swipe right wrote:jayramfootball wrote:swipe right wrote:jayramfootball wrote:swipe right wrote:We have to find a way to get the ball to Auba faster. The way we moved the ball around the park last season was abysmal. We played this strange style of passing the ball out wide, not being able to penetrate the box and passing it backwards towards central midfield. I can see why Auba struggled. Yes he’s lost a bit of sharpness from prior seasons but not having midfielders who can play the ball in behind is a huge handicap. Just think about it, next season City will start with KdB, Grealish and Mahrez playing in their center forward. That is the difference between us and the top of the league. Blaming Auba alone is not going to solve this issue.
Auba got to play 1049 minutes as a starting CF last season.
Lacazette played 1728 minutes as a starting CF last season.
Laca had 0.63 goals per game from that position, Auba 0.43.
For reference Harry Kane scored 0.67 per game from the CF position.
Why is it that the team around Lacazette can have him scoring at a rate close to the golden boot winner, yet Auba couldn't do it with the same players around him?
0.43 goals per game is the same as Nketiah achieved as a centre forward in the league.
One of the biggest mistakes Arteta made last year was interrupting Lacazette's season and opting for Auba in the equivalent of 11 games as a CF.
Laca only ended up playing half the season and still managed 13 league goals.
He could do it to a top-level with the team around him.
Auba could not.
So blaming Auba - and Arteta for choosing him to take minutes away from Laca - is exactly correct.
It wasn't the team around him, it wasn't tactics, it wasn't anything else other than Auba failed to perform to a high level let alone the level expected of him once he signed his new contract.
Auba simply needs to knock it out the park this year to make up for what was a really poor showing last year - which is on him, no one else.
Last season Saka scored 5 times in 32 games but Willock scored 8 times in 21 games. Yet you think Saka is better than Neymar but Willock a good deal at 25 mil.
Neither of them were playing CF, not in the same team and not in the same position.
Poor example.
They both play attacking mid field and both stats are from the premier league same season. So tell me why you think the Auba-Laca comparisons tell one story but the Saka-Willock ones tell another?
Again - neither of them were playing CF, not in the same team and not in the same position.
That should have been enough.
Saka and Willock play in totally different positions.
It would be like comparing headers won between a FB and CB.
But, the point is that you were weaving a tale about how our team played which was inhibiting Auba - comparing two players who played for different teams is not relevant, obviously.
I gave you an exact comparison of Auba and Laca
playing in the same position - again, for the same team. as direct and clear evidence that it was not the team that caused Auba's poor season.
Like I said - your example is a poor one.
As for Willock and a 25m fee, let me guess, you are setting him up as a world beater so when we sell him for 25m you can attack Arteta...am I right?
No doubt he'll be up there with the worlds best like Saliba and Guendouzi.