Eggsyblueskin
Player Valuation: £40m
Ancelotti and Brands are currently engaged in building a football team and it appears, quite rightly given recent performances, our midfield requires urgent attention.
Now you do not rebuild a team by replacing the entire thing or even entire portions of it.
Despite the current constant vilification of our current midfield I suspect Ancelotti knows there are some very capable players in there who just do not adequately complement each other , a legacy of 5 years of managerial upheaval. His task is to recruit midfielders who can raise the performances of the existing players and if he feels that Alan and Doucourè can achieve that then I fully support his decision.
However as a fan until I see them perform in our team under his direction I can only judge them on how they performed up to this point.
With Alan I can clearly see a player who would bring skill, energy and drive , the only concerns are whether he can transition to the faster pace and greater athleticism of our league, especially so given his age.
Doucouré is a greater concern for me . We have been linked with him in previous seasons so I have paid closer attention to his performances than I would normally and what I have seen does not overly impress.
He is clearly a decent player, I like the fact he drives the ball forward and looks for the forward pass. He is also capable of weighing in with a few goals.
Against that he squanders the ball far to frequently and his tackling is often poor.
But my greatest concern is how often he simply goes missing in matches this is a trait that is problematic for a midfielder in this era.
He sometimes seems to lack fight or passion or at least the tenacity to force himself back into games that are going against him.
One final point I have frequently seen people when listing his attributes place the fact he is a ‘big unit’ highly. I do not regard this as major selling point for a midfielder. Whilst being faced by a team full of midfield grocks can be challenging , I will always contend that an intelligent footballer who has an awareness of space , movement and good footwork will leave these ‘big units ‘ on their backside 90% of the time and are better to watch.
Being a ‘big unit’ is an advantage in Rugby or Heavyweight boxing , less so in football.
If he does sign I look forward to Ancelotti improving the player and the player improving the team and thus dispelling my serious reservations about this player.
Now you do not rebuild a team by replacing the entire thing or even entire portions of it.
Despite the current constant vilification of our current midfield I suspect Ancelotti knows there are some very capable players in there who just do not adequately complement each other , a legacy of 5 years of managerial upheaval. His task is to recruit midfielders who can raise the performances of the existing players and if he feels that Alan and Doucourè can achieve that then I fully support his decision.
However as a fan until I see them perform in our team under his direction I can only judge them on how they performed up to this point.
With Alan I can clearly see a player who would bring skill, energy and drive , the only concerns are whether he can transition to the faster pace and greater athleticism of our league, especially so given his age.
Doucouré is a greater concern for me . We have been linked with him in previous seasons so I have paid closer attention to his performances than I would normally and what I have seen does not overly impress.
He is clearly a decent player, I like the fact he drives the ball forward and looks for the forward pass. He is also capable of weighing in with a few goals.
Against that he squanders the ball far to frequently and his tackling is often poor.
But my greatest concern is how often he simply goes missing in matches this is a trait that is problematic for a midfielder in this era.
He sometimes seems to lack fight or passion or at least the tenacity to force himself back into games that are going against him.
One final point I have frequently seen people when listing his attributes place the fact he is a ‘big unit’ highly. I do not regard this as major selling point for a midfielder. Whilst being faced by a team full of midfield grocks can be challenging , I will always contend that an intelligent footballer who has an awareness of space , movement and good footwork will leave these ‘big units ‘ on their backside 90% of the time and are better to watch.
Being a ‘big unit’ is an advantage in Rugby or Heavyweight boxing , less so in football.
If he does sign I look forward to Ancelotti improving the player and the player improving the team and thus dispelling my serious reservations about this player.
