Riccardo Calafiori: The Italian Stallion

[Bagels]

Some people wanted him sold after his first season here lol

I remember being in the trenches when we first got linked to him. “Euro signing” “crock” etc etc. This guy was a unicorn for Bologna, and he’s a unicorn for us.

One of those players that makes the sport so enjoyable to watch.

 

[Energoto]

Best looking man in football bar none polar opposite of Luke Chadwick.

Or John McGinn the ugly cnut

 

[Topside]

Or John McGinn the ugly cnut

Man has eyes like piss holes in the snow.

The fried Mars bar eating, tennents drinking AV oik!

 

[Gooner Zig]

He's the best LB itl.

Just please stay fit mate.

 

[viktor]

 

[bergholt]

this guy is now our backup LW

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Candidate for POTY if he can stay fit.

 

[Red London]

I love this guy. What a ****ing player.

Always depressed when he’s injured and out the team. Why do the most exciting ones always have to be the most injury prone.

 

[Red London]

Hopefully won’t be waiting so long for contributions again. If he plays like this and stays fit he’s a 10 G + A player in my opinion.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Think he’s got the ability to join Saliba, Rice, Gabriel, Saka as a pillar of the team.

We are infinitely better with him at LB than Hincapie.

 

[RichWeath]

I honestly think this guy is the best/most complete footballer at the club.

If you had to score every attribute a footballer requires, his overall score would be the highest.

 

[Rain Dance]

just manage his minutes to keep away from injury and we are good

Just take turn between him and Hincanpie

 

[Flying Okapis]

I remember being in the trenches when we first got linked to him. “Euro signing” “crock” etc etc. This guy was a unicorn for Bologna, and he’s a unicorn for us.

One of those players that makes the sport so enjoyable to watch.

There were people not so long ago happy with taking 50mil from Madrid when he was linked early on in the summer..

 

[Red London]

Think he’s got the ability to join Saliba, Rice, Gabriel, Saka as a pillar of the team.

We are infinitely better with him at LB than Hincapie.

Yeah I’m not sure why some prefer Hincapie, was debating this with a couple of my friends.

Hincapie is a fantastic player to have in the team/squad don’t get me wrong, but he is very limited going forward.

Considering we are solid enough as a unit as it is, Califiori is much more valuable for us as he’s in a different stratosphere attacking/creativity wise.

 

[Red London]

The issue with our fullbacks is Cala is injury prone. Timber is also not on the level of Cala or even White in the final third.

So we are one Cala injury from having Hincapie and Timber as fullbacks which really limits us approach wise.

We love our fullbacks to occupy advance inside areas. Cala is so so good at this. I don’t mind having timber on the other side if we at least have Cala contributing this way on the left.

He acts like an extra attacker for us creativity wise, an area which we are lacking.

 

[Red London]

IMO a big reason we got so stodgy and poor going forward in the 2nd half of the last season was we were missing Cala.

We also had Mosquera playing at RB for long stretches. Mosquera and Hincapie as fullbacks is very sad in terms of ball progression and attacking qualities. It cost us a lot.

I do think our target for next summer or even Jan depending on injuries should be to have a versatile RB/LB player who can be helpful with the way we push our fullbacks up. If someone emerges in this sense in the PL we should pull the trigger. This player can be the eventual replacement for White as well as MLS as the third LB.

 

[bergholt]

I honestly think this guy is the best/most complete footballer at the club.

If you had to score every attribute a footballer requires, his overall score would be the highest.

especially if one of them was whether he looks like a male model

Giroud vs Calafiori - who would you rather ****

 

[White Rice]

The issue with our fullbacks is Cala is injury prone. Timber is also not on the level of Cala or even White in the final third.

So we are one Cala injury from having Hincapie and Timber as fullbacks which really limits us approach wise.

We love our fullbacks to occupy advance inside areas. Cala is so so good at this. I don’t mind having timber on the other side if we at least have Cala contributing this way on the left.

He acts like an extra attacker for us creativity wise, an area which we are lacking.

Yet Timber racks up assists better than any our other FB or CB. He also adds his share of goals as a defender, maybe he's not as bad as people think despite not being easy on the eye with his game.

 

[Red London]

Yet Timber racks up assists better than any our other FB or CB. He also adds his share of goals as a defender, maybe he's not as bad as people think despite not being easy on the eye with his game.

He’s good at certain things but I think the assists he got last season didn’t reflect the way he plays tactically for us compared to Calafiori or even the triangles we execute with White.

I see Timber as being amazing in the first two thirds of the pitch and then can be patchy in the final third. He got contributions but sometimes he is not timing runs or overlaps very well / barely does them.

 

[MauveGunner]

This man