Gazza M wrote:
somehow we seem allergic to recruiting players that can dribble. it kills me
and before anyone starts - this guy is not a dribbler. he can kick and chase, scamper onto the end of through-balls, and cause problems for a back-pedalling defense. he doesn't beat his man, and will generally opt for whipping in crosses around the fullback rather than taking him on
and while his stats are good ask yourselves 2 questions
- would you be satisfied if he was the only wide player we signed?
- while his stats look good, would he be as productive in our system? emery is a fullback merchant as we've seen. fraser doesn't come inside to take advantage of those overlaps. the most i could see him doing is sending in crosses becks style when the oppo fullback is pulled away by the overlap
for 15-20m i'll take him, but i'd want another wide player that offers something different
I share the love for a proper dribbler, and I'd give... maybe not my left hand but at least the pinky for someone proper exciting, like Cengiz Ünder. I think people need to look at where we are and ask themselves what the best course to rebuild is though. Do we worry about how high the roof is gonna be at first or how low the floor is?
Is the best course of action to sign a high risk, high reward player like Ünder who is coming off a bad season with Roma and probably needs a year adjusting anyway before we even know if he can deliver on his potential? Or to bet our entire transfer kitty on someone from Ligue 1, which is notorious for offering up too much time and space to attacking players - the two things they'll never get in England? Or to secure some form of base level for the team by signing a low risk, medium reward player like Fraser who has bags of Premier League experience, is at the right age, has decent attributes, and is coming off a season where he has been playing the best football of his life?
Liverpool signed known entities like Milner and Wijnaldum; players who are never going to be stars but have enough quality and allround skills to be dependable, and they have used them to great effect to build a strong backbone in their squad. Why can't we do the same? Fraser strikes me as exactly the kind of good opportunity that we should consider. With a year left on his deal he's obviously not going to cost £30 million, and even if he does, is that really absurd money in this market for a guy who created more and assisted more than anyone else in the league this season?
Emery's abject style where everything originates from the fullbacks is a concern for sure, but it will remain a concern even if we sign a more cultured player. If the argument is that he's not going to use whoever we sign to great effect then we might as well not sign any wingers at all.
