Cyrus Christie

[One Martin Thomas]

Good enough in the league we find ourselves in ... no more than that !

With Knockaert, we need at least one centre back and I would call that it until January!

[hovewhite]

Cyrus seems a good lad he was back in the news in the local press of his original club Coventry today as the club fans have been running an appeal to fund down on there luck cov fans who can't afford S/Ts and raising funds to get them S/Ts and Cyrus paid for one for lucky recipient that can't afford a ticket a great gesture by Cyrus.

[FFC1987]

Said it before, but please advise of what match he struggled defensively other than Arsenal at home when he was forced into a new wingback role.

He needs to work on his crossing with his right foot. It's just that simple for me. Defensively, I think he will be fine because I genuinely can't recall a match where he struggled so terribly as the comments seem to suggest.

I'll be frank, I wasn't impressed with a single defensive performance.

[The Rational Fan]

I don't like it, but I understand scapegoating a player that comes on a huge salary as first team player. But, Christie was never meant to be a premier league first team right back, he was the backup behind TFM and Chambers when we failed to get Montana. He was in the team because he was a decent backup nothing more and the season first choice right backs were worse. To make matters worse, the poor guy had a backup inside him with Odoi and in front of him Schullre had decided he was an attacker only.

Again, regular constructive criticiser of Christie last year but I made this point too. It's really not his fault that to myself and others, he wasn't up to the task of being an EPL full back. That doesn't warrant abuse BUT that doesn't warrant unquestionable support, devoid of criticism.

I'll repeat this again, personally, I'd like a better RB but if he starts the season for us, does amazing and supersedes all expectations, awesome. BUT if he doesn't play well, hold his place or just looks out of sorts in one of the best (on paper) championship teams, you can betcha dollar i'll be here saying I still don't rate him and think we should of bettered the last two windows, not just this current one.

Long story short, not a scapegoat, not unwarranted criticism, don't be abusive in criticism and support him when he puts on the shirt.

We simply cannot afford a better right back without selling someone, selling Christie for £3m so TK can a £3m right back would be a downgrade (our DoF skill is not trading players, his skill is getting fresh investment into FFC for new players). Selling both McDonald and Christie to buy a Right Back would result in a better First XI, but do you really want Cisse our only midfield back up.

Other than one or two teams, most of the top teams have a right back if a similar standard to Christie, but we have a lot of good players in other positions (including McDonald, Cisse, Johansen and Anguissa fighting for two spot). We have an average right back, to fix that we have to sell players to raise money and weaken  another position (for example sell Ryan Sessegnon and weaken the left wing).

[Matt10]

Said it before, but please advise of what match he struggled defensively other than Arsenal at home when he was forced into a new wingback role.

He needs to work on his crossing with his right foot. It's just that simple for me. Defensively, I think he will be fine because I genuinely can't recall a match where he struggled so terribly as the comments seem to suggest.

I'll be frank, I wasn't impressed with a single defensive performance.

That's fine. Not trying to convince anyone. I just like to analyze what matches some would say he played poorly in. Not saying Christie is my first choice either. However, statements made without support always piques my curiosity.

So the team at whoscored rated Christie a 7.0+ value eight total times last season. That's the highest on the team. In addition, he scored the highest overall at a 7.78 for all defenders, which happened vs Southampton, the highest among all defenders this season. He also scored a 7.62 vs Cardiff away, and a 7.43 vs Wolves away.

Other defenders who received 7.0+

LeMarchand - 7x
Bryan - 7x
Odoi - 6x
Ream - 3x
Mawson - 1x
TFM - 1x

On the other side of the coin, Christie's worst performance was a 5.76 vs Newcastle at home and a 5.98 away to Crystal Palace. I would agree with both because I recall his crossing was terrible in both matches, and he only played under 65 minutes, so no room to make up that score. In the match that seemed to have triggered all FFC faithful was the Arsenal home match. To my surprise, he was scored at a 6.74, and this was for 90 minutes.

