Richard.H
Senior Member
Looked up that old poll Mbappe vs. Dembele for Barca.
Dembele won 43 to 28. Shame it wasn't public
Kylian Mbappé
- Thread starter Xavinho
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BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
It's obvious that Mbappe can beat almost anyone on the outside and is most dangerous there. So why do defenders always let him past on the outside? Let him have the inside cut run but don't give him the flank run to the goal line. Don't try to defend both.
Richard.H
Senior Member
Might be much easier said than done. He is actively running off the ball and will find openings, so I'm sure the defender is not first thinking about defending the outside as much as making sure he doesn't find some big opening. He is so good in counter attacks. Very dangerous player.
soul24rage
Senior Member
Curious of how he'll do against a team like ATM
At least he is smart with his movement. He also can finish. That is what Barca totally lacks of now.
BerkeleyBernie
Senior Member
Sure, in open field play. But once he is at a dead stop near the box, he easily beats his markers to the by-line. I don't know why they give him that lane so freely. Force him to cut in. Still dangerous, of course, but better odds at defending him there.
Looked up that old poll Mbappe vs. Dembele for Barca.
Dembele won 43 to 28. Shame it wasn't public
Dembele was considered more of a direct Neymar replacement at LW while Mbappe was seen as more of a 9.
Also Dembele playing for Dortmund and Mbappe for Monaco played some part as well.
It wasn't an obvious choice at the time. Mbappe might've been slightly better but I actually thought Dembele would fit our needs better after Neymar left.
His passing and movement showed how determined he was, and while he didn't score, he was threatening the Bayern defence, together with Neymar, hence the praise from people I think
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Messi983
Senior Member
It's strange as Mbappe (whom I don't like too much) is a better LW today. Dembele is useless at LW. Not as useless as a "striker" but still the only position he can play somewhat acceptable is RW. So much for his "versatility".
behindbrowneyes
Well-known member
In my opinion, he has not developed much in the last 2 years. Fair enough, at 19 and 20 he was already brutally far in his development. With all the euphoria, the duel against Barcelona was the first at the top level where he made the difference. He was neither the difference player at the World Cup nor in CL-knockout duels so far. By that I measure a player who thinks in terms of Messi and CR. That's how I measure a player of his financial demands. Mbappe will be 23 years old this year, one must not forget that. Of course he's still very young, but slowly but surely he has to make the difference in the absolute crunch time. Messi was deservedly a BD'or winner at his age and Mbappe himself is always looking for these comparisons with the absolute best of the game. The duel against Barcelona was a start. There he undoubtedly made the difference. These 25+ goals in Ligue 1 have to be scored first, but completely different ones have already achieved that. in my opinion, this is not the kind of achievement where you can orientate yourself towards Messi or CR.
I take a critical view of Mbappe at Barcelona. In my opinion his style fits much more with Madrid or Liverpool. If there is space for Mbappe, you can hardly stop him. His biggest weapon is his speed. His passing is not above average and he is also not a particularly good dribbler in tight spaces. I also don't think that he will make incredible leaps in these areas. Mbappe is not a playmaker a la Messi or Neymar. In my opinion he lacks the appropriate qualities in passing and creativity. Against Ukraine and Lille (the last two games I've seen him before yesterday) it became clear that you can take him out of the game relatively well if he doesn't get much room to work with. For me, Mbappe is the perfect fast transition play player. Lightning fast, strong. Wonderful to see against Barca. But switching and fast transition game is not Barca football. It was for a time under Lucho, but in the end, I doubt will see that again, especially when someone like Xavi will become the coach of Barca after Koeman sooner or later. Of course, a player of Mbappe's class would also get his scorers at Barca, but I wouldn't see him here as THE difference maker at the moment. And that's what I expect from a total package of 400+ million euros. Mbappe and Madrid, imo that fits a lot better. What I also see critically at Mbappe is that he obviously has a bit of trouble with pressure. He complains that he is being criticized in France? How does he feel what happens in Spain when he comes here as highest earner of a club? The pressure will be immense. If the pressure in France is too great for him, then in Spain he will break due to the pressure that arises if he doesn't perform well right away. Coutinho and Hazard can also tell you a thing or two about it.
