I agree that the sweeper-sweeper issue is overplayed but the idea that Koeman stayed back in defence is well wide of the mark, IMO. He went forward plenty. I've no doubt he would sit back if necessary though, but the issue for me is less to do with style and more to do with the fact I don't think Koeman was anything like a top class centre back who was this one-man defence capable of nullifying even the best forwards. He's somewhere between a good and very good defender with an exceptional passing range for me.
If you look at
Holland v Brazil he's the passenger in that defence, not this one-man brick wall marshalling everything around him. The same is true against Barcelona in the 4-0 loss, the same is true against almost every top class attacking team he came up against at the top level.
Great post Brwned. Agree with all of it.
The fact that he played as one centre back at times for Barca really does boost him up in peoples estimations I think. You kind of assume he must be this defensive colossus and paring him with another CB would make him even better when of course it doesn't/didn't work like that.
Koeman as a defender is much closer to being an all-time best than the majority of strikers in this draft are. RVP/Cavani/Weah are all far from being the all time best strikers in history though, so even if Koeman's strength wouldn't be the defensive aspect of the game - he is still easily capable of handling these "non-all timers" quality.
You are really overrated Koeman defensively and this is just far over the top.
Maybe I'm off here but I really dislike the language you use here as well - this 'being close to all-time quality' nonsense. It makes me think of the last all-time draft when you kept bringing up different lists you had found online as the basis for your opinion, which is a terrible way of assessing anything.
I don't want to be harsh here, but the way this reads to me - baring in mind the reliance you've placed on lists previously - is like this, "Koeman is rated as the 36th best centre back and Van Persie doesn't make the top 100 strikers so he must be able to handle him easily".
But anyway, as Brwned said it really wouldn't be as black and white as that and a top two of Van Persie and Weah would cause better defenders than Koeman problems. How would he cope with the far superior movement and speed of Weah? Koeman lacked pace.
I really see one of the biggest threats for Stobz as being the exceptional crossing of Beckham - United have really screwed him here though, there really isn't a more unfashionable or disliked tactics on this forum than crossing at the moment but when used properly by someone like Beckham its absolutely deadly.
Do you think Koeman was great in the air? Because he faces a huge task here.
Weah is 6ft 1, Van Persie 6ft 2, Yaya Toure breaking into the box is 6 ft 3... The idea that there is no threat here is silly IMO.
Sorry for the green lad, man - I just knew you would bite, that's all. I wasn't being 100% serious. But give me Weah over Cavani any day - I'm serious about that.
