Douglas Luiz

[sparrow1988]

He has made a list of the 25 best defensive midfielders in the world compiled by 90min.com. I know these lists should be taken with a pinch of salt but it shows that he is doing something right if he is regarded as one of the best even if it is by 90min. Granted he is out of form at the moment but the whole team is. IMO though, he is the least of our worries.

https://www.90min.com/posts/the-25-best-defensive-midfielders-in-world-football-ranked

Edited March 24, 2021 by sparrow1988

[TRO]

35 minutes ago, lexicon said:

He's the CDM in a team that has conceded joint third fewest goals this season and is an important player. 

I understand that some of you don't see his contribution, but that's definitely more of a 'you' problem. Smith can, Tite can, the players in the squad can - maybe you just need to study the game more? 

We see his contribution, that is the centre of the issue.

Maybe, its an alternative opinion, that you struggle to come to terms with.

What we see, is not what you see....so maybe YOU need to practice what you preach.

[tinker]

A players contribution  to the team should be clear to see , shouldn't have to look closely  to find it. The game is quite simple. A player can either stop a team scoring or create or score a goal. I can't think of many examples for Douglas at either end of the pitch. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by tinker

[PaulC]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

He is also 8 years older and has played in the Premier League since 2012. Luiz has played about 50 games in the league in a language he is just learning 

You are meant to get better though the more games you play not worse 

[Zatman]

3 minutes ago, PaulC said:

You are meant to get better though the more games you play not worse 

Thats not how football works but ok

[PaulC]

2 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Thats not how football works but ok

I understand you loose form and confidence and thats the case with MgGinn but I think he could do more top change that. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by PaulC

[Dave-R]

I personally think we should be on the lookout for a better CDM, that way we can offload Nakamba and maybe Luiz can then be the Sub...

[lexicon]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

We see his contribution, that is the centre of the issue.

Maybe, its an alternative opinion, that you struggle to come to terms with.

What we see, is not what you see....so maybe YOU need to practice what you preach.

Maybe you see it but don't understand it? 

Why do you think that you know better than people like Dean Smith, Tite and Pep Guardiola? They all rate him for a reason. 

 

[tinker]

Douglas is obviously  very talented and that's the most frustrating  part about the way he's playing ATM.  We all know he can be more effective it's just not happening  for him and it's interesting  to speculate why. No one is right or wrong , football is about opinions. 

[blandy]

17 minutes ago, tinker said:

it's just not happening  for him and it's interesting  to speculate why. No one is right or wrong , football is about opinions.

There are an awful lot of footballers right now who have recently been struggling for form and consistency. Most clubs squads are not large enough to cope with the schedule there's been without either a drop off in performances, or a drop off in team quality.

Our players have also had an enforced stay at home break that disrupted them (and many had Covid, too).

The mental and physical fatigue that has arisen, plus the lack of time to actually rectify or work on team play - new tactics etc. hasn't been there for managers to use.

There's a lot of football fans that forget players are just like everyone else - they're humans who get up, get down, get ill, get tired, get a boost from some things and take a hit from others. Personally I think marking down players who are currently knackered  or currently not at their best, or currently carrying knocks and so on is a bit previous to say the least.

Yes it's frustrating that (in the is case) Douglas Luiz is not playing as well as we've seen him in the past, nor is McGinn, nor a few others. But they are quality players.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, lexicon said:

Maybe you see it but don't understand it? 

Why do you think that you know better than people like Dean Smith, Tite and Pep Guardiola? They all rate him for a reason. 

 

Why do you think that even amongst managers they have a difference of opinion....why do you think, as one example Moyes chooses to play 2 units in the central 2....why do all managers have different formations.....Football is subjective, there is no one answer fits all.

Brazil have Casemiro to partner Luiz, bit of a difference, don't you think?

Maybe you see it and don't understand it.

Pep plays without a recongnised striker now, i don't agree with that, so these guys don't have a monopoly on what is right.....a weak argument imo.....he will probably fix it in the summer......as will Dean.

to suggest ,I am saying I know more than them, is folly.....I have merely made my opinion of the role that Luiz plays as I do with McGInn too.....maybe Dean agrees with me ,as much as you think he does with you,but has no alternative....you are just jumping to conclusions.

I think, I have got the message, you don't agree...pointless pursuing it.

Edited March 24, 2021 by TRO

[Laughable Chimp]

I think Pep was a genuine fan of Luiz a couple of years ago and thought he had great potential. That doesn't mean Pep rates his current ability or that his views of Luiz's potential has not changed since those couple of years, it very likely has as Luiz has played 2 and a half seasons now in the top 5 leagues quite regularly. Who knows what Pep thinks of him now.

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Laughable Chimp

[PaulC]

I rate him but I dont think hes performing anywhere near the level he is capable of. 

[blandy]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

Pep plays without a recognised striker now, i don't agree with that, so these guys don't have a monopoly on what is right.

That is possibly the worst expressed argument I've ever seen on this site TRO . 

