Ream

[sarnian]

Anyone know why Ream wasn't on the bench Sunday.

[perry geyton]

Good question

[Kimbleman]

I did wonder as there was no natural centre half on the bench so assumed he was injured?

There is still bloody COVID flying around (two work colleagues off with it at the moment) and even I had to miss the match on Sunday (much to my annoyance) with a right bastard of a head cold. So it could just have been a virus.

[btffc]

Really hope he isn't injured. Could be a bit of crisis in January if he and Diop are injured and Bassey is at AFCON.

[Chi_FFC]

I'm not an Athletic subscriber, but Peter Rutzler apparently reported that he missed the WHU match with a minor calf issue.

Free-scoring Fulham are back:

⚽ Jimenez firing
🪄 Cairney conducting
🧱 Tosin's return
💪 Andreas sharp after injury
✖️ Disrupted preseason overcome
📝 New signings settled, Iwobi 👌
🗣️ Silva: "Confidence breeds confidence"#FFC @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/UYt1TuBl06

— Peter Rutzler (@peterrutzler) December 11, 2023

?s=20

[MickTheBeard]

Even though ream had a slight knock with cover from other positional players good time to look at Bassey and tosin combination especially as tosin can talk to anyone from jan,which means will he or won't he commit,me not convinced,when things are tight say at 0-0 there's a weakness there.

[Free Elvis Hammond]

Even though ream had a slight knock with cover from other positional players good time to look at Bassey and tosin combination especially as tosin can talk to anyone from jan,which means will he or won't he commit,me not convinced,when things are tight say at 0-0 there's a weakness there.

Bassey and Tosin's pace means we can just play that bit higher. Makes a smaller midfield for Palhinha to patrol, so we can afford to have Cairney and Pereira both pushing forward rather than needing another runner in there. I love Ream but it's made a huge difference

[btffc]

Even though ream had a slight knock with cover from other positional players good time to look at Bassey and tosin combination especially as tosin can talk to anyone from jan,which means will he or won't he commit,me not convinced,when things are tight say at 0-0 there's a weakness there.

Agree with this. Tosin and Bassey have looked great together. I wonder if Iwobi and Bassey in the squad will help convince Tosin to stay with the Nigerian connection. I noticed they both were extremely happy and celebrated wildly with Tosin after his goal.

[ex-Pat]

     Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

[General]

I'm not an Athletic subscriber, but Peter Rutzler apparently reported that he missed the WHU match with a minor calf issue.

Free-scoring Fulham are back:

⚽ Jimenez firing
🪄 Cairney conducting
🧱 Tosin's return
💪 Andreas sharp after injury
✖️ Disrupted preseason overcome
📝 New signings settled, Iwobi 👌
🗣️ Silva: "Confidence breeds confidence"#FFC @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/UYt1TuBl06

— Peter Rutzler (@peterrutzler) December 11, 2023

?s=20

You can get around paywalls quite easily these days if of interest

[General]

Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

Hmm. Can't say that just yet. We need four competitive CBs and he's one of two LCB's at the club. Bassey is the future but with Diop out and Tosin not having signed a new deal, we could quite easily see him starting often between now and the summer.

Ream is still performing at this level, we need to be fair to him with that. Last season was his best in the shirt and he's not exactly struggling massively at this level.

I'd expect us to look at a replacement for him next summer though, that to me is just sensible planning.

We could need both a starting RCB and a LCB next summer already, on top of figuring out whether Ballo Toure stays or we need to find yet another LB.

How do we always finding ourselves needing to revamp the entire back line every window.

[Moussa Dembele the 3rd]

Even though ream had a slight knock with cover from other positional players good time to look at Bassey and tosin combination especially as tosin can talk to anyone from jan,which means will he or won't he commit,me not convinced,when things are tight say at 0-0 there's a weakness there.

Bassey and Tosin's pace means we can just play that bit higher. Makes a smaller midfield for Palhinha to patrol, so we can afford to have Cairney and Pereira both pushing forward rather than needing another runner in there. I love Ream but it's made a huge difference

I totally agree with this and think it explains a lot about our improved play. It allows TC to do his thing and allows us more freedom going forward.

[HV71]

Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

Have you forgotten AFCON?