For 90 minutes, the worst score he put in was a 6.1 away to Chelsea, with Crystal Palace at home (first match of the season) at a 6.16.

So, I've analyzed the Chelsea match, keeping in mind this is Ranieri's second match in charge, and a new system is in full effect. Ranieri sets us up in a 4-4-1 with the wingers such as Sess and Johansen to not drop back as far. Christie is isolated a lot of the times because Alonso stays high with Hazard, and Giroud starts to overloading that side. Eventually CR realizes this and forces Sess or Chambers to drop back. In the second half he switches to a 4-2-3-1 and AK comes in for Sess, making sure that Christie is no longer put in the position to be isolated. However, the constant overloading on the ball side makes our defence very narrow, so Alonso just stays high up the pitch, prepared to collect accurate cross long balls.

Anyway, here is how I analzye matches on a +/- tally. This is what I used to do when scouting for college players later down the road.

Minutes 1-30
+ 1 shot on goal, saved.
- 1 bad cross, doesn't get past first defender.
- 1 bad long ball over the top, too far.
- Completely isolated due to CR's overload ball-side tactics, leaving Christie to fend for himself vs Alonso and Hazard. This is finally lessened when Sessegnon drops back instead of Chambers.
+ Two defensive headers away, including a good read on a one-two pass.
+ Stands up Hazard twice.

(6 total | 1 offensive positive, 1 defensive positive || 2 offensive negative, 1 defensive negative)

Minutes 30-45
- Gets too tight on Alonso up the pitch (CR's high press tactic), results in being out of position in transition, and finds himself in the centre of the pitch, bad square pass, Chelsea counter.
- During the counter, Christie recovers defensive line shape, but is so narrow, he's playing CB. Doesn't see Giroud in time, and thankfully he misses from close range.
+ Blocks shot from Hazard after a Chelsea corner, which puts Mawson and Christie in CB roles essentially. GJ thinks it's Mawson's block, but it's clearly Christie's outstretched yellow boots.   
+ Christie gets stuck in on a tackle on Alonso, perfectly timed.
+ Defends Hazard again, forces him inside and into the overloaded traffic.
- Bad decision in which he could intercept a pass at the top of the box but tries to lift it over a sliding Giroud, who ends up gaining possession. We defend and clear out.

(6 total | 3 defensive positive || 2 offensive negative, 1 defensive negative)

Minutes 45-75
- First crossing chance, hits the back of the defender in front of him.
- Christie ends up well advanced, AK plays him, cross is low but not at the highest pace, gets deflected away.
+ Good positioning on Hazard, able to clear the ball off the Belgian.
- Forward pass to Hazard allows Giroud to cut across the defensive line onto Christie's side, and Christie's unaware here, ball is too hard and high, resulting in our throw.
- Makes another good interception, but it's his square pass that is poor again - and intercepted, eventually he fouls Kante to set up a free kick for Chelsea.
- A bit too aggressive on Hazard, and clumsily fouls him.
- A  good read to interecept and clear the ball, but he kicks it with his right foot, and loops into our own box, allowing Pedro to shoot on frame, Rico saves.
- In advanced position, poor pass off the throw in to Chambers. 

(8 total | 1 defensive positive || 5 offensive negative, 2 defensive negative)

Minutes 75-90
- Yet another chance for Christie to cross, he can take it early with Mitro making a great run. Unfortunately, the cross is so poor and high, over everyone.
- Playing very narrow in transition, manages to intercept a pass, but yet again, his attempt at a square pass is intercepted.
- Christie's caught up field, and has to recover vs Hazard. Fouls him, about 25 yards out.
+ Some minutes after we concede, Chelsea take a free kick quickly and Chambers deflects the ball into the path of RLC, who's shot is blocked by Christie.
+ Left footed cross somehow reaches Mitro's head. Imagine that.
- Right footed cross is blocked by RLC. Poor again.
+ Cuts inside, and left footed shot is blocked.

