Ricky1985 wrote:
[Twitter]
Interesting that Torreira beats Kante from a defensive standpoint because you can see in 10 seconds of watching him that Torreira is a much better passer and generally much better on the ball. Of course, two different teams and two different Leagues, but still impressive.
I think it just points to a discrepancy between the statistics people use to quantify performances and the actual game. Players are defined by the job they're doing within team structures, not by objective positioning on the pitch or the length of their passes. I've seen similar tweets where Torreira's statistically ahead of a number of guys in Italy who are two times the players he'll probably ever be. If he were that good he most likely wouldn't be at Arsenal and on the bench for Uruguay's national team.
I'm not saying this to slate Torreira, whom I've watched very little but have a positive impression of. I'm saying it because I think tweets like these are utter nonsense. Let's be honest here: he can be a raving success for Arsenal, and the odds are still extremely high that he's ever going to be even remotely as good as Kanté, who at 27 is already one of the best midfielders to grace the Premier League. I think it puts an incredible amount of pressure on a tiny, scrawny 22 year old kid who doesn't speak fluid English and comes from a league where the tempo is about half as quick as in England. He's probably not even going to start unless someone leaves.
I know this wasn't what you meant by linking to the tweet, but I had to get it off my chest. The hype on Twitter is getting ridiculous. People are setting him up for failure before we've even had a preseason.
