Topic: Luis Díaz (Luis Fernando Díaz Marulanda)

[gazzalfc]

That run on the 80th minute was incredible. Just needs to be more composed with the final ball.

[deano2727]

He was electrifying yesterday. Shame he couldn't put it in the net.

[Bennett]

Needs to score more. Think he could and should be a 20 goal a season player easy with his skillset and pace. Performances wise he is electric

 

Agree with this. He was phenomenal yesterday but I have no faith in him when he goes through on goal. I had a sneaky feeling he had a Suarez-style explosion in him, but he lacks that ruthlessness needed in front of goal.

[rob1966]

Yeah. He had incredible heart and energy, and skill! It’s a great combination, got us 80 yards up the pitch and won us a corner. And he’s done loads of that recently (maybe not from 80 yards out!). You have to take the rough with the smooth with him. His finishing isn’t as strong as our other forwards, although he’s improved his output but I don’t think anyone else gives you that out ball in the same way.

Feel like he could have rounded the keeper for that one on one, keeper looked like he’d planted his feet a bit, but it all happens so fast. I find it hard to be too critical about him.

He's like Garcia for me, he'll annoy at times, but he's worth it for the skills and mad stuff - I don't wanna watch perfect robots.

[tubby]

He's like Garcia for me, he'll annoy at times, but he's worth it for the skills and mad stuff - I don't wanna watch perfect robots.

But you want to watch Salah and Nunez, right?  They're just as exciting but deliver the end product as well, that's where Diaz struggles.

[B0151?]

He's like Garcia for me, he'll annoy at times, but he's worth it for the skills and mad stuff - I don't wanna watch perfect robots.

I get you, but prob the diff is even when he's frustrating he's still working and running his arse off. He's a real fighter. It's why he will always be close to whoever's first 11 I think

I'm glad to see he still has that electricity in him. I didn't buy that it had left him, just that the Prem is a difficult league to showcase it sometimes when keeping the ball is a premium and you're in a team where you're not the main man - as well as the quality and athleticism of players you're facing. Hopefully it gives him the confidence to do it more! If you can beat Walker 1 v 1 you can do anyone in lad.

[jepovic]

But you want to watch Salah and Nunez, right?  They're just as exciting but deliver the end product as well, that's where Diaz struggles.

Nunez didnt deliver properly until pretty recently though. Most attacking players go through ups and downs.
Salah is a freak.

[mullyred94]

Nunez didnt deliver properly until pretty recently though. Most attacking players go through ups and downs.
Salah is a freak.

Nunez has always had a decent G/A per minute since his debut to be fair.

Diaz is on 205 per G/A in the league this season, I personally think he should way more effective then that.

[Scottymuser]

Nunez didnt deliver properly until pretty recently though. Most attacking players go through ups and downs.
Salah is a freak.

Nunez *has* delivered all season, and even last season to an extent (last season he had a goal involvement every 141 mins despite missing loads and loads of chances - outside of his debut half season for us, Diaz has never been close to that).  Yet it seems like it is always Nunez that is criticised for not delivering, or only delivering in spurts.

[Schmidt]

He's scoring at a rate slightly higher than 1 in 3, which is really good but just not superhuman like Nunez and Salah. Given he primarily plays out wide and comes from deep I'd say those are good numbers, better than Martinelli and either of City's left forwards. Importantly, he's also getting a lot of shots off lately, it's not like he barely gets involved.

[Coolie High]

To think some were arguing he would struggle against Walker haha

Had him on toast multiple times

This a washed up Walker though to be honest, he is steady on the decline.

[mullyred94]

He's scoring at a rate slightly higher than 1 in 3, which is really good but just not superhuman like Nunez and Salah. Given he primarily plays out wide and comes from deep I'd say those are good numbers, better than Martinelli and either of City's left forwards. Importantly, he's also getting a lot of shots off lately, it's not like he barely gets involved.

Not in the league he isn't mate, it's almost 1 in 4 from 22 starts 6 goals.

