Player Watch: Emerson Royal

[McArchibald]

Tells you everything you need to know about the Saudi league when prominent journalists are referring to the teams by who plays for them rather than the name of the club. You can buy the players, but you can't buy the support and the tribalism and without that there's literally no point because nobody really cares.

Well... if you were playing for John Terry's team before you moved to Saudi, there's not that much difference, is there?

 

[Nebby]

Tells you everything you need to know about the Saudi league when prominent journalists are referring to the teams by who plays for them rather than the name of the club. You can buy the players, but you can't buy the support and the tribalism and without that there's literally no point because nobody really cares.

Says more about European's being unfamiliar with the league than anything else, which is somewhat understandable.

 

[Trix]

Says more about European's being unfamiliar with the league than anything else, which is somewhat understandable.

Yeah, because nobody cares about it mate. Last season they threw a lot of money at it with the promise "this is only the start and they'd be spending more and more every year" Turns out it's a plastic manufactured league, which is very poorly supported, and all the big names that left for there 6-7 months ago want out already.

 

[Nebby]

I haven’t read any scouting reports that site Dragusin as “extremely comfortable” on the ball. He’s been playing for a defensive team who mainly counter attack so he really hasn’t been tested as a defender in a possession based team. Most articles say his passing is one area where he could improve.

Personally I think as an inverted full back in Ange’s system you need to be as comfortable on the ball as a centre midfielder. You need to be able to take and protect the ball in tight spaces and have the calmness and ability to either dribble out of those spaces or pick a progressive pass. I’ll hugely surprised if Dragusin has been signed to cover that role in this team.

He's played in possession based teams from the age of 16, both at Juventus (under Pirlo, who knows a ball-player when he sees one),and then at Genoa. And he absolutely has all of the attributes needed to cover Porro (although I think he'll be pushing Romero for a spot soon enough). On top of his defensive capabilities (good luck dribbling past this guy), it's his ability to receive and carry the ball forwards, dribble through the lines, and make passes that have brought him to attention. And he scores. He's going to be awesome.

 

[Thenewcat]

Says more about European's being unfamiliar with the league than anything else, which is somewhat understandable.

Are you serious? Why is it that European’s are unfamiliar? Because it’s a low quality league with no fans, no history, and is mostly a retirement payday.

 

[McFlash]

Says more about European's being unfamiliar with the league than anything else, which is somewhat understandable.

I think you could say that Europeans are unfamiliar with the culture but not the league.
It's terrible, no crowds, no atmosphere and was created by rich people purely to promote their country...which has failed brilliantly.

Pretty much everyone who's gone there now wants out and the only person championing the league is Ronaldo, and that's only because of his massive ego and payday.

 

[Snarfalicious]

Are you serious? Why is it that European’s are unfamiliar? Because it’s a low quality league with no fans, no history, and is mostly a retirement payday.

Yeah, get your hands off our talent, Saudi Pro League.

sincerely,
MLS

 

[danny32]

Saudi pro league is better than ligue 1, I heard Ronaldo say it.
Wonder how much he got for that?

 

[$hoguN]

Wow he’s certainly turned it around. Before a vast majority wanted him sold and now it’s the opposite.

Well the difference is that he is decent RB and flexible across defence. He was never a RWB which was always the issue

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Ange, on Royal:

Emerson Royal has been linked with a move to the Saudi league, but because of his versatility and how well he's done for you, would it be difficult to let someone like that go?

I am not sure about the incident you're talking about, no one has asked me about Emerson, but he's been hugely important to us. Without Emerson and Ben during this period, we would have really, really struggled. Not just playing at centre-back, but also filling in at right-back at times, left-back at times. He is a great guy to have in the group, he trains hard every day and is a quality player. He is in the Brazil national team so Emerson is an important part of what we're doing.

 

[Twizzle]

well that's that then

 

[Rosco1984]

ironically a better centre back in anges system than he is RB same goes for Davies on the left. Porro and Udogie are truely irreplaceable in the current squad. Lets be honest we all knew the result as soon as ange did his press conference on Thursday.

 

[VoteMe4Prez]

ironically a better centre back in anges system than he is RB same goes for Davies on the left. Porro and Udogie are truely irreplaceable in the current squad. Lets be honest we all knew the result as soon as ange did his press conference on Thursday.

I still thought we would win but it was clear how much they were both missed on Saturday

 

[yido_number1]

ironically a better centre back in anges system than he is RB same goes for Davies on the left. Porro and Udogie are truely irreplaceable in the current squad. Lets be honest we all knew the result as soon as ange did his press conference on Thursday.

They are both downgrades on udogie and porro but that's to be expected when neither have played that position for a while.

Both potential upgrades for the summer but not burning platforms.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Love his attitude and willingness to improve etc but my goodness he had a mare against Wolves and the drop off between Porro and he was way bigger than I thought it would be.

He lost the ball in dangerous areas for turnovers many times and just completely doesn’t suit what Ange wants.

Love the bloke but I’d like us to sell him this summer and replace him with someone more suitable to compete with Porro as it’s such a key position in this system.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

ironically a better centre back in anges system than he is RB same goes for Davies on the left. Porro and Udogie are truely irreplaceable in the current squad. Lets be honest we all knew the result as soon as ange did his press conference on Thursday.

All so very true.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Love his attitude and willingness to improve etc but my goodness he had a mare against Wolves and the drop off between Porro and he was way bigger than I thought it would be.

He lost the ball in dangerous areas for turnovers many times and just completely doesn’t suit what Ange wants.

Love the bloke but I’d like us to sell him this summer and replace him with someone more suitable to compete with Porro as it’s such a key position in this system.

His defensive positioning for their winner was absolutely horrendous.

He just stood in the middle of the pitch and reacted way too late before he came across to engage Neto. The crowd were screaming at him to move across! Had he been proactive and moved across quickly he could have slowed Neto down and broken up the momentum of the attack.

Don’t get me wrong, Bissouma was poor losing the ball and him and the players in and around Gomes were poor for not tracking him properly but Emerson’s reactive defending was so bad.

When you think about Udogie, VdV, Romero, Porro, they are all aggressive, proactive defenders. Emerson in contrast is very reactive, much like Dier etc.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

His defensive positioning for their winner was absolutely horrendous.

He just stood in the middle of the pitch and reacted way too late before he came across to engage Neto. The crowd were screaming at him to move across! Had he been proactive and moved across quickly he could have slowed Neto down and broken up the momentum of the attack.

Don’t get me wrong, Bissouma was poor losing the ball and him and the players in and around Gomes were poor for not tracking him properly but Emerson’s reactive defending was so bad.

When you think about Udogie, VdV, Romero, Porro, they are all aggressive, proactive defenders. Emerson in contrast is very reactive, much like Dier etc.

Completely agree, in a way at least Davies is a bit more aggressive / front foot although still he is also a big drop off from Udogie but with Emerson it’s even more of a drop off because of what you’ve said.

 

[Frank Blank]

ironically a better centre back in anges system than he is RB same goes for Davies on the left. Porro and Udogie are truely irreplaceable in the current squad. Lets be honest we all knew the result as soon as ange did his press conference on Thursday.

Being the optimistic type, I went for a draw.

 

[Rosco1984]

Being the optimistic type, I went for a draw.

I am always optimistic but realistically we only have two fullbacks who can play this system. We can get by with one of the more solid typical old school type fullbacks playing on one side but when you don't have either creative ball playing fullback the whole system falls down. This needs to be the first issue addressed for next season. The back ups don't need to be world beaters but they have to be more accomplished on the ball than Emerson and Davies to keep the fluidity of the system.