Played for the Under 23s this afternoon . Think that says it all about the signing ! EDIT: Is it him or is there another player with the same name ?
Can defend, can put in a cross, but he is sooooo safe in possession. Won't be as much of an issue in a back 4 with Sarr ahead of him mind you, and with Ngakia to come back, we will have two viable RB options
He's terrible. No pace and no composure with the ball, just aimless chips down the line. Ngakia walks back into this team.
Overall, he had a good game today and that is because he was playing in his proper position........... He's a RIGHT BACK not a WING BACK!!!
Thought he was ok. Some bad moments but grew into it and also appears to be able to deliver a decent cross His free kick for the sierallta chance was excellent.
I thought he was good defensively (he's shown flashes of that before anyway), but it's odd how he can pick out a cross, but was so tentative when the time came for him to pass the ball! Not a perfect option, but since he'll have Sarr in front of him bombing forward, I'm sure we'll get by with either Gaspar or Ngakia behind him
I don't mind if Gasper plays it quite safe and concentrates on his defensive duties. As long as Kamara makes runs forward the other side. It was similar in our promotion season with 1 more comfortable advancing forward to attack than the other. Masina pretty hopeless going forward in attacking areas. Femenia making the runs.
As @LouOrns said on Twitter after the game (IIRC), it still doesn't really make sense not to go into the free agent market for a right back who can support Sarr in the way he/we need, and that Femenia used to. It's been said here that Sarr doing what he does will help make up for Gaspar's deficiencies in terms of speed, forward passing and willingness to move up the pitch. Maybe it will, but we could really do with it not being that way, and instead our right back enhancing the effect of Sarr doing what he does. Why we would pass that opportunity up, I can't really fathom. Gaspar had his best game for us at the weekend, and that's positive, but it's also not really saying much - particularly in the first half, he was still maddeningly reticent to either move up, or even attempt to pass it forward/offensively. He also often refused to move the ball quickly, as required to pose any actual threat, and often passed up even the chance to move the ball laterally, in favour of turning around to face our own goal and starting one of the interminable 'defender to defender to defender to defender' sequences. During that sequence where they managed to get into the ascendancy and pin us back as we retreated having taken the lead, he also often found himself oddly pinned going backwards towards our box out on the wing, having refused to take any action and got entirely caught and trapped as a result. Perhaps Slav will have an effect coaching-wise and successfully get him to realise this - hopefully so, but I don't think he can do much about his extreme lack of pace and related reticence to support his winger. Meanwhile, Sarr hasn't even looked bothered for the majority of his time on the pitch this season, and yet has 3 goals and 3 assists. If we could get him firing, he might actually have a chance to record the kind of season, and the kind of numbers, that a player of his theoretical talent level and cost really should be having in the Championship.
Now admittedly we're an injury to Kamara or Sarr away from 4-2-3-1 being a bit redundant, but with it being our preferred formation now, I don't think we'll bother signing a free agent, as the owners will surely say Gaspar and Ngakia (as well as the CBs if need be) are enough to cover us this season, regardless of whether they're good enough or suitable for us I hope that Ngakia can be coached into an effective presence at RB this season (he's both young and wet behind the ears even for his age), but unfortunately I fear Gaspar is a little long in the tooth for that
No, indeed, as ever - I'm in no way saying what I expect to happen. I just think, as with a million other things at a million other times, not doing so will represent a strange profligate pant-seat-flying from Gino that we really just don't need to engage in. I shouldn't imagine they were ever bothering to consider doing so, frankly. They just should have been, and still should, in my opinion.
Bilic has said he's our right back, and there has to be a bit of patience considering its all new to him. Again, clarity for players where there wasn't any before. I don't rate Gaspar, but at least Bilic is making everything clear rather than just omitting him from the squad and saying it's for "tactical reasons"
Gaspar played OK against Stoke, mainly IMO because he was playing in his right position for once. He IS NOT a WB he is a very experienced full back hence his good performance at the Weekend and as long as he is played in that position, I reckon he will be OK for the rest of this season.
Seriously now if we're not engineering a deal for a free agent right back, then Gino is literally purposefully trying to tank any promotion chances, whilst also being utterly grubbily desperate for promotion. A tangled web.
ύβρις. A hugely damaging commodity. To continue your arachnid theme,look what happened to Αράχνη when she believed she was the best weaver. Perhaps Gino will be changed into a fly in a spider's web? Or a Howard Webb?
Looked a good signing on paper, and still think he'll do *okay* overall this year, but the downgrade from Femenia is huge. Don't know what you've got til it's gone. Meanwhile 'pussy' Kiko has already played 9 games for Villarreal this season.
La Liga is almost a non contact sport. Good player Kiko,I miss his skill but his application was questionable at times.
Did anyone see him do an actual, real life overlapping sprint today? Just want to check I didn't imagine it
For those of us who are veterans of him making a surging run away at Birmingham and nearly scoring, today was no surprise. Two overlapping runs in one season - what a time to be alive.
I enjoyed it when he knocked the ball past the left back and tried to beat him for pace, he failed miserably of course but it was entertaining. Pretty sure he won a header as well so Mario can be happy with his work yesterday.
Nailed him but also a great and fair tackle showing a bit of aggression and commitment which was good to see.
He definitely isn't suited to a wing-back role due to his lack of pace going forward but his defensive stats are superb. He's one of only 3 full-back/wingbacks in the league (to have played more than 300 minutes - a total of 75 players) to have not been beaten by someone dribbling past them. He ranks 5th out of those 75 players for possession adjusted tackles per 90. Not terrible in the air either, he ranks 8th in the league for full-back/wingbacks in aerial wins per 90 mins but has a 51% success rate (25th best in the league) which to me means teams singled him out as a potential weak link in the air and he's done a decent enough job at managing to deal with it. We know he has limitations going forward, but definitely a good option to counter certain teams/players who could cause us problems.
