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Cristian Romero
- Thread starter AdamB
- Start date
Chrissivad
Eidur Gudjohnsen
ricky2tricky4city
Tom Huddlestone
Slightly skewed by most of the games Romero hasn't played neither has VDV
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DeanoAustin
Christian Ziege
Exactly. Stats used in isolation like this can be very misleading.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
True
But Romero playing with Davies has been fine
The issue is no CBs… that’s the stat that matters
ricky2tricky4city
Tom Huddlestone
100%. No CBs has just been a bridge too far.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
It’s fudging daft
But because those guys haven’t directly been at fault and because they are model pros there is higher tolerance for it
Gazza Dazzla
Chris Perry
Davies was directly at fault for the Wolves equalizer and City’s first goal because he dropped deep whilst the rest of the defence were holding the line on the 18 yard box. I wasn’t totally sure at the time if he was at fault or the other players (we don’t know what they’re told to do), but it’s become pretty clear that holding the high 18 yard line is our tactic.
He’s got much better at that now though and is in sync with the rest of the defence in that regard.
braineclipse
Willie Hall
This is true. But it's also true that we've shown that we can be rather good with Romero without VdV. Personally I hope we don't find out if we'd also be rather good the other way around this season.
Bishop
Terry Venables
Romero makes him look decent due to his organisation. Without Romero we see truer representation of his abilities. Davies isn't terrible but let's be real he's far from what we want in a starting CB. Unfortunately he's had to play a number of games this season.
Chrissivad
Eidur Gudjohnsen
CB pairings this season. I added the Chelsea pen to Romero and VDV even though Romero wasn't on the pitch. Seemed fair
31.12.23
| Mins Played | Goals Con. | Goal Per 90 | |
| Romero & VDV | 857 | 8 (inc Che Pen) | 0.84 |
| VDV & Sanchez | 166 | 3 | 1.6 |
| Dier & VDV | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Dier & Royal | 45 | 3 | 5.9 |
| Dier & Davies | 135 | 3 | 1.99 |
| Royal & Davies | 352 | 7 | 1.78 |
| Romero & Davies | 316 | 3 | 0.85 |
| Dier, Royal & Davies | 8 | 1 | 11.25 |
31.12.23
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spurspinter1
Paul Stalteri
So Dier and VDV is evidently the perfect pairing and it's backed up by concrete statistics! If only we'd have had both fit there'd be no goals conceded for the whole season, which is impressive. Especially as we are possibly just level with Forest for most goals conceded in 2023, but the collapses post Conte wouldn't have helped those figures.
It's always difficult to get an accurate reading of these things, I'm guessing the games with Royal and Davies would have come later on when there's been injuries / suspensions further up the pitch and as it's been discussed, the goals conceded haven't necessarily been their fault. For example it's hard to blame either of them for Kulu's early shirt swapping attempts but it still goes on their column for goals against....
Chrissivad
Eidur Gudjohnsen
We just need to get games down to 12 mins and we will be grand.
The Dier VDV and Dire Royal are too small a sample to go by. They were both in the Chelsea game when we had multiple different pairings due to red cards.
Grays_1890
Colin Calderwood
Romero text in to an Argie football show to defend Ange when they talked smack about him. Said we are gonna attack and are a unit and we will win something. If we do or we don't that kind of togetherness is amazing
Interesting (and nice work) but I'd argue my observations (other than the 12 minutes, Dier is always in our worst combinations)
- VDV & Udogie are critical to the system as they are the recovery pace vs. counters (we saw plenty of it with VDV, Udogie showed it quite a bit Sunday)
- Romero stepping out kills a lot of attacks, the open play Brighton goals don't happen with Romero there
- The midfield balance is critical as well (players who are press resistant, show for the pass out from back line, and can pass quickly to wide/front, i.e. not Skipp or PEH)
Summary
- The openness of Ange's system is overplayed, have two decent CB's dealing with balls in and stepping up at right moments, covered by pace in VDV & Udogie specifically with a functional (press resistant) midfield, i.e. some combination of Bentancur, Bissouma & Sarr with the creativeness of Maddison or Lo Celso and you will score more and concede less.
It also highlights what we need to look for in incoming players -> technical, press resistant, good engine. Interestingly the Genoa kid looks a lot better in the air than anything we have, could be a bonus.
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Paul Walsh
No brick Sherlock
thfcsteff
Terry Dyson
Absolutely. It's such an ignorant trope being wheeled out about 'Angeball' that it is this schoolboy all-out attack with no eye on defending. I expect more of professional pundits, critics, ex-pros and journalists such as Liew.
Chrissivad
Eidur Gudjohnsen
Would be brilliant if it's true, but I'm not holding my breath..
Chrissivad
Eidur Gudjohnsen
Could mean we don't rush Romero back if he settles well.