Tosker
Does Not Hate Foreigners
Wouldn't it be good if Giroud and Aube follow his example
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German Football 2017/18
- Thread starter blaze_of_glory
- Start date
- Replies 1,352
- Views 84,917
NieThePiet
Loves Overhyping Our Rivals
First game for Batshuayi, 2 goals and an offside goal. Good start.
<<reed>>
Lidl Tir Na Nog
Bats again, onside this time
He seems to be very good in front of goal Batshuayi, but I still think his general hold-up and link-up play needs a lot of work in order to lead a line. It's good that he's getting minutes though, he should improve a lot now.
Tosker
Does Not Hate Foreigners
Hope Conte's watching
This game is fire emoji fire emoji fire emoji.
NieThePiet
Loves Overhyping Our Rivals
Good game. Dortmund still doesn't look good. Pulisic has a really bad form, Sancho out injured (hopefully nothing serious).
Batshuayi is good in the box, but outside he needs a lot of improvement.
Batshuayi is good in the box, but outside he needs a lot of improvement.
al-Ustaadh
👳♂️ Figuring out how to delete my account 👳♂️
Watching Wolfsburg-Stuttgart. Wanted to checkout Casteels.
al-Ustaadh
👳♂️ Figuring out how to delete my account 👳♂️
Ascacibar at Stuttgart is one to keep our eye on. 20-year-old Argentinian. Similar size to Santi but also plays a lot like him. Quick feet, great technique, passing, vision, etc. Always a yellow card waiting to happen, though. 8 yellow cards in 18 appearances in the Bundesliga.
al-Ustaadh
👳♂️ Figuring out how to delete my account 👳♂️
Casteels hasn't had much to do so far. Wolfsburg has seen most of the ball and put Stuttgart on the back foot. He's had the ball at his feet a couple of times - looks comfortable but still needs to work on his touch and passing a bit. Quick with the distribution and pretty accurate with his throwing. The quality is there.
"I've no idea why he'd want to go to the Bundesliga, what with the language and everything".
...Ademola Lookman scores the winner on his debut for Leipzig.
What a knob Sam Allardyce is. It's a good thing Lookman & Onyekuru are out on loan, at least they're not being coached to sh*t under Allardyce.
...Ademola Lookman scores the winner on his debut for Leipzig.
What a knob Sam Allardyce is. It's a good thing Lookman & Onyekuru are out on loan, at least they're not being coached to sh*t under Allardyce.
yeah...not really. Similar size, quick feet, dynamic, mobile. I can see where the comparison comes from, but as of now, Ascacibar clearly is a DM. He's great at interceptions and winning the ball, he's fairly good at being part of ball circulation, runs around like a terrier.
But he's been of barely a use offensively. His passing isn't incitive enough, he lacks vision and creativity and is by no means someone who can dictate the rhythm and control play like Santi Cazorla.
He's much more a small Javi Martinez than a Cazorla.
al-Ustaadh
👳♂️ Figuring out how to delete my account 👳♂️
So he's like another Torreira, who everyone says is a good replacement for Cazorla? haha
Wo wo wo, Ascacibar is a pure DM a bit like Coquelin but with more potential. Torreira is way more than that; he intercepts and tackles but he also instigates attacks and controls the tempo. Torreira's passing is outstanding.
Haven't seen Torreira play, so I cannot compare him to the Argentine.
But I see Ascacibar every weekend, live or on TV. And he's a massive, massive talent, but nowhere close in profile to Cazorla. He's a clean cut aggressive, defensive midfielder with alright passing and technique but whatsoever no offensive/creative/controlling qualities or drive, as of yet - he could very well add that to his games, I don't think it's beyond him, seeing his talent.
He'd be a great Coquelin/Xhaka replacement/upgrade. Sound enough passing and technique to not be completely useless on the ball like Coquelin, and a more defensive player than Xhaka.
al-Ustaadh
👳♂️ Figuring out how to delete my account 👳♂️
The little bit I saw of Ascacibar presented him as a Cazorla-type. He seems to be an inbetween of Torreira and Cazorla. Torreira has a greater passing range compared to Cazorla, while Cazorla is nowhere near as aggressive and defensive as Torreira.
With the way our team is right now, all it needs is a competent DM to provide balance. The DM doesn't necessarily need exceptional passing, although that would elevate the team even more.
Taking a look at the stats of a few players: Torreira, Ascacibar, Meyer, Ndidi & Fabinho. They're different players with different strengths, but they all share better defensive stats than Xhaka. Even Meyer ffs, who's only just moved deep, has more tackles and interceptions than Xhaka.
You can argue who'd be better in terms of passing ability - I'd argue Torreira would offer the most - but what's not up for debate is that any of them would be better DMs than Xhaka. 1.7 tackles + 1 interception on average from Xhaka is poor and we can easily find better.
Taking a look at the stats of a few players: Torreira, Ascacibar, Meyer, Ndidi & Fabinho. They're different players with different strengths, but they all share better defensive stats than Xhaka. Even Meyer ffs, who's only just moved deep, has more tackles and interceptions than Xhaka.
You can argue who'd be better in terms of passing ability - I'd argue Torreira would offer the most - but what's not up for debate is that any of them would be better DMs than Xhaka. 1.7 tackles + 1 interception on average from Xhaka is poor and we can easily find better.
"Terrier" is an apt word for Ascacibar, Torreira too. Can you imagine Ascacibar & Torreira in a double pivot! Pogba & Sergej would run away with their tails between their legs.
Ascacibar reminds me of a kid that used to play in my team at school. This guy was easily the smallest boy in the year but he was an absolute menace on the pitch. He could tackle anyone, he didn't give a f*ck. He'd just chase you and harass you till he got the ball. But when he got the ball he literally stopped playing, had no idea what to do with it. Usually he'd just get the ball, panic and pass into empty space or back to the opposition. That kid grew up to be Gennaro Gattuso. True story.
Nice story. Reading about Torreira or comparing Santi A. to Meyer, he's the most traditional no. 6 of the lot. While his passing and technique don't let him down, they're not his upsides. Those are his aggressiveness against the ball, willingness to commit to 1v1 and defending, positioning and interceptions. A younger, more talented and already better Coquelin, if you will.
I still don't quite get the Cazorla comparison, cause Santi's strenght are/were his technique, quick, incitive short passing, ability to move upfield with the ball at feed, transition play through that and not least to actually dictate and influence the rhythm of a game. All things Ascacibar is not able to do.
Back to Ascacibar: At the beginning of the season he did actually show a tad more drive to get forward, but with the decline of Stuttgart's football and their commitment to more and more defensive play, his little offensive drive vanished.
Like I already said, I don't think it's beyond him to evolve his creative and passing dimensions along with a slight drive to support attacks when needed, but right now he's a rather traditional ballwinner.
