TheBigToePunt
Member
- Country
England
... also with no balance (He did make a bunch of mistakes, but also wasn't hiding. He was trying to get on the ball as much as possible and makes stuff happen).
He's a experienced Spanish international, so clearly isn't 'sh1t'.
Pino not only tries to get on the ball, he often succeeds. Then very frequently makes a horrible mess of even the simplest final ball, or loses it unnecessarily and exposes us to a counter attack. Then he'll immediately do it all over again.
In that regard its interesting to compare him to Johnson, who seems to hide from the game entirely. Perhaps the most anonymous player we have had for years. In that sense I can see why one might give Pino more credit than Johnson. I'm not sure it is working that way for me, though.
I suppose I still don't know whether Johnson is a terrible footballer, or actually just one who could come to life when given a different job in a different system by a different manager. His total lack of involvement somehow protects him from assessment. Its like he remains an unknown quantity, despite playing every week.
Whereas with Pino, I feel like we can already see how bad he is because he goes out of his way to show us.
Happy to accept that new players may need time, especially when they are young men moving to a new country, new place of work, new league, new manager, all for the first time. I would love to see him do well. I certainly wouldn't get on his back out loud at Selhurst during a game, especially as he does seem to be trying. Still, the evidence of my own eyes can't be ignored.
Hopefully he is not s***, just playing like it at the moment.