Why is this always something people say? He was absolutely bossing it a month ago and now all of a sudden people are pretending he wasn’t just for the sake of not believing a rumour that he’s not playing due to the clause.
Plus even if he was or wasnt Wondering and thinking puerta should play Doesnt mean we think hes prime xavi
It’s just a weird point that seems to be made by people who refuse to question a managers decision ever. Puerta has an absolute engine on him carries the ball forward well and can create chances too. Him and Slater had started a decent partnership and he was the better of the 2
Annual accounts are released to the end of June. Pretty sure any obligation/option would fall after the expiry of his loan deal regardless.
If Puerta was so good, Alzate is the best in the league and heading to the Prem you have to wonder why we are in a relegation fight. I'm not saying he was bad as he isnt but Selles brought in Crooks and Matazo because he wasn't happy with the midfield. If he can't be played because of this clause why have him on the bench
Matazo should be there or thereabouts. Crooks hadn't played for 2 months but you don't get them fully match fit if you don't play them in competitive games If we were happy with the balance in midfield, then we'd have spent the 3m making Puerta permanent in January as opposed to bringing in 2 others in his position instead.
Alzate’s good but I don’t think he’s even in the top 10 defensive midfielders in the league. Some fans on here and especially X get ridiculously carried away. Some even talked about a late playoff push after the Sheffield United game for ****’s sake.
Do you seriously think you could name 10 better? Only ones that I think are 100% better are Ampadu and Cullen. They both play in a pivot though, Alzate holds by himself
Not really sure it’s relevant. We play 2 8s under Selles and prior to Jan we only had Puerta and Slater available to play in those 2 roles
Personally I think he's identifed physicality and championship experience as lacking hence him sliding down the pecking order behind the incomings and even Slater. I would perhaps entertain the idea that we maybe want to manage the risk of triggering an obligation whilst it's still unclear what division were going to be in next summer, but even then, if Selles felt he was far and away the best option to play in the current situation he'd still be starting right up to that trigger point, not being benched with games to spare. And that's a different thing entirely to the original 'theory' that we can't play him because we can't afford the 3m on this year's ffp if he makes another appearance. He wouldn't be taking up a place in the 18 if that was the case.
Maybe, I don’t know. Perhaps he is in the top 10. In no particular order, the ones I think are better are: Cullen (Burnley), Ampadu (Leeds), Tanaka (Leeds), Sheaf (Coventry), Vinicius Souza (Sheffield United), Morris (Boro), Neil (Sunderland), Grimes (Coventry) and Charles (Sheffield Wednesday, on loan from Southampton). Alzate’s better than some of them at certain things. For example, he’s better on the ball than Vinicius Souza. However, I do think those aforementioned players are better number 6s overall. I still maintain that Alzate is probably a better number 8 than he is a number 6 but he’s playing there out of necessity because he’s the best defensive midfielder we have and we already have lots of number 8s.
That's the most confusing aspect. It might have something to do with the FFP year as someone said. Think that's to March.
Grimes, Tanaka and Sheaf are good shouts. I think the others are more box to box’s though. Alzate’s role in our side is probably the most demanding given we play 1 sitting 2 8s most others have more of a 4-2-3-1
This is why I didn't bother naming names the last time you asked this, as no two players are identical in the role they play so it's always possible to dismiss players as not being comparisons. Maybe it would be better for you to list the direct comparisons he's clearly better than?
Neil’s probably more box-to-box though he’s played most of this season as the deepest midfielder for Sunderland and has done the role consistently to allow the likes of Bellingham, Rigg and others to be more offensive. Vinicius Souza is a textbook ball-winning midfielder and Morris is more of a holding midfielder than a box-to-box one. Alzate’s been good and he’s playing in a demanding role like you said but I don’t think he’s one of the best in that role this season. He’s press-resistant (though he’s tried to do too much in the last few games and lost the ball) and he has good vision and technique. I think our perception is skewed by the fact Walter didn’t use a defensive midfielder during build-up.
