Paulo Bernardo

His positional sense allows him to affect the game. And is always involved.. he picks up so many 2nd balls..

 

You have to interpret statistics, though. By most of the stats you quote, Scales is a more technical player than Hatate. Of course, that's an extreme example; but it's still true that Engels and Bernardo are quite different players who do somewhat different things on the pitch. Look, let me put my money where my mouth is: unless he gets a bad injury, I predict Engels will be pulling off things Bernardo isn't capable of by this time next year.

Engels usually has a good workrate and I admit he runs a lot, so I'm not saying his workrate is poor; but there have been a few times he's been slow to apply pressure. One of those times led to a goal (against Aberdeen). I've never seen Bernardo give less than 110% in the press or in defensive tracking.

Bernardo is a really good player with a lot of potential. I actually really like him. I just can't agree that he is great technically.

 

Thats not really true either. Hatate would come out on top of Scales in certain stats, such as assists, key passes, passes into the final third, shots on target, conversion rate.
You could split it into positions also, of which Engels and Bernardo play the same position. And domestically Bernardo comes out of nearly all of them but one.

Well mate iv seen Bernardo give a few performances this season iv not yet seen Engels achieve. Rangers at home being a standout. Engels might in the long term. Im not writing him off, but im far from blown away with what iv seen so far and he isnt near as good technically as you are making out.

 

That's not really the point. It was an extreme example of how statistics have to be interpreted. There are lots of reasons why Beranardo might have some better stats: the areas they get the majority of their touches might be (are) different and and in slightly different situations, attention from opposition players aware of Engels' threat, starting games versus coming on as a sub, different levels of risk-taking, Bernardo's exceptional awareness compensating for his (IMO- I know you don't agree) average technique. There has to be interpretation. I don't know what source you are using btw, so it's difficult for me to come ip with an alternative interpretation.

I actually agree that Bernardo has given performances Engels has yet to show! We agree that Bernardo is a great player. The only place we disagree is that I think he's a bang average technician and Engels isn't. Broony was a better player than Ki; but Ki was a much better technician. I look at players with strong technical ability, like McGregor, Kyogo and Valle and their control and weight and direction of pass look much more like those of Engels than those of Bernardo. They also have a magic ability to often control bad passes hit at them that bounce off normal players (like Bernardo). Note that I'm not saying Bernardo has bad technique either: he doesn't.

So, let's revisit this in a year. If I am right, we'll all be raving about Engels' technique and if you are right, we won't.

 

Interesting chat this so will give my tuppence worth - it's too early to predict what Engel's outcome will be, but with his price tag comes a lot of expectation which I think must be quite jarring for a young player - especially when you come in hitting the ground running and go off the boil slightly. His potential is clear though, and it'll be great to see him with a full year under his belt.

As for Bernie, I think his potential was also clear when he first arrived. He has really worked his socks off the past year and continues to improve his game#, and personally, I would be starting him now over Engels. Where they differ, is that Bernardo can do the basics better, and he makes it look easy (a bit like Rogic could) - which is credit to his technical ability and keeping calm under pressure.

It's a great position we find ourselves in having two very talented midfielders that are only going to get better.