Individual passing stats are irrelevant on nights like that. He had nobody ahead of him to pass to. Almost every pass was a long ball for Miku or Samaras to chase down and hassle their cb's into mistakes (as Watt did with Mascherano) from a long, rather aimless ball.
What's he got like just over a year to run on his contract?
Wont be at a top team if thats the case.
He isn't shit with the ball by any means, his technical game is improving all the time and he's getting in amongst the goals. It's just that he excels defensively.
Darren Fletcher isn't great at passing, yet he's had a great career with United; his ability to harry opponents and get about the pitch in the defensive phase being his foremost asset to the team.
Because all he ever does is the single layoff. Good passing statistics doesn't make one of great passer of the ball. FFS, man, can't you see football outside of statistics? Darren Fletcher isn't known for his fantastic range of passing, you don't need a statistic to tell you that.
All footballers are good passers. Wanyama is a good passer.
Wanyama is also a good passer of the ball, and better than Fletcher on the attack. I not sure what you're on about really.
I agree but you'd need a counter-attacking, rather than a possession-dominant model to get the best out of such a player. Song and Fletcher are better passers than Wanyama. Half the reason Mascherano was moved to centre-half was because his passing wasn't good enough for Barcelona's midfield.
I'm not saying these players are poor passers of the ball, just that passing isn't their first and foremost attribute. Ramires isn't a brilliant passer of the ball; sats don't reveal anywhere near enough information for one to make a judgement on such things as they're wholly dependent on the teammates around the player in question, the style of play of the team and the type of pass commonly being expected. Watching football is a much more sturdy examination than simply, "Player A has a 90% pass success rate, Player B has an 80% pass success rate, so Player A is the better passer than Player B." Players like Fletcher and Ramires aren't known for their passing game despite what the statistics may tell you; both players are expected to win the ball and then play the simple layoff to a more capable attacking player, passes which are made much easier if you're surrounded by intelligent, actively mobile players who're looking for the ball, with Fletch and Ramires having just that luxury. The point to this is that, a player doesn't have to be a brilliant passer first and foremost for him to perform a valuable role in a top drawer football team, and there are many examples of players who aren't brilliant passers doing just that, players who have strong attributes other than passing which make them worthy of selection in some of the best midfields in the world of football.
I have mentioned this earlier in the thread.
Yeah I agree with that. I'm not usually a massive fan of stats as they often don't paint a completely accurate portrait.
Good passing stats don't give the full picture I agree, but they go a long way to explaining how accurate someone is in their distribution. The bolded part I don't agree with at all. I've seen Fletcher split a midfield plenty of times with a ball pinged nicely into feet. His passing if anything is underrated by certain fans and the media alike, who have tended to focus more on his "engine" and his ability to disrupt the opposition through harrying and ankle biting.
It's a shame we didn't go for him in the summer tbh. He's received a lot more attention this season and will be more expensive and more difficult to acquire in regards to competition as a result.
He may not yet be of that standard but if he keeps progressing at the level he is; then he could one day be a very good player for a big team. Having watched him numerous times since he joined Celtic; his progress has been very impressive, given that he is only 21, he could well progress much further. Yaya Toure was playing in Ukraine at 21.
You're right, it was an exaggeration, of course that's not all he does. I'm not trying to understate the importance of distribution, but, for me, being a good distributer of the ball doesn't necessarily require one to be a brilliant passer.
Are you suggesting Wanyama is as good a passer as Fletcher? Because if so he sounds good.
I remember posting about him in a thread about underrated players in europe or something. I watched him play a couple of games in the europa league against premier league oppoents and he did really well and was player of the year over there. Then he spent like a year out of the game with injury, so its good to hear he's back. I was always more impressed with his passing than his defensive work and he's scored some real screamers including from freekicks as well.
I dont think anyone is talking about technique. I think if you read back I was the one to bring up the passing and what I said is that players like this always look better in games where his team dont have a lot of the ball and he isnt expected to do an awful lot with it and that 16 or 17 passes is a lot less than he would have to make at a top club and especially ours.
This is why you shouldnt be comparing a defenders passing stats to someone playing in the hole. But if you insist on doing so, look at the right passing stats. Look at key passes, assists, crosses, accurate long balls, etc. They're all out there. And once you've looked at those you'll see the key difference between Ferdinand and Rooney. Or a Gareth Barry and Rooney.
Yes because that bears tremendous relevane in regards to Wanyama.
It does actually. The league Miller was playing in was more cometative than it is now and it was a huge step up to the premier league then, its an even greater one now.
The difference could be between decent home-grown players yet to establish themselves (if they ever do), and proven quality at value-for-money that SAF has been scouring the world of football for.
Still bears no relevance as Wanyama is mainly being judged off of his European form, as plenty do not watch the SPL.
