Zambo - will Mr Parker & Mr Gray

[toshes mate]

The young man has a lot to live up for sure but I really do despair of commenters making standard judgements about any of the players who have appeared this season, and not before, in a very poorly put together squad, in circumstances ill judged to give them the best chances of success.  At first Jokanovic had to play trial and error with his fit and available with limited options in key positions, taking twelve games to come up with a competitive solution.  Then Ranieri tinkered with no thought to the damage his tinkering was doing to confidence levels among players who have already promised us better before.  He never got close to a decently competitive team.  Now we have Parker whose first game was oxygen compared to the suffocating fumes of Ranieri.  We, and the players, have polluted minds but at least everyone has a chance to breathe freely again.  Let us see what players can do in a pollution free environment, under what looks to be a half decent coach and take it from there.

Anguissa for my money shows promise and ability, but he may be as shell-shocked as anyone else or, as someone else almost put it, who wouldn't have been entitled to have a nervous breakdown in the FFC set up this season?  Thankfully Parker appears to have kept his head and I believe he is more than capable of dragging some very decent performances from the players at his disposal.  I, for one, hope and expect him to do so.  Then we can see what Anguissa can do, and make more pertinent judgements as is our way.  I expect him to show what he is capable of and I am sure our coaches will give him every chance to do so.   

[the nutflush]

What he did well yesterday any professional footballer could have done what he did poorly was kill some good moves with a poor pass. Hopeless

Agreed.  He's an absolute bust.  All these people saying he can do well for us next season in the championship are deluded.  All he does is pass the ball backwards 6ft.  My seven year old son can do that.... actually I think he does it better.

that's is just not true of what he did on Sunday. Watch again, watch the clever pass out wide between a couple of players to Bryan, how he linked with TC at times.

Yes then look at his poor turnovers and complete lack of grunt in his challenges. He has no engine and looked completely buggered after 20 minutes.

[MJG]

What he did well yesterday any professional footballer could have done what he did poorly was kill some good moves with a poor pass. Hopeless

Agreed.  He's an absolute bust.  All these people saying he can do well for us next season in the championship are deluded.  All he does is pass the ball backwards 6ft.  My seven year old son can do that.... actually I think he does it better.

that's is just not true of what he did on Sunday. Watch again, watch the clever pass out wide between a couple of players to Bryan, how he linked with TC at times.

Yes then look at his poor turnovers and complete lack of grunt in his challenges. He has no engine and looked completely buggered after 20 minutes.

Twice where that happened I counted and have stated elsewhere it wasn't perfect... But no one was. Just trying to be balanced in an opinion on him instead of saying he just bloody poo.

[the nutflush]

We spent a club record on him. He and Seri have not shown a tenth of their value this season and is one major reason we are going down. All the talk this season has been about how shocking our defence has been but I think our central midfield has been worse.

[hovewhite]

We spent a club record on him. He and Seri have not shown a tenth of their value this season and is one major reason we are going down. All the talk this season has been about how shocking our defence has been but I think our central midfield has been worse.

correct a shaky defensive line which is compounded when you give the ball away so often in midfield and think 10 goals plus given by midfield to opposition teams.

[Woolly Mammoth]

We spent a club record on him. He and Seri have not shown a tenth of their value this season and is one major reason we are going down. All the talk this season has been about how shocking our defence has been but I think our central midfield has been worse.

correct a shaky defensive line which is compounded when you give the ball away so often in midfield and think 10 goals plus given by midfield to opposition teams.

Spot on, good observations, not only has it been a disasterous season, but a very expensive one.

[Brawn]

For me he's behind Chambers, Seri, Cairney, and now McDonald (in that order) in the CM ranking.

[toshes mate]

We spent a club record on him. He and Seri have not shown a tenth of their value this season and is one major reason we are going down. All the talk this season has been about how shocking our defence has been but I think our central midfield has been worse.

correct a shaky defensive line which is compounded when you give the ball away so often in midfield and think 10 goals plus given by midfield to opposition teams.

I concur with this too. 

It was a problem under Jokanovic which he 'solved' in two ways - score more goals than you concede and have defenders marking the spaces that attackers may exploit on the counter if only to delay the counter long enough to have men behind the ball.  This was most effective when we had decent wing-backs and midfielders who were pacey enough to get back and cover.  This season the wing backs have been much less effective (Bryan noticeably better than Christie) and the midfielders lack the pace needed for recovery and do not get into positions which force attackers away from danger.  The defenders are as a consequence either forced to lose shape by going out of position in attempting to make up for lack of numbers or run ragged in no man's land.  Given time I believe Parker will have his own resolution of this problem drilled into his players.   

