Shearer On Christie

[Chutney]

So Christie was our back up RB in the championship and people now expect him to cope in the prem?

It isn't his fault, nor the managers that we failed to recruit well defensively.

[MJG]

Wing back is always a thankless job for a player. Expected to be in two places at one.... "Why isn't he up supporting.... Why isn't he back supporting"
Sess was missing a couple of times but gets forgiven, Christie not so much.
My biggest moan about Christie is he's fallen into the trap of not crossing earlier enough and cutting back or inside. There were times, especially first half when I was looking right across the pitch at him and he had times to hit it into the box and stopped. Now is that just him or instructions I suspect we will never know.
At times Christie has looked good, but yesterday he didn't, and as someone else said, he had zero cover or help for last half an hour.

[Twig]

We were playing a high line,and was obviously playing to the managers orders to get forward all the time.
It did look bad on MOTD,surprising that Slava didn't have a word about it early on telling him he has to defend as well.
Wasn't the only one being caught out though.

Indeed, a high line that was preset to have a RWB stay advanced as much as possible, with the two midfielders in Seri and Zambo to drop back as deep as possible. This is how we kept our width for 30 minutes of the match.

The 3-back was a brave choice, and I think anyone could have been a scapegoat with that much possible exposure. Christie was not required to drop back as deep as people think in this 3-back formation. He chose to drop out of necessity because Zambo or Seri did not control the ball in the advanced midfield (near center circle).

People also love to show Christie being nutmegged by Iwobi, but some forget that Ream was nutmegged earlier by him as well.

Not saying Christie didn't have a poor performance, to his standards, but he's definitely much better than that - we all are. I think we should have stuck with 3-back formation after conceding the 2nd goal, instead of going to a heavily compressed 4-3-3, which was just begging for us to get caught in transition.

Agree with that, the back 3 was better until ream went off, surprised didn't bring Mawson on, but that's why he's the boss.

I was there and have been a bit puzzled by just how much stick Christie has received.  Yes he made mistakes but so did others.  He kept going in the second half of horror getting forward and putting in crosses. In fact he was probably our best line of supply for much of the second half. I guess everyone needs a scapegoat?

[Facts Not Fiction]

So Christie was our back up RB in the championship and people now expect him to cope in the prem?

It isn't his fault, nor the managers that we failed to recruit well defensively.

We did, it's bad luck that TFM is injured.

[RogFFC]

Actually felt sorry for Christie yesterday, he was absolutely torn apart by Arsenal's pace. Clearly out of his depth and is/was never Premier League quality, let alone barely Championship top half. Surprised that no one has floated the idea of bringing in Chambers at RB in future games... yes he's been mixed at CB but surely would strengthen us defensively at RB?

[filham]

Shearer wasn't just being critical of Christie , he was making the point that tactically our defense is there to be split wide open and that this can be done so easily with a team that have the skills that Arsenal have.

Jocanovic has to take the can back I am afraid.

[Luka]

We were playing a high line,and was obviously playing to the managers orders to get forward all the time.
It did look bad on MOTD,surprising that Slava didn't have a word about it early on telling him he has to defend as well.
Wasn't the only one being caught out though.

Indeed, a high line that was preset to have a RWB stay advanced as much as possible, with the two midfielders in Seri and Zambo to drop back as deep as possible. This is how we kept our width for 30 minutes of the match.

The 3-back was a brave choice, and I think anyone could have been a scapegoat with that much possible exposure. Christie was not required to drop back as deep as people think in this 3-back formation. He chose to drop out of necessity because Zambo or Seri did not control the ball in the advanced midfield (near center circle).

People also love to show Christie being nutmegged by Iwobi, but some forget that Ream was nutmegged earlier by him as well.

Not saying Christie didn't have a poor performance, to his standards, but he's definitely much better than that - we all are. I think we should have stuck with 3-back formation after conceding the 2nd goal, instead of going to a heavily compressed 4-3-3, which was just begging for us to get caught in transition.

Agree with that, the back 3 was better until ream went off, surprised didn't bring Mawson on, but that's why he's the boss.

I was there and have been a bit puzzled by just how much stick Christie has received.  Yes he made mistakes but so did others.  He kept going in the second half of horror getting forward and putting in crosses. In fact he was probably our best line of supply for much of the second half. I guess everyone needs a scapegoat?

Thank you Twigg, I thought I was missing something but like you I was there and thought Christie put a shift in.
He had little or no cover from Zambo when he pushed forward, but he was our only real outlet up front and was always making himself available.
So I'm going to point the finger at Zambo not Christie. Zambo is casual,  technically inept, his ball retention is shockingly poor and at times he's like Bambie.....all legs and falling overhimself.
If he had put as much energy into the game as Christie, then we might of seen a different result.

