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Player Watch Player Watch: Giovani Lo Celso

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rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
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Surprised me as well. If he cant see he's a fkin good player within 30mins of watching him then I have to question wtf he's looking at.
But Mourinho isn't, and never has been, overly fond of ball players imo. Alli is the latest to be thrown to the wolves. Chelsea hoofed the ball up to Drogba for years. The media had a wankfest over it but personally I've always found JMs prefered style of football awful.
It really really shouldnt need saying again but.....

Chelsea under Mourinho - Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Fabregas, Oscar - all ball players.

Madrid under Mourinho - Ozil, Modric, Alonso - all ball players.

Inter under Jose - Sneijder, Motta, Cambiasso - all ball players

Jose loves ball players because they can get the ball into the right spaces quickly and effectively. They get plenty of assists too.

All of his teams played the ball through the middle not just the channels or over the top.

The big difference is we have Winks, Sissoko and Hojbjerg who are all not the greatest at this and all suffer when pressed. Lo Celso has been injured a lot and Ndombele has not only been injured but has struggled with the demands. It's nothing to do with not liking them, it's not having them at his disposal.

I bet once we sign a ST and CB, he'll spend the next windows looking to improve that area with a combative midfielder who is a ball player too.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
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Well I would think that he maybe wasn’t considered for the central midfield role and Jose thought he was a much more attacking player (which he has shown to be good at too). But we needed someone in the middle and Gio really impressed. Maybe Jose just didn’t know he had that in his game.
I’d suggest he just didn’t quite rate him at first, which in fairness is understandable given how Lo Celso did practically nothing initially (of course mitigated by injury).

I doubt Mourinho was unaware of what Lo Celso’s game is, as despite the constant cries that Lo Celso was an Eriksen replacement, he’s played at CM pretty much his entire time in Europe, including most of his games at Betis (admittedly more in a 3 than a pivot). The only reason he racked up such a high goal/assist output while there is because their attack was pretty poor outside of him so it all went through him.

He’s always had that Modric like roundedness (with emphases on slightly different parts of his game) that suits central midfield: great first touch, awareness and mobility to help him beat the press, pace and deceptive strength to carry the ball forward, precise yet varied passing to dictate play. I’d go as far to say that he’s a bit harder working out of possession than Luka was at this stage of his career, and clearly far more willing to get stuck in (Argentinian) so with the right partner he could be superb there.

I genuinely think that if he evolves on this trajectory, Lo Celso can become one of the best central midfielders on earth (and in 2 years Madrid/ Barca will come calling).
 

popstar7

Well-Known Member
Jan 14, 2012
3,036
9,367
I genuinely think that if he evolves on this trajectory, Lo Celso can become one of the best central midfielders on earth

No reason why not. There's no obvious weaknesses to his game, plays for the team, his attitude seems great and he's young enough to have time to improve.
 

glacierSpurs

Well-Known Member
Sep 28, 2013
16,163
25,472
I'm really really glad we got him over Bruno Fernandes (when there was like a decision over which one IIRC?) A proper hardworking lad instead of a cheating bastard.

He may not be flashy, but I think he will be so underrated this season and I hope teams continue to underestimate him. He will be so important to us.
 

fishhhandaricecake

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2018
18,702
46,941
It really really shouldnt need saying again but.....

Chelsea under Mourinho - Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Fabregas, Oscar - all ball players.

Madrid under Mourinho - Ozil, Modric, Alonso - all ball players.

Inter under Jose - Sneijder, Motta, Cambiasso - all ball players

Jose loves ball players because they can get the ball into the right spaces quickly and effectively. They get plenty of assists too.

All of his teams played the ball through the middle not just the channels or over the top.

The big difference is we have Winks, Sissoko and Hojbjerg who are all not the greatest at this and all suffer when pressed. Lo Celso has been injured a lot and Ndombele has not only been injured but has struggled with the demands. It's nothing to do with not liking them, it's not having them at his disposal.

