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Moussa Niakhaté

I

Ian Moore Gone Little

First Team Squad
Otis Redding said:
From my observations, genuine two-footed players of the calibre of John Robertson and Stan Collymore are fairly uncommon in the modern game.
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And that, as anyone who has ever been to a match with me will wearily attest, is one of my biggest gripes with footballers. All that time to hone their skills and 95+% of them are entirely one-footed. A hundred grand a week and they call one of their feet “the one I use for standing on” and point at it and laugh if they happen to shin one in with it.

You shouldn’t have a wrong foot, only one that perhaps isn’t quite as good as your better foot. Spend a bit less time on the golf course / gaming / gambling / whatever and use some of the talent that got you into the professional game in the first place to work on and improve your two-footedness, then maybe you wouldn’t have to beat the same defender three times before you can pass or shoot or end up passing backwards because you’ve given yourself no other options. I only played at school B team or bunch-of-workmates-having-a-kickaround level but it wouldn’t occur to me not to use both feet, so how the hell have professional players been allowed to get away with being one-footed for so long?

I’m off for a lie down in a darkened room now…
 
REDDERS78

REDDERS78

Jack Armstrong
Otis Redding said:
From my observations, genuine two-footed players of the calibre of John Robertson and Stan Collymore are fairly uncommon in the modern game.
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Most professional footballers these days can use both feet to some degree though wouldn't you agree? I mean this is apparently the best league in the world. Not the 70's any more, nipping off for a fag at HT.
 
REDDERS78

REDDERS78

Jack Armstrong
dr_horse said:
He tried square one with his right against someone recently and it nearly went out for a throw I think.



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Exactly.

I know most players obviously have a preferred foot but he may as well wear a flip flop on his right.
 
Statto

Statto

Free Kick Specialist
REDDERS78 said:
Most professional footballers these days can use both feet to some degree though wouldn't you agree? I mean this is apparently the best league in the world. Not the 70's any more, nipping off for a fag at HT.
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They will probably all be able to use their weaker foot and in most cases probably better than pretty much all of us on our stronger one.

But it's a game of fine margins especially at the very top level and a player's weaker foot might just not quite be good enough under pressure in a matchday situation where the time to think about the action is minimal so the execution has to be spot on.

Moussa's right footed passing hasn't been good enough so far though. And every time Callum gets down the left wing he has to cut in and cross with his right. So predictable.
 
REDDERS78

REDDERS78

Jack Armstrong
Statto said:
They will probably all be able to use their weaker foot and in most cases probably better than pretty much all of us on our stronger one.

But it's a game of fine margins especially at the very top level and a player's weaker foot might just not quite be good enough under pressure in a matchday situation where the time to think about the action is minimal so the execution has to be spot on.

Moussa's right footed passing hasn't been good enough so far though. And every time Callum gets down the left wing he has to cut in and cross with his right. So predictable.
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It is predictable and you can see the opposition know it too.
 
Strummer

Strummer

Socialismo O Muerte!
LTLF Minion
Dele Adebola surely merits admission under the „two-foot“ category, no?
 
valspoodle

valspoodle

Steve Chettle
That's a gripe of mine, too, the player able to kick properly with only one foot.. Makes it so awkward to pass the ball; for instance, if you are right footed, you can't pass the ball to the right unless you swing your body round to face the right. Unless you try that outside of the foot which looks so odd and rarely comes off.

You would think that with nothing else to concern them whilst at work other than to train to play football, kicking strongly with your 'wrong' foot would be worth practising.
 
REDDERS78

REDDERS78

Jack Armstrong
Far have we travelled said:
Yes, his one mistake early in the recent game against Everton. Other than that he was good throughout the game.
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My issue is not that he makes loads of mistakes, just that hes very one dimensional to the point that simple passes infield are avoided, so we end up at square 1 every time he has it.
 
F

Far have we travelled

Youth Team
REDDERS78 said:
My issue is not that he makes loads of mistakes, just that hes very one dimensional to the point that simple passes infield are avoided, so we end up at square 1 every time he has it.
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I hadn't noticed but you might well be right. The essence of his role however is to defend, which he generally is more than competent at.
 
F

Far have we travelled

Youth Team
REDDERS78 said:
Oh so because he's a "defender" his role is not to make forward movement?

Welcome to 1986 ey :ROFLMAO:
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Not so sure it has to be quite so binary as that but given a choice between the two elements for him as a defender, I know which I would choose. He had Calvert-Lewis pretty much sewn up at Goodison, and none of the City forwards had any change from him. I do think that had he been playing against Wolves, their forward (Cunho?) wouldn't have scored their first goal. I actually seem to recall both he and Boly playing some really discerning forward passes through the City lines in the second half. So long as he is not played out of position, he delivers a sound performance far more often than not, just as he did at the end of last season.
 
S

SandyReid

A. Trialist
Far have we travelled said:
Not so sure it has to be quite so binary as that but given a choice between the two elements for him as a defender, I know which I would choose. He had Calvert-Lewis pretty much sewn up at Goodison, and none of the City forwards had any change from him. I do think that had he been playing against Wolves, their forward (Cunho?) wouldn't have scored their first goal. I actually seem to recall both he and Boly playing some really discerning forward passes through the City lines in the second half. So long as he is not played out of position, he delivers a sound performance far more often than not, just as he did at the end of last season.
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It’s for this reason I would play all 3 cbs until the season ends. Just play your best players
 
M

MaxiRobriguez

Bob McKinlay
Niakhate has been sat on the bench too often this season. Makes an easy succession plan for losing Murillo over summer.
 
Gyros Peter

Gyros Peter

Sauce salad?
With the aggressive thing I agree and think that is what has been worked on, particularly with Niakhate who has clearly taken things on well - pretty sure Nuno mentioned a lack of aggression being the issue with two of the goals we conceded in the Newcastle post match...

Niakhate wasn't seen for a while after that, and he's definitely been more proactive following the return. Good defender, bloke and pro it seems - he's clearly got his head down and put the work in to that side of his game. Credit to him.
 
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