Interesting video that mate, enjoyed watching it and as you say his passing angles are a mile away of and ahead of what our guys do. I very much agree with what Graeme Sounness said on Sunday, midfielders these days get away with murder just rolling it side to side for 90 minutes.
People will probably not believe it, but I remember having conversations and arguments on here with folk who wanted to drop Gerrard to the bench long before he retired, three years before. They said he was past it and that he wasn't upto it any more, as his pass completion stats veered into the mid 80% level whereas the likes of Lucas was consistently over 90%. Of course it's how difficult the pass is which is the crucial thing, if you're trying to split a defence in half as Gerrard used to do regularly and as Shelvey did on Sunday, it stands to reason your "completion percentage" will drop a tad. Equally (and I know this isn't the fashion or the norm anymore), but given we play three midfielders I'd like at least one of them to provide a consistent goal threat. Equally, as we play three central midfielders I'd like at least one of them to cut out Shelveys pass on Sunday. A floated pass over the top ought to be the ONLY way you can get it into a marauding front man from the distance that Shelvey hit it.
But your video of the Napoli bloke (who obviously I've never previously heard of) is a stark reminder of what a midfielder who is in there to dictate the play should do. Back in the dreamy days when we had Xabi Alonso in there I don't recall him rolling it sideways for 90 minutes, neither did Carrick when he was at Man Utd for years either, and neither do Eric Dier, Kante, Matic nor Fernandino either.
Part of it is that teams have sussed us out and play on the edge of their own box, no room in behind and let us come (a "low block" if you're up with modern vernacular). We don't have a physical presence like a Lukaku a Morata or a Harry Kane which would dissuade them from doing that, don't have a Davide Silva, an Erikkson or a Hazard who can come in and open them up, so we're left to relying on our one top class player to hit it from distance.
The other part though is that we take way too long to move the ball around. Touch, tap tap tip nudge, PASS. Control, tap tap tip, nudge, look, PASS. Control, look, tap tap tip, nudge again, step over, PASS. Like watching f****** paint dry and no wonder poor teams can defend against us easily.
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