CP basically traded Bolasie for Benetke. I think every CP fan would make this trade. I rate Benetke and he's arguably the better player who was just stuck playing a system at the RS which didn't suit him. Does that mean we should have spent 25M on Benetke if the RS offered him up to us instead? No he wasn't going to make this club better.
Geri, Coleman, and Kev are all wide players who want to get into box. Baines doesn't have the legs or a in his prime Pinnear to work with anymore and isn't pushing up as much. Lennon is decent at crosses but they are all of of the low flat variety (also he likes to cross from inside the box) which would be fine if our CF was a midget like Michael Owen. Also Lennon isn't good enough to be an everyday player. We had no width. Bolasie provides it and he's dragging defenders out wide. Plus it was a sellers market (there was nothing Stones did last year to suggest he was a 50M player) and we had to buy someone proven instead of someone raw while we still have Rom.
On Coleman's goal on Saturday he only had to beat one defender with that top of box cut to the left that everyone knows he's always going to do. Last year there clubs were baiting him into that move where there would 2 defenders packed in waiting to disposses him. I'd like to think that's becasue Bolasie's presence is dragging defenders wide now that we finally have a threat of a cross.
He's not a superstar, or even a star, he may not even be as good as say Witsel. He's just a good player helping make our other guys around him better (all the while Witsel is permabenched behind Gana). It was an expensive but extremely smart move to go out and get a player like him. The flanks are now one of our club's deepest position and we aren't sunk if Geri goes on one his month long slumps and/or when Kev's hamstring goes full-Gibson. Also don't forget, Bolasie at his best playing counter, which we will still have to do against some of the top sides we haven't played yet and has a track record of putting a hurt on sides like the RS.
