Could prove vital to us if he's given enough support like he was yesterday. His distribution is head and shoulders above any of the other midfielders
Indeed. Let this thread be a reminder. When a faceless bloke on the internet spends all his time telling you how much of an expert he is on players from abroad, abusing those who don’t agree with him, to then spend half a thread trying to convince you how bad that player is (very weirdly I might add) - based on that supposed knowledge - remember that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Another wonderful side-win from Saturday.
Beginners luck. He's still the pile of s*** that we bought just as a favour to Gino's mate, the leech who was also involved in the Dennis signing.
I think, regardless of future performances and events we can declare this matter closed, for good. Verdict, complete ******* baller.
To swim against the tide, Pozzo bunging his mate on a player who could only start in mid November after an injury crisis remains a poor use of the bulk of our budget. That said Louza could turn out to be excellent, but I've never disputed that. It was just poor prioritisation of the budget by Pozzo as often is the case. I'd also add it's ironic that our fanbase slam other fans for making quick judgements after a single performance, good as it was.
You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself. A penalty worth paying for beating Man Utd 4-1 admittedly.
He's easily the best 22 year old Morrocan midfielder at the club, and anyone who says he isn't is an idiot
Cleverley has still been marginally better. Louza is definitely improving, but there's still a reason he keeps getting pulled first.
No, he looked useful against Chelsea (albeit when against a practically non-existent midfield in Niguez and Loftus-Cheek). His passing definitely seems very good, though I'm still not convinced he's what we needed in the summer for midfield (not least because it's been taking him a while to get up to speed, during which time we had a lack of midfield options that has cost us points). We've been lacking a shield in front of the back four given how often our CBs get exposed, but Louza seems more a deep-lying playmaker. We've been lacking a Kante, but he seems more a Jorginho. Etebo can do that role for us, and I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back in for Louza when fit.
Still don’t think Etebo is a Kante-type, think his skill set is a bit misconstrued by Watford fans. He’s definitely the most defensive minded CM we have (although not convinced Sissoko isn’t better - would just impact his ball carrying which we desperately need). Capoue was such a delight because he was both - deep playmaker and ball winner. We need to sniff out another of his profile. Danilo? Nandez?
Louza leads Etebo for tackles and interceptions per 90 mins. I was slightly worried about his lack of mobility but he seems to have excellent reading of the game and always gets a foot in to win the ball back.
No he hasn't. Louza has looked very good these past few games. Cleverley still looks like he doesn't know how to actually play football as soon as it's at his feet Runs a lot though.
I have no idea if the picture above means Louza is a better player than Tom Cleverley. All I would say is, do we have we a graph of which players have gone down with cramp in a game? That’s the only true way to judge a player.
I think a few of us are eating humble pie with this guy, myself very much included . He is exactly what this team needs because his ability to drop deep and receive the ball from the CBs means our CBs lack of quality on the ball doesn’t get exposed . He takes the ball on the turn and is always looking to make a positive pass rather than this aimless passing around the back that has troubles our team for a while now . Am most impressed by his intelligence, he knows where every player is an any given moment because he is constantly scanning . This is why he can make pin point passes without looking up because he already knows where they are . He reads the game so well that he snuffs out attacks with a simple interception because he’s already anticipated what will happen rather than reacting to what has just happened . Rare to see such footballing intelligence from a 22 year old . All these qualities have been a vital contribution to our turnaround under CR70.
Very true , but he wanted to leave despite being offered big wages . And I think we got 5 mill for Hughes , so 4 mil effectively for Louza who will be on less wages and quite possibly be worth more than Hughes in a year or two .
This scenario only works if Hughes wanted to stay. Also think Louza's ceiling is higher than Hughes', but agree money could have been spent more effectively in the summer
If we take what we know at face value he didn’t want a relegation clause so was never going to sign. Sure, we could’ve removed the clause, but players and agents speak, so that would’ve undermined our ability to put the clause in all our other players contracts too and the thing will have fallen like a pack of cards. So it’s kind of moot, because we never really had the option to keep him unless you count risking the ability to put relegation clauses in other players contracts as a viable option for keeping him.
Personally, I think we've got an upgrade on Hughes. He makes us tick over, always makes himself available, hardly ever gives the ball away, becoming more tenacious in the tackle, joining the press, two great feet and had has more than held his own against the 'top top' teams. Probaby still finding his legs in the PL, but what I've seen so far I've really really liked.
