True but he spent a couple years in academy / loan is what milk is getting at rather than brought as a first team player. Elliott seems more technical. Sterling has pace abs then developed around that especislly when Brod moved him inside into a 10 role at times to develop his game. Elliott doesn’t have that raw pace to beat a player so are totally different type of players. I do see him more like a David silva or Bernardo silva type. Can play wide but better as a creative playmaker in the middle of the pitch.
is 12 u23 games really enough to define a player as a product of our academy? Sterling for sure played more u16 and u18 games but only played a few U23/ reserve games ebfore he was stright into the first team squad. He would be more like a quasi academy player. You are right though, those silvas are a good target for him to work towards.
Hes still broken through into the first team after playing for the academy. He wasn’t signed as a 18 year old to play right into first team. Anyway such a pedantic point no point getting hung up over it. Change the word academy to young player if that makes it better.
Not quibbling if he is academy or not or someone else's academy player... Just merely making the point he was a youth player making the step up to our first team and comparing him with Sterling and Ibe (the last two to step up from youth to first team in that position, as far as I remember). He's a much more mature player than those two were at this stage with a lot more tactical awareness. Yeah, he had the advantage of Blackburn, but Sterling wasnt this grown even after a full season in our squad. (And Ibe never got out of the dribble myself into a corner routine when with us). Both those players looked incredibly promising to us at the time, but Elliott already looks more mature... He just is a little easy to take advantage of his enthusiasm and pull him out of position at the moment... But that can be fixed.
TAA would be most recent to cement a first team but position wise then yeah sterling ibe, Wilson I guess would be most recent ones.
It is pedantic yes, for sure. But surely you'd have to actually benefit out of an academy to be called one. If you were signed then coached with the first team and threw a few games into the u23s are you really comparable to someone whos spent years going up the tiers? lets call him a wunderkind
do you remember when players used to sign their YTS forms with clubs? elliott is a bit too hairy for me. like rooney. a full on 16 year old woolyback
I think Elliot could be more like Coutinho. As you say, he's not quick up enough to play in the front 3 but he could play as the attacking / creative number 8. He can dribble and pick a pass.
Have never really viewed this thread much before and given the title, I expected to see data driven comments. I only looked at the last pages comments but no stats or analysis on it. D- ‘can do better’
Chart to show the most effective passing combinations in our team. No surprises but our full backs passing to the wide forwards is the most effective ... please log in to view this image
all i see there is a big huge question mark as to why PSG paid 200mil for neymar. what an absolute waste. You've guys on 500 and 600k per week and commanding fees of 100 mil + with mane and salah in the middle of them
The pressing chart for Chelsea - we pressed and worked incredibly hard all throughout the game ... please log in to view this image
Harvey tops the pressing volume again. The other story is that there were some very efficient pressers all throughout the team. please log in to view this image
Possession value chart - no surprises, Salah receives a lot of the ball and is one of our best players in terms of passing it and carrying it. Sadio is still very good at carrying the ball forward, and Trent's passing is so important. please log in to view this image
Again, no surprises - Trent is critical to us getting up the pitch with his passing. Sadio is important in terms of his ball carrying. Matip is also quite high up in terms of his dribbling, whilst VVD is high in terms of passing.It's a nice combination which allows us to build attacks in different ways. please log in to view this image
Our right side is so dangerous (you can swap Elliot with Thiago and Hendo) but the link up play with Trent and Salah is so so good. Now we need to be able to replicate the same on the left, but this has been lost due to Robbo and Mane's poor offensive contribution for almost a year now. It was only until we played Kostas (and Naby) did we start creating down the left side. We need to address this balance urgently. please log in to view this image
This is based on last season and is for DM/CMs who played min. 18 games in that position (which is why Fabinho isn't on the list). Our very own Thiago is a brilliant at progressing us up the pitch, either through his passing or dribbling. Ndidi is an absolute monster. please log in to view this image
