Finn Azaz

[Hawkswood]

20 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Thing is I don’t think we have seen the best of him as of yet. The ball for Bree yesterday was sublime.

The ball for Leo at the start of the second half was even better. Left foot and bent into his path with absolute precision.  Beautiful to watch.

[LeBizzier69]

1 hour ago, Hawkswood said:

The ball for Leo at the start of the second half was even better. Left foot and bent into his path with absolute precision.  Beautiful to watch.

The view of that pass from the Northam.....it's football poetry. Left a few of us shaking our heads at just how good it was.

[LaptopSaint]

If Leo had kept it low and drilled it he’d have scored and Finn would have two candidates for assist of the season. Brilliant performance, especially after the  Ireland/Israel stress. 

[saintant]

There are few, if any, better players in the Championship. The way he held on to the ball under pressure and still managed to release a perfect pass to Leo for his chance was sublime.

[Patches O Houlihan]

IF... we were to get promoted Finn is top of the list of players for me who could make the transition to be a starter in a PL team. 

Also Peretz, Shlotterbeck, JWP, Downes, Larin.

Perhaps telling that that is the spine of a team. Was that Spors' plan? To spend the money in our centre this year?

If Scienza can get more clinical in front of goal, and Matsuki finds another 5% they would be in the mix, as would James Bree if he can get back to last seasons form for us. Hopefully he is getting there.

[Hawkswood]

1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

IF... we were to get promoted Finn is top of the list of players for me who could make the transition to be a starter in a PL team. 

Also Peretz, Shlotterbeck, JWP, Downes, Larin.

Perhaps telling that that is the spine of a team. Was that Spors' plan? To spend the money in our centre this year?

If Scienza can get more clinical in front of goal, and Matsuki finds another 5% they would be in the mix, as would James Bree if he can get back to last seasons form for us. Hopefully he is getting there.

Substitute Jander for JWP for me. Im still not convinced. 

Then again I wanted to take Finn off at HT so wtf do i know ! 😉

Edited October 12 by Hawkswood
.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

IF... we were to get promoted Finn is top of the list of players for me who could make the transition to be a starter in a PL team. 

Also Peretz, Shlotterbeck, JWP, Downes, Larin.

Perhaps telling that that is the spine of a team. Was that Spors' plan? To spend the money in our centre this year?

If Scienza can get more clinical in front of goal, and Matsuki finds another 5% they would be in the mix, as would James Bree if he can get back to last seasons form for us. Hopefully he is getting there.

Surprised you haven't listed Jander.

[saintant]

14 minutes ago, Hawkswood said:

Substitute Jander for JWP for me. Im still not convinced. 

Then again I wanted to take Finn off at HT so wtf do i know ! 😉

Agree.

[Patches O Houlihan]

3 hours ago, saintant said:

Surprised you haven't listed Jander.

Should have - although I half expect him to want to head off to Germany at the end of the season

[Saint Garrett]

Azaz is turning into a really outstanding player at this level. Pretty crucial to us when we play well, and got the skill to unlock a defence. Fully expect him to be on the prem in a the next few years hopefully with us !

[Patches O Houlihan]

Whitey and other traditionalists may want to skip this post 😉

Azaz has been in great form since he re-entered the team.

We see him often playing from deep as a proper playmaker, but also ending up in useful positions to score regularly.

I read an article this morning - I think it was on the BBC, but for the life of me I can't find it. An analysis and interview piece with Kane were he suggested that rather than playing as a '9' at Bayern he was now playing as one of two '10s' and was covering more ground than he did when he first joined. 

He is dropping really deep because defenders want to man mark and muscle him out of it, and by his own admission he isn't super quick. But if he goes really deep defenders firstly get pulled out of position and then end up in no-mans-land and don't want to follow him: Which enables him to make a playmaking pass unmarked from midfield and then show up unexpectedly to score two or three passes later on. They showed some stills of him linking up with Luis Diaz in the 6-1 tanking of RB Leipzig. Diaz was playing a roaming forward position more typical of a '10'.

So today we saw Azaz and Dobbin play quite effectively together, as two number '10s'. Azaz coming deep playing a pass that eliminated some defenders and set up an attacking move, the next pass then often ended up with Dobbin, and on several occasions Azaz was there to have a bash at a rebound or charged down shot.

I'm not calling either of them Harry Kane, but we know Azaz is a smart cookie, maybe he's trying similar tricks.

Edited Saturday at 20:18 by Patches O Houlihan

[Dan Johnson]

 

1 hour ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Whitey and other traditionalists may want to skip this post 😉

Azaz has been in great form since he re-entered the team.

We see him often playing from deep as a proper playmaker, but also ending up in useful positions to score regularly.

I read an article this morning - I think it was on the BBC, but for the life of me I can't find it. An analysis and interview piece with Kane were he suggested that rather than playing as a '9' at Bayern he was now playing as one of two '10s' and was covering more ground than he did when he first joined. 

He is dropping really deep because defenders want to man mark and muscle him out of it, and by his own admission he isn't super quick. But if he goes really deep defenders firstly get pulled out of position and then end up in non mans land and don't want to follow him: Which enables him to make a playmaking pass unmarked from midfield and then show up unexpectedly to score two or three passes later. They showed some stills of him linking up with Luis Diaz in the 6-1 tanking of RB Leipzig. Diaz was playing a roaming forward position more typical of a '10'.

So today we saw Azaz and Dobbin play quite effectively together, as two number '10s'. Azaz coming deep playing a pass that eliminated some defenders and set up an attacking move, the next pass then often ended up with Dobbin, and on several occasions Azaz was there to have a bash at a rebound or charged down shot.

I'm not calling either of them Harry Kane, but we know Azaz is a smart cookie, maybe he's trying similar tricks.

I think I’ve commented 2 or 3 times before on this post about how much I rate Azaz and how underrated I think he is.

He always works exceptionally hard and he’s always in the top 2/3 of our players for yards covered.

he can get stuck in, he can dictate games, pick a pass, his vision is exceptional. For me, he’s our most important player by some way

he's a premier league player, we’re lucky to have him!!

 

[CampionSaint]

How would you compare him with Mateus Fernandez.  Clearly Azaz is yet to prove himself in the prem but can he be as good ?

[Patches O Houlihan]

10 minutes ago, CampionSaint said:

How would you compare him with Mateus Fernandez.  Clearly Azaz is yet to prove himself in the prem but can he be as good ?

More creative that Matty, yet still capable of making a tackle or block, covers a lot of ground, and an unselfish player. My favourite Saints player, but then Matty was when he was here.
I think Azaz is better than Fernandes was for us. Haven't seen him properly elsewhere.

[Saint_lambden]

1 hour ago, CampionSaint said:

How would you compare him with Mateus Fernandez.  Clearly Azaz is yet to prove himself in the prem but can he be as good ?

Completely different players. Azaz far better from a creative point of view but Fernandes outdoes him in terms of his off the ball work. 

[Spoonman]

That ball today for Dobbin’s effort off the post was quality

[Saint_clark]

48 minutes ago, Spoonman said:

That ball today for Dobbin’s effort off the post was quality

His touch and turn were quality too. There's definitely potential in that lad.