Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford FC - 18/03/2017

He dribbles a LOT. Does he create a lot? Not so much. In my eyes a good dribbler is somebody who knows WHEN to dribble, not someone that does it every single time they get the ball.

 

Can we please sign Saint-Maximin? Great name!

 

Too many colours.

 

Top dribbler in Europe ahead of all those players. And he's only 21. Bags of potential on top of what he can already do.

 

Is he the top dribbler though? The only stat he's top of out of those players is the number of take-ons attempted. Basically he gets the ball and instantly tries to dribble. That's like saying Andros Townsend is the best finisher in the PL because he shoots whenever he gets the ball.

 

The stats are sorted by % take-ons completed, not attempted. Maybe I'm reading it wrong but I'm taking that as he beats his man more than anyone else, not that he 'tries' to beat his man more than anyone else.


*Edit - I've no idea what that list is sorted by as none of those stats are in order - but he is second on % dribbles completed behind Hazard!

 

It's sorted a bit weirdly, by the initial of their first name. Looking at just one stat can be a bit mis-leading, you need to combine as many as you can to get a bigger perspective. So Traore attempts the most dribbles out of everyone by a considerable margin, completes a large amount, but they rarely amount to creating anything (he ranks bottom of the chances created per take on category) - the sort of player who'll beat 2 guys, delay the pass then have to try and beat them both again - whilst this may be exciting to watch - will ultimately create very little. You compare that to the stats of Hazard or Neymar to see the difference between exciting and an absolutely fantastic player.

Obviously those sort of players are out of our reach (as is basically every player on that list) - but i'm sure we could find someone as exciting that can create more than Traore can for a fraction of the price (I believe he was on 80k a week at Villa and is most likely on a fair old whack at Boro)