Robinson

[Snibbo]

Sess knows how to defend AR not so much

This is so not true.

Agree. Sess is not a left-back, never has been.

[perry geyton]

he huffs and he puffs

[hopper]

I conversely think Robinson is getting back into form. Athletically he's there again, great positioning going forward and in recovery.

His crossing wasn't bad today. The one error was at the end where he got in the way of someone else clearing and put it out for a throw.

Such an odd player, one of the best transitionally you can possibly find - but technically not really a top quality player. Great mentality. Overall he gives us more than he takes away.

Last season was awful post injury, but looks like he's back to me.

[hopper]

I'm a fan of Sess but Robinson had an excellent game today. Full of running, defended effectively and played lots of good short passes. Very tidy. His problem is, as we all know, that his crossing and shooting is haphazard, but the same could be said of Berge.

Berge on the ball is technically excellent, no one in our team has a better of weight of passing. He's just conservative and doesn't shoot, which is frustrating. But he in no way is a parallel with Robinson.

[itombomb]

My way of describing Robinson is this, he's a very athletic defender but not so good a footballer.

After several seasons in the PL he really should have improved his positioning when defending but his pace gets him out of trouble more often than not.

Like wise with his final pass, cross or shot, which is well below PL standard in my opinion.

But overall he tidies up well in defence and worries opponents in attack.
He will do for me!

I think this is a bit harsh - defensively he's generally still excellent who can lock things down 1 on 1 and stop shots/crosses.

But the 'not so good a footballer' is right. There aren't many players whose athletic prowess can mean they are an elite player while still frequently seeming technically deficient and clumsy. He's clearly a very intelligent guy, but there's often a weird disconnect between his brain and body, where it seems like he's not in control of what he's trying to get his body to do, and that isn't something you see often in premier league players.

And as said elsewhere on the thread, his weaknesses are exacerbated when he's knackered.

[Grassy Noel]

My way of describing Robinson is this, he's a very athletic defender but not so good a footballer.

After several seasons in the PL he really should have improved his positioning when defending but his pace gets him out of trouble more often than not.

Like wise with his final pass, cross or shot, which is well below PL standard in my opinion.

But overall he tidies up well in defence and worries opponents in attack.
He will do for me!

I think this is a bit harsh - defensively he's generally still excellent who can lock things down 1 on 1 and stop shots/crosses.

But the 'not so good a footballer' is right. There aren't many players whose athletic prowess can mean they are an elite player while still frequently seeming technically deficient and clumsy. He's clearly a very intelligent guy, but there's often a weird disconnect between his brain and body, where it seems like he's not in control of what he's trying to get his body to do, and that isn't something you see often in premier league players.

And as said elsewhere on the thread, his weaknesses are exacerbated when he's knackered.

My way of describing Robinson is this, he's a very athletic defender but not so good a footballer.

After several seasons in the PL he really should have improved his positioning when defending but his pace gets him out of trouble more often than not.

Like wise with his final pass, cross or shot, which is well below PL standard in my opinion.

But overall he tidies up well in defence and worries opponents in attack.
He will do for me!

I think this is a bit harsh - defensively he's generally still excellent who can lock things down 1 on 1 and stop shots/crosses.

But the 'not so good a footballer' is right. There aren't many players whose athletic prowess can mean they are an elite player while still frequently seeming technically deficient and clumsy. He's clearly a very intelligent guy, but there's often a weird disconnect between his brain and body, where it seems like he's not in control of what he's trying to get his body to do, and that isn't something you see often in premier league players.

And as said elsewhere on the thread, his weaknesses are exacerbated when he's knackered.

His main problem is that he has a running leg and a kicking leg and the kicking leg has a foot that is 'uncultured'. This also means that it takes him fractionally longer to bring a ball under complete control.It is what it is.

[fulhamfever]

Sess knows how to defend AR not so much

This is so not true.

