Tim Ream interview

[mrmicawbers]

Eloquent top pro.Glad he's ours at least for another season.How he must inspire he's team mates is hard to quantify.

[Jim©]

There are many things Tim Ream probably isn't, but the most important thing he is, so far as a football club is concerned, is a complete professional, even when stuck in front of a camera with a microphone.  He has been a massive asset to FFC as a player and he enjoys being here.  He hasn't ever let us down even when we could see he was being overlooked.  If only all footballers could reach his standards of professionalism ... he has just had one of his best seasons ... and so has Fulham.  He deserves to have another season here and FFC will be the better for it.   

Perfectly said.
Why people are so keen on replacing the best performing of our back 5 all season is beyond me.

[Whitestone]

There are many things Tim Ream probably isn't, but the most important thing he is, so far as a football club is concerned, is a complete professional, even when stuck in front of a camera with a microphone.  He has been a massive asset to FFC as a player and he enjoys being here.  He hasn't ever let us down even when we could see he was being overlooked.  If only all footballers could reach his standards of professionalism ... he has just had one of his best seasons ... and so has Fulham.  He deserves to have another season here and FFC will be the better for it.   

Perfectly said.
Why people are so keen on replacing the best performing of our back 5 all season is beyond me.

This is an assumption on my part, but I can only guess that you didn't watch him in our Premier League relegation team of 2018-19. He played in one of the worst defences the Premier League has ever witnessed. Granted he played alongside Odoi, Le Marchand, Bryan, Christie and Fosu Mensah with Rico in goal for the most part, so to be be fair we didn't really have a cat in hells chance of survival.

In the 20-21 Premier League season he played in the early matches when the defence was once again ripped apart. As soon as Andersen took over from him we saw a huge improvement.

If Tim Ream gets any significant game time next season I am convinced we will leak goals. I say that based my own observations of his performances in the Premier League. I don't see him as a starter and he's not the go to guy I would want in the event of an injury to one of our first choice centre backs. For that reason I believe we need to sign two CBs, unless Kongolo makes a miraculous recovery.

I've seen it suggested that he may fare a bit better now we have Silva at the helm and around better players. Personally I very much doubt it.

[Carborundum]

Have been watching "I believe in miracles", the story of Forests meteoric rise under Clough and Taylor.  They went from winning promotion to winning the top division the following season, which sounds good to me.  Giving players confidence, a clear plan, proper rest, treating each as an individual and keeping everyone on their toes all feature heavily in the recollections of the players.  But there was something else too.  An unsentimental determination to buy players who are better than the ones already there.. 

So what would Cloughie's assessment of the Tim Ream future be?  We will never know, but I rather expect he would almost instantly consider him too short, slow and old with a track record of failure in the top flight and act swiftly to replace.

Cloughie might have replaced him with a volatile centre forward and not told anyone he's about to become a centre back until the signing went through.  But that's another story - it's worth watching the film though.

Tim Ream's a model pro, I respect him enormously.  He has a steady temperament, which is fine but equally some of the best defenders have scarily unsteady temperaments.  But I don't think he's consistent at all. Over six seasons he's had terrible seasons, strong seasons and one season when he was terrible up to Christmas and very good thereafter.  Everyone's allowed the odd bad game but last season he's looked physically compromised  on far more occasions than Adarabioyo. He's our second best centre half and there's something wrong if that doesn't put his starting position in jeopardy.  He's staying, so all that's to be determined is whether he is our 2nd, 3rd or 4th choice centre half.  I'd prefer him to be our 4th choice.

Sorry, I know how much people I respect admire him.  But if he starts for us next season, then we are basically repeating the same experiment three times hoping for a different outcome. 

[Jim©]

This is an assumption on my part, but I can only guess that you didn't watch him in our Premier League relegation team of 2018-19. He played in one of the worst defences the Premier League has ever witnessed. Granted he played alongside Odoi, Le Marchand, Bryan, Christie and Fosu Mensah with Rico in goal for the most part, so to be be fair we didn't really have a cat in hells chance of survival.

In the 20-21 Premier League season he played in the early matches when the defence was once again ripped apart. As soon as Andersen took over from him we saw a huge improvement.

If Tim Ream gets any significant game time next season I am convinced we will leak goals. I say that based my own observations of his performances in the Premier League. I don't see him as a starter and he's not the go to guy I would want in the event of an injury to one of our first choice centre backs. For that reason I believe we need to sign two CBs, unless Kongolo makes a miraculous recovery.

I've seen it suggested that he may fare a bit better now we have Silva at the helm and around better players. Personally I very much doubt it.

Well, i watched him plenty that season.
You go on to say "granted he played alongside" and listed some arguably sub par Prem players.
The "Andersen took over and we were better" argument is flawed.
Firstly, we still got relegated and second, the whole set up of the team changed to a much more cautious, dull, defensive one.

He's still been our best defender this season. Why that suddenly makes people think Tosin will be better than him next is bizarre IMO.

[Sting of the North]

This is an assumption on my part, but I can only guess that you didn't watch him in our Premier League relegation team of 2018-19. He played in one of the worst defences the Premier League has ever witnessed. Granted he played alongside Odoi, Le Marchand, Bryan, Christie and Fosu Mensah with Rico in goal for the most part, so to be be fair we didn't really have a cat in hells chance of survival.

