How do we solve a problem like . .

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Cjay
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How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by Cjay »

Helder Costa?

Was really excited when we signed Helder.

He has shown that he is a very talented player at this level in the past, thats not in doubt.

A time not that long ago people talked about Helder in the same way people talk about Benrahma now or Bowen before he left the league.

A top Championship winger with all the potential to become a top class Premier league player.

He had played effectively 1 season worth of minutes in this league before he arrived.

48 games 15 goals 14 assists 2 chances created per game.

Thats top level stats and if a player did that in 1 season in this league, these days youd be looking at £30mil+.

Somewhere along the way though he seems to have lost something.

When we signed him Wolves fans all seemed to agree that talent wasnt the issue but something had changed since he suffered that nasty injury during his 1st season.

Confidence? A yard of pace? Who knows.

We have seen glimpses of the player that basically single handedly saved Wolves from relegation to league 1 a few years ago, on the odd occasion he will just casually dribble past 2 or 3 players as if its the easiest thing in the world and tbf to him he usually plays a decent pass after that.

But its all to rare and given we are committed to paying £15mil for him its just not enough.

In his defence MB has publicly admitted that our style actively denies Costa the 1 thing he needs most of all, space.

Costa thrived in the counter attacking Paul Lambert side and the occasional counter attacking promotion winning Wolves side.

Our style by its very design (overloads) limits the space Costa gets and when you take that away from him its harder for Costa to get going for those mazy runs.

Does beg the question why buy a player you know thrives on the thing your style of play doesnt allow?

But Costa is a potential match winner, he can win games on his own in a similar way Hernandez has in the past, he has that in him.

We arent a team full of wonderfully talented individuals but Costa is one.

How do we get that out of him again?
Is it possible or was whatever happened to Costa with that injury irreversible?
Why did we sign a player our manager has publicly admitted doesnt suit the style or rather is negatively impacted by it?
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The Subhuman
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by The Subhuman »

He's playing quite well I think with power to add. There are issues beyond his control right now and I doubt we could buy anyone better from this division. The class is good, the form is decent to good..I'm not too worried about Costa, he gets us an awful lot of corners
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by 1964white »

Costa had oceans of space & produced nothing worthy of note whatsoever

Harrison had two or three men marking him all night

I think the opposition have worked out who is likely to hurt them!
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by The Subhuman »

Harrison is the best winger in the championship...
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by YorkshireSquare »

I think he's doing ok, when he's good he's unplayable.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by weasel »

A tricky one and for me boils down to a few things. 1 the injury might have affected his ability to explode away from players and through a gap. He still has pace but maybe just not quite as fast as he used to be. 2 we tend not to play the counter attacking game and as such he doesn't really get many opportunities to run against an isolated defender. 3 he could be low on confidence - a player like him probably thrives on scoring goals and he hasn't for a while and that can affect a player's confidence. A confident player scores last night.

We need players like him, Pablo and Harrison to really start firing again and scoring or creating goals out of nothing.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by Irish Ian »

Have yet to see him forming the same type of partnership with Ayling that is on the other side of the pitch.
Also hasnt connected with Bamford either.
MB said that is possible our style hurts him too, but overall he hasnt been the exciting player we had hoped for.
I would like him take corners too.
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"Football is about the people and the players,” he said. “Then there are those who will mingle in the middle: the coaches, executives and journalists. That last group represents the worst part about football" Marcelo Bielsa
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by leic white 63 »

get him down the gym .

too lightweight and gets pushed of the ball far to easily for me.

apart from the odd glimpses he's been a disappointment so far.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by rrfierce »

if bielsa says that our style doesn't suit him, why the hell did he buy him?
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by danhirons »

faaip wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:43 pm Harrison is the best winger in the championship...
This is probably about as true as calling Kiko the most in-form keeper in the championship
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by danhirons »

leic white 63 wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 4:32 pm get him down the gym .

too lightweight and gets pushed of the ball far to easily for me.

apart from the odd glimpses he's been a disappointment so far.
my dad's a Wolves season ticket holder and said this about him when we bought him
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

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danhirons wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:13 pm This is probably about as true as calling Kiko the most in-form keeper in the championship
You must really hate LUFC ..who do you really support ?
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by danhirons »

faaip wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:23 pm You must really hate LUFC ..who do you really support ?
Didn't realise being realistic meant I have to hate Leeds!

