Mateo Kovacic

[Stats 7,136]

I still feel despite him getting POTY and Lamps getting best out of him, he still is under-appreciated by majority of people. I still think he is our best midfielder. I am sure as time goes on though, we will see him get more minutes and his quality will shine through. 

[King Kante 1,643]

5 hours ago, ulvhedin said:

What about Tomori, had some bad matches last season (but who hasn't?), this season he was good when given chance, yet he was frozen out, and even Rudi is ahead of him now.

Tomori has two issues which I think is why he doesn't play.

1) Short and not good in the air, unlike Silva who is short but good in the air.

2) Overplays in dangerous positions. He is probably better on the ball than both AC and Zouma but he over complicates things at times. 

[Vesper 30,091]

49 minutes ago, King Kante said:

Tomori has two issues which I think is why he doesn't play.

1) Short and not good in the air, unlike Silva who is short but good in the air.

2) Overplays in dangerous positions. He is probably better on the ball than both AC and Zouma but he over complicates things at times. 

totally agree

[killer1257 3,282]

I think he did well. Still not at his best, but much more productive than Mount.
Sadly, he injured himself

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[kellzfresh 7,229]

9 hours ago, killer1257 said:

I think he did well. Still not at his best, but much more productive than Mount.
Sadly, he injured himself

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I think he did well too but Mount was still much better. The way mount was switching the ball to opposite flanks helped us maintain tempo constantly.

[Puliiszola 519]

9 hours ago, killer1257 said:

I think he did well. Still not at his best, but much more productive than Mount.
Sadly, he injured himself

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Your obsession with putting mount is SAD to say the least. 

Anyone who does not have a bias can see exactly how good mount is and has been in the 4-3-3. 

Anyways, kova just seems a bit off. Can put it dowm to lack of playing time. Just hope he can get his touch back, cause with games coming every 3 days, we will need depth. 

[Jase 43,479]

11 hours ago, killer1257 said:

I think he did well. Still not at his best, but much more productive than Mount.
Sadly, he injured himself

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Productive and Kovacic don't belong in the same sentence. 

[killer1257 3,282]

Productive and Kovacic don't belong in the same sentence. 

He had an assist, so I would call it productive

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[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

He had an assist, so I would call it productive

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That was only his 6th assist for us in 107 games and his first in all competitions since Spurs away last season. Even Mount has had more assists (and goals) than Kovacic in less games for us. 

[killer1257 3,282]

That was only his 6th assist for us in 107 games and his first in all competitions since Spurs away last season. Even Mount has had more assists (and goals) than Kovacic in less games for us. 

Mount used to play for us as a no. 10,while Kova was very defensive due to the fact that he had to protect Jorgi's ass. Give him a more free role like yesterday and his assists will improve. Mount obviously has a good shot and that is why he scores goals, but most of his assists are from set pieces. Kova is more creative than Mount. Kova last season had more assists than Mount from normal play (without set pieces).

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[Jase 43,479]

14 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

Mount used to play for us as a no. 10,while Kova was very defensive due to the fact that he had to protect Jorgi's ass. Give him a more free role like yesterday and his assists will improve. Mount obviously has a good shot and that is why he scores goals, but most of his assists are from set pieces. Kova is more creative than Mount. Kova last season had more assists than Mount from normal play (without set pieces).

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One assist from Kovacic yesterday and you're shouting from the rooftop. If he can suddenly provide assists and even score goals on a regular basis, then great but otherwise I am not convinced at all. This is a player who has only 11 assists (and 5 goals) in all competitions since the start of the 2015/16 season. His most productive years were for Inter in 2014/15 and Dinamo Zagreb in 2011/12.

Also, if you're gonna say Kovacic will do X, Y, Z better when played in position X, then one could argue the same about Mount, who has said and looks so much better as one of the 3 midfielders in a 4-3-3 as opposed to a #10 or a winger. 

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

9 hours ago, Jason said:

One assist from Kovacic yesterday and you're shouting from the rooftop. If he can suddenly provide assists and even score goals on a regular basis, then great but otherwise I am not convinced at all. This is a player who has only 11 assists (and 5 goals) in all competitions since the start of the 2015/16 season. His most productive years were for Inter in 2014/15 and Dinamo Zagreb in 2011/12.

