Seri

[Kiwimike]

In fairness to Seri, when he joined there was a lot of controversey around whether he or MLM was the 'big buy' which obviously screwed with his head, add to that that it took Slavisa (who I thought was one of our better coaches/managers) a long time to decide on a team and who was best at what job (infact I don't think he ever did which was why he got shown the door).  Then along came 'Tinkerman' who again stuffed around with the team.  No wonder he didn't want to stay around.
I think Parker's man-management may have a lot to do with any improved attitude - as evidenced with Kamara (as much as the "preservation of barn doors society' may love him).  Give the man a chance, he has the ability, it just has to be drawn out.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Seri was never the problem as we did better when he played we got "20 points from 24 games" than when he didn't play we got "6 points from 14 games". It true none of the players brought in during the summer of 2018 had a great season and he didn't meet expectations, but neither did the players from the 23 game unbeaten streak meet my expectations.

A lot of criticism is directed at Seri, as Chambers took his place in the squad and was an improvement, but Chambers was terrible in the position that he was selected at centre back. Tony Khan got a lot of criticism for thinking Chambers was a centre-back, but clearly Arsene Werner and Arsenal think the same thing so it was a mistake to think Chambers is a CB but not that stupid a mistake. Chambers must share some blame for not being a decent centre back and right back, as that is where he was needed.

For example hypothetically, if Mitro suddenly cannot score and turns into a great centre back this season, Fulham is going down even if he is player of the year. Lesson is if Mitro is suddenly only a CB, TK shouldnt get as much blame as the coaches and Mitro himself.

The problem positions for me in 2018/19 was RB, RCB and LCB that should have been TFM, Chambers and Mawson; plus a pretty poor season from the highest wage earner Schürrle and Sessegnon failed to meet the insanely high expectations me and others had for him. In addition, a number of squad players like KMac looked terribly out of their depth, like Hector is currently looking too.

I think the squad is deeper this season, if we can beat Sheffield and WBA in the next few games, we will go into the winter transfer window with a chance to stay up and knowing what we need to bring in.

At the moment Seri is either our fifth, sixth or seventh best midfielder, I think he is a very strong squad player that probably won't make the bench if everyone is fit and less than twelve teams have that depth in midfield. A bigger problem is Ream and Cav are probably still making the bench with everyone fit, who are in my opinion worse than Seri.

Ream will offer far more to Fulham than Seri over a season, and Cav despite the fact that he looks as though he has just walked out of the dry cleaners when he comes off the pitch after being substituted yet again can have moments of magic occasionally. So Seri for me comes a close third.
Now he can do one of two things depending on his desire, hunger and appetite.
He can carry on being an expensive high maintenance player who couldn't careless about being a passenger and letting his team mates down by making sure there is an opponent standing between him and the Fulham player on the ball so he does not receive a pass.
Or he can have a good look in the mirror as say to himself, be honest I am a let down and a parasite on the skin of Fulham FC and I must start competing and show the manager, the players the supporters the natural talent and ability I have rather than stick in the comfort zone. Am I a man or a mouse, throw down a piece of cheese and I will show you.
Well if he has a backbone and any decent ethics and pride, he will do the latter. It is his choice, his attitude his desire that is under scrutiny, it's really his last chance to compete for a place in the match day squad.
However, going by the quality of player Fulham have recruited in midfield, it looks as though Fulham have made their mind up that he is surplus to requirements and is a waste of money and a waste of a place on the bench. So he appears to have lost any chance after that milky and dismal display v Championship side Brentford, he just went through the motions.
Perhaps he decided himself that he is far too lightweight and timid for English conditions and decided to throw the towel in before he would have to eat dirt at Turf Moor on a cold winters night in December and January which no computer, analytics and stats would pick up.
There are no winners out of this, just poor judgement by the recruitment unit.

[Carborundum]

Football is a game of mistakes of all types.  Relentless streams of errors small medium and large. Punctuated by rare, sometime joyous outbreaks of competency.  Fortunately most of the errors are forgiven and forgotten in the blink of an eye.  But not all and Seri's problem was that he could be muscled off the ball.  Which is unacceptable to anyone with an ounce of competitive spirit.  Muscled off the ball in a way that would draw a foul on the continent, meaning opponents wouldn't try it.  But not here, not with our refs.  So he was targeted. He couldn't find a way to protect the ball and exert his undoubted creative influence.  I doubt he ever will and it means he shouldn't be here.

