DiabyKungFu it just seems quite implausible to me that Chelsea, Fulham, Southampton and Wolves only conceded goals from turnovers starting in the opponent's half twice in 38 games this past season. Does it pass your smell test? And even if they did, the way the modern game is played is different. You don't need to wait until the ball crosses into your "half" before you can counter. That's the purpose of the high press, Isn't it? Win the ball back early and get into an attacking phase before the defense is set. The opta definition is proper archaic. You say you don't see what's eyebrow raising about Chelsea, Fulham, Southampton and Wolves not conceding a lot from counters since they are "defensive" teams who don't have a lot of the ball, but the teams that top the list of those who conceded the most from counters include Everton, Leicester, Brighton and Leeds. The corollary to your logic would imply that they should be attacking teams who have a lot of the ball. Aside from Brighton, that's not the case is it? These are just teams that are, generally, defensively really shit. And if you're as defensively as shit as these teams are/were, then you're not likely to somehow be great at avoiding conceding from counter attacks. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Anyway, this conversation has little value at this point - it' seems you just don't rate Rice / Caicedo or a potential combination of both, and that's your prerogative. As I see it, a player like Rice is going to have a multiplier effect on both our attacking and defending. Same as Caicedo, due to both player's unique ability to win one v ones and break up opponents attacks. In Rice's case, there is an added bonus with his ability to drive with the ball from midfield- this will help us break defensive lines, and cause those overload situations for which we relied heavily on Zinchenko this past season. We created a lot of chances and scored a ton of goals from those scenarios. That's a good thing.
I'm genuinely baffled at what you're baffled at.
