Gonzalo Higuaín (36 Viewers)

[Hydde]

Beating Monaco wasn't a feat though. It's what we should've done. We peaked with that Barca tie, it was all down hill from there. What we did to Monaco Real did to us.

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To be honest this. Monaco didnt posed a major thread overall, and outside of mbappe (and do not fool urselves, he had his chances)..but their midfield was not able to cope with us.

We conceded 4 times and he got an assist. He tested Navas a couple times from chances he created himself and he was dispossessed easily a couple times as well. Everyone could be right and he might be a bottler but there was no proof of that on Saturday. We simply weren't good enough to get to the point where a striker would make the difference one way or the other.

If you want to say that Dybala should play strictly as our #9 with wingers and CMs around him then I can see that point and have thought of it myself seeing as how Higuain presents no more danger in the air than Dybala does and also seems unwilling or possibly instructed to avoid build up play.

There still seems to be an uneasy fit between Higuain and Dybala which I don't think can be fixed with Dybala playing as a #10.

Is the solution to sell Higuain and invest immediately in CMs and wingers? Part of me wishes that were the case just to modernize the team but I doubt there is a chance in hell that it occurs. If we had our 2015 team then I would be searching for someone like Higuain, but we don't have that team anymore and can we get it without shifting the pieces up front?

Interesting questions.

I think the safest path is to continue with our current 4231 and buy wingers who can supply Higuain. I mean, we invested millions on him and now we are stuck with him, which is not bad at all, but we need to play to his strenghts to minimize his choking.

What i fear is that by changing formation AGAIN, we can get the focus of what we need to do all over the place and sign players we dont need. For example more leminas and rincons to fill the midfield quota for a possible 3 man midfield.

IMO we need to focus on attack and continue working in the basis of the formation that turned our season and took us to the final.
Is the most concrete info we have to work it, because we dont know how the team will cope with a 4312 or a 433. But if we buy wingers we can transition pretty much to a 433 easily if needed.

Whatever we do...i hope we buy and play with wingers which is the way you play in europe nowadays.

 

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[duranfj]

I honestly only annoy against Pipa was that he didn't hold the ball ever in the second half to allow his teammate go forward, he tried to run wide everytime.

In any case, we almost never do that kind of play so he's not used to it. We failed to create cuz RM did a better reading of the game in the first half and in the second was just a walk in the park for them after the 1-2 score

 

[Hydde]

I honestly only annoy against Pipa was that he didn't hold the ball ever in the second half to allow his teammate go forward, he tried to run wide everytime.

In any case, we almost never do that kind of play so he's not used to it. We failed to create cuz RM did a better reading of the game in the first half and in the second was just a walk in the park for them after the 1-2 score

yeh, i dont know what he was trying to accomplish going gung ho against their whole defense. he never does this

 

[Fr3sh]

Actually Dybala annoyed me infinitely more then Higuain, at least Higuain was able to control the ball

 

[Jvcro]

Actually Dybala annoyed me infinitely more then Higuain, at least Higuain was able to control the ball

At least this is first final for Dybala as a young player. Not excuse at all but Higuain had much more experience what we should see in that game.

 

[Post Ironic]

Actually Dybala annoyed me infinitely more then Higuain, at least Higuain was able to control the ball

Dybala was a big part of the reason our attack looked so putrid after minute 30. He also turned into Alves and lost the ball that created the counter for Madrid's first goal.

Dybala's job was to link our 2 man mid into attack, but his first touch was appallingly bad in this match, and his dribbling was wonky too. He was entirely useless getting the ball forward into Higuain or Mandzu in attack, and couldn't even link up with his usual partner in crime Alves.

I was shocked at how bad he looked. It castrated Pjanic and Khedira behind him too, because he wasn't helping them move the ball forward, instead kept losing it and putting them under pressure.

 

[The Quazis]

Let's just agree that the WHOLE team failed that night.

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[AFL_ITALIA]

Let's just agree that the WHOLE team failed that night.

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The only truth so far.

 

[Gagi]

Can we please stop blaming the striker for the game where we conceded 4 goals?

 

[CrimsonianKing]

Actually Dybala annoyed me infinitely more then Higuain, at least Higuain was able to control the ball

Dybala clearly wasn't psychologicallly or otherwise ready for a match this huge, Higuain on the other hand will never be.

 

[campionesidd]

Let's just agree that the WHOLE team failed that night.

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This.
Against Barca and Monaco, we succeeded as a team. On Saturday, we flopped as a team. Rather silly to single out a player for a performance where we were beaten in every aspect (in the second half, first half was good).

 

[Buck Fuddy]

Can we please stop blaming the striker for the game where we conceded 4 goals?

Well, a lot of our troubles started up front & then trickled down, so ...

Is the solution to sell Higuain and invest immediately in CMs and wingers?

Could you imagine that?

25 million incoming

 

[Bianconero81]

Higuain is a massive choker. He choked in the WC final, choked in the Copa America, and he choked on Saturday night. Sure, the whole team played like garbage, but we didn't pay 90 million for each player on the team to have the same impact. I expected more from him. Sure, he can score against the likes of Crotone, Pescara, and Genoa in league play, but he has been a perennial choker in knockout competitions, and he proved it again on Saturday night.

 

[Raz]

He scored against our league rivals too.

It was not him choking in the final but the team. Dybala was even worse then him tbh.

 

[Bianconero81]

Dude, it was Dybala's first major final. I specifically said knockout competitions. The whole team choked, and he also choked. We don't pay him 90 million to stand around and do nothing. I expected more from him, and he failed, yet again!

 

[Cheesio]

What annoyed me the most that he didn't press at all. More than one time he was just walkin as the ball passed right by him.

 

[Raz]

Dude, it was Dybala's first major final. I specifically said knockout competitions. The whole team choked, and he also choked. We don't pay him 90 million to stand around and do nothing. I expected more from him, and he failed, yet again!

He made the assist for our lone goal. So we pay Dybala to choke in the first final? I bet not. Higgy was instrumental for scudetto this season. Sadly team couldn't win us CL.

 

[Bianconero81]

He was anonymous for the rest of the game, and he lacked agility and movement. Dybala was atrocious as well. I'm not absolving him of any responsibility, but it seems many are defending Higuain for no reason. His performance was shit, and defending him is unjustifiable.

 

[Raz]

The whole team was anonymous for the rest of the game. Second half was terrible, and it was not on his shoulders, the whole team played terrible.

For your information I'm not defending him, I'm just sayig whole team was shit and he as a striker in his position can't do much with a shitty team performance. Dybala lost so many balls and so what? There is no point in trying to pin a blame on one player specially in an instance where the whole team after the first half looked like ghosts.

It's not like he missed chances or choked. The team was shit after the first half.

 

[Gagi]

Everyone was shit in the 2nd half. They raped us and could have scored more. So why putting all the blame on Higuain when defence cracked and midfiled got owned big time?