The night Brighton came to the Cottage, scored two early goals them promptly gave up, he was stellar.  Given space he can cut a team to ribbons, no doubt.  But he won't be given space on a regular basis.

[The Rational Fan]

Seri was never the problem as we did better when he played we got "20 points from 24 games" than when he didn't play we got "6 points from 14 games". It true none of the players brought in during the summer of 2018 had a great season and he didn't meet expectations, but neither did the players from the 23 game unbeaten streak meet my expectations.

A lot of criticism is directed at Seri, as Chambers took his place in the squad and was an improvement, but Chambers was terrible in the position that he was selected at centre back. Tony Khan got a lot of criticism for thinking Chambers was a centre-back, but clearly Arsene Werner and Arsenal think the same thing so it was a mistake to think Chambers is a CB but not that stupid a mistake. Chambers must share some blame for not being a decent centre back and right back, as that is where he was needed.

For example hypothetically, if Mitro suddenly cannot score and turns into a great centre back this season, Fulham is going down even if he is player of the year. Lesson is if Mitro is suddenly only a CB, TK shouldnt get as much blame as the coaches and Mitro himself.

The problem positions for me in 2018/19 was RB, RCB and LCB that should have been TFM, Chambers and Mawson; plus a pretty poor season from the highest wage earner Schürrle and Sessegnon failed to meet the insanely high expectations me and others had for him. In addition, a number of squad players like KMac looked terribly out of their depth, like Hector is currently looking too.

I think the squad is deeper this season, if we can beat Sheffield and WBA in the next few games, we will go into the winter transfer window with a chance to stay up and knowing what we need to bring in.

At the moment Seri is either our fifth, sixth or seventh best midfielder, I think he is a very strong squad player that probably won't make the bench if everyone is fit and less than twelve teams have that depth in midfield. A bigger problem is Ream and Cav are probably still making the bench with everyone fit, who are in my opinion worse than Seri.

Ream will offer far more to Fulham than Seri over a season, and Cav despite the fact that he looks as though he has just walked out of the dry cleaners when he comes off the pitch after being substituted yet again can have moments of magic occasionally. So Seri for me comes a close third.
Now he can do one of two things depending on his desire, hunger and appetite.
He can carry on being an expensive high maintenance player who couldn't careless about being a passenger and letting his team mates down by making sure there is an opponent standing between him and the Fulham player on the ball so he does not receive a pass.
Or he can have a good look in the mirror as say to himself, be honest I am a let down and a parasite on the skin of Fulham FC and I must start competing and show the manager, the players the supporters the natural talent and ability I have rather than stick in the comfort zone. Am I a man or a mouse, throw down a piece of cheese and I will show you.
Well if he has a backbone and any decent ethics and pride, he will do the latter. It is his choice, his attitude his desire that is under scrutiny, it's really his last chance to compete for a place in the match day squad.
However, going by the quality of player Fulham have recruited in midfield, it looks as though Fulham have made their mind up that he is surplus to requirements and is a waste of money and a waste of a place on the bench. So he appears to have lost any chance after that milky and dismal display v Championship side Brentford, he just went through the motions.
Perhaps he decided himself that he is far too lightweight and timid for English conditions and decided to throw the towel in before he would have to eat dirt at Turf Moor on a cold winters night in December and January which no computer, analytics and stats would pick up.
There are no winners out of this, just poor judgement by the recruitment unit.

We will see if Seri, Onamah, Stefjo or KMac will get the sixth midfield spot in the squad, as the rest will go on loan to the Championship or Portgual.

Fulham wanted to sell Seri, provided they got a good transfer fee. Seri wanted to leave, but Seri didn't think he needed to drop his wage demands for the new club, so Galatasray offered him a very good wage but only offerred Fulham a £1m transfer fee. If Seri was willing to accept reasonable wages (like Knockaerts) then we could still get near £9m for Seri. Fulham cannot be afraid to keep Seri as a squad player that plays 300 minutes a season, until he either proves he is a starter or drops his wage demands to get Fulham a transfer fee. 

[Woolly Mammoth]

Seri was never the problem as we did better when he played we got "20 points from 24 games" than when he didn't play we got "6 points from 14 games". It true none of the players brought in during the summer of 2018 had a great season and he didn't meet expectations, but neither did the players from the 23 game unbeaten streak meet my expectations.

