Kevsleftpeg
Player Valuation: £15m
100% agree with this. Pienaar didn’t get many goals and he didn’t get that many assists but he was absolutely the key to how we played while he was here because he guaranteed us a certain amount of possession in every game. Even just simple things like guaranteeing we would retain possession from throw-ins because of his first touch helped us. Having players who you know are going to protect the ball encourages everyone else to run forward into space and moves us up the pitch as a team. Baines knew every time Pienaar got it he could bomb forward because he knew the ball wouldn’t be given away. NDiaye does that for us a bit with his dribbling but he is less reliable in his passing. Grealish at the very least will moves us up the pitch as a team because his first touch, close control and ball protection at genuinely elite. That might not result in great stats for him but it will help the team. Something which the stats nerds don’t understand. He is the opposite of Siggurdson who had good stats but was detrimental to us as a team.
I took great delight saying the word ‘Crivens’ every time something surprising happened. I think my mates marked it down to mental illness / possession.
