2025/26 Charly Alcaraz

[Lanolin]

Let's just stick to the facts and address the point that you made.

You said Alcaraz “played in literally every game he was available for after joining last year” and used that to argue he can’t be rusty or affected by irregular minutes. But the match data for 24/25 season doesn’t back that up: 5 starts, 8 sub appearances, 4 of those subs were after the 75th minute, longest consecutive starts: 2 and only 2 starts in his natural No.10 role.

That’s not a run of games by any reasonable definition. It actually supports Zat’s point: being in and out of the side, often coming on late, and being used out of position could easily make a player, rusty, cautious and lead to mistakes or sloppy passes.

Some reasoning issues in your post make your argument less convincing

1. Appeal to authority/bandwagon – Using Southampton/Juve minutes, transfer fee, or lack of caps as proof he must have major weaknesses. Clubs make mistakes, so these things don’t settle the question about his current usage and performance.
2. Strawman – The line about “you and Zat thinking the rest of the football world is wrong” misrepresents our point. The actual argument was simply that context and usage matter when judging mistakes.
3. Ad hominem – Commenting on people “basing their life around looking good on the internet” doesn’t relate to Alcaraz’s performance and shifts focus away from the football discussion.
4. Red herring – Fee, caps, previous clubs, and club status don’t address Zat’s actual argument: some of the sloppy or misplaced passes might be due to rustiness, being in and out of the side, being used out of position, and feeling frightened to make mistakes. Those factors are directly relevant to his performance this season; the broader career context isn’t.

In short, my original comment, that your argument wasn’t an overly convincing response to Zat’s argument, still stands, because the simple fact is Alcaraz never had a run of games in his best position last season. I don't think either Zat or I are saying he’s flawless, however looking at the numbers, plus inconsistent usage in his preferred position seems like a reasonable explanation for some of the errors people are noticing.

I genuinely can’t think of anything more embarrassing than asking ai how to respond to a post on a football forum but hey we’re all different.

 

[Zatara]

I think some people are misunderstanding the general point about him giving the ball away.

I think most people can clearly see when a player has been misused.

Has a great game - dropped or used in an unsuited position.

Has an average game out of position - dropped.

Just to your point countering that he "may be rusty" we can take a look at his stats and see why this may be the case;

Charly Alcaraz - History

Charly Alcaraz statistics – 23 years_old Everton Midfielder (Centre, Left, Right) / Forward. Check out his latest detailed stats including goals, assists, strengths & weaknesses and match ratings.

www.whoscored.com

763mins 7starts / 8sub
2 goals + 3 assists

371mins 3starts / 3sub
1 assist

It seems quite clear that he's never been given 2 or 3 games in his favoured position.

You don't build momentum, confidence or improve with this kind of treatment.

To summarise Moyes has used KDH as a 10 to the detriment of both KDH and the team. Now having used him as an 8 in 3 games with 3 motm or close to it, performances the 10 role should open up.

Alcaraz should have come into the 10 role ages ago. People could even understand if Dibling was used there. But not using either of them is disgraceful.

Let's just stick to the facts and address the point that you made.

You said Alcaraz “played in literally every game he was available for after joining last year” and used that to argue he can’t be rusty or affected by irregular minutes. But the match data for 24/25 season doesn’t back that up: 5 starts, 8 sub appearances, 4 of those subs were after the 75th minute, longest consecutive starts: 2 and only 2 starts in his natural No.10 role.

That’s not a run of games by any reasonable definition. It actually supports Zat’s point: being in and out of the side, often coming on late, and being used out of position could easily make a player, rusty, cautious and lead to mistakes or sloppy passes.

Some reasoning issues in your post make your argument less convincing

1. Appeal to authority/bandwagon – Using Southampton/Juve minutes, transfer fee, or lack of caps as proof he must have major weaknesses. Clubs make mistakes, so these things don’t settle the question about his current usage and performance.
2. Strawman – The line about “you and Zat thinking the rest of the football world is wrong” misrepresents our point. The actual argument was simply that context and usage matter when judging mistakes.
3. Ad hominem – Commenting on people “basing their life around looking good on the internet” doesn’t relate to Alcaraz’s performance and shifts focus away from the football discussion.
4. Red herring – Fee, caps, previous clubs, and club status don’t address Zat’s actual argument: some of the sloppy or misplaced passes might be due to rustiness, being in and out of the side, being used out of position, and feeling frightened to make mistakes. Those factors are directly relevant to his performance this season; the broader career context isn’t.