In the 20-21 Premier League season he played in the early matches when the defence was once again ripped apart. As soon as Andersen took over from him we saw a huge improvement.

If Tim Ream gets any significant game time next season I am convinced we will leak goals. I say that based my own observations of his performances in the Premier League. I don't see him as a starter and he's not the go to guy I would want in the event of an injury to one of our first choice centre backs. For that reason I believe we need to sign two CBs, unless Kongolo makes a miraculous recovery.

I've seen it suggested that he may fare a bit better now we have Silva at the helm and around better players. Personally I very much doubt it.

Well, i watched him plenty that season.
You go on to say "granted he played alongside" and listed some arguably sub par Prem players.
The "Andersen took over and we were better" argument is flawed.
Firstly, we still got relegated and second, the whole set up of the team changed to a much more cautious, dull, defensive one.

He's still been our best defender this season. Why that suddenly makes people think Tosin will be better than him next is bizarre IMO.

One reason that makes you believe that it's bizarre is probably because you think that everyone agrees that Tim has been our best defender. Personally, and I assume I am not alone, I rank Tosin's season clearly above Tim's.

Another reason may be that people believe that their respective ability to step up is not like for like (this should be quite common that some footballers and their skills translate better to a higher level). Yet another may be that Tim is getting old (for a footballer), whereas Tosin hasn't even reached his best years yet.

[FFC1987]

This is an assumption on my part, but I can only guess that you didn't watch him in our Premier League relegation team of 2018-19. He played in one of the worst defences the Premier League has ever witnessed. Granted he played alongside Odoi, Le Marchand, Bryan, Christie and Fosu Mensah with Rico in goal for the most part, so to be be fair we didn't really have a cat in hells chance of survival.

In the 20-21 Premier League season he played in the early matches when the defence was once again ripped apart. As soon as Andersen took over from him we saw a huge improvement.

If Tim Ream gets any significant game time next season I am convinced we will leak goals. I say that based my own observations of his performances in the Premier League. I don't see him as a starter and he's not the go to guy I would want in the event of an injury to one of our first choice centre backs. For that reason I believe we need to sign two CBs, unless Kongolo makes a miraculous recovery.

I've seen it suggested that he may fare a bit better now we have Silva at the helm and around better players. Personally I very much doubt it.

Well, i watched him plenty that season.
You go on to say "granted he played alongside" and listed some arguably sub par Prem players.
The "Andersen took over and we were better" argument is flawed.
Firstly, we still got relegated and second, the whole set up of the team changed to a much more cautious, dull, defensive one.

He's still been our best defender this season. Why that suddenly makes people think Tosin will be better than him next is bizarre IMO.

One reason that makes you believe that it's bizarre is probably because you think that everyone agrees that Tim has been our best defender. Personally, and I assume I am not alone, I rank Tosin's season clearly above Tim's.

Another reason may be that people believe that their respective ability to step up is not like for like (this should be quite common that some footballers and their skills translate better to a higher level). Yet another may be that Tim is getting old (for a footballer), whereas Tosin hasn't even reached his best years yet.

Yes, I echo this. Not to belittle Ream at all, he's been good but I think Tosin has been somewhat underrated by a certain corner of our fandom. Maybe due to the blinkers and love in he has with our base.

[FreiBird]

This is an assumption on my part, but I can only guess that you didn't watch him in our Premier League relegation team of 2018-19. He played in one of the worst defences the Premier League has ever witnessed. Granted he played alongside Odoi, Le Marchand, Bryan, Christie and Fosu Mensah with Rico in goal for the most part, so to be be fair we didn't really have a cat in hells chance of survival.

In the 20-21 Premier League season he played in the early matches when the defence was once again ripped apart. As soon as Andersen took over from him we saw a huge improvement.

If Tim Ream gets any significant game time next season I am convinced we will leak goals. I say that based my own observations of his performances in the Premier League. I don't see him as a starter and he's not the go to guy I would want in the event of an injury to one of our first choice centre backs. For that reason I believe we need to sign two CBs, unless Kongolo makes a miraculous recovery.

I've seen it suggested that he may fare a bit better now we have Silva at the helm and around better players. Personally I very much doubt it.

Well, i watched him plenty that season.
You go on to say "granted he played alongside" and listed some arguably sub par Prem players.
The "Andersen took over and we were better" argument is flawed.
Firstly, we still got relegated and second, the whole set up of the team changed to a much more cautious, dull, defensive one.

He's still been our best defender this season. Why that suddenly makes people think Tosin will be better than him next is bizarre IMO.

Tosin has missed 5 games this season.

2 we kept clean sheets against bottom of the table Peterborough (who only didn't score because of Rodak) and 10 man Blackburn.

1 we conceded against relegated Barnsley, in a move in which Ream made two mistakes, trying to spring an offside trap about half a second too late and losing Woodrow who's header hit the post before being knocked in.

The other 2 we shipped 8 goals to Coventry and Sheffield United, the only time we conceded as much all season, getting absolutely ripped apart at every attack.

Ream was performed brilliantly this season, when teamed with Tosin, the far superior player.