(7 total | 2 offensive positive, 1 defensive positive || 3 offensive negative, 1 defensive negative)

---
Final tally
(27 total | 7 offensive positive, 9 defensive positive || 12 offensive negative, 5 defensive negative)
---

Understood to be a small sample size, but this does support the theme that I have been addressing. He needs to improve his crossing with his right foot...

Sources:
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/134111/Fixtures/Cyrus-Christie
http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2018/december/03/chelsea-90-mins

[The Rational Fan]

Said it before, but please advise of what match he struggled defensively other than Arsenal at home when he was forced into a new wingback role.

He needs to work on his crossing with his right foot. It's just that simple for me. Defensively, I think he will be fine because I genuinely can't recall a match where he struggled so terribly as the comments seem to suggest.

I'll be frank, I wasn't impressed with a single defensive performance.

That's fine. Not trying to convince anyone. I just like to analyze what matches some would say he played poorly in. Not saying Christie is my first choice either. However, statements made without support always piques my curiosity.

So the team at whoscored rated Christie a 7.0+ value eight total times last season. That's the highest on the team. In addition, he scored the highest overall at a 7.78 for all defenders, which happened vs Southampton, the highest among all defenders this season. He also scored a 7.62 vs Cardiff away, and a 7.43 vs Wolves away.

Other defenders who received 7.0+

LeMarchand - 7x
Bryan - 7x
Odoi - 6x
Ream - 3x
Mawson - 1x
TFM - 1x

On the other side of the coin, Christie's worst performance was a 5.76 vs Newcastle at home and a 5.98 away to Crystal Palace. I would agree with both because I recall his crossing was terrible in both matches, and he only played under 65 minutes, so no room to make up that score. In the match that seemed to have triggered all FFC faithful was the Arsenal home match. To my surprise, he was scored at a 6.74, and this was for 90 minutes.

For 90 minutes, the worst score he put in was a 6.1 away to Chelsea, with Crystal Palace at home (first match of the season) at a 6.16.

So, I've analyzed the Chelsea match, keeping in mind this is Ranieri's second match in charge, and a new system is in full effect. Ranieri sets us up in a 4-4-1 with the wingers such as Sess and Johansen to not drop back as far. Christie is isolated a lot of the times because Alonso stays high with Hazard, and Giroud starts to overloading that side. Eventually CR realizes this and forces Sess or Chambers to drop back. In the second half he switches to a 4-2-3-1 and AK comes in for Sess, making sure that Christie is no longer put in the position to be isolated. However, the constant overloading on the ball side makes our defence very narrow, so Alonso just stays high up the pitch, prepared to collect accurate cross long balls.

Anyway, here is how I analzye matches on a +/- tally. This is what I used to do when scouting for college players later down the road.

Minutes 1-30
+ 1 shot on goal, saved.
- 1 bad cross, doesn't get past first defender.
- 1 bad long ball over the top, too far.
- Completely isolated due to CR's overload ball-side tactics, leaving Christie to fend for himself vs Alonso and Hazard. This is finally lessened when Sessegnon drops back instead of Chambers.
+ Two defensive headers away, including a good read on a one-two pass.
+ Stands up Hazard twice.

(6 total | 1 offensive positive, 1 defensive positive || 2 offensive negative, 1 defensive negative)

Minutes 30-45
- Gets too tight on Alonso up the pitch (CR's high press tactic), results in being out of position in transition, and finds himself in the centre of the pitch, bad square pass, Chelsea counter.
- During the counter, Christie recovers defensive line shape, but is so narrow, he's playing CB. Doesn't see Giroud in time, and thankfully he misses from close range.
+ Blocks shot from Hazard after a Chelsea corner, which puts Mawson and Christie in CB roles essentially. GJ thinks it's Mawson's block, but it's clearly Christie's outstretched yellow boots.   
+ Christie gets stuck in on a tackle on Alonso, perfectly timed.
+ Defends Hazard again, forces him inside and into the overloaded traffic.
- Bad decision in which he could intercept a pass at the top of the box but tries to lift it over a sliding Giroud, who ends up gaining possession. We defend and clear out.

