Few people rate Sigurdsson as high as I do, but Sigurdsson's lack of pace results in him being left in the dust when marking on the flanks.
Vlasic is better at heading, he's stronger, he's equally if not better at intercepting, tackling & stealing possession.
On the flank there is no question who I'd prefer having, both offensively and defensively.
Yes, one of Sigurdsson's main perks is how good he is defensively.. Relative to other Playmakers. Vlasic's IMO is better.
Two small CM's that heavily rely on pace, dribbling & are good at tackling/intercepting? Hardly very different.
Gylfi is a box-to-box midfielder for Iceland. He plays CM/DM all the time for Iceland, which he also did at the Euro's.
I mean, you can continue repeating yourself. It doesn't make it any less true.
Vlasic is 100% a winger, it's his strongest position. He can play centrally or upfront but they're not his strongest positions.
Okay, so they're left midfielders but not left wingers? Huh.
Bolasie might be a winger, but if I were to apply the same logic towards him that you're using regarding Vlasic, then ''Bolasie isn't a winger because he played upfront/centrally once & now isn't a winger anymore''
That makes as little sense as the point you're trying to make. Vlasic is a pure bred winger with both footed finishing, crossing & passing. The fact that he is clinical upfront, good at distributing & exceptional at defending
does not mean he isn't a winger.
Vlasic is miles better offensive and defensively on the wing. Not upfront or centrally.
I'm one of the few people in the world that puts Gylfi in the same caliber of Playmakers as KDB/Ozil/Countinho/Fabregas, it doesn't change the fact that his stats & ability prove it.
Davies has maybe 2-4 good performances out of every 10 matches he plays, he hardly warrants a starting position in our strongest possible XI.
There are hundreds of players that would do a better job than him for us. Sigurdsson could very easily replace him centrally, and it wouldn't surprise me if Vlasic or Klaassen would do better either.
We tried to sign another CM/DM in January for a reason. If Davies were good enough then we wouldn't have gone for N'Zonzi.
Defensively Martina has shown that he is good enough to be a LB in the PL, however his lack of ability going forward isn't even Championship caliber.
Martina at RB was ''PL caliber'' in attack, but not even Championship in defense. It seems like he prioritizes defense over offense at LB, and offense over defense at RB.
So yes, he is a LB. He has been selected in whoscored's team of the week several times this season, IIRC 3 weeks in a row.
I'm absolutely not trying to compare the two as overall players, merely as wingers.
You'll struggle to find someone that rates both players as high as I do, but as a winger there is no doubt that I would prefer Vlasic.
Sigurdsson can play much better as a striker, playmaker or central midfielder. But he is not a better winger.
I wouldn't play Vlasic on the right, he becomes too predictable because everybody knows he is just going to cross it in. On the left he can cut inside & shoot, run down the flank & cross, linkup with Sigurdsson or someone else..
I also think we need more help defending on the left rather than the right. We have Walcott/Coleman there, who are both good enough defensively while we're exposed on the left with Sigurdsson/Martina.
There is a reason why you're so hostile whenever you see me or anybody else defend/praise Sigurdsson.
There is a reason why you stalked me on reddit, private messaging me & generally trying to get my attention.
You're obsessed with hating him mate. If he's not ''the Messiah'' and isn't worth £45 million,
then what is he and how much should he have cost?
We're talking about a player that statistically
outperformed KDB, Ozil, Fabregas, Coutinho, Eriksen, and every other Playmaker in the PL during his time at Swansea.
66 goals & assists in 124 PL matches is no joke. That's a ridiculous record that inconsistent KDB/Ozil/Eriksen/Coutinho cant match.
Yet they're ''Messiah's'' for their respective clubs? Yet Sigurdsson outperformed them in goals & assists during his time at Swansea.
Not only did he outperform them, but he did it with:
Fewer passes.
Worse team mates.
Playing for a team outside the Top 6.
Constantly getting new team mates & managers.
I don't think any Playmaker on the planet could've saved Swansea last season, and I've never seen a Playmaker shoot, cross & pass on both feet like him. I've also never seen a Playmaker defend as well as him, take set pieces as well as him, or play as many different positions/roles as him.
Yet one footed, technically limited or overall lacking players like KDB/Ozil/Coutinho/Eriksen will heap 10x more praise, when Sigurdsson created more goals than all of them with 40-50% fewer passes.
He was better than ALL OF THOSE PLAYERS last season, with Eriksen/KDB only catching up to him in the last 11 matches of the season.
Sigurdsson
Eriksen
de Bruyne
Prior to the last 11 matches:
Gylfi had
8 goals & 11 assists
Eriksen had 5 goals & 10 assists
de Bruyne had 4 goals & 9 assists.
While Gylfi was forced to defend at LW/LB, Eriksen/KDB statpadded in games like 7-1 vs Hull.
More goals/assists in fewer passes = More efficient & effective. Comparing him to the rest of the Playmakers is a mismatch, and Gylfi will sooner or later score & assist at a rate that none of those Playmakers can match, which he did in previous season.
Both footed passes, crosses & shots. Free kicks & set pieces taken from distance, 92% penalty ratio (100% in PL) and great linkup play.
At 1:04 in the video Gylfi takes a shot on goal with his left (blocked), lays off a perfect backheel lay-off pass for Olsson to cross into the box, wins a header to setup Fer's shot on goal (saved), resulting in a corner in which Gylfi immediately assists from.
He did all of this is 50 seconds. It didn't even take him a minute to create 4 goal scoring opportunities, in a fashion that none of the other Playmakers could've replicated.
Judge him all you want, claim that the price was too high & keep babbling on about how much faster & better at dribbling those other Playmakers are. They cant match Gylfi's left foot, let alone his right.
