Somewhere in between, I suppose. Whatever his key issue truly was/is, no one managed to help him get past it. Maybe that manager exists, maybe not; regardless, he never was able to put everything together.
That’s simply not a certainty, though, is it. Just because he never found the right mentorship to truly foster his talent doesn’t mean such mentorship is plainly non-existent.
I think it just shows how massively overlooked the mental aspect of the game is.
I don't buy that tbh. He was at La masia, and has been around a fair few top level clubs. I don't think it was the top level professional clubs that were the issue
I guess he's just unlucky that every coach he's ever worked with hasn't managed it then
He's been at a variety of teams at the top level, both with club and country, with a wide range of styles of play and he's never really shown a massive improvement in the weakest parts of his game. There's always the tiniest hope it could be discovered until he's been coached by every individual in the world but given the top level education he's had it seems hugely unlikely.
I'd argue Wilson & Iwobi would hurt a team more than traore
Like buying a lottery ticket but understanding probability. You knew he was most likely feck it up, but very very occasionally he didn't and that was magical
I do find people like Murray and Lambert interesting though - both ended up being perfectly capable Premier League players in the twilight of their careers. You wonder if they'd had a bit more mobility about them earlier on would they have stood out more when English football was more blinkered to physical traits? Did the game just adapt to suit them better as they got older? Did they become more mentally astute as they matured and learn to maximize their strengths or did they just get lucky with the right managers at the right time to give them a prolonged purple patch?I'd argue Wilson & Iwobi would hurt a team more than traore
For me, it's the fact that traore played top flight football based purely on physical & dribbling attributes alone, and then wondering what he would have been like if he was an actual footballer.
I'm never going to wonder what glenn Murray would have been like with pace because that's boring
But weirdly his arguable zenith was a game he played most of as a quasi-defender.
But weirdly his arguable zenith was a game he played most of as a quasi-defender.
I’m no tactical genius but to have Traore do exactly what you’ve described would have terrified every CH in the league. The fact it was only ever done half a dozen times has always been a mystery to meHe'd been moved up front by the time he scored though
One of Lage's very rare good moves was to have him driving in from the left so that by default he ended up in central areas where he was more likely to do some damage. Soon abandoned that though and had him attacking corner flags again.
I’ve played with and against players that have had good professional careers and I have never really worked out why some did and others didn’t.
The most promising of Traore false dawns, must have had more 1 on 1s in the first few games that season that the rest of his Wolves career to date. Looked like the message had finally got through that if he started running before he even had the ball then he was virtually unstoppable, if could've improved his finished then there was legs for something really exciting but then it all came crashing back to reality.He'd been moved up front by the time he scored though
One of Lage's very rare good moves was to have him driving in from the left so that by default he ended up in central areas where he was more likely to do some damage. Soon abandoned that though and had him attacking corner flags again.