[filham]

Seri and Anguissi must have had very good stats for us to have paid all those millions for them but right now McDonald and Cairney look the much better option, we wasted millions.
You would think these two signings alone would make the management lose faith in the stats system.

[Sting of the North]

Seri and Anguissi must have had very good stats for us to have paid all those millions for them but right now McDonald and Cairney look the much better option, we wasted millions.
You would think these two signings alone would make the management lose faith in the stats system.

Or maybe lose faith in our "traditional" scouting? Or maybe both? Or maybe neither, since hopefully their analysis runs a bit deeper than "those two players were expensive and currently not in the starting eleven and therefore our system is crap"? Or maybe you are correct, who knows.

Also thought we looked better when Anguissa came on, but hard to tell if that was because of the sub, and of course equally hard to tell if it would have worked from the start.

[Statto]

For me he's behind Chambers, Seri, Cairney, and now McDonald (in that order) in the CM ranking.

Well we have 3 cm spaces and of those you mention, one is on loan, another may well be sold in the summer, another (if he doesn't also leave) has a dodgy knee and the fourth is already the dark side of 30. So I'd say that probably makes Anguissa the lynchpin of our midfield next year!

[epsomraver]

I'm yet to understand what he offers the team - he does not appear to be a great tackler, I have never seen him win a header, he has no pace, he never appears energetic, he is not a great passer and his touch is fairly poor.
I would like to know what some people see in him? He is far from a DM with the way that he plays and I see him misplace more passes than quality ones. Obviously I'd love him to improve and be a useful addition though it doesn't look good right now in my opinion.

0001.jpeg 0001.jpeg 0001.jpeg thought he was very poor, not even basic football skills, gave the ball away all the time

[toshes mate]

Seri and Anguissi must have had very good stats for us to have paid all those millions for them but right now McDonald and Cairney look the much better option, we wasted millions.
You would think these two signings alone would make the management lose faith in the stats system.

Or maybe lose faith in our "traditional" scouting? Or maybe both? Or maybe neither, since hopefully their analysis runs a bit deeper than "those two players were expensive and currently not in the starting eleven and therefore our system is crap"? Or maybe you are correct, who knows.

Or, we could safely utilise the old adage that one problem will always lead to another, and then another, and so on, if not dealt with.   One of the things that happens if you are in a bad place where nothing is changing is to doubt your own worth because you have not chosen to say 'to hell with this, you are the problem, not me...' from the outset and to bear the consequences of saying it out loud.  I would suggest the litany of 'Fexiteers' has been down to exchanges we have not been privy to, the kind of 'out of hand situation' that might exist where a dominant (to keep this as uncontroversial as possible) personality demands sycophantic activity and compliance from others rather than questioning and doubting.  It is hard to imagine that, apart from the latter days of May last year, Motspur Park has been a happy, smiling place among those responsible for player recruitment and human resource matters, unless those concerned have simply followed the regime orders and got on with it.  Their smiles would not be genuine but that would hardly matter a jot, would it.

I get the sense that Parker hasn't blotted his copy book at FFC under the Khans and I am hoping his caretaker period is just as dumbfounding as was Jokanovic's team win at Wembley because then there may be some worthy words spoken.   

[Sting of the North]

Seri and Anguissi must have had very good stats for us to have paid all those millions for them but right now McDonald and Cairney look the much better option, we wasted millions.
You would think these two signings alone would make the management lose faith in the stats system.

Or maybe lose faith in our "traditional" scouting? Or maybe both? Or maybe neither, since hopefully their analysis runs a bit deeper than "those two players were expensive and currently not in the starting eleven and therefore our system is crap"? Or maybe you are correct, who knows.

Or, we could safely utilise the old adage that one problem will always lead to another, and then another, and so on, if not dealt with.   One of the things that happens if you are in a bad place where nothing is changing is to doubt your own worth because you have not chosen to say 'to hell with this, you are the problem, not me...' from the outset and to bear the consequences of saying it out loud.  I would suggest the litany of 'Fexiteers' has been down to exchanges we have not been privy to, the kind of 'out of hand situation' that might exist where a dominant (to keep this as uncontroversial as possible) personality demands sycophantic activity and compliance from others rather than questioning and doubting.  It is hard to imagine that, apart from the latter days of May last year, Motspur Park has been a happy, smiling place among those responsible for player recruitment and human resource matters, unless those concerned have simply followed the regime orders and got on with it.  Their smiles would not be genuine but that would hardly matter a jot, would it.

I get the sense that Parker hasn't blotted his copy book at FFC under the Khans and I am hoping his caretaker period is just as dumbfounding as was Jokanovic's team win at Wembley because then there may be some worthy words spoken.

Very good post.