Traore
- Thread starter Ebor
- Start date
HiredGun123
Well-known member
Probably just there to make the numbers up.
He’s only had 5 caps anyway
He’s only had 5 caps anyway
TheYorkshireTerrier
Well-known member
Spain are the definition of not having a plan B, only they do actually have that in Adama.
I can see them finishing bottom of the group and I hope they do, so boring to watch.
I can see them finishing bottom of the group and I hope they do, so boring to watch.
red_harrington
Well-known member
He hasn't had a target man (Jiminez) for much of the season. So many times he gets a cross in.... nobody there to get on the end of it.
I'd be anonymous too if I worked hard for no reason, I mean why bother?
With Spain you'd think he would have something to prove. I'd be knocking on Enrique's door demanding a game if I were him.
TheWolfman
Well-known member
I cant see any top manager rating him, hes a player who rarely does anything right if he didnt play for us no one would care.
Although he gets u off your seat has done nothing throughout his career lucky spain have such a poor squad.
LowMoorBoro
Well-known member
He doesn’t really fit into their passing game, which the manager seems reluctant to move away from even if they are struggling to create chances late in the game.
I really don’t think he is in a position to do that.
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret
Well-known member
Its a crime against football. It's like buying a Picasso and then sticking it in your attic.
Frozen Horse
Well-known member
I think you'd be on the next flight home while pondering the question "who the f do you think you are?"
Unproven rookies don't demand a game.
bostonboro
Well-known member
He's not even done that. Spain have only taken 23 players when they could have 26.
LE will get pelters for that and not taking any plyers from Real Madrid
red_harrington
Well-known member
You never know, Enrique might like the cut of his jib
At 25 he's a Premiership regular - hardly an unproven rookie
Captain_Riverside
New member
From The Athletic…
Adama Traore is the ultimate distraction technique – Spain should pay attention
By Tim Spiers Jun 21, 2021
Adama Traore can’t get a kick for Spain at the Euros? Wow, they must have a bloody good team.
Erm, well, not so far. In fact, Spain have been one of the biggest disappointments, depending on your expectations of them going into the tournament. In theory, they should probably be walking a group containing Sweden, Poland and Slovakia but, having scored only one goal and drawn twice, they go into Wednesday’s decider against the latter in third place and at risk of being deeply embarrassed by an early exit.
So where’s Traore, the shimmering Spanish Adonis?
Luis Enrique has played six forwards so far. Against Sweden, he deployed a front three of Alvaro Morata, with Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo either side, then Gerard Moreno replaced Torres for the Poland draw. He’s changed all three forwards during both games, also using Mikel Oyarzabal and Pablo Sarabia.
As our Spanish football writer Dermot Corrigan wrote after the Poland game, Enrique’s changes “made no appreciable difference” to Spain’s prospects of finding a winner, with their forward line lacking imagination and decisiveness.
Now, if there’s one thing Traore doesn’t lack, it’s imagination. And if there’s another he doesn’t lack, it’s decisiveness.
Spain looked predictable. They lacked urgency. Traore is just about the most unpredictable and urgent footballer you could ever lay eyes on.
Perhaps an explanation for his absence is that overall in their two games, finishing has been more of an issue than chance creation. Their xG for the tournament is 5.83 but they’ve scored just once.
Traore’s probably not going to score you a goal (only three in 41 games for Wolves in all competitions in 2020-21). That’s never been his strongest suit, as much as Wolves have tried to coax him into becoming a goal machine.
You may also point to his low assist numbers last season (just three and an expected assist figure of 3.82) but that doesn’t tell the whole story — far from it. He laid on a procession of opportunities for goal-shy team-mates: open goals (Morgan Gibbs-White against Brighton and Pedro Neto versus Leicester), free headers in the six-yard box (Leander Dendoncker at Arsenal and Owen Otasowie at Brighton) and countless balls across the face of goal where no striker took a gamble with a late run.
Only four players in the Premier League created more than Traore’s 55 chances from open play: Bruno Fernandes, Jack Grealish, Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne. Not bad company.
He’s done it for Spain, too. Ten minutes into his debut against Portugal last year, he was roasting a left-back (in this case his team-mate Nelson Semedo — awks) and heading for the byline, something he does every single time he plays football.
Olmo should have scored but placed his shot too close to Rui Patricio.
A few minutes later, The Athletic’s Premier League player of the season Ruben Dias got the Traore treatment, this time from a standing start.
Dias knows what Traore’s trying to do (he seldom cuts inside onto his left foot) but can’t stop him getting half a yard to drill the ball across goal.
