Albrighton. Underrated?

[Arriba Los Zorros]

20 hours ago, Webbo said:

 

So many of them are hit and hope punts towards the back post. The first one is the only one where you can actually say he provided the goal on a plate

[MrSpaM]

14 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

So many of them are hit and hope punts towards the back post. The first one is the only one where you can actually say he provided the goal on a plate

Isn't every cross a 'hit and hope punt'?

[Lovejoy]

Albrighton is the natural heir to Michael Carrick's crown of "Most Overrated Underrated Player".

[Arriba Los Zorros]

1 hour ago, MrSpaM said:

Isn't every cross a 'hit and hope punt'?

No, not at all, a lot of good crossers of the ball try to pick somebody out, but with Mark Albrighton he tends to just sling it in the general direction of the far post without much thought. For one of them he was literally facing backwards and hooked the ball in without looking

[MrSpaM]

8 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

No, not at all, a lot of good crossers of the ball try to pick somebody out, but with Mark Albrighton he tends to just sling it in the general direction of the far post without much thought. For one of them he was literally facing backwards and hooked the ball in without looking

It's a sign of a decent crosser if they can do it without looking, hitting the far post with your back to goal isn't exactly easy, even when your just having a kick around with your mates, never mind in a premiership game where you're being pressured by defenders and have literally milliseconds to decide what to do with the ball

 

He's 'slinging it in' to the far post because they've obviously done it in training and he's expecting somebody to be attacking at the far post when he's got the ball

Edited 25 April 2018 by MrSpaM

[nnfox]

Give it to Marc, he'll usually put a decent cross in towards the back post.  The strikers know that so it just becomes a percentages game.  Keep getting the ball in that area and goals will come.

[ZeGuy]

23 minutes ago, MrSpaM said:

It's a sign of a decent crosser if they can do it without looking, hitting the far post with your back to goal isn't exactly easy, even when your just having a kick around with your mates, never mind in a premiership game where you're being pressured by defenders and have literally milliseconds to decide what to do with the ball

 

He's 'slinging it in' to the far post because they've obviously done it in training and he's expecting somebody to be attacking at the far post when he's got the ball

Please I love the guy but most his crosses actually hit the first man who always happens to be an opponent. His no-look passes know the same fate. Of course they work on it the training but sometimes you just have to look at whom you're crossing to.

 

His MO is generally the following one: run down the touch line, get on the right foot and cross it to the far post when he approximately reaches the box corner. Rarely overlapping or trying to get in the box to deliver a short pass on the floor behind the defenders. This stereotyped style of play makes it easy for the defenders to read and counter.

 

That's the type of passes which are actually more suite to Vardy's profile instead of trying to find his head or Mahrez's or any of our other midgets upfront betwen two 6,5 feet tall defenders.

 

To be fair to him, he nver gives up and runs himself to the ground. Mahrez has been lately pretty much shit whilst defending much less and Chilwell is still to rough for their association on the left wing to really click.

Edited 25 April 2018 by ZeGuy

[MC Prussian]

27 minutes ago, ZeGuy said:

Please I love the guy but most his crosses actually hit the first man who always happens to be an opponent. His no-look passes know the same fate. Of course they work on it the training but sometimes you just have to look at whom you're crossing to.

 

His MO is generally the following one: run down the touch line, get on the right foot and cross it to the far post when he approximately reaches the box corner. Rarely overlapping or trying to get in the box to deliver a short pass on the floor behind the defenders. This stereotyped style of play makes it easy for the defenders to read and counter.

 

That's the type of passes which are actually more suite to Vardy's profile instead of trying to find his head or Mahrez's or any of our other midgets upfront betwen two 6,5 feet tall defenders.

 

To be fair to him, he nver gives up and runs himself to the ground. Mahrez has been lately pretty much shit whilst defending much less and Chilwell is still to rough for their association on the left wing to really click.

No matter how you seem to dislike Albrighton's style of play, him reaching seven assists this season up to this point (the Fantasy Premier League has him down with eight) and that with a team largely underperforming or putting half-hearted shifts for 45 minutes or so on a regular basis is quite the accomplishment and speaks for his qualities. Same could be said about Vardy up top with 17 goals so far.

 

No winger will always hit crosses correctly or manage to avoid hitting his immediate opponent, sounds to me you're clinging a bit onto straws there in order to make an argument.

And to be more active in the center area isn't the job of a winger, that's what we have central midfielders or Okazaki for.

Albrighton's also not the fastest player on the pitch and is a bit at a disadvantage when you demand him to beat his opponent on the flank.

 

Crosses don't necessarily need to be played high up for a neat header, we've seen it often enough that Albrighton is very much capable to deliver lower crosses for Vardy, Okazaki or a central midfielder to convert from close range.

 

Albrighton isn't the most technically gifted player, never was, never will. What he lacks in that department he makes up in other areas of his play, which he should be lauded for.

Unsung hero for me this season.

I'd love more of our players to follow his example.