[Coolie High]

He's scoring at a rate slightly higher than 1 in 3, which is really good but just not superhuman like Nunez and Salah. Given he primarily plays out wide and comes from deep I'd say those are good numbers, better than Martinelli and either of City's left forwards. Importantly, he's also getting a lot of shots off lately, it's not like he barely gets involved.

You're comparing him to a Martinelli who is 22, and a Doku who is 21.

Also Martinelli has 6 goals and 4 assists in the league compared to Diaz who has 6 goals and 3 assists in the league while playing the extra 2 games.

[Scottymuser]

Jota is arguably our 3rd best attacker but he isn't a level below anybody this season.

For me, he is clearly a level below Salah (who is a top 5 player in the world, easily, and is weirdly underrated on here all the time), and I'd make the argument that he is also slightly below Nunez *because* of how many chances Nunez missed (basically, Jota has been lucky to have a goal involvement every 88 mins; Nunez has been unlucky to only have one every 93 mins - and that its easy to see Jota's regressing to being merely excellent and easy to also see Nunez taking off and being Messi/Ronaldo/Mbappe levels of amazing). 

I agree he is better than Diaz, across the season - but has bad injury problems that is keeping him out of the team; it is a really good problem to have both of them battling for 3rd choice, as well as allowing resting of Salah/Nunez.

[Coolie High]

For me, he is clearly a level below Salah (who is a top 5 player in the world, easily, and is weirdly underrated on here all the time), and I'd make the argument that he is also slightly below Nunez *because* of how many chances Nunez missed (basically, Jota has been lucky to have a goal involvement every 88 mins; Nunez has been unlucky to only have one every 93 mins - and that its easy to see Jota's regressing to being merely excellent and easy to also see Nunez taking off and being Messi/Ronaldo/Mbappe levels of amazing). 

I agree he is better than Diaz, across the season - but has bad injury problems that is keeping him out of the team; it is a really good problem to have both of them battling for 3rd choice, as well as allowing resting of Salah/Nunez.

At times i think Jota has been our best attacker this season, he has combined his goalscoring intelligence and finishing with the ability to consistently evade defenders. his ball control and dribbling looked like it had made improvements or at least go back to the level it was when he first joined here and at Wolves.

Its a shame he had his injury because i feel he was hitting new heights as a player overall, saying that I can agree with him being slightly below Nunez, not a level below though. Also if you can see Nunez getting to Messi/Ronaldo levels of amazing then you're absolutely crazy.

[Scottymuser]

He's scoring at a rate slightly higher than 1 in 3, which is really good but just not superhuman like Nunez and Salah. Given he primarily plays out wide and comes from deep I'd say those are good numbers, better than Martinelli and either of City's left forwards. Importantly, he's also getting a lot of shots off lately, it's not like he barely gets involved.

Ok, so the best metric is *always* minutes per goal involvements when judging performance of two attackers (or even using expected assists instead of actual, as someone could miss a chance put on a plate, and it count against you, or score a worldie from 50 yards and count for you).  Doing both (*and for super obvious reasons, only ever looking at PL*):

• Diaz is at an actual goal involvement every 205 mins; or a goal or expected assist every 209 mins - so Diaz's team mates are not letting him down, or the opposite
• Martinelli is at an actual goal involvement every 175 mins; or a goal or expected assist every 156 mins - so Martinelli is outperforming Diaz, despite only being 21, AND his teammates are actually letting him down
• Doku is at an actual goal involvement every 171 mins; or a goal or expected assist every 222 mins - so whilst Doku could be said to be outperforming Diaz, it is actually true that his City teammates are scoring goals off of only half chances he has created, and is thus boosting his stats

So, Diaz is somewhat in the middle of the 3 - but at 27 is significantly older (and at his "peak" years)

[Scottymuser]

At times i think Jota has been our best attacker this season, he has combined his goalscoring intelligence and finishing with the ability to consistently evade defenders. his ball control and dribbling looked like it had made improvements or at least go back to the level it was when he first joined here and at Wolves.

