Costa and Roberts

Thought I would write this thread as not many places elsewhere I can comment (due to the vast amount of other posts being started by Jonty), but its something I think isn't being said enough.

A few weeks ago, I think many would have said that the weak links in our squad were these two players, Helder Costa and Tyler Roberts (excluding the likes of Poveda, who has significantly less first team experience, even if he is close of age to Roberts). I think many would have doubted their involvement in games. Certainly I was always a bit unsure when Bielsa turned to Roberts to try and change the flow of a game.

Despite that, and them being written off by a lot of people, I think they have taken their chances recently to show just how good they can be. This run of fixtures that Roberts has grasped due to the absences of Rodrigo and Klich, have really seen him stake a claim for a berth in the eleven until the end of the season. I don't think he was at his best last time out, but the nature of the game made it hard to say, as he was significantly limited in the scope of creativity he could play.

I've often said in real life that if a player loses a ball but is always trying to do something then I can forgive that, and I think that is true of Roberts. There are definitely facets of his game that could do with improving (his shooting, although he was very unlucky against Chelsea), but he is always looking to try and get on the ball and drive us forward. He reminds me of Saiz in that regard, and I think he is a much more natural replacement for Rodrigo than Hernandez is. Still only 22, he has a long time to grow those weaker parts of his game, but I think we are already starting to see that. He looks stronger to me, and braver, too, going by how he goes into the 50/50 with Baldock, and gets a nice pass away, even though he knows he's going to be clattered. That's what I want to see more of. He's unlucky he hasn't got a couple more assists these last two games.

Costa, meanwhile, has mainly been relying on substitute appearances, and has really changed the game in our favour some of the times that he has come on. His pace and direct running really work when we want to get in behind a tired defence, but the big criticism is his work rate off the ball. Too often we see him get shrugged off and wander back. Against City I thought he was the exact opposite, getting himself stuck in, pressing well, winning duels, and keeping them on the back foot at times with his breaks. If we can see more performances like that then I will be very happy. At the start of the year he came bursting out of the blocks, very much akin to how we were as a team, but he definitely fell off. Still, starting to see some signs that make me happier.

It stuck in my mind that someone, either on here or on Twitter (can't remember, so it can't have stuck in my mind that much ) asked for lists of players you would sell this summer, and so many people said Costa and Roberts. For me, these two have shown enough in the second half of the season to suggest they would be adequate squad options going into next season, and hopefully they continue to prove that.