A lot of criticism is directed at Seri, as Chambers took his place in the squad and was an improvement, but Chambers was terrible in the position that he was selected at centre back. Tony Khan got a lot of criticism for thinking Chambers was a centre-back, but clearly Arsene Werner and Arsenal think the same thing so it was a mistake to think Chambers is a CB but not that stupid a mistake. Chambers must share some blame for not being a decent centre back and right back, as that is where he was needed.

For example hypothetically, if Mitro suddenly cannot score and turns into a great centre back this season, Fulham is going down even if he is player of the year. Lesson is if Mitro is suddenly only a CB, TK shouldnt get as much blame as the coaches and Mitro himself.

The problem positions for me in 2018/19 was RB, RCB and LCB that should have been TFM, Chambers and Mawson; plus a pretty poor season from the highest wage earner Schürrle and Sessegnon failed to meet the insanely high expectations me and others had for him. In addition, a number of squad players like KMac looked terribly out of their depth, like Hector is currently looking too.

I think the squad is deeper this season, if we can beat Sheffield and WBA in the next few games, we will go into the winter transfer window with a chance to stay up and knowing what we need to bring in.

At the moment Seri is either our fifth, sixth or seventh best midfielder, I think he is a very strong squad player that probably won't make the bench if everyone is fit and less than twelve teams have that depth in midfield. A bigger problem is Ream and Cav are probably still making the bench with everyone fit, who are in my opinion worse than Seri.

Ream will offer far more to Fulham than Seri over a season, and Cav despite the fact that he looks as though he has just walked out of the dry cleaners when he comes off the pitch after being substituted yet again can have moments of magic occasionally. So Seri for me comes a close third.
Now he can do one of two things depending on his desire, hunger and appetite.
He can carry on being an expensive high maintenance player who couldn't careless about being a passenger and letting his team mates down by making sure there is an opponent standing between him and the Fulham player on the ball so he does not receive a pass.
Or he can have a good look in the mirror as say to himself, be honest I am a let down and a parasite on the skin of Fulham FC and I must start competing and show the manager, the players the supporters the natural talent and ability I have rather than stick in the comfort zone. Am I a man or a mouse, throw down a piece of cheese and I will show you.
Well if he has a backbone and any decent ethics and pride, he will do the latter. It is his choice, his attitude his desire that is under scrutiny, it's really his last chance to compete for a place in the match day squad.
However, going by the quality of player Fulham have recruited in midfield, it looks as though Fulham have made their mind up that he is surplus to requirements and is a waste of money and a waste of a place on the bench. So he appears to have lost any chance after that milky and dismal display v Championship side Brentford, he just went through the motions.
Perhaps he decided himself that he is far too lightweight and timid for English conditions and decided to throw the towel in before he would have to eat dirt at Turf Moor on a cold winters night in December and January which no computer, analytics and stats would pick up.
There are no winners out of this, just poor judgement by the recruitment unit.

We will see if Seri, Onamah, Stefjo or KMac will get the sixth midfield spot in the squad, as the rest will go on loan to the Championship or Portgual.

Fulham wanted to sell Seri, but Seri wanted wages so high that the transfer fee offerred to Fulham was about £1m. If Seri was willing to accept reasonable wages (like Knockaerts) then we could still get near £9m for Seri. The pressuring of Tony Khan to sell Seri resulted in Seri thinking he wouldn't need to take a pay cut to leave and no fee. 

My thoughts are that Onamah should claim that 6th Spot on merit, the best is yet to come. Don't know what to say about Stef Jo, I was a little disappointed at his display v Brentford, and I think Kevin Mc could still be retained for a number of reasons including that he is over 6ft whereas through no fault of his own Seri is 5ft and a fag paper.
That is why Seri should make up for his lightweight stature by being more competitive and aggressive and pumped up with passion and desire. But he falls into the category of the modern footballer who is allowed to still wear his nappy in training, as apposed to being trained and conditioned to Spartan life where a coach will say to him, " see that brick wall over there, run through it and come out fighting on the other side ".
Instead these kind of footballers are pampered and indulged and therefore there are no winners from a footballing point of view only far bank balances at others expense.

[The Rational Fan]

Seri was never the problem as we did better when he played we got "20 points from 24 games" than when he didn't play we got "6 points from 14 games". It true none of the players brought in during the summer of 2018 had a great season and he didn't meet expectations, but neither did the players from the 23 game unbeaten streak meet my expectations.