Its a shame he had his injury because i feel he was hitting new heights as a player overall, saying that I can agree with him being slightly below Nunez, not a level below though. Also if you can see Nunez getting to Messi/Ronaldo levels of amazing then you're absolutely crazy.

Maybe I am being slightly dramatic - but if you take Nunez's 12 shots that have hit the woodwork, and say that half of them went in (not to mention any of the big chances he has actually missed) he would be on a goal involvement every 68 mins (if not better if you include some of the other big chances).  In Ronaldo's 3 seasons in Serie A (a weaker league) he never got better than a goal involvement every 81 mins; in his last 3 seasons at Real Madrid he averaged worse than that also (and in his first) - and in the 5 in betweem his stats were massively inflated by penalties (if you take penalties out, then he averaged 70 mins per goal involvement or worse in 8 or his 9 seasons at Real Madrid, a time where he was winning Ballon D'Ors).  So whilst you might think it crazy, he is pretty damn close this season to putting up Ronaldo numbers.

[[new username under construction]]

This a washed up Walker though to be honest, he is steady on the decline.

But will always be hailed as the quickest and best because he'll dominate Sheffield Utd level defenders

[Coolie High]

Maybe I am being slightly dramatic - but if you take Nunez's 12 shots that have hit the woodwork, and say that half of them went in (not to mention any of the big chances he has actually missed) he would be on a goal involvement every 68 mins (if not better if you include some of the other big chances).  In Ronaldo's 3 seasons in Serie A (a weaker league) he never got better than a goal involvement every 81 mins; in his last 3 seasons at Real Madrid he averaged worse than that also (and in his first) - and in the 5 in betweem his stats were massively inflated by penalties (if you take penalties out, then he averaged 70 mins per goal involvement or worse in 8 or his 9 seasons at Real Madrid, a time where he was winning Ballon D'Ors).  So whilst you might think it crazy, he is pretty damn close this season to putting up Ronaldo numbers.

You are being incredibly dramatic and you must see football solely through a computer

I actually thought you were comparing him to Portugese Ronaldo which is bad, you're comparing him to Brazilian Ronaldo Its such an outlandish argument i don't even feel the need to offer any counter points, any one with common sense will know Nunez won't reach that level, there are other players like Batistuta, Cavani, Drogba, Falcao, Torres, who present a more realistic comparison, not phenoms like Messi and R9, who pop up ever 20 years or so(if you're lucky).

[RyanBabel19]

This a washed up Walker though to be honest, he is steady on the decline.

Makes no difference to peoples predictions pre match unless they’ve not watched Walker play for a significant amount of time

[Coolie High]

Makes no difference to peoples predictions pre match unless they’ve not watched Walker play for a significant amount of time

Thats true.

[jillcwhomever]

After a game like yesterday it amazes me people can be so harsh on a player who gave everything. So, he's not perfect who is?

[SamLad]

After a game like yesterday it amazes me people can be so harsh on a player who gave everything. So, he's not perfect who is?

Amen to that jill.  yet another game where one of ours plays a great game and is then picked to tiny pieces on here.  just support the lad ffs.

[Elzar]

He had a game very much like the cup final. In the biggest games he is so involved, and will be incredibly frustrated he just hasn't been finishing as well as he would like recently (even with a decent record).

I have never seen Walker troubled like that in terms of pace and recovery. He is usually got at with his terrible positioning and intelligence. Diaz had him all over the place and he couldn't keep up.

[Schmidt]

Ok, so the best metric is *always* minutes per goal involvements when judging performance of two attackers (or even using expected assists instead of actual, as someone could miss a chance put on a plate, and it count against you, or score a worldie from 50 yards and count for you).  Doing both (*and for super obvious reasons, only ever looking at PL*):

• Diaz is at an actual goal involvement every 205 mins; or a goal or expected assist every 209 mins - so Diaz's team mates are not letting him down, or the opposite
• Martinelli is at an actual goal involvement every 175 mins; or a goal or expected assist every 156 mins - so Martinelli is outperforming Diaz, despite only being 21, AND his teammates are actually letting him down
• Doku is at an actual goal involvement every 171 mins; or a goal or expected assist every 222 mins - so whilst Doku could be said to be outperforming Diaz, it is actually true that his City teammates are scoring goals off of only half chances he has created, and is thus boosting his stats

