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8 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I understand a striker laying it back off if a defender is on him, and generally a Guardiola/Arteta player has an opposition player (sometimes two) straight on him, but it's frustrating to see a striker not turn when he has time and on Friday night Daka had time to control and turn but every ball into him went back again. There was even a time where he played an awful ball back to Mavididi and they had words about it like players do. You're not telling me that it is supposed to happen like this. I didn't really understand what we were playing on Friday but I appreciate it's a new manager with new ideas.

 

But whatever is supposed to happen we offered no threat. Perhaps aside from Fatawu but once he was off nothing. My biggest worry going into this season is scoring goals.

 

Obviously a shit pass is a shit pass, that's poor regardless - although let's be fair about it, all footballers do it. Patson Daka is in the 91st percentile for pass completion amongst strikers over the last 12 months so I wouldn't say it's a huge problem with him. 

 

But very few players would be coached to turn on the ball like that. When was the last time you saw Vardy drop in, receive the ball with his back to goal, control it and carry it up the park? It's very rare. When a striker drops like that they'll usually presume a defender is tracking them, in fact that's one of the reasons you'd want them to do it. Unless they get a call specifically telling them they have time to trap it turn, they're unlikely to try. We don't want a striker slowing down play, we do want them making a quick first time pass and then spinning to get forward. 

 

Of all the things to criticise Daka for - plenty of which (believe it or not!) I wouldn't challenge you on - this seems like a poor choice. The shit pass aside, it's good play and him doing as instructed. 

 

Someone like Madders who thrives on turning first time on a pass are rare. It's just largely seen as a risk and not encouraged a lot in possession football. Especially given dribbling isn't really Daka or Vardy's strength.