Tom Cairney

[Dr Quinzel]

I've been saying it for a long time - he's not been the same player we had in 17 and late 18 for a long, long time. The last game where he was the TC I admired so much was the Final. He's back from illness, so some will forgive him recent games, but frankly  I think he's been below his best all season. I don't know what the answer is beyond some time on the bench, and perhaps not giving him a new contract every five minutes.

[Bill2]

We should have kept Anguissa, Seri and Ayite rather than bringing in Reed, Arter and Reid.

Seri was rubbish and Anguissa started to improve but between the two of them they only scored one goal.

[Porthogs FC]

Would we have the same chance to get back to the Prem without him? I don't think he would make a starting 18 in the Prem, but have more questions than answers. I believe that our midfield Prem starting 3 would be a mix of a McDonald style player, Anguissa, and a strong AM ala Onomah (but not Onomah). The club won't sell Cairney this window, but if I'm looking to improve this window...a sale of Cairney plus Seri could fund a strategic buy.

[terryr]

I'm struggling to understand the OP
I didn't see the second half yesterday but saw the first half and he showed sublime awareness of players making runs and made some absolutely class passes.
I felt he stood firm and didn't see any mistakes.
Did he fall apart in the second half?

[FulhamStu]

sell Cairney and buy Eze...easy.    Seriously, I suspect Cairney may not be 100%.  We have had this virus and it takes for ever to fully get rid of.  Why play him you may ask and that is a fair question.  I suspect with all the injuries etc Scott felt a not 100% Cairney was still needed to provide creativity.  Probably Parker should leave him out if the above is true and play StefJo.  I fully expect SefJo to replace Cairney at City.

[grandad]

Cairney has & will always be the 1st name on my teamsheet. He is a class above most playmakers in this division. Players like him only need one spark of brilliance to change a game. Sometimes it doesn´t happen but when it does we are in awe.
TC is very introvert & doesn´t easily show his emotions. I suspect he hasn´t been 100% fit for sometime. There is no one else at the Club who can do his job. Keep faith with him & support & encourage him.

[MikeW]

Discuss his positive influence on the side. Because I'm struggling.

You are not allowed to criticise Cairney on this forum, hadn't you heard?

[The Rational Fan]

Cairney has & will always be the 1st name on my teamsheet. He is a class above most playmakers in this division. Players like him only need one spark of brilliance to change a game. Sometimes it doesn´t happen but when it does we are in awe.
TC is very introvert & doesn´t easily show his emotions. I suspect he hasn´t been 100% fit for sometime. There is no one else at the Club who can do his job. Keep faith with him & support & encourage him.

Tom Cairney's statistics nosedived from 29/11/2019 onwards, with his second-half performances being the real problem. We need a backup playmaker when he is not fit.

[Matt10]

Cairney has & will always be the 1st name on my teamsheet. He is a class above most playmakers in this division. Players like him only need one spark of brilliance to change a game. Sometimes it doesn´t happen but when it does we are in awe.
TC is very introvert & doesn´t easily show his emotions. I suspect he hasn´t been 100% fit for sometime. There is no one else at the Club who can do his job. Keep faith with him & support & encourage him.

This is where I'm at as well. It's clear to his teammates, they want to get him the ball. Each time he has it, I have supreme confidence he will not lose it. He's not been as lethal as he was early in the season, but that doesn't mean we just give up on him. Each year that's been a discussion, and each year he proves those wrong. I like his quiet confidence and his role as an action-based captain. Think he's having that same calf issue, which is something I remember Dempsey had as well that kept him out for a couple weeks. Cairney may need more time and possibly address surgery - hopefully not though.

[simplyfulham]

Tom Cairney's statistics nosedived from 29/11/2019 onwards, with his second-half performances being the real problem. We need a backup playmaker when he is not fit.

I'd be curious to know which statistics in particular you're referencing out of interest.

[simplyfulham]

Cairney has & will always be the 1st name on my teamsheet. He is a class above most playmakers in this division. Players like him only need one spark of brilliance to change a game. Sometimes it doesn´t happen but when it does we are in awe.
TC is very introvert & doesn´t easily show his emotions. I suspect he hasn´t been 100% fit for sometime. There is no one else at the Club who can do his job. Keep faith with him & support & encourage him.

This is where I'm at as well. It's clear to his teammates, they want to get him the ball. Each time he has it, I have supreme confidence he will not lose it. He's not been as lethal as he was early in the season, but that doesn't mean we just give up on him. Each year that's been a discussion, and each year he proves those wrong. I like his quiet confidence and his role as an action-based captain. Think he's having that same calf issue, which is something I remember Dempsey had as well that kept him out for a couple weeks. Cairney may need more time and possibly address surgery - hopefully not though.

