I know what you mean, but I wish that you had used another name. Hay Jay was one of one!
If he comes in and does well the comedowns will be generational
Think this is the closest that I will get to Zaha signing for Arsenal. Welcome.
If we combine that arm usage with Zubamendis legs we might just have the perfect player.
I like his pace definitely. I expect him to be a better option down the wings for us compared to Trossard. I donāt expect the same end product but his pace, ball carrying, one on one ability will bring good things to us.
Hopefully not as an out and out starter on the LW obviously.
Just been listening to Ben Jacobs again and the sense Iām getting is Madueke is the Saka backup and seen as playing mainly on the RW, but someone who can provide cover on the LW. The talk was all about Eze being in addition to Madueke, and in respect of LW, he was suggesting that one of Trossard or Martinelli leaves, to make way for a new LWā¦aka Rodrygo.
Personally, if thatās what we end up doing I will be very impressed!
The LW definitely needed freshening up this summer
100% agree. Doesnāt feel that Madueke is destined or being bought to do this either.
Listen itās 2025.
Being an international isnāt quite the benchmark it was before.
I assume heās aware that heās going to be back up to Saka or playing from the left, Interesting that ok with him not being a nailed on starter at a critical point in his career with a WC next summer
I wonder if thereās an intention to try Saka through the middle at some point if Odegaard canāt find form again.
what does āgreat underlying statsā even mean? Seems like itās used anytime itās a player thatās not very good but could be..
Can he score goals, can he beat his man, is he great in a 1v1; this sport feels so scientific and clinical lately when it comes to analysis.
Over his career up to last year he scored goals about equal to his XG, so his track record is that heās an average finisher, not great but not bad either. Last year he scored 7 goals on an xg of 9.6, so thereās reason to believe there was some bad luck involved and that he might score 10 rather than 7 if having a similar season again. He also had an xa of 4.2 but only 3 assists because the players he was passing to didnāt finish well. Essentially you donāt have to squint too hard to think that if a few balls had bounced differently he would have had a 10 goal, 5 assist season instead of a 7 goal 3 assist season. There is just a lot of luck and chance in terms of whether the ball goes in the net but people would probably view him a lot differently coming off 10/5 than coming off 7/3.
Another underlying stat is that he is in the 99th percentile of wingers/attacking mids in terms of progressive carries and in the 96th percentile in terms of touches in the penalty area. These stats are all per 90. But basically he has fairly special and rare qualities in terms of his ability to advance the ball and to get the ball into the box, which is a place you obviously want to go as a team.
Long story short, the underlying stats suggest that he can score goals, beat his man, and is good in 1v1, at least to a degree better than what he seems often credited for.
It means as winger, stats wise he ranks pretty well, and there are signs of him potentially exploding soon.
I get your complaints though, I donāt hate stats but they canāt be used in isolation. They should always be supplementary.
To answer your other questions.
Can he score goals? Yeah, but he needs to work on it.
Can he beat his man? Thatās his specialty.
Is he great in a 1v1? Yep.
Heās not wrong. City bought a million 50m players and won multiple trophies. Lets get stacked.
Stackedueke