Dani Ceballos: Time To Saybyeos?

[gunner4lyfe]

He has been poor lately and has been drifting too far to the right instead of staying in the middle. Still think with a better partner he can do better though. I'd try him again with Elneny.

 

[Macho]

That right sided thing is clearly instruction though. We did the same on the other side with Xhaka and Tierney and it worked last season.

I have to admit, he was pretty good during project lockdown and I'd even go as far to say this guy not kicking on is partially why we look so poor this season.

 

[Pyres7]

Technically he's great but I just wish he had more footballing intelligence. Shame really, I'm glad we didn't knee-jerk to his end of season form and sign him permanently. I was actually scared he'd have an amazing season and be out of our price range when he went back to Real.

That right sided thing is clearly instruction though. We did the same on the other side with Xhaka and Tierney and it worked last season.

Against Wolves he was playing RCB when we were on the ball, and against Leicester he was a right sided midfielder, closer to the throw in line than the centre of the pitch. I have no idea what Arteta's trying to do.

 

[truth_hurts]

I disagree with him not being arsed. If nothing else, he needs to play well to get into Spain's euro squad and possible Madrid contention.

 

[Batman]

Madrid are almost as poor as we are. Maybe they'll take him back.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

That right sided thing is clearly instruction though. We did the same on the other side with Xhaka and Tierney and it worked last season.

I have to admit, he was pretty good during project lockdown and I'd even go as far to say this guy not kicking on is partially why we look so poor this season.

I honestly don't get it either. I understood why it was done with Xhaka to hide him from the press but when you ask Ceballos to drift to the right it leaves Xhaka in the middle which is the same as having no one there as he's always closer to the CBs pointing all over the place.

 

[squallman]

I disagree with him not being arsed. If nothing else, he needs to play well to get into Spain's euro squad and possible Madrid contention.

Some players just don't have it within themselves mentally to push themselves, regardless of the dire need to do so.

It's why you see some players busting a gut to find an equaliser in the last few minutes of a game while a different group will just stroll around the pitch.

Granted, there's very little urgency anywhere in the game nowadays.

On the other hand, there's the off chance that Ceballos and all the rest of them are all bothered, but they're just not at a level where they can display that on the pitch. They're just not good enough. Much like Mertesacker who I genuinely believed (unlike Walcott who I felt was full of ****) when he said the performances in that era weren't good enough and that we (including himself) had to improve. Per just wasn't capable of giving better performances.

 

[JCB]

I'm so happy we didn't sign him permanently. For me he's not up to the physical level of the premier league plus his doesn't seem to have a football brain

 

[TinFish]

He has had some sparks in the past especially at the start of last season but the Arsenal-isaton has taken out any beakon of light from the player.

Can see him moving on and tearing it up at a place like Sevilla or Betis etc.

 

[Batman]

I'm so happy we didn't sign him permanently. For me he's not up to the physical level of the premier league plus his doesn't seem to have a football brain

Here lies the issue. You can be what he is physically and still thrive in the PL but you have to have tremendous intelligence to do so. I wouldn't say he's any weaker than Özil or David Silva for example but those two are masterful at moving in such a way that they always have that extra moment to do something with the ball and they've already figured out exactly what that something is before they even receive it. Dani is decent at using little feints semi consistently to buy himself a bit of time but both as a flaw of his own(hence why he's not in Zidane's plans in spite of how weak their squad appears) and as a flaw of our tactics, he never has either the intelligence or to be fair, the option to make that next key action as our attack is disjointed and illogical in its progressions.

If you ever want to see an absolute masterclass on what a player that isn't the strongest can do if they're incredibly intelligent and technically excellent, you go back to around 2008 and watch Hleb and Fabregas and how impossible they were to dispossess even against good, physical opposition who they could never outmuscle. You don't even need to pick a specific match. Any will do because they were like that 100% of the time which is what separates real ballers from those who flatter to deceive. For Dani to get there would mean increasing his football IQ by a magnitude that just isn't possible at this stage in his development.

 

[JCB]

Here lies the issue. You can be what he is physically and still thrive in the PL but you have to have tremendous intelligence to do so. I wouldn't say he's any weaker than Özil or David Silva for example but those two are masterful at moving in such a way that they always have that extra moment to do something with the ball and they've already figured out exactly what that something is before they even receive it. Dani is decent at using little feints semi consistently to buy himself a bit of time but both as a flaw of his own(hence why he's not in Zidane's plans in spite of how weak their squad appears) and as a flaw of our tactics, he never has either the intelligence or to be fair, the option to make that next key action as our attack is disjointed and illogical in its progressions.

If you ever want to see an absolute masterclass on what a player that isn't the strongest can do if they're incredibly intelligent and technically excellent, you go back to around 2008 and watch Hleb and Fabregas and how impossible they were to dispossess even against good, physical opposition who they could never outmuscle. You don't even need to pick a specific match. Any will do because they were like that 100% of the time which is what separates real ballers from those who flatter to deceive. For Dani to get there would mean increasing his football IQ by a magnitude that just isn't possible at this stage in his development.

You are right if the player has the intelligence they can play in a more advanced midfield role, but unfortunately ceballos doesn't, plus in the deeper role he's playing I believe you do have to have some pace and strength or you just get run past.

 

[Ibadan]

Nice cameo today, can be very creative higher up the pitch... we're still not a very fluent team though very little chemistry

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

How Xhaka started instead of him I have no idea, was very good on the ball, nearly everything good came through him.

 

[Pop Tart]

He is ****

 

[krackpot]

Nice cameo today, can be very creative higher up the pitch... we're still not a very fluent team though very little chemistry

He's very very slow with the ball.

If he started today, Sp**s would have been all over him

 

[Rasmi]

easy to play today cause by the time he came on they were not even contending the midfield

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

easy to play today cause by the time he came on they were not even contending the midfield

They literally sat Harry Kane on him to stop him playing and he was still at the centre of everything good.

 

[GunnerShy]

Good shift. The DLP that Xhaka is supposed to be.

If they play a pivot it has to be him and a fit Partey

 

[Camus]

easy to play today cause by the time he came on they were not even contending the midfield

This has always been Dani. He looks amazing when he's got the midfield all to himself but once it's actually competitive and 2 (or more) players are closing him down, contesting balls with him etc.. he folds.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

We looked much better when he came on. Given our dearth of creativity and him being one of the only players who can pick and weigh an incisive pass or advance the ball interestingly through the middle, there is no way he should not be picked ahead of Xhaka.

More poor conservativism from Mikel.

That right sided thing is clearly instruction though.

Yep, that was clearly tactical. And a terrible use of Dani's skills, unlikely with Xhaka. Those tactics against Wolves were dire, god. Same with Leicester where he had a similar instruction.