Sentences with phrase «a shadow of the player»

Moving further up the field, Riyad Mahrez has been a shadow of the player that was absolutely crucial to Leicester City's title triumph last season, while Nolito hasn't been able to offer the consistency that Guardiola wanted from him at City.

Midfield battler is now just a bit - part player at the Emirates Stadium and a shadow of the player who impressed in his first spell at the north London club.

The Chile international has not started well at Old Trafford since leaving the Gunners, looking a shadow of the player who shone as one of the best in the world in his three and a half years at the Emirates Stadium.

«He looked a shadow of the player he was at Dortmund.

Sanchez May be a one man show but Kocielny is a two man show because the BFG is a shadow of a player without him.

He was merely a shadow of the player he was last season.

When he has featured under compatriot Louis van Gaal he has at times seemed sluggish, at best ring - rusty but at worst playing from memory, a shadow of the player who terrorised opponents two years ago.

Mustafi was solid to start last season, but is a shadow of that player; Bellerin was a great prospect, but has regressed; Kolasinac was a beast pre-season, now looks average, Laca started well, but confidence dipped with no service to complement his strengths and continually being subbed.

It's clear for all to see that Hazard hasn't been at his best this season, with the Belgian looking like a shadow of the player we saw steer the Blues to the Premier League title last season.

Seems that way, Ramsey has been a shadow of the player he was last season.

The 24 - year - old scooped the PFA Player of the Year award last season as he helped Chelsea to a league and cup double (via Daily Mirror), but this term has struggled to recapture that form and has looked a shadow of the player he was.

Sanchez is a shadow of the player he was before last summer, when his head was turned.

Apparently the rumoured price that Arsenal are asking for is said to # 42 Million, but looking at some of his recent performances how many clubs are going to be willing to risk that amount for a 28 year old that doesn't look a shadow of the player he was last year.

Wilshere will be pleased, of course, that England are now back on course to not only qualify but top their group but he must also be a bit pleased that his rival has so far failed to nail down his place and has been a shadow of the player he was for the spuds as they chased Leicester City in the Premier League title race.

The Chilean has been a shadow of the player he was last year and he has scored one solitary goal since his failed transfer to Man City in the summer.

«Ozil looks a shadow of the player that joined Arsenal», the former Sky Sports presenter wrote on his blog.

Kouyate seems a shadow of the player we saw last season, Noble just isn't doing it, and Lanzini isn't yet up to speed.

Di Maria should get another chance and despite starting the campaign off with a flourish, looked a shadow of the player who won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2013 - 14.

He was hard - working in training and in games, often leading the way in off - the - ball pressing but on the ball he was a shadow of the player Southampton became accustomed to unleashing.

Ronaldo's petulance when not being able to score has been well documented, while Gareth Bale looks like a shadow of the player who was signed for a world record transfer fee from Tottenham in 2013.

It was clear they were just a shadow of the players that became household names across the footballing world, but Chelsea signed them anyway.

Whatever the reasons, he is a shadow of the player who frightened the life out of teams in his first year at the Bridge.

he looks a shadow of the player he was, he seemed to stroll around the pitch on Sunday, and to me his thoughts are definitely elsewhere.Some people say he is worried about his continuous hamstring problems, but I am not so sure.We all know he wants to go back to Barca, but they are heavily in debt and don't have ready cash to pay up front.Cesc, is and has never been vocal, nor is he a leader in the sense Adams or Viera were.Do we have a player who doesn't really want to be at the Arsenal, as surely this saga shouldn't go on into next season.So much of our play goes through him and I am wondering if that is such a good idea anymore.Any thoughts?

Since his first season at Watford three years ago, he has looked a shadow of the player who burst onto the scene at Vicarage Road.

Whilst Paddy Kenny, Paul Green, David Norris and Jason Pearce have been relatively successful, Rodolph Austin is a shadow of the player we saw in August and September, although his fitness is of course a major issue on that front.

DF Sime Vrsaljko, 5 — Did what was needed at the back but is a shadow of the player he was before injury last season.

Scott Dann looks a shadow of the player who formed such a formidable partnership with Roger Johnson for Birmingham, and while Grant Hanley showed promise at times (and conjured up a winner at Old Trafford), at others he looked more at sea than a cruise ship.

