Arguably in the two games in the Asia Trophy these 2 have not looked out of their depth, obviously a little inexperienced but Karlsson: Looks explosive and composed, got a good set piece foot on him by the looks and is quick! Also likes to chase the ball down which in a Sunderland team is unusual! Ba: By the looks of it couldnt give a damn about reputation, if your the opposition and have the ball then you are getting tackled! Surprisingly brave for such a stick figure, reminds me of an Abou Diaby like player Either way! I would argue these are a product of the new scouting team that has been put in place… Obviously De Fanti has connections being a former agent and therefore has quite a widespread knowledge, with the additions of D'Ottavio, Mirabelli etc this can only benefit the knowledge of clubs with good youth systems and where we can cherry pick players If this is the case I wonder what to expect in the future! seen as these 2 could be brilliant in a couple of years! It also brings up the question, WTF were the former scouts doing?
One negative I observed from Ba is his shooting technique is far from great. He did force Friedel into a save from an effort just outside the box but he scuffed that anyway. Then the other shots have been from distance and have just trickled to the keeper. Something to work on, which I'm sure he'll do. Karsllson could certainly develop his right foot! But they're still very young and both showed good promise. I'm sure we'll see them make the odd cameo appearance this season.
Ba seemed to like to have time on the ball, may be a bit harsh consodering the pitch, but in our league you dont get as much time as the lad seemed to want.
Yeah there was the one occasion when he dallied a little bit. He won't be a starting player so he'll be allowed plenty time to adapt to the pace of the league
both young and will take time to adjust to the premier league like any player but they look as though they could go on and be good players for us
Yeah there was the one occasion when he dallied a little bit. He won't be a starting player so he'll be allowed plenty time to adapt to the pace of the league[/QUOTE] I think you mught be right. The thing is, and this all comes down to opinion, if we had proper full backs then they would exploit the space that is naturally available, and so Ba and larsson would not be getting caught out as the full backs would provide a proper out ball. Back to the thread topic and ultimatley i think both Ba and Karlson looked decent, they just shouldnt be near the first team just yet.
Proper full backs are so important as we're playing with inverted wingers, if we've got a full back bombing forward that should take up the opposition full back leaving space for Johnson and Giacc to run into. What happened last year with Johnson was the full back was always able to close him down and with no rb getting forward he'd have to turn inside and which point he'd be surrounded
this is a very good question... a club of our stature, with our facilities - not scouting to put them to good use. Absolutely incredible.
It's early days lads, all the players are settling in and getting used to each other still and also none are completely match fit yet either. From what i've seen so far we look to have the makings of a very good team and with a few more additions still expected i think we will do very well this season. Certainly looks much better than last seasons shambles anyway.
I thought Karlsson looked very good in short stints in both games. Pacey and has a good left foot. Took his goal very well. Few tricks as well. Ba the same I thought he did well. Think Karlsson will be an excellent impact sub until he gets developed a bit. Ba's biggest problem was that he replaced Cabral yesterday which made him have some big boots to fill. He did very well but, as was said, needs a bit of work Altidore looked poor yesterday. He didn't look fit to me although he did on Wednesday! Could just be lack of match practice
The question you should be asking is why the recommendations of the scouts were not followed through and pursued - you infer it was they were at fault- I think Pop Robson gave enough away in his recent interview to suggest we missed one or two players who he had suggested to MON that have gone on to do well. Things are rarely as two dimensional in football as the fans think.
As far as Altidore is concerned I though we went much more long ball yesterday resulting in Sess not being in the game at all and so Altidore exposed against 4 defenders. Been done to death yesterday so without mentioning names an attacking/ link up midfielder is a must. RB..LB..CM..CF. Still need another 4/5 in.
I am happy with ba and the sweed but I am still waiting for altidore to come good.its still early doors and I'm quite sure they will.
Karlsson looks almost ready already, what I like about Ba is you can actually SEE how determined he is to make it. These will develop into 2 monster players IMO.
