Dont get me wrong, I havent made a final opinion on him. I'm merely saying that he has looked very very average so far.
Admittedly its a new league and admittedly he has been injured for a long while, however even given those things , for £20 million quid, I expect to at least see the odd flash of £20million.
Obviously it takes time to adjust and get fit, but even so I would expect to see something that shows the value, even if its only 4 or 5 high quality passes during a game, or 1 mazey run past defenders, even just a few minutes worth highlighting the potential 20 million quality. A hint that theres a 20 mil player just awaiting fitness.
But I havent seen that...not even close.
Its not even the mazey runs, generally a half decent player can ping the ball around no matter where he is on earth, a ball is a ball and a pitch is a pitch, when not under pressure he's underhitting passes constantly, and overhitting.
I remember his first sub appearances loads of people were praising him for one pass he dinged 50 yards and someone ran onto, he just knocked it into space, he did another one 5 mins later that was useless, but that was ignored.
So far his passing has been poor, very poor, he seems quite easy to push off the ball, though thats something that could be not sure what players, nor himself can get away with so he's holding back. He's seems easily pressured though, not hugely quick to play forwards and for someone probably looking to prove himself and make a difference, not very busy at all when on the pitch, just kind of waiting for the ball to come to him, just to give it away.
Ronaldo in his first games wasn't brilliant, but you could instantly see the "signs" there was something there, same with Fabregas, for £20mil + (how much was he exactly?) theres been no signs that even come close to hinting he might be worth that much.
THe one key thing we should all have learned tonight is that commentary for these games when sky isn't involved is absymal. The city game was quite hilarious, I'm not sure Boro had a shot on target in the first half, but apparently they dominated and pressured City all over, despite half the city team today having barely played with at least 3 completely not match fit players.
Barca drew this evening aswell in a game that should have probably seen a penalty or two go to Valencia, superb shot by Henry which Pedro knocked the rebound in from.
