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Archie Gray

Another good game from Archie in Frankfurt. Someone in another thread pointed out that playing with three CBs may well be the key to better football, with Danso practically unbenchable now. Spence and Udogie benefit from this, and so does the team as a whole. But the system relies on having someone in midfield who can connect, and Archie is just so much better at that than either Bentancur or Palhinha. Makes us play better, simple as that. Is going to be so so good.
 
Hotspur75 said:
Another good game from Archie in Frankfurt. Someone in another thread pointed out that playing with three CBs may well be the key to better football, with Danso practically unbenchable now. Spence and Udogie benefit from this, and so does the team as a whole. But the system relies on having someone in midfield who can connect, and Archie is just so much better at that than either Bentancur or Palhinha. Makes us play better, simple as that. Is going to be so so good.
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100%. He is smart and disciplined beyond his years too allowing for much more positional flexibility between players. He would drop into the back line when Danso or Palhinha pushed forward, or push up and intelligently join the attack when required.

In this system he can be the glue guy who allows the system to work as a whole by quietly doing a lot of the unheralded work.
 
Ace Face said:
100%. He is smart and disciplined beyond his years too allowing for much more positional flexibility between players. He would drop into the back line when Danso or Palhinha pushed forward, or push up and intelligently join the attack when required.

In this system he can be the glue guy who allows the system to work as a whole by quietly doing a lot of the unheralded work.
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Said this last season, but being able to slot in at full back and at CB like ymhe did last season in a dysfunctional team and looking good is almost unheard of for a player that young. His composure under pressure both on the ball and in general just being on the pitch in difficult circumstances is fantastic. Not the biggest or strongest, he may grow into a physically stronger player of course - but even if not he seems to have a great engine on him and whilst not rapidly fast he has "quick legs".

Add to that his technical quality on the ball, particularly with regards to close control and dribbling and he remains for me a fantastic talent.

Maybe a bit overshadowed by him already breaking through in the PL in difficult circumstances last season and our general struggles this season. But deep midfielders tend to break through a bit later. There are exceptions to that obviously (like Busquets), but even deep midfielders who have gone on to be some of the best in the world weren't ready for first team football at a very high level at 19. Him doing this well this season is super impressive for a 19 year old.

Every challenge thrown at him he seem to handle well. Personally I'd want to see us give him even more "challenges", use him more in tight spaces in midfield. Maybe he's not quite ready for that and that would be fair enough (again, ridiculously young for that role), but I wouldn’t bet against him handling that challenge too.
 
braineclipse said:
I'm definitely all for giving managers and coaches credit, past and present. And for sure he seemed to develop well under Ange too and I think he got real valuable experience last season. I think the main thing with him is that he's a fantastic talent with a maturity well beyond his years though.
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He'd be on the scrap heap now, if he'd been managed by the evil Jose Mourinho.
 
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Lemonade Money said:
He'd be on the scrap heap now, if he'd been managed by the evil Jose Mourinho.
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You should have course be right. I think he may just be good enough, and more importantly mature enough both in his attitude and how he plays that even the youth-phobic Mourinho could have played him. Maybe I overrate him somewhat (Gray, not Mourinho).
 
Robbo said:
He imposes himself on the game so much more. Last season he was tidy, but a little reserved - now he gets stuck in and goes into challenges with a whole different fervor.
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That's a good point. Seems like lately, he feels like part of the team and he has other players' backs. We've really needed this team mentality of players pulling up trees for each other.
 
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