Confirmed Signing Merlin Rohl

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Anyone wondering who he plays like, he's been consistently likened in style to a young Leon Goretzka...a dynamic, all pressing, versatile number 8, who can carry the ball, with a knack for the odd goal. Like Goretzka, he can play anywhere in the middle - dm, cm, or am, but seems best suited at the 8.

So please don't compare him to Doucouré again. It's lazy.
I think it would be fair to say that Freiburg have used him a fair bit in a similar role to the one we used Doucoure in. He's a powerful runner and he presses well, so they've used him closer to the striker a lot of the time. That being said, he's far better with the ball than Doucoure so the comparisons stop there.
 
Anyone wondering who he plays like, he's been consistently likened in style to a young Leon Goretzka...a dynamic, all pressing, versatile number 8, who can carry the ball, with a knack for the odd goal. Like Goretzka, he can play anywhere in the middle - dm, cm, or am, but seems best suited at the 8.

So please don't compare him to Doucouré again. It's lazy.
I wonder if he will start taking the same *cough “supplements” * cough* as Leon. More juice in him than a Capri sun factory
 

This guy is so hard to evaluate because he's played basically in a different position every match. I went and pulled out all the games he played at DM and CM in the 23/24 season to figure out what he does when he plays there (he basically didn't play there at all last season). Big caveat that this is based on only about 700 minutes.

Main notes:

His tackling/interceptions was pretty much bang on league average
His passing forwards was truly awful - like over the last year Gana passed forward *twice* as much as him in those games, and that includes Gana under Dyche
His carrying the ball forward was absolutely insanely good. Like significantly above players like Goretzka and Rice.

So looks like the theme of our summer recruitment continues in terms of buying players who move the ball up the pitch a LOT with the ball at their feet. He was only 21 that season as well.

Those passing stats really absolutely honk though. Hope that can get fixed!
 
This guy is so hard to evaluate because he's played basically in a different position every match. I went and pulled out all the games he played at DM and CM in the 23/24 season to figure out what he does when he plays there (he basically didn't play there at all last season). Big caveat that this is based on only about 700 minutes.

Main notes:

His tackling/interceptions was pretty much bang on league average
His passing forwards was truly awful - like over the last year Gana passed forward *twice* as much as him in those games, and that includes Gana under Dyche
His carrying the ball forward was absolutely insanely good. Like significantly above players like Goretzka and Rice.

So looks like the theme of our summer recruitment continues in terms of buying players who move the ball up the pitch a LOT with the ball at their feet. He was only 21 that season as well.

Those passing stats really absolutely honk though. Hope that can get fixed!

He mentions in his interview his best quality is driving up the pitch with the ball which basically all our new players can do.
 
He mentions in his interview his best quality is driving up the pitch with the ball which basically all our new players can do.

In this day and age you need to have players of similar quality to the starting XI to rest and rotate as everyone makes 5 subs with 20/30 minutes to go. Midfield is the area where you need the most depth as they’re the players that usually get through the most running in a game. Yeah I would’ve liked a number 6 profile midfielder on top of it, but that’s why I was saying all summer that we needed 3 CM’s.
 
This guy is so hard to evaluate because he's played basically in a different position every match. I went and pulled out all the games he played at DM and CM in the 23/24 season to figure out what he does when he plays there (he basically didn't play there at all last season). Big caveat that this is based on only about 700 minutes.

Main notes:

His tackling/interceptions was pretty much bang on league average
His passing forwards was truly awful - like over the last year Gana passed forward *twice* as much as him in those games, and that includes Gana under Dyche
His carrying the ball forward was absolutely insanely good. Like significantly above players like Goretzka and Rice.

So looks like the theme of our summer recruitment continues in terms of buying players who move the ball up the pitch a LOT with the ball at their feet. He was only 21 that season as well.

