I'm sensitive about cdk because I watched pioli misuse and destroy a great talent, after he started quite well w several players missing a solid 4-5 clear assists from him
pioli started cdk only 5 times in all of 2022.
what happened later is a different story, in which cdk deserves blame as well... but pioli crapped on him
Idk about this man, I really don’t. It’s clear he is just lost right now. This season is a write off.
CDK got plenty of chances in the first portion of the season, he was trusted right off the bat. And like you said he plenty decent, he wasn’t a stud right away but he was involved in build up play, creating chances, finding space and moving around a lot. Watch when he plays now, he plays way higher up, less mobile, clinging around the box, desperate to get on the end of anything. It’s so so so obvious the pressure of not scoring got to him badly.
And then there’s the problem of if you’re a a manger, are you going to keep starting CDK when we were in a fragile moment getting wrecked in January or February? Or play him in the CL knockouts? The whole team had its mentality zapped over a couple games, that’s a time when you rely on leaders and experience. Playing CDK then could ruin his mentality more.
I think the pressure just got to him, end of discussion. He had his half season and the team needed more. We were in a dogfight for top 4 and making a European cup run, he had to go to the bench.