left back

[jarv]

I dont think I have ever seen such a useless left back in a Fulham shirt.  Twice yesterday, he gave away the ball needlessly and then made ZERO effort to recover. ZERO.   Later in the game a Fulham player lost the ball when 2 players challenged. Any park footballer could have guessed what was going to happen next. It did but Bryan did not anticipate what was a very simple interception. He stood gawking while an opponent got up off the ground, gathered the ball, crossed it in nicely to their advantage. How did this guy ever become a professional player? 

[Statto]

Harsh. I get the impression off the pitch hes a decent, intelligent and level-headed lad (cf Fosu Mensah). None of our team look good at the moment, even players we're supposed to have poached from under the noses of Barcelona! I suspect this time next year we'll see that in the Championship Bryan is a really useful player, then maybe in the future he'll get a fairer crack at the PL in a decent team under a decent manager.

[The Rational Fan]

Joe Bryan was bought for 5% of revenue, that is the price of a good EPL backup player for a team in a relegation battle; which he is. FFC didn't pay for prices for a first team player, so we shouldn't complain that we have a backup player.

[Milo]

Harsh. I get the impression off the pitch hes a decent, intelligent and level-headed lad (cf Fosu Mensah). None of our team look good at the moment, even players we're supposed to have poached from under the noses of Barcelona! I suspect this time next year we'll see that in the Championship Bryan is a really useful player, then maybe in the future he'll get a fairer crack at the PL in a decent team under a decent manager.

Agreed ... perhaps when he's 27/28 he may have another crack at the PL.

But.. he has definitely been one of the weaker links this season at least. Positionally caught napping on too many goals. Also not a threat going forward.

[Matt10]

Skewed logic again. He played a full back role for Bristol, and started to do the same under Slavisa's system. With Ranieri in, he's playing more of a wingback where he doesn't get deep enough - there is no "attacking threat" other than sending in crosses for Mitro, which he's done well in. Problem is the 3-4-3 that Ranieri likes doesn't put a priority on the wingers to track alongside the WB, so unlike last year with Slavisa our fullbacks were helped greatly by the wingers. This year, not so much.

The only criticism I have for Bryan is that he's looked a bit weak physically against challenges, and sometimes a bit too relaxed. However, he does balance it out with getting stuck in. Just like any of our players though, his head tends to drop when we concede.

There's a lot of pressure as it is, and all of our players are targets to be criticized by association. These threads, to me, are just becoming more cliche as a result.

[hovewhite]

We signed him as a left back and to be fair anyone would struggle in the present team.

[Milo]

Skewed logic again. He played a full back role for Bristol, and started to do the same under Slavisa's system. With Ranieri in, he's playing more of a wingback where he doesn't get deep enough - there is no "attacking threat" other than sending in crosses for Mitro, which he's done well in. Problem is the 3-4-3 that Ranieri likes doesn't put a priority on the wingers to track alongside the WB, so unlike last year with Slavisa our fullbacks were helped greatly by the wingers. This year, not so much.

The only criticism I have for Bryan is that he's looked a bit weak physically against challenges, and sometimes a bit too relaxed. However, he does balance it out with getting stuck in. Just like any of our players though, his head tends to drop when we concede.

There's a lot of pressure as it is, and all of our players are targets to be criticized by association. These threads, to me, are just becoming more cliche as a result.

"Skewed logic again"? Steady on, Matt.

The modern full back or wing back is largely expected to get forward to support the attack. My comments were regarding the whole season so that includes the Jokanovic era where full backs were heavily relied upon to overlap the winger and provide "an attacking threat" in that sense.

You say he puts crosses into Mitrovic but personally I rarely see them, and more importantly he doesn't get up field anywhere near as much as Targett used to in order to provide an outlet and retain possession in advanced positions. I feel that's admittedly a consequence of stronger opposition (and hence faster, more threatening counter attacks when he's out of position). Nonetheless, other full backs in the league do manage it.

Interestingly, I felt MLM did a better job of supporting attacks..

[toshes mate]

Skewed logic again. He played a full back role for Bristol, and started to do the same under Slavisa's system. With Ranieri in, he's playing more of a wingback where he doesn't get deep enough - there is no "attacking threat" other than sending in crosses for Mitro, which he's done well in. Problem is the 3-4-3 that Ranieri likes doesn't put a priority on the wingers to track alongside the WB, so unlike last year with Slavisa our fullbacks were helped greatly by the wingers. This year, not so much.

The only criticism I have for Bryan is that he's looked a bit weak physically against challenges, and sometimes a bit too relaxed. However, he does balance it out with getting stuck in. Just like any of our players though, his head tends to drop when we concede.

There's a lot of pressure as it is, and all of our players are targets to be criticized by association. These threads, to me, are just becoming more cliche as a result.

"Skewed logic again"? Steady on, Matt.

The modern full back or wing back is largely expected to get forward to support the attack. My comments were regarding the whole season so that includes the Jokanovic era where full backs were heavily relied upon to overlap the winger and provide "an attacking threat" in that sense.

You say he puts crosses into Mitrovic but personally I rarely see them, and more importantly he doesn't get up field anywhere near as much as Targett used to in order to provide an outlet and retain possession in advanced positions. I feel that's admittedly a consequence of stronger opposition (and hence faster, more threatening counter attacks when he's out of position). Nonetheless, other full backs in the league do manage it.

Interestingly, I felt MLM did a better job of supporting attacks..

Have to agree with Milo on this.  The key to SJ's set up was partnerships across the whole pitch, as in supporting the player in possession and exploiting attacking space in our opponents half and covering defensive space in our half.  This worked unless a player made a mistake by challenging for the ball and failed instead of shepherding and controlling a counter attack until others could recover their positions.  SJ's mantra about bravery and courage was all about understanding risk and trying to minimise them.  The problem with Ranieri's thinking is that he attempts to do it with the wrong organ in his body.  Bryan played quite well on Friday but it is the lack of organisation, planning and method that is catching us out time and time again, regardless of who the players are.  That is why I refuse to blame individuals for the mistakes that are occurring before the team even get out of the dressing room.   

[ALG01]

I think Bryan is way out of his depth and cannot imagine whhy we got him except as a very infrequent squad player.

So many goal come from his failures to anticipate and/or close down. He is not the whole problem but he is very near the top of my list, I do not think I want him to be our number one LBin the Championship.