(6 total | 3 defensive positive || 2 offensive negative, 1 defensive negative)

Minutes 45-75
- First crossing chance, hits the back of the defender in front of him.
- Christie ends up well advanced, AK plays him, cross is low but not at the highest pace, gets deflected away.
+ Good positioning on Hazard, able to clear the ball off the Belgian.
- Forward pass to Hazard allows Giroud to cut across the defensive line onto Christie's side, and Christie's unaware here, ball is too hard and high, resulting in our throw.
- Makes another good interception, but it's his square pass that is poor again - and intercepted, eventually he fouls Kante to set up a free kick for Chelsea.
- A bit too aggressive on Hazard, and clumsily fouls him.
- A  good read to interecept and clear the ball, but he kicks it with his right foot, and loops into our own box, allowing Pedro to shoot on frame, Rico saves.
- In advanced position, poor pass off the throw in to Chambers. 

(8 total | 1 defensive positive || 5 offensive negative, 2 defensive negative)

Minutes 75-90
- Yet another chance for Christie to cross, he can take it early with Mitro making a great run. Unfortunately, the cross is so poor and high, over everyone.
- Playing very narrow in transition, manages to intercept a pass, but yet again, his attempt at a square pass is intercepted.
- Christie's caught up field, and has to recover vs Hazard. Fouls him, about 25 yards out.
+ Some minutes after we concede, Chelsea take a free kick quickly and Chambers deflects the ball into the path of RLC, who's shot is blocked by Christie.
+ Left footed cross somehow reaches Mitro's head. Imagine that.
- Right footed cross is blocked by RLC. Poor again.
+ Cuts inside, and left footed shot is blocked.

(7 total | 2 offensive positive, 1 defensive positive || 3 offensive negative, 1 defensive negative)

---
Final tally
(27 total | 7 offensive positive, 9 defensive positive || 12 offensive negative, 5 defensive negative)
---

Understood to be a small sample size, but this does support the theme that I have been addressing. He needs to improve his crossing with his right foot...

Sources:
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/134111/Fixtures/Cyrus-Christie
http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2018/december/03/chelsea-90-mins

Great Analysis, I wish we focused on first preventing the squad getting significantly weaker than last season, before we get upgrades.

Last season, our two biggest downgrades were at a) right back (losing Fredericks) and b) left back (losing Taggett).

Next season, our two biggest downgrades will losing right winger (Sessegnon) and left winger (Babel).

[Mince n Tatties]

Nobody been able to answer my question of 2 days ago then,name a better rb in the Championship.
Obviously there isn't then?..😵

[FFC1987]

Nobody been able to answer my question of 2 days ago then,name a better rb in the Championship.
Obviously there isn't then?..😵

The list isn't long or existent put it that way. That doesn't mean Christie doesn't need to step up or could be replaced by better though. I'm changed my view recently from a must buy to, lets see how he starts and if surplus to requirement, let youth play till January.

[One Martin Thomas]

Nobody been able to answer my question of 2 days ago then,name a better rb in the Championship.
Obviously there isn't then?..😵

I can't name another RB in the Championship let alone a better one ! IMO he'll do at this level

[Facts Not Fiction]

Nobody been able to answer my question of 2 days ago then,name a better rb in the Championship.
Obviously there isn't then?..😵

Here's a list of each clubs current best RB

Cardiff: Peltier
Fulham: Christie
Huddersfield: Hadergjonaj
Leeds: Ayling
West Brom: Nyom
Derby: Bogle
Middlesbrough: Shotton
Bristol: Hunt
Forest: Darikwa
Swansea: Naughton
Brentford: Dalsgaard
Wednesday: Odubajo
Hull: Lichaj
Preston: Fisher
Blackburn: Nyambe
Stoke: Smith
Birmingham: Colin
Wigan: Byrne
QPR: Furlong
Reading: Yiadom
Millwall: Romeo
Luton: Cranie
Barnsley: Cavare
Charlton: Solly

There may be a few, but not many are better than Christie.