FanPost

Ugly duckling - being just ,,shick" is not enough for a top striker.

And no one can argue that he knows how to be shick with the ball on his left foot, at times.

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Patrik is certainly what I would call ,,uncertain" type of striker. He´s no prima punta, yet has attributes for one to become. Second striker is the one who cannot physically play prima punta in traditional way, but it kind of fits his mold. He´s no winger, yet he loves to drift wide.

This has two possible scenarios:


First one - he ,,develop" into all-round striker who has no clear strength - in other words average. Some finesse, ballet style moving, but nothing tearing the defences apart. Nothing Roma needs so much.


Second one - he puts the work in and staff puts the work in too to help him develop areas where he´ s lacking:

  1. Physical strength/stability and the use of it
  2. Willingness to undergo every duel possible
  3. Straightforwardness with the ball
  4. Not thinking but acting instinctively, being composed and ready, concentrated most most of the time.

And in result he can become a killer.


I wouldn´t be afraid of some veteran mentoring. Edin is not the one providing it. No that thinking and detail-obsessed type in my eyes.

He also needs to beef up that´s for sure, at least 5 kilos, gradually of course.


He´s not consistent throughout the match, but we already know that:

  • He knows how to push hard, do the pressing work and put a lot of sprints - he consistently show this in NT.
  • He can win a header, but main problem is he can´t win hard balls, as he often doesn´t even try to win them - he should learn how to push his opponent to make mistake if he himself doesn´t have real chance to win the ball.
  • Ball and players around him has to move. It´s important being able to get and cover the ball with back to the net, but everytime teammates settle doing nothing but this - as we tend to with Džeko on the field - he will naturally start drifting away from central position. With Patrik on the field the play is just more fluid, which should only get better and it´s right so. No offence to Edin but the squad plays little bit differently with him. More rigidly. And it´s even more visible when he´s off, because he loses on his best sides most. Closed defences has to be unlocked through movement, changing positions and constant passing. Not by pushing it to already heavy situation of CF holding two defenders on him and receiving the ball while everyone else is waiting what will he do. This often ends with ball loss, similarly to analogy with more mobile approach, because either way, to break such a defence one has to risk. All attacking players are obliged to risk. And the losses are inevitable. It´s all or nothing. So while it seems better to send the balls to anchor in our situation, we see that it doesn´t really work and when we have Edin on, others just get rid of responsibility and hand on the ball up. It would be nice for Edin to realise, that if he starts moving more, others have another options to play and he has a bigger chance to receive.
  • He can trick and feint opponent, but often ends in doing redundant move. He has to get sharper, more efficient. I prefer successful simple move over beauty ending with defender having the ball.
  • He can roam around D-line and is quick enough to run away.
  • He can pull the perfect final pass, if there is a proper movement from others, which makes him available for inter-play, but than he has to be more precise when risk is not desirable.

If we combine these attributes, he has it all to be a very good striker that can convert team´s effort into goals scored and help the team win on both sides of the field.


What´s really limiting him now?

  1. Absence of cold-blooded approach born from self-confidence. Something he has shown last match against Slovakia. Something that would have made him having 5 goals now and 4-5 last season.
  2. He´s not doing the things he do diligently throughout all minutes he´s on the field. One duel fought, all must be fought through. Went for header? Just try them all. Offering himself but no response from midfield? Never stop doing this. He can´t allow himself to disappear throughout the match, he has to learn how to grind 0-90 or whatever minute he ran out of gas.

Has he got much time for such a development? I don´t think so.

But we still have a theoretical luxury of starting Edin before he fades away to the state of not being starter anymore, which shouldn´t really come sooner than in 2020. Why theoretically? Because we all know his form right now and also we know he tends to disappear for sections of season, just as many others, it´s just bigger overall pain when it happens to him. But we should believe in him turning it for the good.


Current situation in NT really helps him, as he´s no nr. 1 striker after Krmencik got ACL cursed, so we can suppose until the end of season he´s a guaranteed striker there. The squad believes in him and he obviously feels better with compatriots, which is translated into his actions on the field. He feels the responsibility for result, as the squad is far worse than Roma´s one, so he´s not afraid, surprisingly, under pressure. He has to carry this over to the club. Also, under new coach Silhavy we play much better defensively, means he has to work hard to help defending and he has no problem with it. We play on counters pre-dominantly, but also last four matches we played in 4-2-3-1 with similar types upfront, so I expect him to get better for Roma too.


In ideal world, Patrik´s game time will be close to equal the Edin´s next year, with becoming starter in season 2020/2021. Not only because we have to pay another 20 mil for him in February 2020, but because we can´t rely on an aging striker with certain characteristics only.


Also because we can´t really allow ourselves to buy a player for such a money and not do everything for developing him. No one will pay 70+ millions for him until he´s starter banging dozens of goals, and I guess neither Monchi, nor Palotta wants to be minus 30 mil on him. At the same time, if he develops as should be expected, club must hold onto him as long as they can. Roma still won´t be able to buy top striker for big money in upcoming years. We had no chance to get Dybalas or Higuains, because they just chose different clubs, even if we somehow could have paid the 40mil tag they had once. We can either buy aging one for bargain price and hoping he will keep the stability, or breed one. Both are gambles but that´s what Roma is on for last ten or so years and will be for some more.


If Patrik gets continually more minutes from the coach, and if he works 150% on getting better by himself, this risk will pay off. He clearly has the potential of scoring 20s for streak of seasons.


And it would be nice to have one non-Roman developed-for-years great player, because there were not many of them over the last 20 years. Majority just came already solid and got better (Radja), or broke through in a year and go (Alisson and it´s different with keepers). But tell me about one player bought as a 20-21y old defeating the odds of all young prodigies, finally developing into great player staying here. Maybe Mira it is, but he was already considered as an established from Lyon.


I have a strong belief that despite current scepticism, Patrik Schick will pay off the price everybody keeps pointing on.


And belief is what makes us fools loving Roma. Belief for better tomorrows, belief for next Ago, Giannini or Totti, belief for La Magica over shady titles.


I believe.