Mavericky Puig

[vegitot]

International coaches? Are we going to default our judgement to the opinions of people who don't watch him play anymore than we do? That's ridiculous. A coach's opinion has wheight because they see him in training everyday. International coachs base their picks much more on what they've seen on the pitch and naturally we haven't seen anything from Puig because he hasn't played.

It is already explained before. Back in march he was called uo for U21 Spain in Euro U21. He came and trained with them then he only played 8 minutes. After that he was dropped. Back in 2020 he played three matches with them and he was terrible (you can watch his performances on youtube).
Pre 2020, no one laid an eye on him. If he is that big talent, they would notice him anyway. I'm sure youngsters from Masia would have much higher chance to be noticed and scouted, compare to others from smaller clubs.
Pedri for example, at 16 he already played U19 World youth with Spain.

 

[BusiTheKing]

It is already explained before. Back in march he was called uo for U21 Spain in Euro U21. He came and trained with them then he only played 8 minutes. After that he was dropped. Back in 2020 he played three matches with them and he was terrible (you can watch his performances on youtube).
Pre 2020, no one laid an eye on him. If he is that big talent, they would notice him anyway. I'm sure youngsters from Masia would have much higher chance to be noticed and scouted, compare to others from smaller clubs.
Pedri for example, at 16 he already played U19 World youth with Spain.

ah so youth international coaches didn't like him. but still played him sometimes. but then of course he was bad in those games?

if we bring youth coaches into it, what about La Masia coaches? What about Pimienta? What about Xavi liking him? What about Gattuso calling him 'spectacular'? Coaches are different. They have different opinions.

i don't know what you're refering to when you say 'if he's that big talent'. i don't argue that he was a huge talent at that age.

 

[vegitot]

There is no real point arguing here I agree Busi. But with some posters it's at least a bit fun and can be informative. Check vegitots posts ITT from one and a half year ago...
Puigs critics have spent the summer when he didn't play just growing more certain in their view, almost building up their hate it seems. These feelings about players is a bit foreign to me, but they really seem happy to see him fail.

So far this season he played a pretty great 45 minutes in the first game, and a very uneven second game, where I agree he seemed much to eager to prove himself, a bit stressed. He is obviously in a pretty tough spot, needing to impress the coach, it's not enough for him right now to play like Pedri did some games and have the ball 30 times per game and just pass it sideways... Koeman said at the start of last season, too, that Puig passed too much on foot and to little into space, a bit strange to then see him play Pedri so much...

Puig needs the instruction: calm down, wait for the moment, you'll play even if you don't assist or score or even if you have one or two silent or bad games.

Puig is not even good enough to lace Pedri's boots

 

[Porque]

Does anyone here remember Ivan De La Pena at Barcelona?

Not the same style, although he lacked physically in other areas.

He too though was guilty of trying to force things everytime he got the ball. But when it came off it was absolutely sublime.

Anyways, I wonder how he would be rated if he was breaking through right now. Perhaps even with the modernity of coaching, he would break into the Barcelona and stay around these days.

 

[Bobo32]

The real test for Riqui Puig's potential is how he plays after being trusted and plays several matches somewhere. Because he does always play everything at 100mph, which is why he's sometimes effective and adds a spark in the last 15/20 minutes.

However, he's always trying to force things and can disrupt the rhythm at times, that is true. It can be argued though, that it's something that can be changed in his game with time and experience even if it doesn't come naturally to him.

Truly he should go somewhere to play football every week to nurture his ability and learn to read moments of a game. He does possess very good technical ability, moves the ball fast, and can play one-touch passes very well, but positionally he's very suspect and leaves huge spaces in the midfield.

Good post but I don't agree with him being positionally suspect. A Barcelona midfielder should press and then the rest of the team should cover - him rushing the ball in a clear way helps Busquets read the game and lets the often poor defence deal with rushed passes rather than calm quality passes.
One midfielder who was VERY positionally suspect was Vidal - that's a player just rushing without thought a lot of the time. Puig is much more connected to the team and less prone to being overplayed.
The worst kind of Barcelona midfield is the one like vs PSG, where both Pedri and Frenkie very conservatively fell back to cover in front of the defence instead of pressing, letting Busquets advance instead. Barcelona as a team cannot afford to defend deep or passively, Puig can be as good of a spark in defence as in offence.

 

[vegitot]

ah so youth international coaches didn't like him. but still played him sometimes. but then of course he was bad in those games?

if we bring youth coaches into it, what about La Masia coaches? What about Pimienta? What about Xavi liking him? What about Gattuso calling him 'spectacular'? Coaches are different. They have different opinions.