Dangerous to write him off as a starter

[Sting of the North]

Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

Hmm. Can't say that just yet. We need four competitive CBs and he's one of two LCB's at the club. Bassey is the future but with Diop out and Tosin not having signed a new deal, we could quite easily see him starting often between now and the summer.

Ream is still performing at this level, we need to be fair to him with that. Last season was his best in the shirt and he's not exactly struggling massively at this level.

I'd expect us to look at a replacement for him next summer though, that to me is just sensible planning.

We could need both a starting RCB and a LCB next summer already, on top of figuring out whether Ballo Toure stays or we need to find yet another LB.

How do we always finding ourselves needing to revamp the entire back line every window.

Don't you think that is an exaggeration to put it mildly? Silva's first season he used mainly four defenders that were already at the club (Robinson, Ream, Tosin, Tete), with some help from Odoi, Mawson, Hector and Bryan (all of which were also already at the club). The only defender brought in was Neco Williams in January as replacement for Odoi.

The second season we were back in the Pl and used to a large extent the same four defenders, with a new back up crew. Admittedly several new defenders, but only one (Diop) was even a partial starter. Don't think we did anything in the January window on that front (except for making Duffy permanent for technical reasons) and bringing in Soares since Mbabu was a dud. So half a starter added in the first three windows.

Last summer we brought in Bassey as competition for Ream and replacement for Duffy. We also brought in new back up full backs, one of which may be a starter.

This coming two windows we may need to replace Tosin, and Ream. We already have two proven players in their positions, so no panic.

Where are all these reoccurring full revamps?

[Blawarmy]

If our results continue with Tosin starting, his signature should surely be a priority!

[RaySmith]

Don't write Tim off!

[General]

Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

Hmm. Can't say that just yet. We need four competitive CBs and he's one of two LCB's at the club. Bassey is the future but with Diop out and Tosin not having signed a new deal, we could quite easily see him starting often between now and the summer.

Ream is still performing at this level, we need to be fair to him with that. Last season was his best in the shirt and he's not exactly struggling massively at this level.

I'd expect us to look at a replacement for him next summer though, that to me is just sensible planning.

We could need both a starting RCB and a LCB next summer already, on top of figuring out whether Ballo Toure stays or we need to find yet another LB.

How do we always finding ourselves needing to revamp the entire back line every window.

Don't you think that is an exaggeration to put it mildly? Silva's first season he used mainly four defenders that were already at the club (Robinson, Ream, Tosin, Tete), with some help from Odoi, Mawson, Hector and Bryan (all of which were also already at the club). The only defender brought in was Neco Williams in January as replacement for Odoi.

The second season we were back in the Pl and used to a large extent the same four defenders, with a new back up crew. Admittedly several new defenders, but only one (Diop) was even a partial starter. Don't think we did anything in the January window on that front (except for making Duffy permanent for technical reasons) and bringing in Soares since Mbabu was a dud. So half a starter added in the first three windows.

Last summer we brought in Bassey as competition for Ream and replacement for Duffy. We also brought in new back up full backs, one of which may be a starter.

This coming two windows we may need to replace Tosin, and Ream. We already have two proven players in their positions, so no panic.

Where are all these reoccurring full revamps?

I didn't say this was just limited to silva in fairness.. and no, going through the outgoings I definitely don't think it's an over exaggeration given the turnover we've has.

Andersen, aina and Areola were all significant starters under Parker.

Last summer we replaced Soares, Duffy and kurzawa, with Joe Bryan also leaving. You could also include gazzaniga but he was hardly a squad feature.

The year before you were moving on Alfie Mawson, Michael Hector, Dennis Odoi, Fabri and Neco Williams..

Currently, ballo toure, Ream, tosin are potentially out.. lesser outgoings made possible by permanently signing castagne and bassey, but that's still three players needed to be brought in just to cover the simplest level of depth of having two players for each position.

[filham]

Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

That has been said before.

[Fulham 442]

Even though ream had a slight knock with cover from other positional players good time to look at Bassey and tosin combination especially as tosin can talk to anyone from jan,which means will he or won't he commit,me not convinced,when things are tight say at 0-0 there's a weakness there.

Bassey and Tosin's pace means we can just play that bit higher. Makes a smaller midfield for Palhinha to patrol, so we can afford to have Cairney and Pereira both pushing forward rather than needing another runner in there. I love Ream but it's made a huge difference

I totally agree with this and think it explains a lot about our improved play. It allows TC to do his thing and allows us more freedom going forward.