From my point of view, Haaland and Mbappe are extremely exciting players. EVERY European top club has to deal intensively with these personalities when they come onto the market. But the current price tags (complete package) do not make both of them a "no brainer" for Barca. You will have to weigh heavily and also look carefully to what extent an adaptation to our style is possible. We're not talking about a 50 million package here, but rather total packages of 400+ million euros. Quality alone is not enough, as the transfers from Coutinho and Griezmann have shown.
I take a critical view of Mbappe at Barcelona. In my opinion his style fits much more with Madrid or Liverpool. If there is space for Mbappe, you can hardly stop him. His biggest weapon is his speed. His passing is not above average and he is also not a particularly good dribbler in tight spaces. I also don't think that he will make incredible leaps in these areas. Mbappe is not a playmaker a la Messi or Neymar. In my opinion he lacks the appropriate qualities in passing and creativity. Against Ukraine and Lille (the last two games I've seen him before yesterday) it became clear that you can take him out of the game relatively well if he doesn't get much room to work with. For me, Mbappe is the perfect fast transition play player. Lightning fast, strong. Wonderful to see against Barca. But switching and fast transition game is not Barca football. It was for a time under Lucho, but in the end, I doubt will see that again, especially when someone like Xavi will become the coach of Barca after Koeman sooner or later. Of course, a player of Mbappe's class would also get his scorers at Barca, but I wouldn't see him here as THE difference maker at the moment. And that's what I expect from a total package of 400+ million euros. Mbappe and Madrid, imo that fits a lot better. What I also see critically at Mbappe is that he obviously has a bit of trouble with pressure. He complains that he is being criticized in France? How does he feel what happens in Spain when he comes here as highest earner of a club? The pressure will be immense. If the pressure in France is too great for him, then in Spain he will break due to the pressure that arises if he doesn't perform well right away. Coutinho and Hazard can also tell you a thing or two about it.
From my point of view, Haaland and Mbappe are extremely exciting players. EVERY European top club has to deal intensively with these personalities when they come onto the market. But the current price tags (complete package) do not make both of them a "no brainer" for Barca. You will have to weigh heavily and also look carefully to what extent an adaptation to our style is possible. We're not talking about a 50 million package here, but rather total packages of 400+ million euros. Quality alone is not enough, as the transfers from Coutinho and Griezmann have shown.
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Mbappe is 23 soon? How time flies. One year younger than Ronaldo when the latter moved to Madrid.
The career of Mbappe will depend on how much more he'll develop playing style wise. At the moment he's only effective in a certain setup. Compare this to Ronaldo and Messi who in their primes could slot into any team in the world and still most likely would score goals for fun.
But still, Messi and Ronaldo were also pretty one sided once in their careers. Messi developed earlier than Ronaldo so I'd say at 23 Mbappe is closer to Ronaldo rather than Messi. The question is whether Mbappe can take that final step of becoming a consistent world class performer, for that to happen I think he needs to move and Madrid would fit him well.
The career of Mbappe will depend on how much more he'll develop playing style wise. At the moment he's only effective in a certain setup. Compare this to Ronaldo and Messi who in their primes could slot into any team in the world and still most likely would score goals for fun.
But still, Messi and Ronaldo were also pretty one sided once in their careers. Messi developed earlier than Ronaldo so I'd say at 23 Mbappe is closer to Ronaldo rather than Messi. The question is whether Mbappe can take that final step of becoming a consistent world class performer, for that to happen I think he needs to move and Madrid would fit him well.
Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
To me the above description fits Haaland equally well, if not better. So I guess neither Mbappe or Haaland will fit us in your opinion?
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