The ridiculous hype (or criticism) some of our players get just annoys me. I reckon I could name up to 10 better wingers in the championship (obviously down to opinion though).

I really don't rate Harrison though sorry (as much as he is massively improved this season over last) I think he's an extremely average winger and will be disappointed if we sign him at the end of the season.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by Cjay »

1964white wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:42 pm Costa had oceans of space & produced nothing worthy of note whatsoever

Harrison had two or three men marking him all night

I think the opposition have worked out who is likely to hurt them!
Tbf Costa when he gets the ball does look to get the ball in.

Harrison hangs on to the ball for an eternity till he is surrounded, it happens a lot.

Still find JH extremely frustrating, clearly got talent but after PB he is definitely our 2nd most wasteful player.

Interestingly Costa and Harrison over the last 13 games have both struggled to create or score.

Costa 487minutes per goal or assist.
Harrison 570 minutes.

Not great for either.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by Mick Jones shoulder »

1964white wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:42 pm Costa had oceans of space & produced nothing worthy of note whatsoever

Harrison had two or three men marking him all night

I think the opposition have worked out who is likely to hurt them!
Currently no one, thought we played well up to a point again last night but created little clearcut opportunities. Harrison right at the beginning, Bamford over the stand and Costa's daisy cutter. Pablo a couple of speculative efforts.
But better to be fair.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by The Subhuman »

danhirons wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:57 pm Didn't realise being realistic meant I have to hate Leeds!

The ridiculous hype (or criticism) some of our players get just annoys me. I reckon I could name up to 10 better wingers in the championship (obviously down to opinion though).

I really don't rate Harrison though sorry (as much as he is massively improved this season over last) I think he's an extremely average winger and will be disappointed if we sign him at the end of the season.
Well you kinda have to like something about the team, so which players do you rate outside of Kalvin? Manager doing a good job? Orta doing good work scouting? Rads a decent owner with room to grow?

Trying to recall a positive post but struggling right now tbh...
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by leedsalex »

Dissapointment of the season for me. Hugely overrated
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by onemoreslogan »

1964white wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:42 pm Harrison had two or three men marking him all night

I think the opposition have worked out who is likely to hurt them!
I've noticed this as well. MB has to work out a way to foil/exploit it.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by gessa »

onemoreslogan wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:45 pm I've noticed this as well. MB has to work out a way to foil/exploit it.
Put him on the other wing, they will move over with him but with a different full back, one that's not trained with the system to nullify him, could add confusion. Like to see them swap wings.
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Re: How do we solve a problem like . .

Post by danhirons »

faaip wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:13 pm Well you kinda have to like something about the team, so which players do you rate outside of Kalvin? Manager doing a good job? Orta doing good work scouting? Rads a decent owner with room to grow?

Trying to recall a positive post but struggling right now tbh...
Well I mean it's an online football forum... I bet there are 3 times as many posts when we lose compared to when we win! When everyone plays well and we win 2 nil, what is there to say really?!

But actually only yesterday was saying Cooper gets more stick than he deserves imo. Klich, Cooper, ayling, white, Phillips all playing really well atm imo. Costa, Harrison and Dallas somewhere middle ish, bamford playing OK but can't score, kiko needs to go.

Don't like Orta as I've made clear for many reasons.

Radz doing a decent job and think his heart and head are in the right place but that we've struggled due to poor recruitment from Orta which has stretched finances a bit.

Bielsa. We'll never have a better coach, not sure about his abilities as a manager (man management, line ups, subs, lack of rotation etc) but great coach... We wouldn't get any one else better but he's far from perfect and I think we'll end up in the play offs because of our struggles scoring.
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