[Chutney]

So Christie was our back up RB in the championship and people now expect him to cope in the prem?

It isn't his fault, nor the managers that we failed to recruit well defensively.

We did, it's bad luck that TFM is injured.

I think its pretty clear that we didn't when a couple of injuries sees us starting a player who was a back up in the division below.

[Facts Not Fiction]

So Christie was our back up RB in the championship and people now expect him to cope in the prem?

It isn't his fault, nor the managers that we failed to recruit well defensively.

We did, it's bad luck that TFM is injured.

I think its pretty clear that we didn't when a couple of injuries sees us starting a player who was a back up in the division below.

You honestly believe we should've improved on our back up players? You're expecting way too much if so.

[Matt10]

Wing back is always a thankless job for a player. Expected to be in two places at one.... "Why isn't he up supporting.... Why isn't he back supporting"
Sess was missing a couple of times but gets forgiven, Christie not so much.
My biggest moan about Christie is he's fallen into the trap of not crossing earlier enough and cutting back or inside. There were times, especially first half when I was looking right across the pitch at him and he had times to hit it into the box and stopped. Now is that just him or instructions I suspect we will never know.
At times Christie has looked good, but yesterday he didn't, and as someone else said, he had zero cover or help for last half an hour.

Well said. I think he and Vietto worked well together, and there were some dangerous crosses, but not enough. I personally think that the mentality of "should I stay, or should I go" when Zambo has the ball can be utterly conflicting. He lost the ball 4x in the first half alone, and Christie was upfield. In addition, he was wide open on many occasions, when the ball was at the top of the box, but not found.

It's hard to comment on the future of who and what, because honestly I have no idea what the coach is going to be doing anymore. The formation surprised me and so did the selection as a result.

I'm done with this mentality of "not good enough for the PL". It's cost us £100M, 10 new players, with a spot near the bottom of the table. 

[MJG]

Wing back is always a thankless job for a player. Expected to be in two places at one.... "Why isn't he up supporting.... Why isn't he back supporting"
Sess was missing a couple of times but gets forgiven, Christie not so much.
My biggest moan about Christie is he's fallen into the trap of not crossing earlier enough and cutting back or inside. There were times, especially first half when I was looking right across the pitch at him and he had times to hit it into the box and stopped. Now is that just him or instructions I suspect we will never know.
At times Christie has looked good, but yesterday he didn't, and as someone else said, he had zero cover or help for last half an hour.

Well said. I think he and Vietto worked well together, and there were some dangerous crosses, but not enough. I personally think that the mentality of "should I stay, or should I go" when Zambo has the ball can be utterly conflicting. He lost the ball 4x in the first half alone, and Christie was upfield. In addition, he was wide open on many occasions, when the ball was at the top of the box, but not found.

It's hard to comment on the future of who and what, because honestly I have no idea what the coach is going to be doing anymore. The formation surprised me and so did the selection as a result.

I'm done with this mentality of "not good enough for the PL". It's cost us £100M, 10 new players, with a spot near the bottom of the table.

the thing is spending £100m was needed as we are playing catchup on everyone else. If you use some sites that puts us in that 13-16 kind of area on value of the squad. I've said I think we will end up 14th and I'll stick with that for the time being, but most importantly it's just about being 17th come end of season. We have good players, just not much of a team atm.

[Chutney]

So Christie was our back up RB in the championship and people now expect him to cope in the prem?

It isn't his fault, nor the managers that we failed to recruit well defensively.

We did, it's bad luck that TFM is injured.

I think its pretty clear that we didn't when a couple of injuries sees us starting a player who was a back up in the division below.

You honestly believe we should've improved on our back up players? You're expecting way too much if so.

You need to try and improve everywhere you can when you hit the prem, there is a huge jump in quality from the championship to the prem so unless you're wolves and can put together a premiership team while still being in the championship, you will struggle without trying to improve wherever possible, yes even the back ups.

A player that struggled to offer anything for us in the championship isn't good enough to provide cover for us in the premiership, that just seems like logic.

TFM was back up to Bissaka eventually at Crystal Palace and if we're claiming he's a quality signing that has improved our defence then I'm genuinely worried. TFM is a decent back up for a prem level side and also versatile enough to cover multiple positions, a good option, but nothing more.

[RaySmith]

Still early days though.
We shouldn't give up at this point of the season,  and I certainly don't expect manager or players to,  after quite a tough re-introduction to the Prem, with new players and injuries too.

I feel Slavisa is astute and determined  enough to sort it out, and we do have  high quality players, who must surely be  eager to show what they're really made of, and get Fulham up the table.

As for Christie - I feel he is decent, but  maybe lacks confidence, being thrown in the deep end, and the recent focus on his  faults won't help this, but he is a pro....