Also, if you're gonna say Kovacic will do X, Y, Z better when played in position X, then one could argue the same about Mount, who has said and looks so much better as one of the 3 midfielders in a 4-3-3 as opposed to a #10 or a winger. 

Totally agree with everything you've said there.

Mount v Burnley was better than any performance Kovacic has put in for us since maybe the start of last season and was on par with his game v Bayern. In fact better than any performance any midfielder has put in for us this season or last perhaps bar that Kovacic v Bayern where I felt he was very good.  Both views make sense but Kovacic hasn't shown the goals or assists on a regular basis and he's in his best years as a player. Yes he plays further back in 4231 and is a different player in a 433 but the guy used to be a number 10 and even since being played deeper hasn't managed to affect game as much as he can with his skillset and obvious ability in the final third. Its frustrating because he should be able to get 5+ league goals a season and 5-8+ assists a season. I know those numbers are perhaps little but for someone with his obvious qualities from his time at Dinamo, Inter, Real and here, he should have more. 

9 hours ago, killer1257 said:

Mount used to play for us as a no. 10,while Kova was very defensive due to the fact that he had to protect Jorgi's ass. Give him a more free role like yesterday and his assists will improve. Mount obviously has a good shot and that is why he scores goals, but most of his assists are from set pieces. Kova is more creative than Mount. Kova last season had more assists than Mount from normal play (without set pieces).

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Very defensive? Because of Jorginho? And the first 4 months under Frank last season when it was Jorginho, Kovacic and Mount in a MF 3, was he very defensive? No not a chance, just another excuse to deflect the blame and say its someone else's fault as usual on here when its so obvious a player of his ability and attributes can contribute more in that area. Also the free role thing is bullshit because nobody in this team has a free role. Nobody. Barely any teams play with such a way, Messi, Ronaldo and maybe Neymar the only players in world football who get a such luxury and even then its not continuously happening every week. Kovacic definitely should be more creative than Mount or you'd hope he would be with his skill sets but his numbers, aren't great or a good argument to use in regards to this.

We should be happy to have such depth in MF though, Mount, Kovacic, Kante and Havertz can all play on the sides in a 433 next to Jorginho or Kante if hes holding.

I know Mount divides opinion but this season so far he has been good and the Burnley game was exceptional. Jorginho and Mount seem to be scapegoats regardless of how they perform and quite frankly it is embarrassing. Someone said Mount played average or looked average in that position in a 433 after the Burnley game a few weeks ago which goes to prove how people let this sort of vendetta against Mount cloud their judgement regardless and quite frankly it is embarrassing as mentioned before. Yes he could of done better last season, no doubt, who couldn't have? But he's earned his place in the squad undoubtedly and this season his spot in the starting 11 has been justified in recent weeks. 

So if set play assists aren't going to matter or be seen as something that shouldn't be hugely considered what about Ziyech's? Because he will undoubtedly get a good number from set plays also because his delivery is fantastic. This is what I mean, its always been one thing for one player and not for another. Since the likes of Mikel, Ivanovic, Cahill... players who if they played well or weren't as flashy or weren't the best players in the world or team, instantly the criticism was 1000 times worse. 

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

While I do not think Kovacic was particularly good today he also was not terrible. He provided an assist but should have scored a goal for sure. He might rediscover some form if he plays more often again. But i could definitely see Kovacic working better with Havertz than Mount cos he is on a similar technical level. Mount looks like a fish out of water when combining with technical genuises like havertz, pulsic and ziyech around him. That being said I dont doubt that Mount will always score more goals and provide more assists, simply because of the way he is wired. mount is a direct player. kovacic like willian has the problem that he stays too long on the ball and lets opportunities pass him by. his ability to break the press and skip lines in midfield with his exceptional dribbling is great but it will always cost us attacking opponents. Mount on the other hand usually goes for the shot or direct pass if he sees it but often fials to execute it accurately enough

[Jase 43,479]

48 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

But i could definitely see Kovacic working better with Havertz than Mount cos he is on a similar technical level. Mount looks like a fish out of water when combining with technical genuises like havertz, pulsic and ziyech around him.

I know you're not a fan of Mount but you talked as if he has Bakayoko's technical level ability...

Mount has already played games with Pulisic, Ziyech and Havertz and doesn't even look out of place. 

[NikkiCFC 8,286]

Vida played today positive on Covid for Croatia. Kova was on the bench full game.