Is Minamino good enough?
- Thread starter rurikbird
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I was gonna say something similar yesterday.
The problem isn't his slight build, lots of current and former players in PL are built like that and succeeded, David Silva for instance.
To me it seems like Minamino thinks he's stronger than he actually is, he invites pressure and thinks he can hold them off, but he can't. It's part of his game. Either he bulks up and gets Agüero thighs or he learns to pick his moments.
I don't know. There are plenty of slightly-built players who seem to cope well enough. It seems more of a mental problem with him. Jota has come in and basically elbowed people out of the way to play his best game. Minamino seems stuck in the new boy at school mode. When he does attack the space in front of him he looks promising, but most of the time he seems to be occupying the areas the rest don't want, rather than the areas he needs to be.
No.
That's the short answer to the question in the title of this thread.
That's the short answer to the question in the title of this thread.
He's grand to make up the numbers and give others a rest. He cost fuck all too. I don't want him starting and wouldn't bat an eye lid if he was sold. We'll probably make a profit on him. He hasn't shown that he's good enough. Shaq and Jones are both easily ahead of him.
Absolutly, and there are similar players that have excelled in the league. But he still seems a yard short in every situation and unlike Jota he cant seem to shield the ball or make any sort of challenge when attempting a tackle.
As you say when he attacks space and is carrying the ball in the final third, he looks promising. But it I'm having my doubts about what he can actually contribute with in the future.
If he cant step up during this season, he'll be out of chances soon I think.
This is one of the things that we miss from the old reserve side: you would have been able to stick someone like Minamino in that team and basically use a couple of games as coaching sessions to get him playing in the position you want to him to occupy. You can't really do that now (well, you could, but we don't). These days you 'acclimatise' mainly by working with the video analysts, and doing bits and pieces on the training pitch, which is okay when you're trying just to make Andy Robertson improve on his one-on-ones, or get Fabinho to get used to the press ad the pace of the first team. But when you need to work on something more elaborate, you need proper sessions. I think they need to go back to looking at how and where he played for Salzburg, because that is why we bought him in the first damned place!
Edwards’ predictive AI modeling is still self-learning. Hold onto your seats though.
Taki’s about to become fully self-aware. (Here’s hoping).
Taki’s about to become fully self-aware. (Here’s hoping).
Are you taking about Minamino or Dantes?
Dantes is a bot.
Didn't see the game yesterday but in general whenever I've seen him play he looks like he is playing differently to the rest of the team, not because he's trying to be a maverick but because he looks like he doesn't get the setup 100%. When you don't fully get the setup you start to second guess everything and when that happens your performance can drop. Yes he's been there for nearly a year but he hasn't really had a consistent run of games so maybe he the type of player that needs consistency of games.
For who? Because it ain't us.
I ain't buying that. Not yet.
He's been here a year and I still don't know what he's supposed to be good at.
I'm not writing him off completely yet, but he's got a long way to go to turn things around.
He’s good at not being injured.
Minamino made 37 pressures against Midtjylland (per FBRef), which was more than the next two players in the standings – debutant Leighton Clarkson and Mohamed Salah – offered between them.
It was comfortably the most pressing a Liverpool player has done in a game in either of the two main competitions so far this season.
[article]“I liked the football we played in the first half, especially with the so-much-changed team we had tonight,” Klopp said.
“The way we played, the way the boys adapted, not to forget that Takumi Minamino played now only the second time in that position – once in Brighton, which was a different game, and tonight it looked already much better.
“I really like the football we played first half, we had really big… if it’s not a chance then nearly a chance, I’m not sure what is the English word for that. But we had a lot of these moments which we could have used in a better way and that was good.”[/article]
Jaysis, I could play for Liverpool if pressures is the metric. “You can’t sing, you can’t play. You look awful. But you can pressure. You’ll go a long way”.
how are your harassment and annoyance stats though? you need to be the full package
At present it's all a bit Lucas Leica with him. It seems like the mangers want to appreciate his game... ultimately you put them in the team the results are not favourable....