[IKnowNothing]

We were playing a high line,and was obviously playing to the managers orders to get forward all the time.
It did look bad on MOTD,surprising that Slava didn't have a word about it early on telling him he has to defend as well.
Wasn't the only one being caught out though.

Indeed, a high line that was preset to have a RWB stay advanced as much as possible, with the two midfielders in Seri and Zambo to drop back as deep as possible. This is how we kept our width for 30 minutes of the match.

The 3-back was a brave choice, and I think anyone could have been a scapegoat with that much possible exposure. Christie was not required to drop back as deep as people think in this 3-back formation. He chose to drop out of necessity because Zambo or Seri did not control the ball in the advanced midfield (near center circle).

People also love to show Christie being nutmegged by Iwobi, but some forget that Ream was nutmegged earlier by him as well.

Not saying Christie didn't have a poor performance, to his standards, but he's definitely much better than that - we all are. I think we should have stuck with 3-back formation after conceding the 2nd goal, instead of going to a heavily compressed 4-3-3, which was just begging for us to get caught in transition.

Thank You. That's a great comment. I remember hearing something about the 3-back system and its weakness being the space behind the wingbacks. Didn't know enough about it to comment. Thanks for knowing something and saying it.

[Wingnut]

He's extremely poor going forward and his positional play is very poor. May be harsh but he isn't good enough for this league. Sess played the wing back role perfectly where Christie was caught out of postion time and time again. When he did get forward he made one decent cross all game that Kamara should have buried.
What surprised me even more is that he stayed on the pitch for the full game yet Ream (who was taken off for tacitical reasons) made way.

Might have been the the case that he was asked to favour a more attacking approach. Given that he wasn't substituted, I suspect that it may have been so. Not sure why Shearer felt the need to pinpoint him. The whole defensive was poor.

[Robbie]

Shearer always says (in effect) The Good Team were Good,  and the Bad Teams  were Bad ...

Poor pundit...

[Denver Fulham]

Go back and watch Arsenal's first goal and Christie's "effort" on the play, and go from there. It was appalling. And that's when the match was 0-0.

Maybe he just can't be played as a wingback, but he was awful yesterday. Never putting in the shift to get back defensively, and utterly wasteful going forward save for the one cross that Kamara missed with his head entirely.

[The Swan]

I thought Odoi could play as a full back.

[AnOldBrownie]

TFM was back up to Bissaka eventually at Crystal Palace and if we're claiming he's a quality signing that has improved our defence then I'm genuinely worried. TFM is a decent back up for a prem level side and also versatile enough to cover multiple positions, a good option, but nothing more.

Hold up.    I get your point that the team should have gotten a PROVEN quality premiere league defender...someone in their mid twenties...but don't go slagging off a very talented 20 year old prospect that was playing good defense against Tottenham's first team when he was 17.

Timothy Fosu Mensah is a good talent.   People talk about wishing Anguissa would show more grit and drive...look less asleep and be smart on the ball.

Timothy would be a better Anguissa given the time.   

JOSE MOURINHO is why Timothy wasn't getting playing time at United.

His being a loan player was probably why he didn't get more minutes with CP...well, and his manager changed.

At one point Ryan Sessegnon was a quality utility player...but his talent shown through.   As a person whose watched almost every United game over the past 4 years, I'm telling you Timothy has that same potential...if he can stay healthy.

City winger Leroy Sane had a hard time getting past the 20-year-old and claimed he was the toughest opponent he had faced last season, adding: "I have played against him twice this season, and even last season, he had me really well under control."

[Forever Fulham]

We were playing a high line,and was obviously playing to the managers orders to get forward all the time.
It did look bad on MOTD,surprising that Slava didn't have a word about it early on telling him he has to defend as well.
Wasn't the only one being caught out though.

Indeed, a high line that was preset to have a RWB stay advanced as much as possible, with the two midfielders in Seri and Zambo to drop back as deep as possible. This is how we kept our width for 30 minutes of the match.

The 3-back was a brave choice, and I think anyone could have been a scapegoat with that much possible exposure. Christie was not required to drop back as deep as people think in this 3-back formation. He chose to drop out of necessity because Zambo or Seri did not control the ball in the advanced midfield (near center circle).

People also love to show Christie being nutmegged by Iwobi, but some forget that Ream was nutmegged earlier by him as well.

Not saying Christie didn't have a poor performance, to his standards, but he's definitely much better than that - we all are. I think we should have stuck with 3-back formation after conceding the 2nd goal, instead of going to a heavily compressed 4-3-3, which was just begging for us to get caught in transition.

Agree with that, the back 3 was better until ream went off, surprised didn't bring Mawson on, but that's why he's the boss.

I just watched the game a second time and have to say you're right.  When Ream went off, you could see the difference.