I think the problem is you’ve said technically gifted. Generally people think of technical ability they don’t just think beat a man, they think bergkamp, zidane, de bruyne.
I absolutely agree that he is a good ball carrier and something we’ve desperately missed wibut hour Barkley. E.g the play down the left against MU when he stood two players up and knocked it past them in quick succession and suddenly turned defence into attack - absolutely fantastic he should do that as much as possible. Stand them up then go, very few can stick with him. But to be honest, I enjoy his flicks and tricks it’s great to watch, just wish he would be more productive and efficient with his style.
Re: technical ability - it’s definitely a factor, but I’d argue Bolassie is probably more like something on the Adama Traore scale of exception that proves the rule than any of the others :
https://twitter.com/rfahy00/status/951053118409773057
Traore is more Walcott for me, but he hasn't learned to pass or shoot yet, once you've learned to outrun someone, what more do you need. Niasse is more productive than Walcott, and also demonstrates how difficult it is to run with the ball at pace, while trying to do more than go in a straight line or go through players.
Bolasie is carrying the ball past oncoming traffic, squared up, while tap dancing sideways, sleight of foot with either foot. He's patting his stomach, rubbing his head, performing the riverdance and then miskicking it out of play. But when he's confident and has his rhythm multiple opponents can't live with him. At the moment it's 'on his day', but once he gets back up to speed, his day will become more often.
He always wants the ball and rarely loses it, often carries it huge distances, its a pretty rare trait for a footballer at this level and hard to do consistently. I wouldn't compare Bolasie to Zidane, De Bruyne, Bergkamp, in terms of productivity atm, or in terms of passing vision, crossing or shooting anything to do with releasing the ball, but in terms of technical ability with the ball and dribbling at players, I'm not sure there's a player in PL with more ways to beat a man or who does it more often. And all those players got better with age.
He's more like a quick Denilson, over complicating things, but its how creative players progress to productive ones and Bolasie had already shown improvement in this area at Palace. You have to make mistakes to experiment, but at some point you're not adding much to overall package, for that you need to be a bit more wise. When you get near 30 you shouldn't be making the same mistakes you were making a decade earlier, work smarter rather than just working hard. But he also needs team mates to bounce of and work with and it's hard to see who at the moment.
Topic: Theo Walcott (Read 25984 times)
