He’ll get plenty of football this year, and it’ll be great for his development. That said, he’s obviously raw, but for a kid playing first team football in a new country, in what is a physically tough league, he’s acquitting himself well. RE needs to manage his minutes carefully, but I can see him coming off the bench and making a real impact as the season goes on. You’d imagine that once Davis is fit, we’ll see him and Sarr up top, with JP playing deeper.
A lot of the decision making seems to be because he's desperate to score, Pedro even seems to try picking him out unnecessarily too - hopefully once he scores things will settle a bit more.
Brilliant pass for the first goal. Did nothing else though. He definitely needs to hit the weights or at least get better at using his body to win cheap fouls when he gets into a tussle.
Played way to many minutes play for 60 with good quality then take him off, defending a one goal lead and he is running on fumes let's the guy cross the ball way to easy and they score brilliant
Ideally you'd bring him into a better team. He's clearly got the talent but struggles to run the game (not surprising really!). If we were a dominant team and able to get a couple of goals up, suspect he'd be a real asset in picking teams off but unfortunately, we are never more than one nervy goal ahead. We should be using him a bit more sparingly but given the state of the fitness of the squad, not surprising he's playing most weeks.
Young man gets his first goal for Colombia. https://mobile.twitter.com/VoicesOfTheVic/status/1573918316661448704 Well taken too.
He's gonna be so, so good. Been confused by some saying he shouldn't be playing or he's not ready. He's 18, he'll make mistakes. But he'll also get better and better.
Not sure it’s that confusing really. Love his effort and can see the flashes of the fantastic player he’ll become, but can also see why he’s not always a great fit for a Championship side in certain phases of certain games. That’s no shame on him. He’ll go on to be ace. But I also suspect over a season a midfield player who gives you 7/10 every game will turn out to be a better asset than one who mixes up 9/10s with 4/10s.
But I think if we allow him to make those mistakes/have those 4/10 performances and show we still trust him to start the next game, we'll reap the benefits towards the end of this season/next season/hopefully beyond. The more he plays, the better he'll get, and those 4s will turn into 7s. His ceiling is so, so high, that imo it's worth the risk.
Really good game yesterday, probably his best game for us so far. Not an ideal situation for us considering Asprilla is a green kid who is only able to play about 60 mins before blowing, and also considering he's generally been more advanced, but could he be play the Louza role if/when our little Moroccan maestro is out?
The irony that his worst taste of Championship brutality was inflicted by a Brazilian. How the division has changed over the years! Still he doesn't seem to really care too much about getting kicked around, really I'm in awe of the lad playing in a 2nd Division on another continent at 18
Exactly this. To think the level the kid was playing at a few months ago, to then move half way across the world, new culture, not speaking English, and to be pretty much thrown into the first 11 of a team going through the ringer after relegation, it really is something special. Cant wait to see how far he goes after he bulks up like did JP after his first couple of months here.
At least he was trying, but whatever he tried, it just didn't come off. Didn't help that we were 'chasing' the game almost the entire 90 minutes...
I do feel that he'll end up being an incredible centre midfielder once he's beefed up. It's a niche position where he likes to play and I reckon he'll naturally adapt his game to playing deeper and dictating play
It looks to me like he's starting to bulk up a bit now. At his age and with his build he should put on noticeable muscle pretty quickly.
He'll be growing until he's 21 so he's plenty of time. Barnes was skinnier than Luther when he first played. That didn't last long!
While Louza’s out, Asprilla needs to play at #6 in games like today when we’re going to see a lot of the ball.
Came on centrally, played exactly the pass we were crying out for (and Sarr should’ve then scored from), then got moved to the wing. Probably lacks physicality to play deep in certain games, but sometimes Choudhury or Kayembe will be enough. Asprilla’s best play is not on the edge of their box. It’s when he’s pinging diagonals, inside their full backs, to wingers or overlapping fullbacks. No-one else in our team can do it.
He's definitely looking more settled now, demanding the ball from teammates and taking control of situations. In a team that is horrific at progressing the ball he simply has to play, he sees passes that nobody else sees apart from maybe JP and Louza. I remember JP was very exciting at 18 but played like a kid whereas Asprilla shows real maturity and understanding of the game. He's going to be sensational and I'm looking forward to seeing how much we get for him in the summer.
The lad is one of the unluckiest players I've seen. In an alternate timeline he'd have about 10 assists so far this season
I feel like Asprilla's always done quite dirty by stats, he's usually assisting the assist, making a pass to set a move up or being let down by **** finishing. Far from the best in the team in terms of goals and assists, but he's been one of the brighter sparks of the season for me