We all WANT him to do well, obviously. At the moment though it's mainly down to how we react to his lack of progress. It's understandable if some write him off, and it's understandable if some keep the faith. But so far it's like watching a toddler trying repeatedly to jam a square peg into a round hole. It's an unwelcome irony, but if ever there was a season for him to stumble on a role that works, it's this one - we're likely to have enough gaps in the team for him to try to fill. Let's hope one of them works.
I think the trouble as already noted is that he's probably a #10, and the classic #10s simply don't fit into present day tactical setups. So you either re-invent yourself as a #8 (like say De Bruyne), or as a wide forward (say Coutinho or Bernardo Silva or Grealish) or as a false 9 (Firmino, Havertz).
I mean look at the best #10 talents of this generation - Coutinho, Eriksen, Isco - all of them have had underwhelming careers relative to their talent. Even players like Maddison or Dele Alli have lost their first choice positions.
With Minamino, I don't think he's physical enough to play either the #8 or the false 9. I think LWF is probably the position best suited for him. The trouble of course is that he's not getting games there ahead of Mane or Jota.
I mean look at the best #10 talents of this generation - Coutinho, Eriksen, Isco - all of them have had underwhelming careers relative to their talent. Even players like Maddison or Dele Alli have lost their first choice positions.
With Minamino, I don't think he's physical enough to play either the #8 or the false 9. I think LWF is probably the position best suited for him. The trouble of course is that he's not getting games there ahead of Mane or Jota.
From the way Klopp talks, it sounds like the transition to the #8 position is a permanent one for the foreseeable future for Minanimo and it's probably the right move in this situation. Clearly the biggest problem in his game is the inability to hold on to possession when challenged – I think there is no other player in the squad, including the youngsters, who gets shoved off the ball more easily than Minamino. So the only way to help him regain some confidence is to move him back, where there is more space to turn, the pressure is less fierce and there are more teammates around to lay the ball off to. Klopp did a similar thing with Lallana and it worked; Lallana is famous for his turns and Minamino's signature move is receiving the ball on the turn. Playing at #8 will allow him more space to do that and to play his natural short passing game, while his tireless pressing can also be an asset, as we saw against Midtjylland.
So Klopp seems to have found currently the best position for his misfiring attacker, but is it a step forward for Minamino? I think it's more of a step back, but a necessary one. It's an acknowledgment that the original plan and the reason he was signed – to supplement our front 3 (or front 4) and become a quality understudy to Bobby – has been a failure. Playing at #8 in those occasional appearances will probably allow him to regain some confidence, where his creativity will once again hopefully shine through, but we hardly need another neat and tidy midfielder and by my count there will be 7-8 players ahead of him in the pecking order in that position: Gini, Keita, Hendo, Thiago, Jones, Milner, and possibly Shaqiri and Ox as well. So he won't get a lot of playing time other than cup games and "garbage time" in games that are beyond doubt; for his sake he should use that time well. He needs to get stronger and learn from the likes of Gini, Salah and Jota how to ride challenges and use the opponents' aggression against them.
So Klopp seems to have found currently the best position for his misfiring attacker, but is it a step forward for Minamino? I think it's more of a step back, but a necessary one. It's an acknowledgment that the original plan and the reason he was signed – to supplement our front 3 (or front 4) and become a quality understudy to Bobby – has been a failure. Playing at #8 in those occasional appearances will probably allow him to regain some confidence, where his creativity will once again hopefully shine through, but we hardly need another neat and tidy midfielder and by my count there will be 7-8 players ahead of him in the pecking order in that position: Gini, Keita, Hendo, Thiago, Jones, Milner, and possibly Shaqiri and Ox as well. So he won't get a lot of playing time other than cup games and "garbage time" in games that are beyond doubt; for his sake he should use that time well. He needs to get stronger and learn from the likes of Gini, Salah and Jota how to ride challenges and use the opponents' aggression against them.
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Jack Charlton would have loved him.
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