Lets talk numbers from the positions season 24/25 from a defencive perspective

24/25 Season

RS total starts 14 (7 sub appearances) - Clean Sheets 9
AR total starts 36 - Clean Sheets 6
RS Goals 4 - AR - 0
RS Assists 2
AR Assists 10


Season 25/26

RS Total starts 27
AR Total starts 22

RS Goals = 3
AR Goals = 1

RS Clean Sheets = 5
AR Clean Sheets = 4

RS Assists = 1
AR Assists = 0

Not much in it really but I will say RS edges it defensively

[Twig]

Sess knows how to defend AR not so much

This is so not true.

Agree. Sess is not a left-back, never has been.

That's an old trope long since well and truly laid to rest.

[Hatch007]

he huffs and he puffs

Jedi or Kent? 🤷🏻

[Peabody]

Seems to me,that their are a couple o of posters who use their opinions to only want to criticise

[AJW48361]

The Bench yesterday No Sess or Harrison and  even with TC injured it appears our depth of squad has increased. No Cuenca either.

[RaySmith]

AR was very involved in our attacking play up the left, as well as covering well in defence. OK, maybe  some of his crosses aren't so accurate, but he certainly puts in a few, often when running at pace.

Our new manager seems to rely a lot on our attacking up the wings, and AR is an important player in this system.

We should have scored today, and were unlucky, deserved to win the game, but a great result anyway - well done to all the players who took part yesterday, including subs - they all played a role in a great performance.

[McGruber]

Some of you are too predictable. Always calling for Sess and TC based on nostalgia and vibes. Sess is a great utility player and no doubt has a nose for goal. He should come on when we are behind and looking for a spark, but he is not a proper left back.

[Twig]

Some of you are too predictable. Always calling for Sess and TC based on nostalgia and vibes. Sess is a great utility player and no doubt has a nose for goal. He should come on when we are behind and looking for a spark, but he is not a proper left back.

Gosh you are so predictable.

[LittleErn]

I often wonder why nobody seems to attack the far post when AR is about to cross. His crosses are more often long than onto the penalty spot. A header back across goal is always difficult to defend.

[WindyCity]

I thought Robinson had a good game.  Not sure why all the angst over his quality of play.  We all know what we have in this player, an engine that doesn't quit, a good defender, can track back after being duped up field, and not so good on crossing, although two seasons ago he had quite a few assists.  I think the team is best when he is in the lineup.  I like Sessegnon (not sure why he wasn't in the team) and he has a place in this team.  I thought he did a fairly good job last season covering for Robinson when Robinson was out with injury.  However, not sure that is his best position, and think he's more suited to be playing forward and give team a scoring threat.  There's place for both of these players in this team.

[HillingdonFFC]

He played really well yesterday unless I was watching a different game?

[BarryP]

Lets talk numbers from the positions season 24/25 from a defencive perspective

24/25 Season

RS total starts 14 (7 sub appearances) - Clean Sheets 9
AR total starts 36 - Clean Sheets 6
RS Goals 4 - AR - 0
RS Assists 2
AR Assists 10


Season 25/26

RS Total starts 27
AR Total starts 22

RS Goals = 3
AR Goals = 1

RS Clean Sheets = 5
AR Clean Sheets = 4

RS Assists = 1
AR Assists = 0

Not much in it really but I will say RS edges it defensively

Without context raw stats are just numbers with no real meaning and the 24/25 stats need a lot of context.

During the 24/25 season, Jedi was the undisputed starting LB for nearly every major fixture under Silva, with Ryan starting just a single PL game in that role presumably to give Jedi a rest.

2024/25 Fulham Left-Back Starters


Premier League All matches except Wolves (Home) Antonee Robinson

Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers (Home) — February 25, 2025 Ryan Sessegnon

FA Cup Third Round vs. Watford — January 9, 2025 Ryan Sessegnon

FA Cup Fourth Round vs. Wigan — February 8, 2025 Ryan Sessegnon

FA Cup All subsequent rounds (Fifth Round & Quarter-finals) Antonee Robinson

EFL Cup Second & Third Round ties Ryan Sessegnon

Offensive output
You listed offensive contributions but did not note 6 of Ryan's 7 PL starts were as a left wing.

