Big wins for big hitters and for Pogba in particular that was a huge result. I’ve been highlighting for weeks now that he looks like one of the strongest players around and he keeps delivering.
He’s getting help from 3 penalties in 5 so is probably on a hot streak rather than this being “normal” but he does have threat from open play too.
Alves also returns to winning ways and from the top of my head I can’t recall a more consistent player. If he is playing he will almost always be a danger despite his advancing years.
Unlucky for Brozovic too who managed 219 without a goal and it is only a handful of players capable of that.
We go again today and whilst all the attention will be on Manchester City v Chelsea (which is today, not yesterday as I seemed to believe before I had a coffee yesterday morning) it might be a tight game performance scoring wise.
I am looking to Juventus for a big score today vs Sassuolo and also AC Milan v Cagliari will be interesting as I am enjoying watching how Piatek and Paqueta settle in to the team.
Risers
Anthony Martial
A very good game for Martial capped with an excellent goal.
I must have been banging on about his performance suitability for about 6 months now and his recent stats are rewarding my faith.
You can’t see it in the performance scoring yet because he is not completing full games or getting lucky with match winners but with a bit of improvement he should be a decent or better performance player.
His per 90 minute stats are favourable and I think with an extended run in the side and perhaps a bit more end product as he develops he will start showing his quality.
Of course, like pretty much any big club youngster his price is already up there and his success is already priced in. So the value is in question these days but I do think we will see him challenging for some wins this season.
James Rodriguez
Is this the comeback? Holders can only hope so.
If he gets a regular run (this is his 3rd start in a row) Rodriguez will be a performance monster, in my view one of the absolute very best on the Index.
Why? Because he occupies a sweet spot between someone like Brozovic or Alcantara who can rack up a huge score without a goal, but he also has the kind of goal threat that most strikers would be proud of.
The contract situation is uncertain but you can pretty much find a rumour sending him to whatever club you want. I’d like to see him stay at Bayern and win a regular first team spot. But Real Madrid, Juventus, PSG or even Manchester City will all be platforms where he will almost certainly shine.
Just give him a regular 90 minutes at a big club please.
Fallers
Joshua Kimmich
Ouch. A train wreck as the price drops by 70p. What did he do wrong?
Not much, actually. He’s performing at the level I expect from him. If anything, you can blame Bayern for failing to keep a clean sheet in 5 games.
This is a story about hot streaks, over heating prices and what happens when hype fades away.
He is a limited goal threat player who relies on strong overall involvement in the game to win. That involvement remains strong but is not what it was at when he was playing in central midfield when he hit his December hot streak. That was very unlikely to continue.
At right back, normal service is resumed. He’s very strong by defender standards, one of the elite. But his goal threat is not brilliant so he needs to be dominating soft opponents to score big usually.
My opinion remains the same as it has been for months. Kimmich is good. Very good. But he’s not so good that he deserves to be more than double the price of other strong defenders.
It can only take one bad game or one big holder to dump for those kind of corrections to happen very quickly.
Hot Gossip
Adrien Rabiot
Rabiot looks very likely for a summer transfer and Spurs, Liverpool and Barcelona are the latest links.
He’s a bit too deep for our usual standards. Excellent distribution from the middle and should be a very good high baseliner. But his expected goals make him likely to score 1 goal in 10 which would make him an infrequent challenger.
Of course, if he is used in a different way at a new club and has more threat that could change so it is worth watching. But I don’t think he is one to get over excited about either.
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