ah, barcelona. forever spending money that might come in future.
Lamine Yamal
- Thread starter Hoof the ball
- Start date
Levers!
i was only kidding. He’s their new messi, he’ll be there until his 30s.
True. I'm pretty sure he wanted to break the record which makes sense honestly.
Probably his worst game of the season in terms of decision making, and he still contributed with a goal and an assist for Lewa if he buried that chance.
Ronaldo was/is taller and dribbled and accelerated much more and has gone on to play a silly amount of games. Lamine will need to look after himself if he wants a similar career and get lucky with injuries.
Ronaldo played nowhere near as many minutes as Yamal did at 17
Ronaldo was in his 3rd professional season as a footballer before he reached the 4000 minutes Yamal has played - not to mention 1/3rd of it was in a much chiller, relaxed league.
People aren't aware just how much football Yamal has played - 4000 minutes at 17 years old 4 months is absolutely insane.
Messi had Xavi Iniesta and other world class seniors around him. Ronaldo also had that at United.
Would be interesting to see what happens to Yamal, in this much more social media driven age with no proper mentors to protect him.
Would be interesting to see what happens to Yamal, in this much more social media driven age with no proper mentors to protect him.
I think the game and sport science in general is evolving. For example we will see a lot more players play into their late 30s than ever before.
Lamine Yamal is too good right now to put him on the bench.
It may have done so - but it doesn't change the fact Yamal is playing more at this age than almost anyone in history AND
Barca have a track record of turning their wonderkids into injury prone wrecks.
Excellent call.
He has Lewandowski even if you dont consider someone like Raphinha world class
it was joke
Ronaldo has played the most games of an outfielder ever, basically rarely if ever getting injured for about 20 years. Messi is something similar, they looked after themselves but there’s an incredible amount of luck involved in that too. No matter how well you look after yourself, all it takes is one bad tackle or one misstep. Rodri was having one of the best years from a midfielder you’ll see and then he does his ACL. I’m sure Rodri looks after himself as well as those two but it’s just bad luck.
Yup. There is what you can control (nutrition, lifestyle, training etc etc) and there is luck. I believe a player who had great habits but suffered a major injury, has a good chance of coming back to a close, if not similar level to his best.
Pedri had a scare after a horrible tackle when passing by Tchouameni, if he had went off injured then you'd have heard the usual comments about he's made out of glass whereas it was just bad luck for him.
ACL's are very hard to recover from though - I can't actually recall a youth player who suffered an ACL and got back from it.
Classic torn ACL to change the trajectory of a career was Jese Rodriguez. Absolute dynamo until his ACL injury. Was never the same after that.
It's a horrible injury for sure. I still think with modern day strengthening methods and science, there are tools for players to get back to very good fitness levels.
Not anymore. Well, it’s better not to get it, of course, as you’re missing almost a year, but current medicine gives you much better chances of an almost full recovery — unlike even 10 years ago. And it’s better to suffer such an injury at a younger age as there’s way higher chances of full recovery.
Look at Wirtz for example.
I think he is the most mature young player i've seen. His decision making is better than payers 10 years his senior, and his football IQ as a wide forward is off the charts, really is quite peculiar and fascinating just how mature he is a a 16-17 years old, to the point you kinda struggle to see where he else he can go in terms of getting better.
He's already one of the best players in the world and he is already a 7/10 or higher in every facet of what makes a great wide forward, probably like Messi the next step is showing how great he is as not just a forward who excels in final third movements, but also as a playmaker and facilitator. I think this is probably why i don't see anyone reaching that standard, Messi was a playmaker supreme in not only the final pass, but the pass and the pass before the final pass and had traits of Xavi and Iniesta in his play.
Yamal is more like a Mahrez and his final third play is like a more refined less explosive Salah, Salah is one of the best at a final pass, but not like Messi in how he involves himself in actually playmaking and dropping deep to advance and facilitate play.
I think the next step for Yamal would be him to consistently provide numbers and moments, then elevate himself ahead of the likes of Robben Salah and other great wide forwards by proving he can be an elite goalscorer creator but also an elite facilitator, out of all the players of the last 20 years i think only Messi and Neymar have had that balance as forward players.
