08 Jul 2016 09:32:09
I think the Euro's are proving the importance of having a proper scouting network.
If you take games in isolation then you really can come up with some very strange ideas about players.
Take last nights game for instance.
Pogba looked no better than our own Schweinsteiger.
Kroos looked the best midfielder on the pitch.
Muller looked awful.
Lloris looked at least as good a keeper as Neuer.
Howedes looked the best centre back on the pitch and out performed both Boetang before he went off and Mustafi after he came on.
Greizmann looked the best player on the pitch, closely followed by Kimmich.
Sissoko had a stormer and was one of the best players on the pitch for France. Where as Payet was anonymous.
Does that mean all of those points are true? Of course not, it is but a small amount of data which not seen in context can give you a false impression of a player.
08 Jul 2016 10:05:12
You could look last season at Eden Hazard and Memphis Depay and think they were Championship players yet think Chris Smalling was Rio Ferdinand in a mask. Scouting players is a tough job and it is almost impossible to tell how good a player is by watching a few games. You are correct though a good scouting network is one of the most important parts of a club.
On the other hand you have to look at our own scouting network and wonder what they spend their time doing. Bar Martial we didn't really find a star we just signed players readily available or who had a decent world cup the year before. Signing players like Ibra, Mkhitarayan and Di Maria hardly need scouting but don't always work out. Bailly will have been looked at for raw ability but I doubt was scouted fully.
Then you get Leicesters scouts who really earned their corn with players like Kanye and Mahrez. It sometimes seems to me our scout network is quite shallow compared to others. Maybe that comes with being a big club I don't know. Maybe we should hire Ronnie.
08 Jul 2016 10:59:53
@1redarmy
I really don't think that Kanye is any good at football. He probably calls it soccer.
08 Jul 2016 11:03:32
1redarmy i'm sure that it will become easier for our scouts with some managerial stability. We gotten into situations where we could be scouting a player for a long time and then a new manager comes in with new targets and that scouting becomes meaningless in a sense.
Ed woodward rightly gives whoever is manager a lot of control on what targets we try to obtain but that comes with its negatives if you keep changing the guy in control.
08 Jul 2016 11:51:46
Redfaith, it is amazing how one can read a post and only pick out an auto correct from it. Stupid phone.
08 Jul 2016 11:52:33
1red,
What makes you think Bailly wasn't scouted fully? Jose had 6 months to watch players and get players watched that he liked, I would have thought Bailly was scouted extensively.
08 Jul 2016 15:59:38
Sanchez is a good example. Scouted extensively by Utd over a long period ( accordingt to Giggs) and with good reason it looks like. Van Gaal supposedly says no, when he would have likely been an ideal Mourinho midfielder.