Diego Laxalt!

His mother should have called him Diego Laxative...

 

How hard is it to win a tackle and pass forward to a player or into funking space, and why is any professional football player who bombs forward unable to cross a funking ball.
Good at tackling and that is it, he's not the answer.

 

It was what everyone said. He started good, then notice everything around him, the French guys trying to force a transfer, the manager pals playing no matter what, the most unprofessional coaching of European top tier football, and didn't take long for him to down his tools and become like the others. Like, translate these conditions to your job, whatever that is. Wouldn't you do the same? I would.

We could put almost anyone in this team just to watch him regress week by week.

 

Taylor is the better option, which is mad.

As said before, Laxalt is a good 1v1 defender. But positionally he doesn’t have a clue, he’s dreadful going forward because he can’t cross a ball, some of his touches are baffling as well.

Not worth anything near £7m or whatever fee was getting thrown about.

 

Love the guy but the faults and negatives are piling up with him, dunno if he's just catching whatever is going about with the club this season (covid aside obvzzzz)

 

When we signed him and he started he looked good. Sharp, fit strong aggressive

I made a ‘joke’ of wait and see now this will be a good test of our club to see if he keeps this or starts to look like the others in a few weeks

sadly, it’s come true. Looks weak, loss of confidence not as fit strong aggressive
There’s something badly wrong in the coaching

 

Think people need to remember the likes of him,duffy etc who come on loan ,cheap ,do so because they are not the best of players.

We are not a major attracation in world football and the players that come here are usually average,or cant get a game at their own clubs(because their not good enough).

We will very rarely get quality with the budget we operate with,having said that imo Laxalt is a step above your average * out there.Ye he could improve with his crossing but i think with a decent manager and a decent run in a team he could improve massively.

I think he would stroll into any other team in scotland, and that alone should tell us hes good enough for us albeit with the room for improvement.

 

Think there's more wrong here than simply bad coaching on our part. The guy's positioning is very poor, you don't unlearn that in a few months. Taylor is as good an option, if not better. We need someone new in the summer.

 

I remember reading he started out as a CM and as typically happens when you move players about even at youth team level you often find they lack that knowledge of where they should be. It often takes a proper good player to look comfortable in a range of positions and look natural.

It doesn’t surprise me Laxalt was a CM as I could see him with his energy snapping about and covering across but his use of the ball is so poor probably hence why he got moved out of that position.

I know he played at a World Cup at left back etc but as others have said he never seems to be on the right side of his man or aware of space behind him. If it wasn’t for his work rate and recovery pace it would be even worse. Mind you our defence is totally shambolic which doesn’t help either.

If we pay anything like £7m for him it would be a disgrace. In fact I can’t see us spending £7m on anyone this next season being honest.

 

He's a terrible 1 v 1 defender.

Last night he was 1 v 1 against McGinn who has no real pace or trickery yet ended up with his legs fully stretched at either side pushing him down. All he has to do is stand the guy up and make him look inside or back for a pass.

He has a hard on for trying to win the ball at the first opportunity every time, which is a terrible trait for a defender, as clever opponents just play triangles and pop it into the space he's vacated.

He gives 100% commitment but he's nowhere near good enough, that's the long and short of it.

 

He made an * of it for the free kick that led to the goal, but he’s in no way a terrible 1v1 defender.

He’s a good tackler and doesn’t often let players get past him. Positionally, he’s poor. But when it comes to 1v1’s he’s usually solid.

 

Being a good 1 v 1 defender is all about using your brain, he doesn't do that at all. He is on constant auto-pilot of running directly to the ball with no thought of how likely he is to win it or what danger he is leaving behind.

He constantly commits himself to challenges and 1 in 4 he will win and come away with the ball but the best full backs in the world know when to press into space to close down the man and other times when to press on the ball to intercept, Laxalt doesn't.

Last night wasn't the first cheap foul he's given in danger areas, knowing that we're honking at set pieces. He's been a massive disappointment from a promising start.

 

We've made him worse.

 

I agree he doesn’t use his brain enough, but I maintain he’s a good 1v1 defender. I’m talking about duels, getting in to intercept a pass, forcing a player wide etc.

I understand it may have been a bit of a freak game but that performance against Milan (I think) where he had like a record number of tackles/interceptions in a Europa League game was him at his best. Still poor going forward, but he just didn’t get beaten all night.

He’s the sort of guy who makes tackles you don’t expect - stretching his leg round someone’s body to flick it away. Octopus like.

Ultimately though, he’s not good enough as an all round player for the money Milan would want. A full back at Celtic has to be able to contribute going forward.

 

Good player that is slowly regressing with every passing game. This is what happens when you move from Milan coaches to Lennon.

 

Would a forward thinking more progressive coach make a difference ? I highly doubt it because surely he was being better coached at Milan than these fekkin diddies we have .

 

He looked the deal when he first came in, really dynamic, its like we coached that out of him. Same as Jerry, last season he was on fire attacking wise, again its like someone has said to chill the beans kid, just go sideways and backwards when ya get to the 18yard line.

 

Laxalt may have his critics but at least he's putting in 100% effort and never hides which he showed again today. For a guy who has just come from AC Milan it would have been very easy for him to lose all motivation after the * show he's been thrown into. Depending on the price tag I wouldnt be against signing him on a permanent deal.

 

Avoid. Giving 100% is great but if the ability isn’t there then it’s ultimately not enough.

Constantly out of position. Offers nothing in the attacking third.