You have the likes of Hazard who had two of the three, elite creator and facilitator but not a goalscorer, and or Salah a also whois/was elite creators and goalscorers in the final third but you wouldn't see them making 60 passes per game and progressing play by dropping deep in central areas.
He's already one of the best players in the world and he is already a 7/10 or higher in every facet of what makes a great wide forward, probably like Messi the next step is showing how great he is as not just a forward who excels in final third movements, but also as a playmaker and facilitator. I think this is probably why i don't see anyone reaching that standard, Messi was a playmaker supreme in not only the final pass, but the pass and the pass before the final pass and had traits of Xavi and Iniesta in his play.
Yamal is more like a Mahrez and his final third play is like a more refined less explosive Salah, Salah is one of the best at a final pass, but not like Messi in how he involves himself in actually playmaking and dropping deep to advance and facilitate play.
I think the next step for Yamal would be him to consistently provide numbers and moments, then elevate himself ahead of the likes of Robben Salah and other great wide forwards by proving he can be an elite goalscorer creator but also an elite facilitator, out of all the players of the last 20 years i think only Messi and Neymar have had that balance as forward players.
You have the likes of Hazard who had two of the three, elite creator and facilitator but not a goalscorer, and or Salah a also whois/was elite creators and goalscorers in the final third but you wouldn't see them making 60 passes per game and progressing play by dropping deep in central areas.
I really don't understand any of the Mahrez comparisons. Yamal is the antithesis of any version of Mahrez, who was a head down, mostly selfish dribbler who made a flash decision at the end of a play.
Yamal constantly scans the pitch and frames where everyone is and what to do in accordance with that. He constantly, effortlessly makes the early play and chooses the correct option at the right time, and further, Yamal doesn't need to make a single take on to play a devastating role in the team.
Even as a matured player, Mahrez's greed and decision making would often have Pep and teammates pulling their hair out. Mahrez's prime version didn't have a quarter of the teamwork and pitch IQ that we've seen this boy display.
Dribbling style and play, they don't move the same; they don’t even have the same gait or feinting style. Yamal has displayed numerous dribbling styles; Mahrez had one refined style.
I say all the above as someone who liked watching Mahrez play. Yamal doesn't evoke any recall of Mahrez to me, and I am perplexed by the comparison.
Yamal constantly scans the pitch and frames where everyone is and what to do in accordance with that. He constantly, effortlessly makes the early play and chooses the correct option at the right time, and further, Yamal doesn't need to make a single take on to play a devastating role in the team.
Even as a matured player, Mahrez's greed and decision making would often have Pep and teammates pulling their hair out. Mahrez's prime version didn't have a quarter of the teamwork and pitch IQ that we've seen this boy display.
Dribbling style and play, they don't move the same; they don’t even have the same gait or feinting style. Yamal has displayed numerous dribbling styles; Mahrez had one refined style.
I say all the above as someone who liked watching Mahrez play. Yamal doesn't evoke any recall of Mahrez to me, and I am perplexed by the comparison.
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I think any comparison between the two is pretty surfaced based, based on the fact they're both 5-10-11 left footed wide forwards with high technique. Its more they're body movements, how they both run, they're gait and things like that. Also Lamal being Algerian also, there is a high high likelihood that he grew up holding Mahrez in high regard, not a crazy thing him being a left footed Algerian winger also for some parts of his style to seap into Lamals game.
Other than that agree with the maturity aspect, although i think you're overly harsh on Mahrez, Mahrez in his latter years was a mature player who had put it all together, the one area where i say he lacked in comparison to other top forwards of his time is his propensity to attack the space without the ball and make runs in behind, other forwards did it far more consistently, including for example Sterling in his own side at the time.
Lamal so far hasn't show the aptitude to do that consistently either, so thats another similarity with Mahrez.
Yamal's not even Algerian.
Mistake i'm sorry his Morrocan.
Agree, no idea what people ate talking about. You can't deny Mahrez's talent, but he was the king of stupid decisions.
Love that just a little over a year ago, there was a post about him being this up and coming star and a year later, he’s a certified, established elite level forward player.
