Beto

[brap2]

Well I see it happen week in week out, a d his teammates remonstrating with him about it. So just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not a thing.

You see weak passes being cut out by cbs who are well positioned and think Beto should run….later? Nice nice nice

[AjaxAndy]

You see weak passes being cut out by cbs who are well positioned and think Beto should run….later? Nice nice nice

No the passes aren't even made half the time because he's already offside.

[AjaxAndy]

There were definitely a couple of moments yesterday where Beto was on his heels tbf.

He's started 8 PL matches in a row now and scored in 5 of them, scoring 6 goals. You can't really fault that from a striker. It's a shame that's the second year in a row where it's taken him until like February/March to get going.

I think the last part is the main thing for me, I could forgive most of the issues with his game if he was able to play to a decent standard all season.

6 in 8 is a brilliant return, but he only had 3 in 27 before that, and for whatever reason when he's not scoring his all round game is also diabolical.

Give me 10-15 goals spread over the year and the all round game he's largely showed over the past 8 and there'd be no reason to replace him, but we all know by now that's not who he is.

[TheRam]

With Brap on this one.

He was making good runs and had their centre halves on toast all game.

Was a few occasions where KDH could have put him in but didn’t.

He was so bad yesterday. If I saw him in the street today I think I’d hit him tbh. The fuck was going on with him.

[Cods]

His patches of form pretty strongly correlate to the periods of a season where he plays at least 75 mins or more per game, across a run of games.

I'm not sure he's really more or less patchy than any other player who is in and out of a side.

[Paddockoldie]

Thought he'd fucked that chance if I'm honest, but credit to him with his composure to finish well. Love his effort and desire

[brap2]

No the passes aren't even made half the time because he's already offside.

Kdh so good he gets credit for passes he never made.

[Bumble]

If we had a baller in the middle of the park he'd be running onto through balls all game and bagging a lot more than he does.

He'd also learn to time his runs better too, if he knew the balls were actually coming.

[AjaxAndy]

Kdh so good he gets credit for passes he never made.

You're just being a silly billy now

[Lazarou II]

Can't help but love him.

[777Kidnappings]

2nd half of the season beto is a very decent footballer. Think hes comparable at worst to most strikers in the league. 1st half of the season beto has been awful though

Not sure theres much evidence that someone like delap is a better bet.

[blueToffee]

Slightly controversial/wrong take here...but I think Beto's hold up play has improved as the season has gone on he's always otherwise been the same player wanting to make the same sort of runs.

The difference to the start of the season feels more like to me about Grealish and what he does to the team. Lots of positives for sure, but boy were we happy to keep the ball out wide, retain possession really well no doubt between ball magnets like him and Ndiaye...and it could look good but you can't also avoid the fact that often we got forward so, so slowly and so in the final third everything got compressed and Beto or Barry were often kinda left on their heels against at least 2 CBs. There was often no longer any run to be made in behind.

I'm not here to all out defend Beto, he's not without issue, but if we're going to revert to playing as we did earlier in the season once Grealish is back it's going to be the same thing again and we need to find a striker that suits that setup. If we want to play to his strengths and look to pass in behind, we've seen what he can do, but the likes of KDH, Grealish, Ndiaye have to be on the same page and look to play those passes far more quickly.

It honestly feels as much a supply problem as a Beto/Barry problem at times. We're seeing with more regularity, they both can finish.

[777Kidnappings]

Slightly controversial/wrong take here...but I think Beto's hold up play has improved as the season has gone on he's always otherwise been the same player wanting to make the same sort of runs.

The difference to the start of the season feels more like to me about Grealish and what he does to the team. Lots of positives for sure, but boy were we happy to keep the ball out wide, retain possession really well no doubt between ball magnets like him and Ndiaye...and it could look good but you can't also avoid the fact that often we got forward so, so slowly and so in the final third everything got compressed and Beto or Barry were often kinda left on their heels against at least 2 CBs. There was often no longer any run to be made in behind.

I'm not here to all out defend Beto, he's not without issue, but if we're going to revert to playing as we did earlier in the season once Grealish is back it's going to be the same thing again and we need to find a striker that suits that setup. If we want to play to his strengths and look to pass in behind, we've seen what he can do, but the likes of KDH, Grealish, Ndiaye have to be on the same page and look to play those passes far more quickly.

Agree with this. I actually really like the good version of beto. Think hes a good player. His hold up play especially towards the end of last season for good.. I do think grealishs quality solves about as many problems as his unsuitability to our balance causes. Its a completely different subject but anything more than a loan or a free and id really be tempted to pass.

[brap2]

I’d extend 100%

[Cods]

Kdh so good he gets credit for passes he never made.

To be fair he gets credit because he often looks up, assesses his options quickly and when teammates are either offside, marked tightly or otherwise poorly positioned he keeps it and tries to work the ball to do something else. He doesn't generally give it away. His reading of the game is quite good. You can see his decision making pretty clearly.

Doucoure in the same position would often send the ball regardless, followed by a feigned grimace at an opportunity missed. To be fair to Doucoure, he had fewer options in front of him, and he was assigned a lot of the leg work.

KDH was certainly off the boil against Palace. Things didn't work out for him at all.