He's a playmaker right, which means he needs to pass the ball to other players for him to have a 'good' game, putting it simply. I wonder if half the issue is down to the fact we don't have a very strong pattern of play from game to the next and some of the movement of the advanced players is not as effective as it should be for TC to pick them out.

Maybe that's also over simplistic, but I don't think it's a coincidence that his best games come when the whole team seems to be at it as well.

[Mr K.Dilkington]

He needs to be benched at least for a game or two. Somethings wrong or he's being distracted.

[70sPimlico]

Discuss his positive influence on the side. Because I'm struggling.

You are not allowed to criticise Cairney on this forum, hadn't you heard?

Thats an interesting point on this "criticise Tom Cairney" thread.

Actually, when I say interesting, what I really mean is only a damn fool would say that

[Dr Quinzel]

Your response Pimlico in some ways illustrates their point.

There is a bias with TC and due to past achievements (fully to his credit), he gets less scrutiny than others - IMO.

[Moltobueno]

Thought he was the best player in the 1st 30minutes against Boro. Besides Knock ofcourse.

[Sting of the North]

Your response Pimlico in some ways illustrates their point.

There is a bias with TC and due to past achievements (fully to his credit), he gets less scrutiny than others - IMO.

I completely disagree. I think he gets way more than a fair share of criticism by many posters. In my opinion he was far from our worst player yesterday, and almost never is but still he got his own thread criticizing him. But I haven't really noticed people not being allowed to criticize him. Disagreement is another thing, but that should be expected on a forum.

I would say that his past achievements are working against him rather than for him at the moment, as he seems to be held to a much higher standard than some players.

[Matt10]

The problem that I see with the criticism of Cairney is that it is usually a generic assessment. "He can't tackle", "He spins around too much", "He's just lost it..."

Power of suggestion is very...powerful, unfortunately that's not good enough for me in order to form a solid opinion. Contextually speaking, he set up Bryan vs Boro, and set up Reid twice last night.

[WindyCity]

Massively out of position a la ranieri, we needed to get arter off and drp tc deeper... his best position.
Totally wasted so advanced, parker showed zero imagination in how to cope with difficult circumstances.
As far as cav is concerned, now there is a serial wate of space, he is genuinely pointless.

not entirely if you're taking the piss or not

no i am serious, cav is a hard worker, seems a noce bloke but has preciouse little end product. loses possesion over nd over needlesly, always has to do something fancy dan, does not make the best of his ability and generally is a massive under achiever. i know the popular view is otherwise but frankly i am very underwhelned and can see why wolves have let him go

I agree with this assessment of Cav.  I don't think he is a very good player overall.  He has had a couple of nice games, but usually tries to do too much on his own, loses possession, and also when attempting a pass tends to miss most of those.  He does bring some pace and does work hard, but his overall value is suspect, and I think we just extended his contract so he'll be here for awhile.

[Statto]

Massively out of position a la ranieri, we needed to get arter off and drp tc deeper... his best position.
Totally wasted so advanced, parker showed zero imagination in how to cope with difficult circumstances.
As far as cav is concerned, now there is a serial wate of space, he is genuinely pointless.

not entirely if you're taking the piss or not

no i am serious, cav is a hard worker, seems a noce bloke but has preciouse little end product. loses possesion over nd over needlesly, always has to do something fancy dan, does not make the best of his ability and generally is a massive under achiever. i know the popular view is otherwise but frankly i am very underwhelned and can see why wolves have let him go

I agree with this assessment of Cav.  I don't think he is a very good player overall.  He has had a couple of nice games, but usually tries to do too much on his own, loses possession, and also when attempting a pass tends to miss most of those.  He does bring some pace and does work hard, but his overall value is suspect, and I think we just extended his contract so he'll be here for awhile.

Besides Mitrovic, which of our players are better than Cavaleiro in your opinion?

[RaySmith]

I'm amazed at how critical we are on here of our players -often undeservedly in my opinion.

For me, Cairney has done many good things in the last two games. keeping possession, searching for openings with his astute  passes, and actually setting up goals - against Boro, and good chances for Reid last night, as Matt says. His calm and self -assurance in possession rubs off on the team, when trying to break down packed defences.
But agree he may be struggling for full fitness.

While Cav has consistently impressed with his desire, work rate and undoubted  skill. OK,. so everything he tries doesn't  come off - but that's because  he's on the ball so much , trying so much to make things happen.

I just think the criticism is well over the top for   so called  supporters of the club.
Too much emphasis on the negative!

We didn't lose last night but got a well fought away point against a team who parked the bus, and are still third.