Replace him by buying a creative midfielder that can score 8 goals a season, provide assists and regularly be effective from dead ball situations and it'll cost us big time. With the obvious problems we have defensively and the fact we need someone as backup for Bony I think Laudrup should put midfield options on the back burner - unless he fancies paying out £10 to Basel for Salah. Now that would be interesting, however unlikely.
Not having a go at JDG here, this is something that Laudrup must look at urgently as when he came in he said that there was no point keeping possession of the ball if we ain't going to do anything with it, and the way he had us playing up until the cup final was in a way where we created loads of chances by attacking in a fast and direct way. If we can get back to playing that way, we will create a shed load of chances for Bony and Michu in the second half of the season.
