I’m telling you now, there is something fundamentally wrong at this football club. Players literally crumble mentally while here, as do managers. All of them so far.
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 20
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 1
A club that’s run and managed poorly drags down its constituents.
We suck the joy of football out of every player. We’re the football equivalent of the Dementors.
Fantastic for Feyenoord 6 weeks ago?
It doesn’t stop players from doing the basics though, does it?
He’s not an actual no 9. He’s more a false 9 or a second striker who plays behind the main striker.
Playing him as lone striker while our wingers aren’t productive is clearly not effective. The manager plays a 442 structure when off the ball. Instead of having Bruno up front, we should use Zirkzee as that second striker or no 10 and play Hojlund as our main striker, then move Bruno either on the right or left (he hasn’t been good playing as no 10 this season so it’s good time to try this).
Playing him as lone striker while our wingers aren’t productive is clearly not effective. The manager plays a 442 structure when off the ball. Instead of having Bruno up front, we should use Zirkzee as that second striker or no 10 and play Hojlund as our main striker, then move Bruno either on the right or left (he hasn’t been good playing as no 10 this season so it’s good time to try this).
National team (only 1 game mind you, I was part joking).
He originally came from Feyenoord though, but only as a youth.
He's had two or three good games for us. The rest of his appearances have been...well, shit. But hopefully those couple of good games are a sign of what's to come rather than an exception.
We buy players from the likes of Bologna and Atalanta for absurd money and then wonder why our transfers don´t work out...Jesus, when did a transfer from Serie A work out good for anyone in Premier League!?
He's not that bad a player, it's just we are horrendous at profiling players and working out what we need, even when it's blindingly obvious to everyone outside the management.
We needed someone to lead the line and score goals, but as we all know, Zirkzee isn't that kind of player and never has been. Gyokeres was an obvious choice, but we were never interested.
Talent wise there is definitely something there so maybe under the right manager and with a bit of patience, he could still be a good player for us; but the absolute clown show we are right now makes it impossible to make a fair assessment of him.
We needed someone to lead the line and score goals, but as we all know, Zirkzee isn't that kind of player and never has been. Gyokeres was an obvious choice, but we were never interested.
Talent wise there is definitely something there so maybe under the right manager and with a bit of patience, he could still be a good player for us; but the absolute clown show we are right now makes it impossible to make a fair assessment of him.
Last edited:
To be fair to Zirkzee though almost every player have been shit in most games.
It does and the basics arent enough at the elite level
Why do you think there’s definitely something there? I’m not seeing it.
In hindsight I don’t know how signing a striker of his profile made sense when none of our wingers couldn’t even score up to 10 goals last season
If you ain’t doing the basics right, pressing, tracking back, challenging for every ball, decision making etc.. then you sure as hell aren’t doing anything else right.
I think in the games against Fulham, Soton, and Palace he looked good: link up play, ball carrying, good movement, etc. They were decent performances and he helped us with our overall attacking performance.
Whether we can develop that potential is another matter entirely but in those games I was impressed with what I saw of him.
What makes me optimistic is that he seems to have high footballing IQ and understands the game really well. And he was very highly rated as a youth player + Serie A young POTY is quite something
What worries me is that Bayern rarely lets go good prospects so easy and there were worries about his output there. And there’s many quite bad players that had one very good season in Serie A and fell to obscurity
What worries me is that Bayern rarely lets go good prospects so easy and there were worries about his output there. And there’s many quite bad players that had one very good season in Serie A and fell to obscurity
The likes of Salah, Alisson, Rüdiger did just fine. Maybe the secret is to buy from Roma.
But anyway Zirkzee will be great for us in the long run.
Bayern let good prospects go all the time. Stiller, Tillman, Nianzou, Gravenberch, Chris Richards and the list goes on. In Zirkzee's case, they took care to include a 50% sell-on fee, which is why we basically paid them 20m € in summer.
Contrary to some posts, I think he genuinely is a good player. He is one that will benefit from some time just to adjust to the league.
With Ugarte on the other hand, I can't see a flash of ability that makes him seem anything above mediocre potential.
With Ugarte on the other hand, I can't see a flash of ability that makes him seem anything above mediocre potential.
I saw a highlight video of his performance, he did indeed look fairly uninvolved. Subbed after 76 minutes. There was one particular pass that should have been an easy layoff into the running path of a teammate but completely overhit.
There were two good occasions though where he held off 2-3 Hungary players and dribbled past them and found a teammate, with a good burst of pace. He's certainly very strong and pacy when he turns it on but his application of effort and runs seems very selective. His touch is also somewhat erratic.
It seems we've currently managed to drain all confidence out of him, but I'm not writing him off as we are obviously not utilizing him correctly as a main striker.
Last edited:
Was he good in the Euros?
I remember him being uninvolved for Netherlands and others questioning him before kicked a ball for us and Weghorst having a positive impact in the tournament.
I remember him being uninvolved for Netherlands and others questioning him before kicked a ball for us and Weghorst having a positive impact in the tournament.
Salah.
You think Amad is not working out? He was bought for 19m (+add-ons). You think you could buy a player like that for 19m easily?
It’s impossible to say whether these young players are good enough to play here as long as the team is dysfunctional. Players need confidence and they aren’t helped with that in this team.
He's fine but let's not pretend he's showed much to convince that he's worth much more...
I've seen enough to remain convinced there's an excellent player - I just don't think it's as an out-and-out striker. Has really impressed me at times with his hold-up, build-up, dribbling, positioning etc.
Liverpool won a CL and a PL because of two players they signed from Roma
Another recent example of a successful Seria A transfer, and somewhat comparable to Zirkzee in terms of career trajectory, is Kulusevski. He's a year older than Zirkzee and also won Seria A young POTY. His fee was only 30m after a good loan spell at Tottenham and had a much more immediate impact. I wonder how he'd have worked out at United, he feels like a much better fit, but perhaps we would have managed to waste his potential as well.
Every signing we made is labeled something
Great potential, high ceiling, young and learning, etc.
Amrabat was even lauded as the Keane we all need when he came here. Maybe not Keane but the missing puzzle they said
They become dead wood in a few years
Sorry, my bad..But Lamela,really?
I think he's shown the makings of a top player actually. If he were playing the way he has been and at another club I'd be delighted to pick him up for 19m.
Salah to Liverpool was half decent..
I am starting to think that prime Messi or Modric wouldn't be good for us at this moment. It can't be normal that all 25 players are struggling while they were all good in their previous clubs.
This guy has everything to be very good striker. When we start playing well (under Erik or some other manager) he will show his qualities.
This guy has everything to be very good striker. When we start playing well (under Erik or some other manager) he will show his qualities.
The players aren't shit, I think it is the manager. ETH needs to know what are his strengths and apply the right tactics. Somehow Erik is shit, he needs a certain type of player else his tactics will fail. I can't even understand why do we hire a manager who is one dimensional.
The problem is he doesn't seem to have much mobility and front defensive ability either though.
He gets a pass for now as the whole lineup is a bit of a mess.
But he's not even "that" young at 23, it's not like we've bought potential for 2-3 years down the line like we did with Amad.
Do you think so? He doesn't look to have much box instinct. Isn't a headers guy or a pace guy, doesn't look mobile or a press hound, I'm slightly worried, I'll be honest with you.
Although the team is a mess, so he has a huge alibi for now.
He has pretty good instinct where to be in the box. He lacks finishing though.
But as i said many time; i am just too obsessed with technique. When i see a player with excellent technique i see future world class.
.And opposite. No technique, "no soup for you!!".