So, Diaz is somewhat in the middle of the 3 - but at 27 is significantly older (and at his "peak" years)

You've bundled expected goals and assists together, are you saying both are equally valuable? Diaz has an xG that's double what Doku has, 0.36 vs 0.18. Diaz is also the only one of the three to have shown himself capable of a really high scoring season, but his injury last season has meant he hasn't been able to replicate that for us yet.

The point wasn't even to say that Diaz is better than those two, simply that they're comparable in terms of stats and Diaz is not exactly dragging us down.

[rob1966]

After a game like yesterday it amazes me people can be so harsh on a player who gave everything. So, he's not perfect who is?

[redk84]

cannot hate the lad. Leaves it all on the pitch

Had to score from one of his opportunities but put a hell of a shift in. Need him in this form for as long as possible

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Well done to him

Nunez got the benefit of the doubt for ages despite missing chances, Luis deserves the same. He's getting into the positions

He's some player, his prime years as well.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Love his hard work and industry, but the simple fact is that he doesn't have the composure to be good enough to start for the best team in Europe. 

If you could swap him out for a young Mane you would everyday of the week.  Is a young Mane-like available?  No idea.  If not he'll do just fine and an excellent squad / rotation option.

 

[Enders]

I love his fantastic attitude and work rate, melded with the natural flair - but being hyper-critical, and not wanting to be invidious about it, I reckon the similarly swashbuckling Mane in his prime of 2019-2020 would have scored at least one of those chances.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

After a game like yesterday it amazes me people can be so harsh on a player who gave everything. So, he's not perfect who is?

Yeah I'm not reading any more of this shit, some c*nts just can't have nice things, always a fault.

[The WASP]

His performance minus his finishing was back to 2022 levels which I wasn't sure he had in him anymore after his injury. It bodes well for the remaining games his endurance and strength to keep going in the second half. Just needs to be scoring more.

[Fordy]

One needs to work on his finishing.

Played his heart out though.

[rob1966]

But you want to watch Salah and Nunez, right?  They're just as exciting but deliver the end product as well, that's where Diaz struggles.

I don't care, footy should be enjoyable and watching this lad play is very enjoyable. Yes I was annoyed when he didn't score, but he worked his arse off in the game yesterday. In fact, Darwin controls his run better and stays onside and he opens the scoring for us...

[SerbianScouser]

For me City and Arsenal games this season are litmus tests for how good any player actually is.

Lucho was unplayable yesterday. Proved without a shadow of a doubt he's a top, top player. They had no clue how to deal with him.

I wondered the entire season whether his goal contribution is enough but if you have a situation where the likes of Mo, Darwin and Jota score good amount of goals you can afford to have someone like Lucho who yesterday has done tons of great bits that allowed us to have a proper go at them, not many players out there were capable of that.

So unlucky with the chances but so were we that they didn't fall to Darwin or Mo. 

[WhereAngelsPlay]

One needs to work on his finishing.

Played his heart out though.

What one doesn't One what, Mmmmmm

[Hazell]

I don't care, footy should be enjoyable and watching this lad play is very enjoyable. Yes I was annoyed when he didn't score, but he worked his arse off in the game yesterday.

Nicely put. Can't get angry at players missing chances, especially when they give as much s Diaz did, and he was such a tour de force yesterday. Gonna tear the other Mancs a new one this weekend.

[Sinyoro]

But you want to watch Salah and Nunez, right?  They're just as exciting but deliver the end product as well, that's where Diaz struggles.

Nunez was pretty much similar until recently. Just goes to show that patience with players can be rewarded

[CHOPPER]

Fucking hell.

You two need to get out more.

[Draex]

Fucking hell.

You two need to get out more.

Hopefully not on a date together, boy that’d be dull.