One the one side you've got Guardiola, widely recognised as a leading coach in world football, whose team has lost one game in about 25 and won the rest, and are challenging for all 4 trophies as we near the end of the season, while he plays with no recognised striker, so the evidence is strong that he knows what he's doing. On the other side is a nice man on the internet. The balance doesn't favour you on this one, my friend 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, blandy said:

That is possibly the worst expressed argument I've ever seen on this site TRO . 

One the one side you've got Guardiola, widely recognised as a leading coach in world football, whose team has lost one game in about 25 and won the rest, and are challenging for all 4 trophies as we near the end of the season, while he plays with no recognised striker, so the evidence is strong that he knows what he's doing. On the other side is a nice man on the internet. The balance doesn't favour you on this one, my friend 

That is a very selective view Pete.

You have taken my observation of not having a recognised Striker for possibly the best team in Europe by possibly the best Manager in World football and turned it in to a comparison between me and him.....you should be in politics Pete.

Manchester City, could go on and win the quadruple and I would still stand by my view.....Manchester City are not and never will be beyond improvement and in my Humble opinion Erling Haarland or Lewandowski would improve them.

You have fallen inadvertently in to the age old trap of not listening to what has been said and more interested in who said it....your head has been turned by an old man on the Internet who has no street Cred to back up his statement.

Having had time to think.....I would say it again and I would suspect every Man City fan that could cram in to their ground....would have either of those 2 in their first team.

Ps  and thats a million times, I've told you, stop exaggerating

Edited March 24, 2021 by TRO

[blandy]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

That is a very selective view Pete.

You have taken my observation of not having a recognised Striker for possibly the best team in Europe by possibly the best Manager in World football and turned it in to a comparison between me and him.....you should be in politics Pete.

Manchester City, could go on and win the quadruple and I would still stand by my view.....Manchester City are not and never will be beyond improvement and in my Humble opinion Erling Haarland or Lewandowski would improve them.

You have fallen inadvertently in to the age old trap of not listening to what has been said and more interested in who said it....your head has been turned by an old man on the Internet who has no street Cred to back up his statement.

Having had time to think.....I would say it again and I would suspect every Man City fan that could cram in to their ground....would have either of those 2 in their first team.

It was meant to be light hearted, TRO. - "It was the Pep does this thing, I don't agree with him, therefore he's wrong" way you expressed it - I quoted the exact phrasing you used "Pep plays without a recognised striker now, i don't agree with that, so these guys don't have a monopoly on what is right."

That's why I said "worst expressed argument", not "worst argument". I get the point that managers make different judgments and they don't always work out. That's fine. You just picked one where it's completely working out as an example

I'm not having a go, I was joshing about the wording of what you're trying to say. Sorry. I did listen to what was said and found it...inadvertently funny.

Yeah, City fans would love a decent replacement for Aguero and those two would both do the job, I reckon.

 

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, blandy said:

It was meant to be light hearted, TRO. - "It was the Pep does this thing, I don't agree with him, therefore he's wrong" way you expressed it - I quoted the exact phrasing you used "Pep plays without a recognised striker now, i don't agree with that, so these guys don't have a monopoly on what is right."

That's why I said "worst expressed argument", not "worst argument". I get the point that managers make different judgments and they don't always work out. That's fine. You just picked one where it's completely working out as an example

I'm not having a go, I was joshing about the wording of what you're trying to say. Sorry. I did listen to what was said and found it...inadvertently funny.

Yeah, City fans would love a decent replacement for Aguero and those two would both do the job, I reckon.

 

Sorry, Pete if I bit, when I shouldn't have.....I get the context of your point now.

Yeah, I accept, I am not Giles Brandreth.....but I thought I expressed ok, but I am not the recipient, so I accept your view/Correction.

I was merely trying to point out the best managers have gaps in their squad at times, and have to improvise, so Dean could be forgiven for having similar challenges....I still think every team can improve, no matter what they achieve, they can get stronger.

perhaps the team has me all tetchy.

[Kingman]

Apparently he's posted Images on social media earlier of him taking selfies outside Buckingham Palace today

[villa4europe]

Just now, Kingman said:

Apparently he's posted Images on social media earlier of him taking selfies outside Buckingham Palace today

Outside London Eye too

Enjoying his days off 

[barry'sboots]

5 hours ago, TRO said:

I was merely trying to point out the best managers have gaps in their squad at times, and have to improvise, so Dean could be forgiven for having similar challenges....I still think every team can improve, no matter what they achieve, they can get stronger.

Discussion forums would be a pretty redundant medium if we all just came on and said: "The Manager knows best, so I can't comment."  They are very much places for opinions and we all, thank god, will have variations on these.

Pep is human and does make mistakes - last years Champions League exit was a classic and most pundits recognise this.  I think even Pep would accept that with the benefit of hindsight.  And with the amount of money spent and the squad collected over the past decade or so, I think even Mike Bassett (or even less unbelievably, Remi Garde) could do a decent job with that Citeh squad!