I bet once we sign a ST and CB, he'll spend the next windows looking to improve that area with a combative midfielder who is a ball player too.
Completely agree.
 

newbie

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2004
6,051
6,342
Surprised me as well. If he cant see he's a fkin good player within 30mins of watching him then I have to question wtf he's looking at.
But Mourinho isn't, and never has been, overly fond of ball players imo. Alli is the latest to be thrown to the wolves. Chelsea hoofed the ball up to Drogba for years. The media had a wankfest over it but personally I've always found JMs prefered style of football awful.

I think Jose knows his our best midfielder mate, if he was fully fit he would play.
 

ultimateloner

Well-Known Member
Jan 25, 2004
4,539
2,149
An automatic starter for us if fully fit.

The question is whether he could make the next step up into CL (with or not with us). To do this he needs:
1) goals/assists; not enough atm
2) consistency; he needs to stay fit and play enough games. Many players fail to make the grade up because of fitness/injury issues: Dembele, Ledley are notable examples.
 

EQP

EQP
Sep 1, 2013
7,958
29,657
he is absolutely Key to us having a good season

Without a doubt. We now need a contingency plan for when he's unavailable. Bale and Reguilon can be impactful when we're playing direct or counter-attacking football but we need someone else who can step in and knit play together.
 

DanNolan

Well-Known Member
Oct 14, 2006
1,369
2,524
i think hes great. he will end up a modric type and for me should be replacing winks with his place as the attacking mid going to ndombele
 
D

Deleted member 29446

Unpopular opinion. Thought Ndombele did more than him in his 13 minutes.
Just didn't do enough for me as a number #10. Should really be played deeper as he isn't a #10 and replace Winks in that starting 11.

Didn't see anything that Winks did yesterday that PEH, GLC or Ndombele couldn't do. They could all just do way more.
 

Yid121

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2008
3,463
3,139
Unpopular opinion. Thought Ndombele did more than him in his 13 minutes.
Just didn't do enough for me as a number #10. Should really be played deeper as he isn't a #10 and replace Winks in that starting 11.

Didn't see anything that Winks did yesterday that PEH, GLC or Ndombele couldn't do. They could all just do way more.
This makes me think we could do with Eriksen. Gio isn't an AM and Ndombele can't be relied upon as our sole AM if Alli were to go.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
Unpopular opinion. Thought Ndombele did more than him in his 13 minutes.
Just didn't do enough for me as a number #10. Should really be played deeper as he isn't a #10 and replace Winks in that starting 11.

Didn't see anything that Winks did yesterday that PEH, GLC or Ndombele couldn't do. They could all just do way more.
Agree both that Lo Celso is better deeper and good skillet a bit wasted that close to the forwards, and also that he can do whatever Winks can but with more attacking purposes, but as said elsewhere I think you’re wrong to denigrate Winks performance yesterday.
 

Hotspur88

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2008
3,146
75,106
Unpopular opinion. Thought Ndombele did more than him in his 13 minutes.
Just didn't do enough for me as a number #10. Should really be played deeper as he isn't a #10 and replace Winks in that starting 11.

Didn't see anything that Winks did yesterday that PEH, GLC or Ndombele couldn't do. They could all just do way more.
Agreed, I love Gio but Tanguy did 100% do more in his short cameo yesterday in terms of attacking input.

As suggested, moving forward a midfield three of Hojbjerg and Lo Celso behind an advanced Ndombele is a very exciting thought.

Behind a front three of Son, Kane and Bale is a ridiculously exciting prospect.
 

Hotspur88

Well-Known Member
Aug 1, 2008
3,146
75,106
Unpopular opinion. Thought Ndombele did more than him in his 13 minutes.
Just didn't do enough for me as a number #10. Should really be played deeper as he isn't a #10 and replace Winks in that starting 11.

Didn't see anything that Winks did yesterday that PEH, GLC or Ndombele couldn't do. They could all just do way more.
Agreed, I love Gio but Tanguy did 100% do more in his short cameo yesterday in terms of attacking input.

As suggested, moving forward a midfield three of Hojbjerg and Lo Celso behind an advanced Ndombele is a very exciting thought.

Behind a front three of Son, Kane and Bale is a ridiculously exciting prospect.
 
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