Gross was the first name on Potter’s team sheet - you said so yourself. The genius of playing six midfielders was, in reality, a throw of the dice to halt an appalling run of results. Bissouma was holding in the 0-3 defeat to Burnley that started it, a game as poor as any under RDZ or FH.First man on GPs lineup once he returned from the shoulder injury that troubled him back in 19/20. CH had played him in a slightly more attacking role, but Potter put him as DMC and he immediately made the place his after a MoM display against Palace in December '19.
Wonder why no one has backed up their claims about Baleba being better than Brighton-Biss statistically?Maybe one of those "doesn't matter, I trust my own eyes" times. Fair enough. But its hard to take seriously when Biss in his Brighton days outperformed anything Caicedo, Mac Allister or Baleba did in nearly every single defensive metric.
He's a world class ball winner when at his best and if there's any chance getting him in, we should try to do anything it takes.
Baleba can become equally good, but he's some way off and also not someone we can build our midfield around since we're not going to be able to keep him. Bringing in a 28-year-old Biss for 5 years would solve a lot of headaches for a long time. Like a Veltman signing.
Baleba is better when it comes to creating chances though. In terms of quality and abilities I think he's more comparable to Dale Stephens, great ball winner and playmaker but not topping any charts in any category (yet).
Yes, his defensive stats, particularly tackling and interceptions were good, but, as I said, he had the worst shooting stats in the squad and thought he could score from 35 yards out at will.
A good player and crowd favourite at the time but Gross was more important and Caicedo simply better. Mwepu could have been had it not been for a tragic illness and Baleba will end up better all round than Biss, though he’s not there yet.