A lot of criticism is directed at Seri, as Chambers took his place in the squad and was an improvement, but Chambers was terrible in the position that he was selected at centre back. Tony Khan got a lot of criticism for thinking Chambers was a centre-back, but clearly Arsene Werner and Arsenal think the same thing so it was a mistake to think Chambers is a CB but not that stupid a mistake. Chambers must share some blame for not being a decent centre back and right back, as that is where he was needed.

For example hypothetically, if Mitro suddenly cannot score and turns into a great centre back this season, Fulham is going down even if he is player of the year. Lesson is if Mitro is suddenly only a CB, TK shouldnt get as much blame as the coaches and Mitro himself.

The problem positions for me in 2018/19 was RB, RCB and LCB that should have been TFM, Chambers and Mawson; plus a pretty poor season from the highest wage earner Schürrle and Sessegnon failed to meet the insanely high expectations me and others had for him. In addition, a number of squad players like KMac looked terribly out of their depth, like Hector is currently looking too.

I think the squad is deeper this season, if we can beat Sheffield and WBA in the next few games, we will go into the winter transfer window with a chance to stay up and knowing what we need to bring in.

At the moment Seri is either our fifth, sixth or seventh best midfielder, I think he is a very strong squad player that probably won't make the bench if everyone is fit and less than twelve teams have that depth in midfield. A bigger problem is Ream and Cav are probably still making the bench with everyone fit, who are in my opinion worse than Seri.

Ream will offer far more to Fulham than Seri over a season, and Cav despite the fact that he looks as though he has just walked out of the dry cleaners when he comes off the pitch after being substituted yet again can have moments of magic occasionally. So Seri for me comes a close third.
Now he can do one of two things depending on his desire, hunger and appetite.
He can carry on being an expensive high maintenance player who couldn't careless about being a passenger and letting his team mates down by making sure there is an opponent standing between him and the Fulham player on the ball so he does not receive a pass.
Or he can have a good look in the mirror as say to himself, be honest I am a let down and a parasite on the skin of Fulham FC and I must start competing and show the manager, the players the supporters the natural talent and ability I have rather than stick in the comfort zone. Am I a man or a mouse, throw down a piece of cheese and I will show you.
Well if he has a backbone and any decent ethics and pride, he will do the latter. It is his choice, his attitude his desire that is under scrutiny, it's really his last chance to compete for a place in the match day squad.
However, going by the quality of player Fulham have recruited in midfield, it looks as though Fulham have made their mind up that he is surplus to requirements and is a waste of money and a waste of a place on the bench. So he appears to have lost any chance after that milky and dismal display v Championship side Brentford, he just went through the motions.
Perhaps he decided himself that he is far too lightweight and timid for English conditions and decided to throw the towel in before he would have to eat dirt at Turf Moor on a cold winters night in December and January which no computer, analytics and stats would pick up.
There are no winners out of this, just poor judgement by the recruitment unit.

We will see if Seri, Onamah, Stefjo or KMac will get the sixth midfield spot in the squad, as the rest will go on loan to the Championship or Portgual.

Fulham wanted to sell Seri, but Seri wanted wages so high that the transfer fee offerred to Fulham was about £1m. If Seri was willing to accept reasonable wages (like Knockaerts) then we could still get near £9m for Seri. The pressuring of Tony Khan to sell Seri resulted in Seri thinking he wouldn't need to take a pay cut to leave and no fee. 

My thoughts are that Onamah should claim that 6th Spot on merit, the best is yet to come. Don't know what to say about Stef Jo, I was a little disappointed at his display v Brentford, and I think Kevin Mc could still be retained for a number of reasons including that he is over 6ft whereas through no fault of his own Seri is 5ft and a fag paper.
That is why Seri should make up for his lightweight stature by being more competitive and aggressive and pumped up with passion and desire. But he falls into the category of the modern footballer who is allowed to still wear his nappy in training, as apposed to being trained and conditioned to Spartan life where a coach will say to him, " see that brick wall over there, run through it and come out fighting on the other side ".
Instead these kind of footballers are pampered and indulged and therefore there are no winners from a footballing point of view only far bank balances at others expense.