He has been the shadow of a player he once was for two or three seasons now.

Think of them as the ghostly shadows of players in parallel dimensions for now.

Sure you can play against the shadow of another player during Toad Rally, but that's not the Mario way of multiplayer.

Situated in a world where stepping into the shadows will instantly kill you, the player must follow an orb of light through a deteriorating world, the darkness is so dangerous that even stepping in the shadow of another player will kill you instantly.

Not exact matches

This Platonic mode of explanation (if the mature Plato did sanction such an approach) seems as misguided as an attempt to explain the motions of football players by reference to the «coherence» or «formal possibility» of the interactions of their shadows.

He just wanted an opportunity to shine on his own, and not in the shadow of one of the greatest basketball players ever.

Muff your right he was on the bench most of the time in the shadow of many players but at Arsenal his the biges dickes if you know what i mean

He hides in the shadows of other players rather than taking the responsibility on himself, which he should be doing now as a senior player, it is his mentality that holds him back.

Ospina has barely started this term Bellerin is 3rd choice Coque is 4th choice Ramsey is a shadow of last seasons player Mertz is struggling Kos has an archilles issue Monreal is 2nd choice Ox has run a lot but has little end product Sanchez did not score Giroud has previously struggled v the big teams.

Herewith, other players — all of whom are in the Hall of Fame or willbe — who have performed key roles in the shadow of a superstar.

Ramsey on the right means we play very narrow and I think his moments of good work has shadowed his faults out on the right, he has left the RB exposed multiple times and doesn't have the pace to get past players like a winger should.

He'll either be the most awesomely weird player in his early 30s or a sad shadow of his former self.

«He's not the same Tony that I knew,» says Allen's mother, Ella, nor is he the same player who joined coach Eddie Sutton's program with little fanfare, having toiled in the shadows of more publicized teammates at Chicago's Crane Tech High (Georgia Tech's Will Bynum) and in junior college (Kentucky's Antwain Barbour).

@ times like this I wonder wat players like Iwobi especially Iwobi n some others r doing in a team like Arsenal, then suddenly realize d team is a shadow oh I mean a ghost of it's self.

Keep the pressure off him and let him continue growing as a player in the shadow of Alexis for another year or 2, Iwobi has done better on the left and he is an ideal age to take over from Alexis when he gets over 30... Letting him physically mature for a couple more years could make him resistant to injuries which would be rare for us lol.

«Jack's an unbelievable player — probably one of England's most talented players, and one of our most talented players in the squad without a shadow of a doubt,» Arter said.

2 players, who are just shadows of their potential, and we are going to loose them for small fees.

Joey Votto could do a whole lot of things with another $ 200 million — well, more realistically, his grandchildren could — but if he had to show up to work every day for the next eight years of his life as a shadow of himself, his salary a constant reminder of the player he used to be, it would wear on him like it would any of us, regardless of how many zeroes are on those checks.

