Given you are using the Sierralta critics on Louza thread then obviously you are the one creating the “pointless straw man”?
Pretty sure Sierralta was called a pointless signing based on his record to date before joining us, he looked like the usual pointless Pozzo squad filler we sign like Zegellar etc who would never actually play and be crap when they did. There isn’t a person on this forum who would’ve had the basis to say otherwise, as there was no evidence at all in his career he was a decent player. Pretty much as soon as he played everyone changed their opinion based on his performances. Absolutely nothing wrong with either of those things as they were both accurate observations. Louza was pretty much all of our budget, the expectation compared to Siertalta is rightly very different. Completely different circumstances.
Give the man time. A lot of players struggle to initially make the step from Ligue One to PL. Boufal for example. We need Imran to step it up in training. Give him close contact and restricted space training on a very small pitch and ask him to get the ball and release it to a distant target within a second. Have two players press him in these situations. And send him to do some weights as well for that upper body.
Yeah, I'm not sure about this one offering a great deal of hope, Smudge! Might I offer Koscielny, as a more optimistic archetype...
I wonder if the new manager will give Louza more of a chance? For all his faults, he could hardly have had less of an opportunity under Xisco
This guy will thrive under a manager like ranieri. POTS, I'm calling it now. Bookmark this god damn post.
He was in the B team, but yet to make his debut for the first team when Ranieri was there, so...maybe?
Well done to him for his first international goal tonight. Going against the general trend on here I know, but I think he will gradually become one of our best performers this season.
Ranieri saying that he's not ready for the English game, needs to be more physically robust, something that was apparent at Brighton and seems to be a view that Xisco took too. Which makes you question the scouting, blowing all of our small budget on a player that's not ready for the league.
How will he get ready though? I appreciate we can’t really have any passengers in the side, but at the same time he’s had one half of football. Bit of a chicken and egg really, he’s never going to get up to speed with PL football if he doesn’t get PL minutes.
I like what Ranieri has done there, probably something you'd have never seen from Xisco. Quite obviously a highly regarded player, but the physicality can be a massive hurdle for some players. He'll get opportunities I reckon as the season goes on. To early to write him off
Agreed. It took the club some time to realise that Doucoure was a top player. This guy might just need some time to adjust to the physicality of the English game and he could be a good find. I know that's a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.
Yep. Plenty of foreign dandies have attempted and failed to handle what this league has thrown at them, and for much greater amounts of money than we've spent on him Good thing for him is that he's got big Moussa to show him what's needed, and an elderly statesman of the game publicly bigging him up while simultaneously throwing down the gauntlet.
Thank god we now have a manager who can cut through the bullshyt and say it how it is. How refreshing.
"Now is the time to work hard, I have a very good squad who are all ready to play." Thanks for that Xisco...
He’ll be a project like Penaranda and Success. He’ll get there after a few seasons, just like the other two have.
Unfortunately Louza is living up to his name at present, but at least his name is a truer reflection of his abilities than "Success's" was, because he certainly wasn't a success
Ranieri has named the specific components of fitness Louza needs to improve, so the club will no doubt have him doing a planned fitness programme, including diet etc. Pedro added half a stone in weight remember to be better suited. I’d argue it’s easier to improve physicality than it is ability, so as a few others have said certainly no need to write him off yet.