Even better that his performance which kick-started this thread was met with the phrase, ‘Lad, it’s Spurs’…
Even better that his performance which kick-started this thread was met with the phrase, ‘Lad, it’s Spurs’…
The bad thing is that Barca have now played without him and immediately lost. Therefore, they will no longer rest him and we can only hope that he suffers a better fate than the other youngsters they overplayed.
Brest feeder club?
Man could thread a needle with a football
Very few players have the ability to be a threat without making space for themselves or from almost a dead stop. You're talking the Beckham, De Bruyne, Messi and so forth types, who can pull lethal flash crosses out from a standing position, and he's doing it at 17 with no effort whatsoever.
Aside from his decision making, the ability to play without having to beat a man has always stood out the most to me with his game. You can't defend against things like that because it happens in the blink of an eye.
About decision making, today on the other side of the coin, he was quite wasteful and even clouncy in too many clear ocassions, if not he could have end with at least two or even three goals in the bag. That I think will come, just too young on worse case snerio, just doing this stuff it's more than enough as long as he is a constant menace.
PD: the assist and the pre assist in this match were very Salah/Dimariasque
2 injuries in two months now, both same recurring ankle ligament injury.
So it begins
So it begins
2 injuries in two months now, both same recurring ankle ligament injury.
So it begins
Alfonso, do you think that they can afford to not play him? It's just the way it is, more given current Barca situation.
Also it's part of the deal with this kind of very skill fellas since EVER, everywhere. It's fair? nope, it's risky? no doubt, sometimes Clubs are in a situation to risk it in a more cautious way? yeap, not current Barca.
Even in recent times, when Messi arrived, him too was constantly injured, there was a risk there and even if the situation was better for Barca in general so that they can comitt to recover him time and again with more time, once Pep arrived, they just hadn't that option and they had to bet on the lad and happily things turned for the best, but the risk was there too, people forget how many injuries Messi faced during his first stages.
And when I say ever, it's because Pele, Maradona, or even lesser players like Aguero also PUT themselves into the first team since a very young age, their clubs can manage that situation with more time or less, depending on their situation.
So it's not just Barca, I witness a cemetary of really talented kids from Boca that got injured being very very young and never where the same after those.
Clubs will surely be against it but perhaps putting some regulation in regards to play time of pre adult (let's say 21) players is the way to go.
They also play way too many games nowadays.
Dunno, it's old as the game. Also this kind of talents does not have patient either, they force their first team status. It's not just for those special talents, lots of kids start at a very young age, it's just that there is no spotlight over their heads.
In any case, less games or the capability for having bigger squads might be a better solution, there isn't a sure thing with this stuff, it's not written that at 21 they would not face lots of injuries too, not it's everything related to age, the style of play, genetics, body build and lady luck to avoid some serious injury after some harsh foul.
In fact with youngsters fouls are more prone to be circa 1960/80's, specially when they play for instance in the third division. I'll post here a vid of Messi in third division at 16, he was constantly massacred (it plays also into the equation, his atributes and style to be massacred like that).
PD: BTW anyone still thinking that Lamine it's the same type of player like Messi, should watch it too.
In any case, less games or the capability for having bigger squads might be a better solution, there isn't a sure thing with this stuff, it's not written that at 21 they would not face lots of injuries too, not it's everything related to age, the style of play, genetics, body build and lady luck to avoid some serious injury after some harsh foul.
In fact with youngsters fouls are more prone to be circa 1960/80's, specially when they play for instance in the third division. I'll post here a vid of Messi in third division at 16, he was constantly massacred (it plays also into the equation, his atributes and style to be massacred like that).
PD: BTW anyone still thinking that Lamine it's the same type of player like Messi, should watch it too.
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Hopefully they have learned their lesson from Ansu, let the lad recover2 injuries in two months now, both same recurring ankle ligament injury.
So it begins
I posted his playing stats earlier in this thread.
He's played more than practically every major teenage talent since records began. This isn't a case of a youngster being overplayed in the same kind of ilk that other superstars were overplayed, like Cesc, Rooney, R9 etc - Yamal is in a league of his own of the minutes he's already played at his age.
Yamal is on track to have played more minutes before his 18th birthday than Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi did during their entire Teenage years.