Wow…I really feel sorry fir fans these days
Imagine thinking Doku is ground breaking
So glad I got to witness ballers
Saw someone praise pep for Doku despite forgetting that coaches like pep killed players like Doku with their rigid process plays
The article doesn’t do that. ‘the rumour is that he was not a Pep Guardiola signing at all but a transfer driven by the director of football, Txiki Begiristain’. Maybe read it before spouting off?
I said I saw someone praise pep for Doku…never said this article did
Try again
Guardiola invented dribblers at Man City now, eh.
It’s not even new for Guardiola. Ever heard of Messi?
‘of course it would be ridiculous to describe something as natural and elemental and ubiquitous as dribbling as a lost skill.’
At least read the fucking article before chiming in
I don’t think it’s that. Pep has a very clear philosophy and he builds his teams to play that way. He eschewed dribblers previously because he only wanted passers. He eschewed traditional centre forwards because he wanted more players in midfield and between the lines. Now he’s changing his philosophy again and having success and people are talking about it.
Guardiola invented dribblers at Man City now, eh.
Where did the article say this?
It’s not even new for Guardiola. Ever heard of Messi?
“And for a coach often characterised as a control-obsessed micromanager, Guardiola has always got this. His teams have always possessed brilliant dribblers, from Lionel Messi to Arjen Robben to Leroy Sané.”
Don’t forget Bernado Silva.
So he dribbled past a few players then passed it back. Wow how revolutionary, the Premier League has had headless chicken wingers since the start.
I think the headline is a bit more sarcastic than serious tbh, Liu’s articles are often smattered with tongue in cheek comments. I doubt he’s genuinely presenting dribbling as a new tactic or what have you.
It was clear when the fixation on possession started (about ten years ago) that some teams were passing for the sake of passing.
Playing in “U” shape without ever penetrating, having 65% of the ball but losing 3-0. United under Van Gaal springs to mind…
Dribblers were almost a dying breed but people realised you needed them to take a player out of the game and another would have to engage with you, freeing up space elsewhere. This has been known for decades.
Starting to think that Messi felling playing over in Miami might be good at football
Man, Guardian football writers are so good. ‘Football is a cage in search of a bird’ is an amazing sentence. I can remember Barney Ronay describing Timo Werner as a trembling bunch of reflexes and impulses, which I thought was pretty great.
Wow Pep invented passing, formations, shooting and dribbling now?
I think he invented the art of using the foot in this sport even
He’s basically ribery
I’m pretty sure Pep has talked on multiple occasions about why having talented dribblers is as important to his setup as many other attacking strengths.
IIRC one of the major reasons for buying Grealish at a time when Sterling was amongst the goals quite a lot was because he was the better dribbler and more successful against more defensive teams.
You need someone to break that low block sometimes. If your players aren’t moving the ball quick enough you need something else
He saw how much Saint Max rinsed them last year and clocked it’s the way forwards
Always was surely. Or at least, was previously.New thing becomes the old thing, becomes the new thing etc. We’re one step away from the glorious 4 4 facking 2 being back in vogue again.
When City first got Haaland they mostly played 442 out of possession lol. 442 as an out of possession shape never seems to go out of fashion
Leicester won the league with 442 in 2016
I’m actually surprised city haven’t tried it with them having 2 great young strikers, hypermobile dm that is somehow also great going forward, and having versatile wingers.
one of the joys of the 4-3-3 that Liverpool played with Mané-Firmino-Salah front 3 was that you could very easily switch it up to a 4-4-2 diamond midfield if you wanted to
these two formations have always been my personal favorite
Sean Dyche fans arise
Next step is the 2 defenders 5 attackers imo.
Look at pep at the moment with city. Basically has a goalkeeper, centre backs, 10’s and haaland.
Yeah! Hell, even Van Gaal’s Ajax, maybe the most rigidly tactical team ever, relied on wingers dribbling in 1v1s.
When the league started adapting to inverted fullbacks and started getting their own inverted fullbacks, Pep brings back a pure winger who can put the hardiest of defenders on ice skates with his dribbling. Doku, in his element, is a treat to watch, albeit a bit predictable.
Nothing on Saint Maximin
Both have an eerily similar dribbling style, I remember when Doku was coming on as a sub in the Euros and being amazed that there was another player like this. Imagine both of them in the same side? Would be so exciting to watch
Considering he had Mahrez who made a name for himself doing exactly that and adding a ton of end product to his game as well as sane. Not really that ground breaking tbh. There’s not many teams that deploy inverted fullbacks in the league as well tbh.
But frustrating as he has spent the last two years crushing Englands best dribbler. Grealish is no longer the exciting player to watch.
Englands best dribbler is grealish? i like his style with the shin guards and hair but are we saying grealish is better than sterling ? he cant even get on the bench for the england team at the euros
Foden is the best in the england squad
He’s not better than Sterling or Saka at dribbling
He is miles ahead as the better dribbler compared to Sterling.
Bother quality players with different styles of dribbling, but Grealish takes it for me personally
Yes I agree. I love Jack. Doku seems to make him redundant at the moment.
Grealish is the best foul winner nowt else
No clue why you’re blaming Pep for this lol.
Also, Martinelli was probably a CB last season lmao
Can this false narrative stop lol? Grealish can only dribble with space, which is why he excelled at a low table team where they play on the counter. At City he’s always up against parked buses which has showed he’s not that great a dribbler. A player is a top class dribbler when they can do it in tight spaces and from standing still.
Where do you get this bullshit from? There are plenty of media sources that says one of Grealish’ best traits is dribbling in tight spaces, loads of videos showing him do it, etc. Grealish was/is a top class dribbler.
So you actually didn’t watch him play but depend on “media sources”
Except he got completely pocketed by James, who is probably the toughest fullback he has met so far.
Tbf it’s not much of a criticism to get pocketed by James. The guy’s done the same to Sterling, Vini and Leao in big games in recent seasons.
He shook James mentally who had to give everything in his soul to stop Doku, which is why he had an absolute nightmare the game after and got himself sent off.
You forgot /s right?
Wow a player that can dribble past other elite players must be good for your team@ such analysis such wow
It is deeper that that. The threat of a dribbler in your team forces the defence to position in a different way to handle it.
That can open up space that otherwise wouldnt be there, even if the dribbler isn’t actually dribbling at that moment. The threat of having strong dribblers is therefore important to force low block teams to be proactive and more aggressive rather than just sitting back.
It’s not just about «having players with better skills is better».
Grealish can dribble. It’s just that he’s asked to do robotic stuff these days. I wonder if this sauce will be coached out of him like it was Jack.
Grealish can’t dribble even 50% as good as Doku, who is statistically by far the best dribbler in the world.
Spent his time well at rennais I guess haha