The College Dropout

Wish he would make more runs off the ball. Loves it to feet.

Liverpool do not do what Schar is doing. No top ball-playing CB does what Schar is doing. And it's not a good thing. His actual defending has been superb and all things considered he's been better than Botman.

So where's the massive upside to the Schar ball straight to the opponent?

No top team does the chip pass not near any team mates to the extent Schar does it. Top teams do not tend to have CBs that complete that have 75% pass completion rates. None of Liverpool's CB's do. No top team has a player with such low pass % rate for his position that doesn't have significant upside to the passing elsewhere. Henderson's speculative balls are a feature of his game rather than a tactical idea from Klopp. Here's his speculagtive balls to Croatian players. It's not the mark of a top player. But he has other great attributes to his game. Even Bruno Fernandes.. he's not in that top bracket because other 10's can build possession (Odegaard for example) as well as create.

Not seen much of Barca this year tbf

Never seen this lad have a good game. Never looked a EPL CB. If Barca need money, let's have Raphinha or a kid.

In that first half he gave us something different and new. Throw in Gordon to the mix. In that 5th season, geting in Cisse and HBA emerging really gave the team a new edge. I hope we can get something similar from here.

I think he might in some games for Liverpool.

Liverpool have looked poor defensively all season. Spurs are Spurs. We have a chance. I just don't think we're good enough. Based on our squad, i'll be happy with 6th from here. If we can hit another purple patch led by Isak..... we can do it man.

A weakness of Henderson's game - is that he's not the best on the ball. That's not a strength of his game. Why are you bringing it up? TAA does do speculative balls that is true. But he also records league high progressive passes. So there's massive upside. There's not that with Schar. VVD's pass completion is 90%. Matip 89% it goes on. Schar's completion rate is noticeably lower and he pulls off long passes at a low hit rate too. Botman isn't doing it anywhere near as much as Schar so i'm unsure how much of it is tactical. But he also has the most assists or right up there. So you have to look at other things. The same applies for Bruno Fernandes. He gives the ball away loads but also creates bucketloads and is up there with the leagues best for shot creation etc. TAA also gives it away a load but has league high stats in assists, progressive passing etc. That isn't the same with Schar. He gives it away a bucketload and there isn't a massive upside elsewhere. It's a relatively small criticism but it's entirely valid. I raised this same argument early doors about Sissoko. Peopl eventually hated him for it.... but he always did what he did people just refused to see it.

The Liverpool CB's pass completion rate is considerably higher than Schar's. They're not doing the speculative ball thing or gain territory thing that Schar seems to do. Botman doesn't seem to do it nearly as much either. The game has come a long way from the Mourinho era.

Aye. And Schar is more exposed than Botman too. There's space in behind Trippier that Schar has to deal with. Burn is usually close to Botman which gives him some protection.

The best teams don't do that. It's very.... Big Sam esque. TBh... Schar has always done that. I think some of it is tactical but some of it is just his style and something that you think could easily be improved upon considering his talent. I'd like to see him carry it more often. He's good at it. Joel Matip does it over 2x as much, he's the benchmark in the league for it.

The Stevie G experiment really set Villa back.

Must be. Or to gain position for a counter press maybe. At least twice a game. He'll just chip it straight to the opposition fullback. Nowhere near another NUFC player. He looks comfortable on the ball so a lot of people ignore it but it happens a fair few times. For whatever reason I don't like it. If we are to become a top team we need to learn how to progress through midfield and defence against a compact block. I'd rather Schar only play those balls if he thinks something is genuinely on. Otherwise try to hit a winger or pass it through the lines. You look at other "ball playing" CBs in the league and they nearly all have much better pass completion rate.

Aye haha.

Yeh it’s not a massive deal at all. For someone so comfortable on the ball. He gives it away under no/little pressure a lot.

Another perspective is that Howe has his favourites and tends to stick with them. Once you’ve got the shirt, it’s hard to lose it. Dan Burn has started every game he’s been available for this season iirc. I believe Howe has the players and approach he really believes in and tends to stick with them when others might tinker. He’s not much of a rotation man either. Benitez was the first NUFC manager I’ve seen that did genuine rotation in a league season without European football.

Sometimes I wish he was more patient in his passing. The floaty ball to nowhere is his speciality. Otherwise he’s imperious these days.

He did yes. We don’t seem to want to play with a 10. Outside of JM, we aren’t linked with any. Isak is a BALLER. Bruno is a baller. 2 to 3 of these in midfield/attack and we are a serious serious outfit.

Much more mature movement at ST than Rashford. The comparison is Titi The Great. What he needs is his Bergkamp. Someone with his ability and wave length. Isak would kill alongside an Odegaard.

I’ve seen enough to know that Howe doesn’t rate Targett like that over Burn. I’m certain that if Howe fancied Targett properly he would have had more minutes since he’s been fit. Howe very much liked Burn at LB. If Trippier was in Targett’s position would he not have gotten more minutes?

There’s players at Leeds, Southampton, Leicester and West Ham that I really like so I hope 3 of these go down.

He could come on at LW to close the game out. All Ritchie would do is close down and keep the ball. Targett can do that. If Targett was as important to the squad as I hope he is. He would’ve got those minutes imo. I don’t think Howe has any plans for Targett to become #1.

Aye. And hasn’t collected a bunch of cards too. A little rest might do him good though. Willock has looked better for it and I reckon Joe will too.