Daniele Rugani

[Tomo 21,751]

1 hour ago, BlueLyon said:

I hope for the sake of this club identity, we dont play two CBs just because they are good on the ball. Otamendi is pure shit of a defender for example. Pique, Ramos, Stones, Silva nothing special when it comes to pure defending. 

Terry and Puyol were good ball playing CBs, but their reputation was based on world class defending. 

If we can get classy CBs who can pass the ball and at same time superb defenders, Im all for it.

But if we target CBs like Bonucci, every quality striker will punish us. Like Pool ripped City defence apart. 

Honestly I rather see boring Chelsea than bunch of pussy CBs like Otamendi, Bonucci,...man f*ck your ball playig skills if you are garbage defender and fail everytime things get heated. 

Pique, Bonucci all got carried by Puyol, Barzagli, Chielini, Busquets,...they have elite passing and ball control skill, but as defenders they are nothing special at all. Some "random" CBs like Naldo, Miranda are miles more reliable.

I hope we dont follow that path, but it seems we are. If thats the case, we can safely assume that our european chances will depend on how good our attack will be, because I guarantee these ball playing CBs will be on fail videos everytime against quality opponents.

Take a look at Luiz, he was here for his character and ball playing skills. He wouldnt be near first 11 if it was for his defending.

Give me Miranda, Godin, Chielini over these fancy CBs anyday of the week.

Ofcourse they need to be good defenders but you are really underestimating how crucial ball playing defenders are in the modern game. If you don't have them you get left behind no matter how good defensively your defenders are.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

2 hours ago, Tomo said:

Ofcourse they need to be good defenders but you are really underestimating how crucial ball playing defenders are in the modern game. If you don't have them you get left behind no matter how good defensively your defenders are.

It can be said vice versa. No matter how good your CBs are at ball playing, if they are bad defenders, you wont get far in cups, unless your attack is sublime.

Dont get me wrong I would love ball playing CBs, but you have two types of them. One that is actualy good defender and the other one who is overhyped based on their passing and ball playing skills, but he gets exposed over and over and over. 

Terry and Riccy were formidable on the ball. But they were praised for their defensive skill. I loved having such CBs. I have nothing against ball playing CBs, but those who are qulaified as "great CBs" because they can pass, however they defend average feel like frauds to me.

A very very simple example would be Bonucci or Chielini/Barzagli. 

Bonucci is fantastic ball playing CB, but he is absolutely average CB, who was saved time and time again by other two. 

Chielini/Barzagli are not on same level like Bonucci on the ball, but still very formidable and underrated. As for their defending, they are miles ahead of Bonucci in every aspect. 

The thig about modern CBs is that everyone hypes the shit out of ball playing CBs because they cant praise their defensive abilities. You still have many CBs who get the praise by their defending abilites, but it doesnt mean they are crap on the ball. 

And finaly, every ball playing CB has cover in more complete defender. Ramos had Pepe, Pique had Puyol, Bonucci had Chielini, Hummels had Boateng etc etc. While the former are superb ball playing CBs, the later are not shit on the ball at all. But miles better defenders. 

We already have Christensen as that out and out ball playing CB. His partner should be someone ala Chielini, Godin. No nonsense CB. 

We need CBs that qualify into elite (potentialy elite) level defending, but also have nice set of skill with the ball

Then there is the mentality. Terry was great ball playing CB (underrated), but he was also no nonsense CB. If you had to clear the ball, you cleared it, not dribble and try fancy stuff. He was also great defender and wasnt exposed like some ball playing frauds today. 

Maybe you got me wrong, I want us to have no nonsense ball playing Cbs and not these modern wanna be messi CBs. Its just almost impossible to find such CBs and thats whay I prefer someone like Godin over Otamendi. 

Dont tell me you would pick the later just because he can pass.

Umtiti is also good example of good defender, but doesnt lack in playing the ball from the back. 

Im not against ball playing CBs, but against those who are hyped as great CBs just because of their Ball playing skills (Bonucci, Otamendi,...) because the reason why they are hyped based on their ball playing skill is because they are crap defenders, and you cant praise them for that, not because they would be absolutely superb on the ball. They are mistake prone and thats last thing you need when forming a new identity. 

For Burnleys and Palaces, it works. But Pep was spanked time and time again in CL with their "modern CBs". 

[Special Juan 28,142]

 

[Cosmin 2,484]

 I don't care who we sign at this point. I just want to see some movement! 

[Special Juan 28,142]

Movement in my pants if we sign Jorginho

[Pizy 18,944]

If true, I wonder which of our CB positions he competes for. 

[Alabama 1,992]

Seems the deal is done... 

[jernej93 569]

2 minutes ago, Pizy said:

If true, I wonder which of our CB positions he competes for. 

Christensen and Rudiger are our only ball playing CBs. We need depth and this is probably the most important position alongsige DM in Sarri system. 

[manpe 10,861]

If true, I wonder which of our CB positions he competes for. 