Because Jedi heavily locked down the left-back slot, Silva creatively utilized Ryan's versatility by starting him further up the pitch as a LW during the spring stretch of the season.

The 7 matches Ryan started in the 24/25 Premier League, broken down by position:

Left-Back (LB) Start — 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Away) — Feb 25, 2025

Left Winger (LW) Starts — 6

Following an explosive string of goals off the bench in March, Sess was promoted to the starting XI as an attacking winger. He started 6 consecutive games in the frontline:

Liverpool (Home) — Apr 6, 2025 3–2 win.
AFC Bournemouth (Away) — Apr 14, 2025 Chelsea (Home) — Apr 20, 2025
Southampton (Away) — Apr 26, win 2–1.
Aston Villa (Away) — May 3, 2025
Everton (Home) — May 10, 2025

Ryan's PL goals/assists by Position:
LW/Attacking Mid: 3 goals/2 assists
LB: 1 goal/0 assists.

For me goals scored and assists are an apples to oranges comparison due to positions played and total number of matches each played overall. It's easy to assume Sess would have scored more goals from LB but Silva pretty much refused to play him there which says a lot to me.

Clean sheets
Regarding clean sheets, it looks to me like Fulham only had 6 clean sheets across all competitions in 24/25. Robinson was the starting left-back for all shutouts and Sess operated strictly as an attacking tactical substitute or was an unused sub:

Premier League

Nottingham Forest 1–0
Jedi Started (90 Mins) LB
Sess Subbed on (82nd Min)LW

Crystal Palace 2–0
Jedi started (85 Mins) LB
Sess Subbed on (85th Min) LW

Southampton 0–0 Draw
Jedi Started (90 Mins) LB
Sess Subbed on (79th Min) LW

Leicester City 2–0
Jedi Started (90 Mins) LB
Sess subbed on (75th Min) LW

Tottenham Hotspur 2–0
Jedi Started (90 Mins) LB
Sess Unused Substitute / Bench

FA Cup 1 Clean sheet

Wigan Athletic 3–0
Jedi Started (90 Mins) LB
Sess Unused Substitute / Bench

Clarification on Sessegnon's "9 Clean Sheets". Standard football tracking databases (like Opta or FBref), credit Sess with 9 personal clean sheets during the 24/25 Premier League season. Performance databases count an individual shutout anytime a player is on the pitch and the team does not concede while they are actively playing. All 9 of Sess's "clean sheets" came in PL sub appearances in which he played a total of 113 minutes:

Newcastle United — Sub 78th minute.
Leicester City — Sub 75th minute
Nottingham Forest — Sub 82nd minute
Brentford — Sub 80th minute
Southampton — Sub 79th minute
Crystal Palace — Sub 85th minute
Everton — Sub 81st minute
West Ham United — Sub 74th minute
Ipswich Town — Sub 88th minute

Robinson started all 6 clean sheet matches, playing almost every minute.

I think it's fair to say based on playing time Silva greatly preferred a healthy Jedi at LB and based on a small sample size AA appears to prefer Jedi as well. My opinion, but the stats you presented are lacking context and are not a good base to form an opinion on who the better defender is.

For the record I do prefer Jedi at LB but I'm struggling to understand why Sess isn't getting at least some looks at LW.

[YankeeJim]

I've never really understood why Jedi gets such shite on these pages, but I never understood why Dempsey and Boca did either. All brought certain things to the pitch and none brought everything. If they did, they wouldn't be playing for Fulham.
Wonder what they had/have in common.   

[jayffc]

@BarryP
Thank you for reaffirming that context matters.

Personally, I think Sess has definitely improved his ability at LB significantly over the years - but maintain he is a better LW and prefer him there given his pretty clinical finishing.