In short, my original comment, that your argument wasn’t an overly convincing response to Zat’s argument, still stands, because the simple fact is Alcaraz never had a run of games in his best position last season. I don't think either Zat or I are saying he’s flawless, however looking at the numbers, plus inconsistent usage in his preferred position seems like a reasonable explanation for some of the errors people are noticing.

I genuinely can’t think of anything more embarrassing than asking ai how to respond to a post on a football forum but hey we’re all different.

Just on the different clubs point I thought this had been addressed enough so wont go into it all again but:

Racing - Considered a top prospect and apparently known to be deadly on the transition. Sold to Southampton.

Southampton - Joined in Jan 2023 and their fans were seeing a player who they expected to be worth £40mil before long. 1035 mins with 4 goals and 3 assists from 13 starts and 5 sub.

At this time there were posts about how good fans would say he was and could become.

Enter Russell Martin, Juventus with a loan fee at €42mil option on a loan and Southampton in the championship (1104 mins 3 goals 1 assist btw!)

Juventus - Didnt fit in there with his 3 starts and 7 sub appearances over 380mins. Still got an assist.

Flamengo - 8 starts / 6 sub 754mins 3 goals and 1 assist. Manager rates him but wants to play Russell Martin tippy tappy football and he moves to Everton.

Alcaraz is the Xfactor. He makes goals and assist numbers when he has chances. He is top notch on the transition and suited to that kind of football not slow paced tippy tappy football.

Slow the play down with Grealish and KDH at 11 and 10 and we fail most games. Use Alcaraz in the 10 with KDH behind him and the game speeds up which is what causes damage to the opposition.

 

[Telford-Feb-85]

Exactly. Everyone can see KDH is better suited to being deeper in a pair, well maybe not everyone.....

 

[Curtis]

I’m looking forward to seeing him get a run of games, he’s so sloppy at times though. There was a 5 yard pass (to KDH I think) that went out of play and it was a proper head scratcher.

The same as when he was carrying the ball and just forgot to get his body in front of the defender and had it stolen off him.

In his defence it’s easy to forget how young he is actually, the one thing he has which I don’t think you can teach is he plays the game as if it matters.

That goes a long way - especially here.

That's harsh on Alcarez as I rewatched the game and ndiaye who is obviously one of our best players lost the ball constantly, it happens sometimes when your trying to create, could alcarez tighten his play up? Sure but I think there's a heightened scrutiny on Alcarez that doesn't exist with Ndiaye or Jack

 

[SuperKev91]

th

That's harsh on Alcarez as I rewatched the game and ndiaye who is obviously one of our best players lost the ball constantly, it happens sometimes when your trying to create, could alcarez tighten his play up? Sure but I think there's a heightened scrutiny on Alcarez that doesn't exist with Ndiaye or Jack

The difference there is it’s very rare for them to lose it cheaply (with the ball at their feet - I think N’Diaye has loose passing sometimes) whereas Alcaraz often has the ball nicked off him without much fuss.

Needs to get his body across more, Grealish and KDH are immense at it (Pienaar used to be).

N’Diaye is also that good at it he barely even gets fouled as they’re terrified.

 

[Zatara]

Play him in the 10 today and lets see how he does...

 

[WilliamBoo]

Juventus - Didnt fit in there with his 3 starts and 7 sub appearances over 380mins. Still got an assist.

Life's paradoxes: his assist at Juve was to Chiesa to win a game in the final minutes

 

[itsnowak]

I'm indifferent about his performance today. I want to see more from him

 

[pfim]

It’s almost as if playing guys in their correct positions leads to good performances

 

[maccavennie]

Really good effort from him today, never stopped, kept going and got stuck in when required.

 

[Clarky cat]

We are so much better as a team with him driving forward centrally. Him, KDH and Garner make a fantastic high energy 3 in midfield. Well in Charly

 

[Efcjake]

Him, Garner and KDH is the future for the rest of the season hopefully.

I'd expect Gueye to come out as Moyes preferred knife to a gunfight but otherwise it should be Charly starting and KDH behind.

 

[Zatara]

So then...looks like a lot of posters have been piped down.

You love to see it

 

[Saint Domingo]

We look better when he plays.

 

[BigBeto1]

His performance today stunk of “keep it more sensible today charly and don’t risk possession”