Then they dropped him forever. I suppose they saw him enough and said: Not good.
Youth NT is different to Masia. Puig is from Masia. You think Masia youth didn't play Masia products???

 

[vegitot]

Good post but I don't agree with him being positionally suspect. A Barcelona midfielder should press and then the rest of the team should cover - him rushing the ball in a clear way helps Busquets read the game and lets the often poor defence deal with rushed passes rather than calm quality passes.
One midfielder who was VERY positionally suspect was Vidal - that's a player just rushing without thought a lot of the time. Puig is much more connected to the team and less prone to being overplayed.
The worst kind of Barcelona midfield is the one like vs PSG, where both Pedri and Frenkie very conservatively fell back to cover in front of the defence instead of pressing, letting Busquets advance instead. Barcelona as a team cannot afford to defend deep or passively, Puig can be as good of a spark in defence as in offence.

Retard. Puig can play for 100 years and he will never reach Vidal's height.
Keep shitposting.

 

[Porque]

BTW regarding Puig's erratic-ness. I think it is an asset once it is homed in.

The biggest problem is the lack of minutes which has him condensing his game to try and show as much in as little time as possible because he doesn't know when the next opportunity comes. I think with more minutes you will see the natural progression and pausa in his game and choices.

 

[vegitot]

Does anyone here remember Ivan De La Pena at Barcelona?

Not the same style, although he lacked physically in other areas.

He too though was guilty of trying to force things everytime he got the ball. But when it came off it was absolutely sublime.

Anyways, I wonder how he would be rated if he was breaking through right now. Perhaps even with the modernity of coaching, he would break into the Barcelona and stay around these days.

De la Pena who Ronaldo considered as one of the best player he ever played with??? Do you seriously compare him to Mavericky???

 

[BusiTheKing]

Then they dropped him forever. I suppose they saw him enough and said: Not good.
Youth NT is different to Masia. Puig is from Masia. You think Masia youth didn't play Masia products???

you're saying that all midfielders who are in La Masia go on to play for the b team? i get that Spain is a higher threshold, you don't have to explain that to me.

but using the judgement of a youth coach from several years ago to judge a player's quality today is dumb, you must understand that.

 

[vegitot]

you're saying that all midfielders who are in La Masia go on to play for the b team? i get that Spain is a higher threshold, you don't have to explain that to me.

but using the judgement of a youth coach from several years ago is dumb, you must understand that.

The comparision between Spain youth and Masia youth is big. Spain youth team are bigger than Masia youth team. Puig can be better than players from Masia so he had his place in B team but compare to the whole Spain, they simply didn't rate him high enough to pick him up.
Again, back in march they still called him up so that's mean they didn't neglect him completely. Then they saw him trained and dropped him immediately.

 

[Bobo32]

Does anyone here remember Ivan De La Pena at Barcelona?

Not the same style, although he lacked physically in other areas.

He too though was guilty of trying to force things everytime he got the ball. But when it came off it was absolutely sublime.

Anyways, I wonder how he would be rated if he was breaking through right now. Perhaps even with the modernity of coaching, he would break into the Barcelona and stay around these days.

I don't know, but here is someone talking about Xavi and Iniesta, and the situation in 2007. I think it's a bit the same right now, evidently a lot of people here say you need a lot more physique etc.
https://twitter.com/GuardiolaTweets/status/1308135363492405248

I think you nailed it in your next post - a midfielder like Puig needs time and trust. His 'stylistic flaws' will decrease when he plays more I am sure.
Xavi was very good before 2008 and he was always given some time and trust, but it was only in 2008 where he really got to be extremely patient and trusted in his decisions, and was given the right surroundings - and then he destroyed football.

 

[BusiTheKing]

The comparision between Spain youth and Masia youth is big. Spain youth team are bigger than Masia youth team. Puig can be better than players from Masia so he had his place in B team but compare to the whole Spain, they simply didn't rate him high enough to pick him up.
Again, back in march they still called him up so that's mean they didn't neglect him completely. Then they saw him trained and dropped him immediately.

jesus christ, read my comment mr. vegitotive state. i just said that i understand that.

 

[vegitot]

jesus christ, read my comment mr. vegitotive state. i just said that i understand that.

So if you think Koeman is the only one not to rate him is wrong. There are several who do the same.

 

[BusiTheKing]

So if you think Koeman is the only one not to rate him is wrong. There are several who do the same.

yes i just don't think the word of spanish nt youth coaches from years ago is that highly relevant. i'm more into watching him play and making up my own mind.