After the left back’s long awaited debut, his overall performance has gone down with mixed reviews with the most public being the comments from Pardew in his post match conference of which seemed fairly harsh in my eyes considering it was his first game in English football.
The game at the weekend was a chastening lesson in becoming a Premier League full back, but I do agree with Pardew in saying that Pape will become a much more capable player over the coming weeks with more game time under his belt. One of the key discussion points in the press conference was the difference in intensity being so great between French and English football, with Souare joining from Lille for an undisclosed fee.
French football is a lot more relaxed compared to the game at the top flight of Enlgish football which is obviously something Souare struggled with against Liverpool as at the end of the game he was sprawled on the ground and left the pitch with a limp, showing his genuine enthusiasm and determination to put in a good shift for the team no matter what the circumstances are.
It wasn’t the perfect debut he would have hoped for but i think a lot of fans have taken positives from his performance against Liverpool. He seemed to have the pace that our back four are significantly lacking, which is essential for full backs who come up against modern day wingers; Souare himself looks a threat going forward and hopefully over the next few games he can also produce a good crossing game as well.
Defensively, he wasn’t as promising. Liverpool probably should have got a penalty for a clumsy tackle of his on Sturridge in the first half, which he was lucky to get away with. You have to consider that he hasn’t been at the club for long so it will take time for him to work with the back four in training. Another positive on Saturday is that he seems to be more than capable of organising the the defence, which again is needed when becoming a tough defensive unit in the Premier League.
On a number of occasions be was caught out of position and desperately attempted to get back to defend but as discussed earlier, with more game time in the Premier League – the more experience he will gain, the more he will be able to adapt to the game in this country with the higher intensity.
Personally, I was encouraged with the full-back’s performance on Saturday and it looks to bode well for the rest of the season. Hopefully, with another week of training he will be able to continue adapting to the English game and be ready for the game against Arsenal at Selhurst Park. Pape vs Sanchez? We will see on Saturday.