Seri will love playing for QPR on £60k per week, and QPR will love it to as Fulham will be paying his wages.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Seri was never the problem as we did better when he played we got "20 points from 24 games" than when he didn't play we got "6 points from 14 games". It true none of the players brought in during the summer of 2018 had a great season and he didn't meet expectations, but neither did the players from the 23 game unbeaten streak meet my expectations.

A lot of criticism is directed at Seri, as Chambers took his place in the squad and was an improvement, but Chambers was terrible in the position that he was selected at centre back. Tony Khan got a lot of criticism for thinking Chambers was a centre-back, but clearly Arsene Werner and Arsenal think the same thing so it was a mistake to think Chambers is a CB but not that stupid a mistake. Chambers must share some blame for not being a decent centre back and right back, as that is where he was needed.

For example hypothetically, if Mitro suddenly cannot score and turns into a great centre back this season, Fulham is going down even if he is player of the year. Lesson is if Mitro is suddenly only a CB, TK shouldnt get as much blame as the coaches and Mitro himself.

The problem positions for me in 2018/19 was RB, RCB and LCB that should have been TFM, Chambers and Mawson; plus a pretty poor season from the highest wage earner Schürrle and Sessegnon failed to meet the insanely high expectations me and others had for him. In addition, a number of squad players like KMac looked terribly out of their depth, like Hector is currently looking too.

I think the squad is deeper this season, if we can beat Sheffield and WBA in the next few games, we will go into the winter transfer window with a chance to stay up and knowing what we need to bring in.

At the moment Seri is either our fifth, sixth or seventh best midfielder, I think he is a very strong squad player that probably won't make the bench if everyone is fit and less than twelve teams have that depth in midfield. A bigger problem is Ream and Cav are probably still making the bench with everyone fit, who are in my opinion worse than Seri.

Ream will offer far more to Fulham than Seri over a season, and Cav despite the fact that he looks as though he has just walked out of the dry cleaners when he comes off the pitch after being substituted yet again can have moments of magic occasionally. So Seri for me comes a close third.
Now he can do one of two things depending on his desire, hunger and appetite.
He can carry on being an expensive high maintenance player who couldn't careless about being a passenger and letting his team mates down by making sure there is an opponent standing between him and the Fulham player on the ball so he does not receive a pass.
Or he can have a good look in the mirror as say to himself, be honest I am a let down and a parasite on the skin of Fulham FC and I must start competing and show the manager, the players the supporters the natural talent and ability I have rather than stick in the comfort zone. Am I a man or a mouse, throw down a piece of cheese and I will show you.
Well if he has a backbone and any decent ethics and pride, he will do the latter. It is his choice, his attitude his desire that is under scrutiny, it's really his last chance to compete for a place in the match day squad.
However, going by the quality of player Fulham have recruited in midfield, it looks as though Fulham have made their mind up that he is surplus to requirements and is a waste of money and a waste of a place on the bench. So he appears to have lost any chance after that milky and dismal display v Championship side Brentford, he just went through the motions.
Perhaps he decided himself that he is far too lightweight and timid for English conditions and decided to throw the towel in before he would have to eat dirt at Turf Moor on a cold winters night in December and January which no computer, analytics and stats would pick up.
There are no winners out of this, just poor judgement by the recruitment unit.

We will see if Seri, Onamah, Stefjo or KMac will get the sixth midfield spot in the squad, as the rest will go on loan to the Championship or Portgual.

Fulham wanted to sell Seri, but Seri wanted wages so high that the transfer fee offerred to Fulham was about £1m. If Seri was willing to accept reasonable wages (like Knockaerts) then we could still get near £9m for Seri. The pressuring of Tony Khan to sell Seri resulted in Seri thinking he wouldn't need to take a pay cut to leave and no fee. 

My thoughts are that Onamah should claim that 6th Spot on merit, the best is yet to come. Don't know what to say about Stef Jo, I was a little disappointed at his display v Brentford, and I think Kevin Mc could still be retained for a number of reasons including that he is over 6ft whereas through no fault of his own Seri is 5ft and a fag paper.
That is why Seri should make up for his lightweight stature by being more competitive and aggressive and pumped up with passion and desire. But he falls into the category of the modern footballer who is allowed to still wear his nappy in training, as apposed to being trained and conditioned to Spartan life where a coach will say to him, " see that brick wall over there, run through it and come out fighting on the other side ".
Instead these kind of footballers are pampered and indulged and therefore there are no winners from a footballing point of view only far bank balances at others expense.