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer for a variety of reasons, most importantly because over the years our once vaunted «beautiful» style of play has become a shadow of it's former self, only to be replaced by a less than stellar «plug and play» mentality where players play out of position and adjustments / substitutions are rarely forthcoming before the 75th minute... if you look at our current players, very few would make sense in the traditional Wengerian system... at present, we don't have the personnel to move the ball quickly from deep - lying position, efficient one touch midfielders that can make the necessary through balls or the disciplined and pacey forwards to stretch defences into wide positions, without the aid of the backs coming up into the final 3rd, so that we can attack the defensive lanes in the same clinical fashion we did years ago... on this current squad, we have only 1 central defender on staf, Mustafi, who seems to have any prowess in the offensive zone or who can even pass two zones through so that we can advance play quickly out of our own end (I have seen some inklings that suggest Holding might have some offensive qualities but too early to tell)... unfortunately Mustafi has a tendency to get himself in trouble when he gets overly aggressive on the ball... from our backs out wide, we've seen pace from the likes of Bellerin and Gibbs and the spirited albeit offensively stunted play of Monreal, but none of these players possess the skill - set required in the offensive zone for the new Wenger scheme which requires deft touches, timely runs to the baseline and consistent crossing, especially when Giroud was playing and his ratio of scored goals per clear chances was relatively low (better last year though)... obviously I like Bellerin's future prospects, as you can't teach pace, but I do worry that he regressed last season, which was obvious to Wenger because there was no way he would have used Ox as the right side wing - back so often knowing that Barcelona could come calling in the off - season, if he thought otherwise... as for our midfielders, not a single one, minus the more confident Xhaka I watched played for the Swiss national team a couple years ago, who truly makes sense under the traditional Wenger model... Ramsey holds onto the ball too long, gives the ball away cheaply far too often and abandons his defensive responsibilities on a regular basis (doesn't score enough recently to justify): that being said, I've always thought he does possess a little something special, unfortunately he thinks so too... Xhaka is a little too slow to ever boss the midfield and he tends to telegraph his one true strength, his long ball play: although I must admit he did get a bit better during some points in the latter part of last season... it always made me wonder why whenever he played with Coq Wenger always seemed to play Francis in a more advanced role on the pitch... as for Coq, he is way too reckless at the wrong times and has exhibited little offensive prowess yet finds himself in and around the box far too often... let's face it Wenger was ready to throw him in the trash heap when injuries forced him to use Francis and then he had the nerve to act like this was all part of a bigger Wenger constructed plan... he like Ramsey, Xhaka and Elneny don't offer the skills necessary to satisfy the quick transitory nature of our old offensive scheme or the stout defensive mindset needed to protect the defensive zone so that our offensive players can remain aggressive in the final third... on the front end, we have Ozil, a player of immense skill but stunted by his physical demeanor that tends to offend, the fact that he's been played out of position far too many times since arriving and that the players in front of him, minus Sanchez, make little to no sense considering what he has to offer (especially Giroud); just think about the quick counter-attack offence in Real or the space and protection he receives in the German National team's midfield, where teams couldn't afford to focus too heavily on one individual... this player was a passing «specialist» long before he arrived in North London, so only an arrogant or ignorant individual would try to reinvent the wheel and / or not surround such a talent with the necessary components... in regards to Ox, Walcott and Welbeck, although they all possess serious talents I see them in large part as headless chickens who are on the injury table too much, lack the necessary first - touch and / or lack the finishing flair to warrant their inclusion in a regular starting eleven; I would say that, of the 3, Ox showed the most upside once we went to a back 3, but even he became a bit too consumed by his pending contract talks before the season ended and that concerned me a bit... if I had to choose one of those 3 players to stay on it would be Ox due to his potential as a plausible alternative to Bellerin in that wing - back position should we continue to use that formation... in Sanchez, we get one of the most committed skill players we've seen on this squad for some years but that could all change soon, if it hasn't already of course... strangely enough, even he doesn't make sense given the constructs of the original Wenger offensive model because he holds onto the ball too long and he will give the ball up a little too often in the offensive zone... a fact that is largely forgotten due to his infectious energy and the fact that the numbers he has achieved seem to justify the means... finally, and in many ways most crucially, Giroud, there is nothing about this team or the offensive system that Wenger has traditionally employed that would even suggest such a player would make sense as a starter... too slow, too inefficient and way too easily dispossessed... once again, I think he has some special skills and, at times, has showed some world - class qualities but he's lack of mobility is an albatross around the necks of our offence... so when you ask who would be our best starting 11, I don't have a clue because of the 5 or 6 players that truly deserve a place in this side, 1 just arrived, 3 aren't under contract beyond 2018 and the other was just sold to Juve... man, this is theraputic because following this team is like an addiction to heroin without the benefits

Great respect for Gilberto Silva as a player but he is wrong in his support of his old boss who is but a shadow of his former self and is entirely responsible for the decline of AFC.

How can such a non productive, bone idle, falling over when a shadow comes near him, injury prone, huge unearned waged player ever be kept at a top club so long, is one of lifes mysteries to me and many of my Arsenal friends, plus all my family.

He was for while in the shadow of the best player in the world Messi now its must be like his been freed from his ball and chain and enjoying his football,

Nobody wanted to see Verm in the starting lineup last year because he was a shadow of his former self as an Arsenal player.