Those passing stats really absolutely honk though. Hope that can get fixed!
Interesting, have you watched him play live for 90 mins? It will be interesting to see if the stats conform to reality.
 
He did a lengthy interview on the main German terrestrial highlights show a week or so ago. Massive cliche, but he spoke really well, going into depth about some of the more modern training methods he has been taking on to increase his awareness and speed up his decision making process on the pitch. Also mentioned that he was starting a university course on ‘education sciences’.

Looks like the club have definitely done its homework on his character if nothing else. Max Mayer at Palace, this ain’t.
 

This guy is so hard to evaluate because he's played basically in a different position every match. I went and pulled out all the games he played at DM and CM in the 23/24 season to figure out what he does when he plays there (he basically didn't play there at all last season). Big caveat that this is based on only about 700 minutes.

Main notes:

His tackling/interceptions was pretty much bang on league average
His passing forwards was truly awful - like over the last year Gana passed forward *twice* as much as him in those games, and that includes Gana under Dyche
His carrying the ball forward was absolutely insanely good. Like significantly above players like Goretzka and Rice.

So looks like the theme of our summer recruitment continues in terms of buying players who move the ball up the pitch a LOT with the ball at their feet. He was only 21 that season as well.

Those passing stats really absolutely honk though. Hope that can get fixed!


Hard to evaluate?

This time yesterday you had decided he wasnt very good and he played in a position we didnt need.
 
This guy is so hard to evaluate because he's played basically in a different position every match. I went and pulled out all the games he played at DM and CM in the 23/24 season to figure out what he does when he plays there (he basically didn't play there at all last season). Big caveat that this is based on only about 700 minutes.

Main notes:

His tackling/interceptions was pretty much bang on league average
His passing forwards was truly awful - like over the last year Gana passed forward *twice* as much as him in those games, and that includes Gana under Dyche
His carrying the ball forward was absolutely insanely good. Like significantly above players like Goretzka and Rice.

So looks like the theme of our summer recruitment continues in terms of buying players who move the ball up the pitch a LOT with the ball at their feet. He was only 21 that season as well.

Those passing stats really absolutely honk though. Hope that can get fixed!
Very interesting and seems to accord with his own description of how he plays.

To paraphrase..."I can play DM and can play AM but I see myself as a central box to box midfielder. My strength is getting the ball and running with it . I see myself as a dynamic player"

So definitely not the DM that we all thought we needed . Perhaps more of a long term Gana / Doucoure replacement with his ability to press the ball with the added benefit of being able to transition with the ball.

Whether Moyes sees Garner as long term CDM or an Alan Harper type remains to be seen.

We are getting options and athletes in midfield which is the first time for ages.
 
Interesting, have you watched him play live for 90 mins? It will be interesting to see if the stats conform to reality.
No, and tbf I'm pretty dreadful at analysing players live. Pretty much all the highlight reel stuff is him carrying the ball up the pitch though so I guess that says something too!
 
This guy is so hard to evaluate because he's played basically in a different position every match. I went and pulled out all the games he played at DM and CM in the 23/24 season to figure out what he does when he plays there (he basically didn't play there at all last season). Big caveat that this is based on only about 700 minutes.

Main notes:

His tackling/interceptions was pretty much bang on league average
His passing forwards was truly awful - like over the last year Gana passed forward *twice* as much as him in those games, and that includes Gana under Dyche
His carrying the ball forward was absolutely insanely good. Like significantly above players like Goretzka and Rice.

So looks like the theme of our summer recruitment continues in terms of buying players who move the ball up the pitch a LOT with the ball at their feet. He was only 21 that season as well.

Those passing stats really absolutely honk though. Hope that can get fixed!
Saw a tweet yesterday that I can't find now which showed his heat map from last season.

Basically even though he was a number 10 for pretty much the entire season, he has a natural bias to the right hand side of the pitch.

Given KDH has a similar natural bias to the left side of the pitch, I suspect we are going to see much more of a 433 at times
 

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