“Adama has been Adama in his purest form,” Enrique said after the game. “That is what we want him to be, with his ability to beat opponents. He has played a killer pass to Dani Olmo that did not lead to a goal.
“With one player, they will not be able to stop him. They are going to have to use two players.”
In the Spanish press, Marca dubbed Traore as “amazing” and said there was no player like him that Spain could call upon. AS’s front page ran with a full-length picture of Traore with the words “Spain has muscles”.
Two games later, he was their best performer during a shock defeat by Ukraine. In typical Traore fashion, he reached the byline on several occasions.
This led to one of Spain’s best chances when the ball was teed up for Sergio Canales.
“It was a game of clear control of us. With Adama Traore, we have generated chances with his overlap,” Enrique said.
Perhaps his style counts against him. He’s not exactly a classic Spanish player. There’s nothing deft about Traore.
You can guarantee he’ll beat just about anybody in a one-v-one situation but Spain’s style, built on methodical build-up and lack of quick switches to the flanks, doesn’t lend itself to isolating individual defenders. It’s not a style of play that Traore fits into. Getting chalk on your boots for 90 minutes, sprinting to the line and sticking a cross over for the big man? No, not Spain.
It’s been an issue at Wolves, too; figuring out his best position, his most effective role, how his team-mates should help get the best from him.
Shortly before his departure as Wolves boss, Nuno Espirito Santo spoke of his desire for Traore to play more centrally after he’d scored from near the penalty spot against Brighton.
“We’re used to seeing Adama wide with one-v-ones,” he said. “He was inside the box, made a fantastic combination and a one-touch finish, like a striker. This is what we want: to try and take Adama to different places inside the pitch and produce different actions because his impact can be fantastic.
“Adama started the season as a right full-back. He played on the left, on the right, he played as a striker. We’re talking about all these situations and positions; being versatile enough to occupy.
“When he arrived (at Wolves), he played on the right, wide open. Sometimes it seemed he was away from the game.
“He doesn’t rest, he’s a workaholic — not only in training. He takes care of his body, he loves football, he sees matches, he is really focused and determined to become better. He’s really determined. It’s always been there since day one. Adama gives everything he has for us. He’s unique.”
The key quote there is “sometimes it seemed he was away from the game” and yes, sometimes it does feel like Traore is playing a different game to those around him. He’s all linear, all straight lines. He tries to generate that perfect assist by himself. Combinations with team-mates aren’t his thing. Again, not Spain’s way. But it still doesn’t quite explain why he hasn’t at least been thrown on for the closing stages of two games when Spain have been chasing a winner.
Causing chaos, creating confusion, distracting defenders (teams visiting Molineux almost always put two players on him, sometimes three), disrupting shapes and back lines — that’s Traore’s game. He’s the ultimate distraction technique. Left-backs have nightmares about facing him. In 2018-19, almost 30 players were booked for fouling him.
As Nuno said, he is unique. A couple of players can perhaps be compared to him — most commonly, Allan Saint-Maximin – but for pure explosiveness and pace, no one really comes close.
So will Traore see any action at the Euros and if so, where? The most obvious spot is on the right of Spain’s front three, where Torres started the first game and Moreno the second. Or if Enrique goes rogue with a 3-5-2 he could play at wing-back and that could release Marcos Llorente into midfield, instead of out of position at right-back in a four.
But that seems unlikely given the manager’s pre-tournament quotes in response to a question about whether it was a good idea to have tactical flexibility.
“I’m convinced you need to know the system you play perfectly,” he said, perhaps giving another club as to Traore’s absence. “Better to know one inside out, than have three options you know less well.
Traore has been talked about in Spain as someone who could change the team’s approach, but it’s not exactly been a Jack Grealish/Jadon Sancho-type clamour.
Maybe he’s just too different? A human express train in a team of ballerinas.
But you know that. I know that. Luis Enrique knows that. Only he knows why he hasn’t unleashed one of the most exciting players in European football on Euro 2020. The only logical conclusion? There’s a shortage of baby oil in Spain.
Frozen Horse
Well-known member
I meant at international level: a recent call up and 5 caps hardly make him an established member of the squad.
HundredRoom
Well-known member
Can't believe there are still some left in that camp. I'm so disappointed he is not getting a game. The most exciting player to ever wear a Boro shirt. apart from maybe one. the obvious one.
Even more disappointing in that this is a very disappointing Spanish team. Maybe he should have chosen Mali and the African Nations cup.
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret
Well-known member
I'm hoping Luis Enrique gets the sack before the third match and we see Tony Pulis on the Spanish bench. "He's never been relegated" reads the headline in marca.