What do you mean? The left or right spot?

Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

[Special Juan 28,142]

4 minutes ago, Pizy said:

If true, I wonder which of our CB positions he competes for. 

I don't care as long as it keeps knocking Cahill down the pecking order.

[Alabama 1,992]

2 minutes ago, Pizy said:

If true, I wonder which of our CB positions he competes for. 

Competing with Christensen as Azpi would move back to right back... He could be nail on starter as times goes on due to prior understanding of Sarriball and lack of ball playing abilities in Cahill and Zouma... While Luiz could be sold... 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Good player and maybe a Sarri choice but again why when we have got Zouma, Christensen, Luiz, Cahill, Rudiger and also Azpi who could comfortably play there? If we play with a back 4, we will need 4 CBs at least I realize but we have 6 now if this guy is here. Cahill is club captain and I doubt Sarri comes in and sells him on straight away. Especially considering he is a better player in a back 4 than a back 3, which makes me think Luiz and Zouma are goners. 

[Cosmin 2,484]

Just now, OneMoSalah said:

 we have got Zouma

Zouma's back? I don't think he'll stay, though. 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Just now, Cosmin said:

Zouma's back? I don't think he'll stay, though. 

Probably not which is a shame because he has all the tools to be a top CB still. Technically he improved at Stoke as well but I suppose they were a train wreck defensively. 

[Pizy 18,944]

2 minutes ago, manpe said:

What do you mean? The left or right spot?

Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk
 

Yeah. Wonder if we'd play two very young ball players in Rugani and Christensen together or if Rüdi will always have to play alongside one of them. For me, Rüdiger is far too good to be benched.

[Special Juan 28,142]

Rudiger was immense in the latter part of the season, his ability on the ball will be huge in the eyes of Sarri if he joins.

[coolhead23 1,147]

We have Christensen, Rudiger and Zouma plus Cahill needs to be part of the CB band (obviously he shouldnt be a starter but can provide depth) ... Rugani would be a luxury unless we are offloading Zouma and dropping Christensen or Rudiger from the starting 11. 

 

P.S: I havent seen Rugani play so wouldnt comment what he brings but my thinking is that we already have 3 strong young defenders who can be trusted and maybe we might not have to think abt defenders in the near future. 

[akgw13 867]

5 minutes ago, coolhead23 said:

We have Christensen, Rudiger and Zouma plus Cahill needs to be part of the CB band (obviously he shouldnt be a starter but can provide depth) ... Rugani would be a luxury unless we are offloading Zouma and dropping Christensen or Rudiger from the starting 11. 

 

P.S: I havent seen Rugani play so wouldnt comment what he brings but my thinking is that we already have 3 strong young defenders who can be trusted and maybe we might not have to think abt defenders in the near future. 

Zouma won't be at the club this season, be it loan or sale(with buy back hopefully) Cahill is depth. Christensen had bright spots last year but also some faults, we have lots of games this year. Rugani is comfortable in a tough to play Sarri system, he will help with the learning curve while giving us a young potentially stud CB. Moving forward with Christensen,Rudiger,Rugani is a solid 3 man rotation at the moment. Deal is getting done and its far more important than a luxury, in my opinion.

[coolhead23 1,147]

9 minutes ago, akgw13 said:

Zouma won't be at the club this season, be it loan or sale(with buy back hopefully) Cahill is depth. Christensen had bright spots last year but also some faults, we have lots of games this year. Rugani is comfortable in a tough to play Sarri system, he will help with the learning curve while giving us a young potentially stud CB. Moving forward with Christensen,Rudiger,Rugani is a solid 3 man rotation at the moment. Deal is getting done and its far more important than a luxury, in my opinion.

Honestly doesnt make any sense to let go of Zouma who right now has made a mark in the PL same goes with Christensen (he will keep improving) and Rudigier however Rugani is still unknown in the PL and . Hence I consider him as a luxury right now specially when we have 3 strong CBs and it is high time we start trusting the young guns. 

[akgw13 867]

40 minutes ago, coolhead23 said:

Honestly doesnt make any sense to let go of Zouma who right now has made a mark in the PL same goes with Christensen (he will keep improving) and Rudigier however Rugani is still unknown in the PL and . Hence I consider him as a luxury right now specially when we have 3 strong CBs and it is high time we start trusting the young guns. 

Its not a knock on Zouma as a player, i quite like him. But he isn't HG and has never played a style even remotely close to Sarri. He doesn't have the passing range or comfort on the ball(at the moment) to play it. He was fine on loan last season but not so good that we must bring him back. if he were HG I would be all for it, but we have a limit on our roster and at this moment Zouma isn't good enough to demand a place. of course Rugani is unknown in the PL, but he is known to Sarri. He is a player the club has looked at, fits our buying model (young with resale) and a managers choice, very rarely do those 3 align. I think we will run with 4 cb's Christensen/Rudiger/Rugani/Cahill (2 HG, 2 Non HG) with Azpi as CB cover along with under 21 youths if need be.