Edited 25 April 2018 by MC Prussian

[ZeGuy]

17 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

No matter how you seem to dislike Albrighton's style of play, him reaching seven assists this season up to this point (the Fantasy Premier League has him down with eight) and that with a team largely underperforming or putting half-hearted shifts for 45 minutes or so on a regular basis is quite the accomplishment and speaks for his qualities. Same could be said about Vardy up top with 17 goals so far.

 

No winger will always hit crosses correctly or manage to avoid hitting his immediate opponent, sounds to me you're clinging a bit onto straws there in order to make an argument.

And to be more active in the center area isn't the job of a winger, that's what we have central midfielders or Okazaki for.

Albrighton's also not the fastest player on the pitch and is a bit at a disadvantage when you demand him to beat his opponent on the flank.

 

Crosses don't necessarily need to be played high up for a neat header, we've seen it often enough that Albrighton is very much capable to deliver lower crosses for Vardy, Okazaki or a central midfielder to convert from close range.

 

Albrighton isn't the most technically gifted player, never was, never will. What he lacks in that department he makes up in other areas of his play, which he should be lauded for.

Unsung hero for me this season.

I'd love more of our players to follow his example.

Nope, I rate him highly, value his committment contribution to the team and I'm fully aware that not every cross will find its target (must be around 33% for the best players).

 

It's doesn't prevent me to see his weak points though and their consequences. Low crosses are launched when you're down the corner line or in the box, there would be little chance to find anyone otherwise. Especially with teams sitting deep. The ones who do it on a pretty regular basis are Mahrez (when he's bothered and he's gone anyway), Gray (when he turns his brain on) or Diabaté. Albrighton not so much.

If you play on the ground and without target man you'll need wingers/FBs able to beat their man or at least get closer to the box.  Otherwise you'll see what we actually saw until now, high crosses going into the box with no one able to get them in and running 20 miles per games won't Change any of it.

 

[MC Prussian]

2 minutes ago, ZeGuy said:

Nope, I rate him highly, value his committment contribution to the team and I'm fully aware that not every cross will find its target (must be around 33% for the best players).

 

It's doesn't prevent me to see his weak points though and their consequences. Low crosses are launched when you're down the corner line or in the box, there would be little chance to find anyone otherwise. Especially with teams sitting deep. The ones who do it on a pretty regular basis are Mahrez (when he's bothered and he's gone anyway), Gray (when he turns his brain on) or Diabaté. Albrighton not so much.

If you play on the ground and without target man you'll need wingers/FBs able to beat their man or at least get closer to the box.  Otherwise you'll see what we actually saw until now, high crosses going into the box with no one able to get them in and running 20 miles per games won't Change any of it.

 

Based on this season's performances, Marc Albrighton is one of the least likely candidates for coming under scrutiny.

He's also 28 and unlikely to improve that much in the near future any more, as opposed to an 18-year old or 21-year old. Well, there's Demarai Gray, though.

 

To play on the ground, it's not just what you do as a winger, but also what your team mates can assist you with in terms of opening space for you to exploit on both flanks.

And it's not as if Albrighton is completely unable to beat his defender if need be - he struggles against the faster ones mostly, that's it.

[lgfualol]

7 assists doesn't seem that much when Maguire has 4. I hope he adds more goals to his game.

Edited 25 April 2018 by lgfualol

[Fox92]

7 really isn't that many, especially considering how often he crosses a game. Albrighton is okay but a player we should be looking to improve upon now

[MC Prussian]

18 minutes ago, lgfualol said:

7 assists doesn't seem that much when Maguire has 4. I hope he adds more goals to his game.

 

13 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

7 really isn't that many, especially considering how often he crosses a game. Albrighton is okay but a player we should be looking to improve upon now

In his defense, it could be more than that if only our attackers or midfielders were better at converting from his crosses.

[RonnieTodger]

I actually think Albrighton is the most overrated player by our fans. He gets some shit from morons at the other end of the spectrum, but he should be absolutely nowhere near the England squad. We moan about every average one that gets called up.

 

I love the guy and he's been one of my favourite players, but he's not the most gifted. What he does well is get the ball into the box and works harder than anyone else, but he's got a lot of limitations. For "the best English crosser of the ball", his corners are shite.

[ZeGuy]

1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

Based on this season's performances, Marc Albrighton is one of the least likely candidates for coming under scrutiny.

He's also 28 and unlikely to improve that much in the near future any more, as opposed to an 18-year old or 21-year old. Well, there's Demarai Gray, though.

 

To play on the ground, it's not just what you do as a winger, but also what your team mates can assist you with in terms of opening space for you to exploit on both flanks.

And it's not as if Albrighton is completely unable to beat his defender if need be - he struggles against the faster ones mostly, that's it.

I'm not so sure. As Puel came he was dropped and only got on the right wing again because Gray didn't quite live up to the expectations.

 

Of course that's why I mentioned Chilwell in my first post, Simpson being out for obvious reasons. Can't expect much from Okazaki either. Our movement around the box is extremely limited due to the absence of a real 10 and overlapping FBs which makes the wingers job notably harder.

 

If it was alone down to pace Musa would be a Ballon d'Or. It's not only a matter of speed. Albrighton can beat sometimes the opponent but is simply technically too limited hence the him abundantly resorting to crosses in the first instance.

Edited 25 April 2018 by ZeGuy