Thanks for the update regarding Ream, he wasn't listed as injured on Sunday so I was puzzled why he wasn't on the bench.  I agree with you Moussa, Bassey and Tosin in the line up make a huge difference to us as you say and Bassey can also play in his preferred position where he is so much more self assured.  I think Tim's starting days are over and he will now be used as back up but I would like to see him stay on in some kind of coaching capacity when he has finished playing as I think he has a lot to offer in that regard.  Just hope Tosin doesn't leave next month....

[Sting of the North]

Ream is a good sub, he's starting days are over.

Hmm. Can't say that just yet. We need four competitive CBs and he's one of two LCB's at the club. Bassey is the future but with Diop out and Tosin not having signed a new deal, we could quite easily see him starting often between now and the summer.

Ream is still performing at this level, we need to be fair to him with that. Last season was his best in the shirt and he's not exactly struggling massively at this level.

I'd expect us to look at a replacement for him next summer though, that to me is just sensible planning.

We could need both a starting RCB and a LCB next summer already, on top of figuring out whether Ballo Toure stays or we need to find yet another LB.

How do we always finding ourselves needing to revamp the entire back line every window.

Don't you think that is an exaggeration to put it mildly? Silva's first season he used mainly four defenders that were already at the club (Robinson, Ream, Tosin, Tete), with some help from Odoi, Mawson, Hector and Bryan (all of which were also already at the club). The only defender brought in was Neco Williams in January as replacement for Odoi.

The second season we were back in the Pl and used to a large extent the same four defenders, with a new back up crew. Admittedly several new defenders, but only one (Diop) was even a partial starter. Don't think we did anything in the January window on that front (except for making Duffy permanent for technical reasons) and bringing in Soares since Mbabu was a dud. So half a starter added in the first three windows.

Last summer we brought in Bassey as competition for Ream and replacement for Duffy. We also brought in new back up full backs, one of which may be a starter.

This coming two windows we may need to replace Tosin, and Ream. We already have two proven players in their positions, so no panic.

Where are all these reoccurring full revamps?

I didn't say this was just limited to silva in fairness.. and no, going through the outgoings I definitely don't think it's an over exaggeration given the turnover we've has.

Andersen, aina and Areola were all significant starters under Parker.

Last summer we replaced Soares, Duffy and kurzawa, with Joe Bryan also leaving. You could also include gazzaniga but he was hardly a squad feature.

The year before you were moving on Alfie Mawson, Michael Hector, Dennis Odoi, Fabri and Neco Williams..

Currently, ballo toure, Ream, tosin are potentially out.. lesser outgoings made possible by permanently signing castagne and bassey, but that's still three players needed to be brought in just to cover the simplest level of depth of having two players for each position.

Fair enough if you go back more seasons, but are you actually really wondering why a club that was promoted and relegated every other year had a fairly high player turnover? Because in my mind that question kind of answers itself.

If anything, I believe we have had really good stability in defense over the last 3-4 years. One of our centre backs is on his 9th season, another on his 4th. They are both arguably good enough to start. Two of our fullbacks, in most people's opinion the best two, are on their 4th season. We have been able to play the same back four for four seasons now (I mean, we didn't under Parker, but we could have done). No overhaul has been needed, other than the back ups.

I find it very reasonable that we try to replace our weaker squad players with better ones when we are either promoted or look to push on to mid table. How else would you suggest it should be done? We have upgraded our centre backs each of the last two summers. We upgraded at fullback this summer. We have basically no deadwood left in the squad.

Do you find it realistic to fully upgrade the squad to mid table PL status in one go, or is it not reasonable that it takes a couple of windows?

From the top of my head, there are two clear issues that has to do with our defense the last few seasons:

1. The timing of our incoming transfers. We have had to start the last two seasons without having been able to integrate new defenders.

2. We failed to sign a back up/rotational full back last year and instead had to rely on loans. We did of course sign Mbabu permanently, but since that signing was an abject failure we had to start all over this summer.

Neither of these points to something even close to a full revamp of the defense.

I think we have done really, really well on upgrading our defense so far. The only potential problem is if Tosin won't sign. Otherwise it looks great for next season as well.