Seri will love playing for QPR on £60k per week, and QPR will love it to as Fulham will be paying his wages.

and who is to blame for that scenario of it unfolds.

[toshes mate]

Football is a game of mistakes of all types.  Relentless streams of errors small medium and large. Punctuated by rare, sometime joyous outbreaks of competency.  Fortunately most of the errors are forgiven and forgotten in the blink of an eye.  But not all and Seri's problem was that he could be muscled off the ball.  Which is unacceptable to anyone with an ounce of competitive spirit.  Muscled off the ball in a way that would draw a foul on the continent, meaning opponents wouldn't try it.  But not here, not with our refs.  So he was targeted. He couldn't find a way to protect the ball and exert his undoubted creative influence.  I doubt he ever will and it means he shouldn't be here.

The night Brighton came to the Cottage, scored two early goals them promptly gave up, he was stellar.  Given space he can cut a team to ribbons, no doubt.  But he won't be given space on a regular basis.

This, IMO, is a very fair assessment of JMS, regardless of why he is that way.   I think it was a mistake to sign him from the start and just because a player gets some rave reviews doesn't mean clubs should be queuing up for his services.  First you have to assess what your team and formation needs from its midfielders and not fall into the trap of thinking money buys a quick fit.  He may be a very stylish footballer on his day but if that doesn't happen in FFC kit then what is the point?   I'm okay with him having a chance this season and I can only hope he actually takes it because, to be honest, I am bored with him.

[filham]

If everyone else from the relegation season deserves a second chance then so does he, it would help if we stopped playing him as a DM and gave him a more offensive role like he had at Nice. He has a chance of redemption and I hope he takes it

Look at what we have available 1x DM      Reed,   Johansen,  KMac.
                                               2xCM      Loftus Cheek . Anguissa, Cairney, Onoma . 

The only possible place for him is DM and really that cannot be what he is best suited for.

[AJW48361]

I wonder if Seri is content on picking up his wages and seating on his hands!

[dgnffc]

If everyone else from the relegation season deserves a second chance then so does he, it would help if we stopped playing him as a DM and gave him a more offensive role like he had at Nice. He has a chance of redemption and I hope he takes it

Look at what we have available 1x DM      Reed,   Johansen,  KMac.
                                               2xCM      Loftus Cheek . Anguissa, Cairney, Onoma . 


The only possible place for him is DM and really that cannot be what he is best suited for.

Don't forget Lemina

[filham]

If everyone else from the relegation season deserves a second chance then so does he, it would help if we stopped playing him as a DM and gave him a more offensive role like he had at Nice. He has a chance of redemption and I hope he takes it

Look at what we have available 1x DM      Reed,   Johansen,  KMac.
                                               2xCM      Loftus Cheek . Anguissa, Cairney, Onoma . 


The only possible place for him is DM and really that cannot be what he is best suited for.

Don't forget Lemina

Oh, yes I had overlooked Leminas that means we have 8 player plus Seri for the 3 midfield places.
Surely one or two or more just have to go.

[Jims Dentist]

I just don't think he is physically strong enough for the Premier League to be honest.  By all means have a place for him in the squad - but for me is behind Anguissa, Cairney, RLC, Reed, Lemina, Onomah and probably also Johansen and KMac.

He is also behind Sir Craven of Cottage.

And. Behind Billy Badger and also Oscar who works really hard despite only being used at home games.

[Jims Dentist]

More seriously, shades of the scrumbag Ozil about this one.

Nor just the (relative) wages continuing to be paid, but two midfield players not robust enough ( possibly in mind and body) to cope with English football.

[Barrett487]

Football is a game of mistakes of all types.  Relentless streams of errors small medium and large. Punctuated by rare, sometime joyous outbreaks of competency.  Fortunately most of the errors are forgiven and forgotten in the blink of an eye.  But not all and Seri's problem was that he could be muscled off the ball.  Which is unacceptable to anyone with an ounce of competitive spirit.  Muscled off the ball in a way that would draw a foul on the continent, meaning opponents wouldn't try it.  But not here, not with our refs.  So he was targeted. He couldn't find a way to protect the ball and exert his undoubted creative influence.  I doubt he ever will and it means he shouldn't be here.

The night Brighton came to the Cottage, scored two early goals them promptly gave up, he was stellar.  Given space he can cut a team to ribbons, no doubt.  But he won't be given space on a regular basis.

Does that make him a No. 10 then?