Great stuff, as always! Two thoughts stemming from this piece...
1) CuBaresi and the goal. I thought that he was a heartbeat too slow to adapt to the run, but that most of the blame fell on Roberto, who should have been tracking the run. The main issue that I see with him (and Frenkie) in this role is that they will miss a critical run once or twice a game from that defensive midfielder spot. The elite teams will punish them for this. That's why Christiansen has performed so well there - he just doesn't let those runs go untracked.
2) I think that Raphinha started making a lot more sense to me once I stopped thinking "he's a Brazilian winger, he needs to play like one!" and started comparing his role in the squad to the role played by Pedro. Raphinha is a little more frenetic in his movements (or, rather, less smooth than Pedro), but they bring a lot of the same qualities to the table. Thoughts?
Great stuff, as always! Two thoughts stemming from this piece...
1) CuBaresi and the goal. I thought that he was a heartbeat too slow to adapt to the run, but that most of the blame fell on Roberto, who should have been tracking the run. The main issue that I see with him (and Frenkie) in this role is that they will miss a critical run once or twice a game from that defensive midfielder spot. The elite teams will punish them for this. That's why Christiansen has performed so well there - he just doesn't let those runs go untracked.
2) I think that Raphinha started making a lot more sense to me once I stopped thinking "he's a Brazilian winger, he needs to play like one!" and started comparing his role in the squad to the role played by Pedro. Raphinha is a little more frenetic in his movements (or, rather, less smooth than Pedro), but they bring a lot of the same qualities to the table. Thoughts?