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+--- Thread: Bryan Cristante (/showthread.php?tid=566)
Bryan Cristante - Mystik - 01-06-2014
I figured that today would be a good day to create his official thread after making recording his first start AND goal in Serie A.
Born: March 3, 1995 - current Italy U19 International
No need to sell him or let him go on loan. He has shown that he is every bit as good as our current midfielders. He will make mistakes but we need to have patience. He definitely has the tools to be a world beater and should be considered as a regular part of our central midfield rotation.
Excellent debut which was capped off with an amazing long range strike. He needs to work on the defensive phase of the game but his offensive contribution is amazing and I'm not just saying this because he's 18. He definitely earned his place in the rotation ahead of Nocerino.
RE: Bryan Cristante - reza - 01-06-2014
We will have a thread to see how he does when he is given away on co-ownership (I wish this was funny)
RE: Bryan Cristante - ACM2023 - 01-06-2014
Bryan Cristante's two goals against Barcelona in this season's Youth CL.
October 22
November 6
RE: Bryan Cristante - WCmilan - 01-06-2014
I've never been so impressed with a youth products debut in my life. I was beginning to think Cristante was hyped, especially since he had not been given even a few minutes. Today he not only played way above expectations for me, but he seemed better than all of our midfielders. Such accurate passing, cool on the ball, above all 10x more vision than the rest of our midfielders!
RE: Bryan Cristante - ACM2023 - 01-06-2014
I read that Cristante had the most passes today, also with a high success percentage too. Amazing.
Now the ball (pun intended
) is on Allegri's court. Does he have the ball to use Cristante more? Imagine that he scored a hattrick today. OK, I admit that I am a bit carried away,
but it could have happened. 
RE: Bryan Cristante - WCmilan - 01-06-2014
He did actually hit a crossbar and had another good tap-in opportunity before he scored his goal, so technically a hattrick could have been possible
RE: Bryan Cristante - Mystik - 01-06-2014
Well Allegri has already come out to see that we should not rush Cristante, he's only 18 etc. His age should not matter if he has the quality to perform. Ultimately he needs the confidence of his coach, not only when he's playing well but also when he inevitably has bad games. Like you said, we can only wait and see what Allegri does. Bottom line though: he should not be loaned out or co-owned. He can definitely contribute right now.
RE: Bryan Cristante - ACM2023 - 01-06-2014
(01-06-2014, 11:29 PM)WCmilan Wrote: He did actually hit a crossbar and had another good tap-in opportunity before he scored his goal, so technically a hattrick could have been possible
That's what I meant.
But one goal at his debut is really great achievement in itself already.
(01-06-2014, 11:32 PM)Mystik Wrote: Well Allegri has already come out to see that we should not rush Cristante, he's only 18 etc. His age should not matter if he has the quality to perform. Ultimately he needs the confidence of his coach, not only when he's playing well but also when he inevitably has bad games. Like you said, we can only wait and see what Allegri does. Bottom line though: he should not be loaned out or co-owned. He can definitely contribute right now.
Totally agreed.
RE: Bryan Cristante - ZvonimirBoban - 01-07-2014
(01-06-2014, 11:07 PM)reza Wrote: We will have a thread to see how he does when he is given away on co-ownership (I wish this was funny)
It is.
RE: Bryan Cristante - ACMILAN1983 - 01-07-2014
I'm not overly surprised by this guy's performance in the Atalanta match, as tbh I was convinced in his quality for a long time now and quite honestly have been adamant Allegri needs to give him a chance.
However, I will say his performance was massively important imo. Not only does he get the attention he deserves, but he's now off the market, which is something I've been very angry about.
As for the performance itself, he showed his quality, he showed areas he needs to improve, but ultimately I don't think he showed anything new in his game.
Firstly, about the weaknesses in his game, I think there are moments where his focus wanes and we usually see this in him losing the ball. I also think he can tackle with more conviction at times, though I can understand if he holds back slightly following the sending off in preseason. Ultimately, the areas he has flaws in can be worked on to be improved, we have to remember at 18, he's still just a kid.
In the strengths of his game, I said a week or two ago that we potentially have a mix of Pirlo and Rijkaard in this guy, which hopefully came out a little in the match. We saw his physique is similar to Rijkaard, although not as built due to his age. On the ball he was strong yesterday and charged well up and down the pitch.
As for Pirlo, we saw he had a good range of passing, both horizontal and vertical, but his vision is what sets him apart from say another players, like Montolivo. He took a lot of risks, which is normal for someone his age, but principally showed a way to dictate the game and offer creativity that we've been screaming for this season.
On the performance itself, I will say the stats really show how good he was on and off the ball. Offensively, he made the most number of passes of any player in our side and had a success rate of 86%. Only Mexes made more and more accurate long passes in the game, though it's important to remember that Cristante's role meant he'd be looking to take more risks in his passes. He scored, but could have had 3 with a little more luck. Defensively, he made the joint highest number of tackles in our team and only De Jong and Zapata won the ball back more from the opponents.
Let's also not ignore his tactical game. I think we saw good tactical discipline to his game, where he'd push up a lot, but never once shirked his defensive duties (something I've had lots of issues with when discussing Poli and Muntari). His movement was also much more dynamic than the alternatives, showing movement in between the lines (where he found the space to shoot for the goal), prepared to push wide and he got into the opposing team's box on multiple occasions (should have scored two from here).
Finally, I just want to say that we're seeing all this raving about his performance, but arguably he's not even playing in his best role yet, in front of defence. In that role, you'd be able to see him take a more central role to directing the play and he'd get better balance to spread passes across the pitch. In addition, the focus of his game would be more heavily placed directing the game and using his vision than having to be a box to box player, which is arguably not to his strength (he's not known to be the most mobile player).
I don't want to get ahead of myself and believe he'll always put in great performances or he doesn't have to grow, he does. However, I feel after so long in believing in his ability and potential, this is some justification in believing in him.