- Jul 7, 2011
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Thank you, you've saved me a lot of time and frustration!Have you watched an entire game of his? Marseille set up the same exact way that we do, as Poch's system is based on Bielsa's. Imbula is at the center of most play. He wins the ball and begins the drive forward. Marseille often attack very quick, Imbula in no way impairs their counter-attack speed (he often starts these attacks).
Have you based your opinion entirely on highlight videos? It's not really an effective way to judge a player like a CDM, as the best players often have to do the least amount of work due to their positional intelligence and lack of mistakes. Those youtube videos will of course show him shielding the ball and driving past players like Dembele does. But, they will not show how Romao was in trouble, so he dumped the ball to a well covered Imbula who then dribbled his way out of trouble and passed the ball on, continuing the play. His teammates trust him and he carries the middle of the field. He shows incredible football intelligence and leadership for a 22 year old. He is also very tactically responsible, which is why he has flourished under Bielsa. He presses well and tracks players through the midfield. He is also, in fact, a very good passer. He's not the sideways passing nightmare that Dembele is. The weak part of his game is finishing, but in a system that relies on goals from the wingers and striker, it is not all that great a loss.
He is very different from any player that we have. While he is not all that similar to Schneiderlin (Kramer is more-so), he is similar in the right ways. I would say he ticks all the appropriate boxes, and trust our scouting team that he does as well. He knows where to sit in the midfield, he knows how to keep the play moving, he is defensively responsible and he isn't mistake prone. He isn't a deep lying playmaker, but we aren't looking for one. He is, however, a damn better option to pair next to Bentaleb than any of our current lot.