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Player João Palhinha

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TeamSpirit™ said:
Watched him closely today. I’m not crazy. There’s a reason Bayern got rid .

Comfortably one of the most overrated players we’ve ever had.
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We over rate a lot of players who start well. When the inevitable bad run kicks in we then see the players for what they truly are.

Bayern paid a lot of money for him and he was quickly relegated to the bench and they have better players than us. He's good for a midtable club but we need better.
 
TeamSpirit™ said:
the amount of times he vacated his position going on a stupid one man press
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well, when you listen to vicarios comments after the game about only half the team were fighting, maybe they are all meant to be pressing? we lack quality all over the pitch, we need to be high energy, we arent good enough not to be, we also arent good enough to just sit in and wait for dogshit or porro to go to sleep.
 
Shotgunofmichalebrow said:
The speed of this mans ascent then collapse in the eyes of the fan base is lightening.
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Never bought in to it. Didn’t want him here, didn’t buy the early hype, didn’t fall for the ‘oh where are the doubters’ shitposts.

He’s elite at one thing. It’s a thing the fans tend to like. In possession he’s non-existent. Bayern sussed him out very quickly.

Trying to play football with a Palhinha at the heart of midfield is not easy.
 
Shotgunofmichalebrow said:
The speed of this mans ascent then collapse in the eyes of the fan base is lightening.
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Yeah seems like the tacticos were right about this one. Clearly a very useful player in the right team/system and has already had some great moments and games (what...4-5 goals already?!) but shouldn't have been our main priority at all.

I'd go as far to say that Frank not signing a technical, passing CM and feeling an out-and-out DM was the number 1 priority (we'd be having the same conversation about Norgaard if Woolwich hadn't bought him) could be his biggest mistake of his tenure.

And if he felt we really needed that DM, then sell Bentancur (or even one of the kids) and buy another midfielder. It's outright negligent to look at our squad and not realise we desperately needed someone who could bloody pass a football in the centre of the park.
 
He's not a bad player- just a very certain type of player. Deep lying 6 or backup CB- that's what he can do. This business with him either side of a double pivot does him no favors. Frank has plenty of combos he could build around that, but for whatever reason he decided he needed another CDM alongside him in Benta for most of the rest of the season. That's a big part of how we got here now.

I still think he'd make a good anchor for some decent midfields

Sarr-Palh-Berg
Berg-Palh-Gray
Berg-Palh-Xavi

...Not that Frank has really tried these combinations much, of course.
If he's in the center with at least one other 8 type, you can probably get away with running a 10 off one side of him.

In the future we maybe could see something like this:

Madd-Palh-Kulu
Madd-Palh-Xavi

Frank seems hellbent on playing him as often as possible. Might be worth seeing if he can do the Dier thing and drop into a back three from CDM when in defense.
 
Papafeels said:
He's good at one thing, one thing which has to happen more frequently when he's on the pitch because the ball is always in our third.

Beyond tackling, he's one of the worst technical footballers I've seen for a long time.
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We have a few contenders for that title, Richy and Johnson, arguably Tel so quite the achievement from Paulina
 
Teach said:
We have a few contenders for that title, Richy and Johnson, arguably Tel so quite the achievement from Paulina
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Yeah given the money we've spent the technical proficiency of the squad is shocking.

When I watch almost any other team I'm always left thinking how much better most of their players are at the basics than our lot. Especially when the players you've listed are on the pitch.

Not to mention Bentancur, Sarr, Spence, Udogie, even Bergvall - far too many loose passes, mis-controls, needless touches, etc. Bentancur aside those are all v.strong runners and athletes, but we've leaned way too hard on that profile at the expense of technique and clean interplay.

I think Bergvall will iron it out of his game and the others might improve with better coaching, more passing options, but at the moment they look pretty hopeless at the basics.
 
Timberwolf said:
Yeah given the money we've spent the technical proficiency of the squad is shocking.

When I watch almost any other team I'm always left thinking how much better most of their players are at the basics than our lot. Especially when the players you've listed are on the pitch.

Not to mention Bentancur, Sarr, Spence, Udogie, even Bergvall - far too many loose passes, mis-controls, needless touches, etc. Bentancur aside those are all v.strong runners and athletes, but we've leaned way too hard on that profile at the expense of technique and clean interplay.
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100%. Just an awful side technically and Frank embraces it.

I would bring in Donley and Devine for the rest of the season, and Vuskovic. Might not be world beaters but all three can control and pass a ball. Technically
levels above some of the other horrors we have
 
Teach said:
100%. Just an awful side technically and Frank embraces it.

I would bring in Donley and Devine for the rest of the season, and Vuskovic. Might not be world beaters but all three can control and pass a ball.
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Yeah honestly, he might still be a kid but we could do an awful lot worse than playing Devine in CM right now. Lad can really pick a pass and has a classiness to his game at the very least. I think he'd link the team together a lot better than pretty much any of our current CMs, even if he struggles with other aspects of the PL.

The fact Donley can't even get minutes for Stoke does concern me a little, though.
 
Timberwolf said:
Yeah honestly, he might still be a kid but we could do an awful lot worse than playing Devine in CM right now. Lad can really pick a pass and has a classiness to his game at the very least. I think he'd link the team together a lot better than pretty much any of our current CMs, even if he struggles with other aspects of the PL.

The fact Donley can't even get minutes for Stoke does concern me a little, though.
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They are doing well and he’s not a stoke player

Massively agree on Devine
 
Paulinha seems to have lost his place in the team in recent games and we seem more fluid in midfield.
Too early to make a decision but I'm no sure spending £20m or whatever it would cost to sign him in the summer would be the right move?
 
He’s a very specific type of player and there are games when he’s needed IMHO.

The mistake for me has been pairing him with a languid Bentancur. You play either one or the other, not both.
 
Hes not a bad player but getting the most tackles every game means your team isn't in control of the ball during the match.

Away day counter attacking games is his thing
 
Skippa18 said:
Hes not a bad player but getting the most tackles every game means your team isn't in control of the ball during the match.

Away day counter attacking games is his thing
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its true what you say about the tackles, but he offers more than that, is he any worse than bentancur on the ball? bentancur might look slightly smoother on the ball to the eye but he doesn't produce more on the ball, he gives it away a lot and doesn't exactly advance us when he has it.

palhinha is sufficient enough on the ball if he has footballers around him, he also leads by example, hes a good older figure for the younger kids to have around, especially when its time to go into the trenches. you know full well he isnt going to allow us to be mauled in the middle of the pitch, sometimes thats the difference. unless you got players who you cant get the ball off like xavi and iniesta, you need a bit of steel sometimes.
 
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