Mavericky Puig

Bobo32

Senior Member
Please be more constructive with your feedback!

To get back to the player of this thread instead of delving too long on my accurate analysis of Iniesta; I spotted this post by Rory:
Thought he looked better than he usually does. He was picking the easy pass too often and hesitating a bit but at least he was accurate with his passes and showing for the ball in different positions. Maybe coaches have said he's too eager with the ball and he needs to be calmer so has gone to the other extreme, hence the safe passing.
Both his critics and his fans watch his moves with a magnifying glass (not because he is so, so small - but because people are interested to analyze him for some reason). I agree he played the easy pass a lot yesterday, maybe too often. He also played two bad passes towards the right that was read by the defender, but I thought these passes were open from the screen too tbch.
I think the explanation for this is that 1. Xavi will have talked a lot with him about keeping his patience and concentration up and 2. He got 60mins instead of 14mins, when he got on here he thought that he'd play for more minutes than he ever thought he'd do for 1,5 years! Of course he'll play differently than when he thought he had to score/assist in the 5 minutes he sometimes got under Koeman.

I loved watching the ease at which he combined with Busquets one time, he also had a very nice pass for Dembele I think it was, it was like a disguised pass to the central 6m in handball. He helped progress play on the left flank in a very simple and clear way all throughout his game yesterday, it is so nice to see him play!
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
Please be more constructive with your feedback!

To get back to the player of this thread instead of delving too long on my accurate analysis of Iniesta; I spotted this post by Rory:

Both his critics and his fans watch his moves with a magnifying glass (not because he is so, so small - but because people are interested to analyze him for some reason). I agree he played the easy pass a lot yesterday, maybe too often. He also played two bad passes towards the right that was read by the defender, but I thought these passes were open from the screen too tbch.
I think the explanation for this is that 1. Xavi will have talked a lot with him about keeping his patience and concentration up and 2. He got 60mins instead of 14mins, when he got on here he thought that he'd play for more minutes than he ever thought he'd do for 1,5 years! Of course he'll play differently than when he thought he had to score/assist in the 5 minutes he sometimes got under Koeman.

I loved watching the ease at which he combined with Busquets one time, he also had a very nice pass for Dembele I think it was, it was like a disguised pass to the central 6m in handball. He helped progress play on the left flank in a very simple and clear way all throughout his game yesterday, it is so nice to see him play!

I think when Roberto and Pedri come back that he won't play much at all. He was the last midfielder left on the bench after Gavi got injured.

The Benfica game was very telling. We needed a goal to qualify us essentially and he doesn't put Puig on to try and get a goal, even when Nico was out of steam.
 

Neeraj

Senior Member
Not impressed by his showing against Betis, at all. Just refused to play it quick and even in the final minutes when a quick through ball was on, he took the safe option. Busquets seemed to be the only one in the game who made some quick forward passes (still the biggest problem with Pique however).
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
I think when Roberto and Pedri come back that he won't play much at all. He was the last midfielder left on the bench after Gavi got injured.

The Benfica game was very telling. We needed a goal to qualify us essentially and he doesn't put Puig on to try and get a goal, even when Nico was out of steam.

Yes, Xavi didn't give Puig much trust so far. After yesterdays game I will be as hard on Xavi for not trusting him as I was on Koeman IF at the same time the midfield doesn't work. Gavis entrance makes Puig much less 'crucial' though, he offers some of the same things. But I saw what I want to see from Puig yesterday, he is of the highest class.
For me it is very obvious that Puig should be tried at Depays position too, that's where I'd play him at the moment.

As I wrote in another thread, I think Xavi is consciously moving a bit slowly in the beginning though, let us see what happens from here...
 

Rory

Senior Member
Please be more constructive with your feedback!

To get back to the player of this thread instead of delving too long on my accurate analysis of Iniesta; I spotted this post by Rory:

Both his critics and his fans watch his moves with a magnifying glass (not because he is so, so small - but because people are interested to analyze him for some reason). I agree he played the easy pass a lot yesterday, maybe too often. He also played two bad passes towards the right that was read by the defender, but I thought these passes were open from the screen too tbch.
I think the explanation for this is that 1. Xavi will have talked a lot with him about keeping his patience and concentration up and 2. He got 60mins instead of 14mins, when he got on here he thought that he'd play for more minutes than he ever thought he'd do for 1,5 years! Of course he'll play differently than when he thought he had to score/assist in the 5 minutes he sometimes got under Koeman.

I loved watching the ease at which he combined with Busquets one time, he also had a very nice pass for Dembele I think it was, it was like a disguised pass to the central 6m in handball. He helped progress play on the left flank in a very simple and clear way all throughout his game yesterday, it is so nice to see him play!

He combined with Busquets well a few times but to little effect, that's one of my worries with Puig. There's looking nice and stylish but that has to come with a level of effectiveness otherwise you're looking good for the sake of looking good. Hopefully we can see a larger sample size of minutes with him so it can be seen whether he improves the team or not. I also want to see some positional discipline from him, it's great he wants to close down intensely but you can't sacrifice the shape of the team, or leave a dangerous man available in exchange for that. I don't remember seeing that against Betis so perhaps that's just been his sub appearances where he's looking to impress.

Even with this improved performance of his I still have him as 5th-6th choice midfielder with everyone available.
 

behindbrowneyes

Well-known member
Not gonna be too hard on him as he really lacks rhythm as a football player, but he came across as just another sidepass-maestro against Betis.

All in all gave me the impression what can be seen in every line-up. All other midfielders in the squad are ahead of him.
 

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