kevin

[Sgt Fulham]

We still haven't seen a huge amount of him, which is concerning in itself as it means he's probably not killing it in training. I'm still very willing to be patient with him, hoping he can flourish in time.

[SerbianLad]

Hopefully he'll step up during AFCON, because he pretty much has to. I do think he's overcriticised, but today he really did struggle. Nothing seemed to come off for him.

[Whitestone]

Some of the players getting some stick and fair enough. However I would also be critical of Marco for his substitutions. Why on earth he persisted with Raul beyond the 60 minute mark I just don't know. And equally ESR and Chuck were doing fine. Got it wrong today for me.

I was just going to say that I just didn't understand taking off ESR, the one player that was consistently pressing, making himself self available all the time, took his non goal well.

By far our best player today. Great on the ball, superb pressing, constantly making good runs in behind their defence, went to the wing to stretch their defence, had two excellent shots that were blocked and well saved respectively and had that goal disallowed. Yet some posters were criticising him in the match thread. We lost all our attacking momentum once he came off.

Taking off ESR was foolish, particularly as Wilson was moved into a central position before being moved back out wide when King came on. Some baffling sub decisions today.

[Coastwalker]

The whole transfer carry on in the window made me bit worried about his signing,he was coming then he wasn't for a week,then a last minute window signing.
Maybe he wasn't what Marco wanted,and he became a bit of a panic buy by TK.
Hasn't impressed me at all I'm afraid so far.

[ffc73]

I do not understand why we don't play Kevin LW & Chukwueze RW against teams that are compact & tight. Wingers running at them, getting them to turn cause's havoc.

Play one at a time & their defence gets a breather.

Wilson in the middle with ESR or King in the middle & again you have players that can take them on & commit them.

But no. We play across the line at a snail's pace & when Kevin gets the ball he has 2 or 3 defenders in front of him

[KentFulham]

Currently it looks like we have had our pants pulled down, that said we did we ESR and is now performing, even if MS subbed him for no reason

[Hatch007]

Two clean sheets in the league. Both 1-0.

Wolves 3-0
Leeds 1-0
Sunderland 1-0

😉

[Milo]

He tried to run at the defenders but it just wasn't quite clicking and kept fumbling the ball. Just not in form yet, but still trying. I liked his defensive run back with the last ditch lunge to stop one of their breakaways.

Let's give him time. As others have said he will get more time when Chuk and Iwobi go to AFCON.

[AJW48361]

Taking off Sander was a mistake if you can't win the game don't lose it.

[HV71]

I do not understand why we don't play Kevin LW & Chukwueze RW against teams that are compact & tight. Wingers running at them, getting them to turn cause's havoc.

Play one at a time & their defence gets a breather.

Wilson in the middle with ESR or King in the middle & again you have players that can take them on & commit them.

But no. We play across the line at a snail's pace & when Kevin gets the ball he has 2 or 3 defenders in front of him

Good post
As Twig pointed out the substitutions were a poor call by Marco . Raul looked completely spent in the second half - why keep him on ? Wilson had scored an amazing goal ( well set up by Raul) in a central position and ESR was having a good game . Poor decision making by the boss

[Rightwhite]

He's 22 yrs old, playing in the most fiercest league in the world. He won't come good until next season so the experience he gets now is critical to how he progresses. Just give him time.

[Super Mick]

He's 22 yrs old, playing in the most fiercest league in the world. He won't come good until next season so the experience he gets now is critical to how he progresses. Just give him time.

Be no good if we're in the championship though.

[Rightwhite]

He's 22 yrs old, playing in the most fiercest league in the world. He won't come good until next season so the experience he gets now is critical to how he progresses. Just give him time.

Be no good if we're in the championship though.

Agreed but we won't go down. Too much talent in the team for that. But if we do then so be it. We will be well equipped to come straight back up.
Bold statements i know, but its what i think for what its worth.

[Woolly Mammoth]

I felt we have played a lot worse and won
We did not deserve to lose, but Marcos choice of players being subbed who should have stayed on. and replaced by players that will have no impact killed us.
It hurts to say but his judgement is impaired, what was he thinking.
He always seems to be reactive as opposed to proactive.
We should have at least got a point, but his decision making ruined it.
Taking Berge, ECR and Chuck off was a disaster.
As has been said Raul was struggling with an injury, playing literally with 10, and what was the point of bringing Tom on when we are chasing the game. he is slower than a milk float with a puncture.
A game we could have won but a draw was
the least we deserved.
Most of the players are good enough for the Premier in my opinion and we played some fine one touch passing football at times.
So where do we go from here, what is Marco thinking, what are the players thinking after today's disappointing result.

 

[Ara's bacon crisps]

Let's also not forget Kevin's excellent little left back cameo in the first half tracking back, getting a strong tackle in and shielding the ball out for a goal kick. Got 3 sides of the ground applauding him for that and he's clearly trying very hard.

Feel sure it will all click into place for him soon and then we'll be furiously fending off the vultures as they circle.

[jayffc]

The whole transfer carry on in the window made me bit worried about his signing,he was coming then he wasn't for a week,then a last minute window signing.
Maybe he wasn't what Marco wanted,and he became a bit of a panic buy by TK.
Hasn't impressed me at all I'm afraid so far.

We were in for Kevin for a large portion of the window reportedly

Nothing about our pursuit of him for months suggests panic option that Marco didnt want, it was widely reported that shaktar would only let him go following their qualification game for Europa, and then thats what materialised. They qualified and within 48 hrs he was on a plane. Same with chukwueze who we've been linked with in multiple windows. The lateness appeared to be a combo of pushing for better deals (they wanted 45m+ for Kevin earlier in window apparently) and holding the players until they had replacents + til games their teams needed them in had been completed.

Kevin has a ton of raw talent showing flashes of the brilliance seen at shaktar but on the whole definitely taking some time as the youngster he is to adapt to this level it seems. Was positive against man city, then fairly innefective going forward again today

In time I trust his talent will see more consistancy

[longshanks]

We have had some really bad buys when we spend a lot of money,Kevin is the worst and he will be gone in the summer if we stay up or not,I've seen he's highlights reel from Shaktar and I can't see why we were so insistence on buying him as there is very little on there to think he is special.

[Matt10]

I do not understand why we don't play Kevin LW & Chukwueze RW against teams that are compact & tight. Wingers running at them, getting them to turn cause's havoc.

Play one at a time & their defence gets a breather.

Wilson in the middle with ESR or King in the middle & again you have players that can take them on & commit them.

But no. We play across the line at a snail's pace & when Kevin gets the ball he has 2 or 3 defenders in front of him

Running out of positions here. You want...?

Kevin ----- Wilson ---- Chuk
      Berge    ESR/King

I'm not sure that would hold up defensively unless we really switch to a high pressing team. Our mid-block would result in ESR/King getting extremely fatigued, along with Berge having to do all the extra leg work.

The first Palace goal would've been contested a lot better with Lukic there, but that's the issue with that RCM/8 position. We want creativity on the ball, but we also need players who can win the ball off of it.

[Terry Towling]

Did we actually pay 34 million for this guy.🤔

Dodgy deal. Had our pants pulled down on this one. An agent somewhere is rubbing their hands

We went after him after watching him for a long time - give him time, he was in a very different league before he came to us.

[Terry Towling]

We have had some really bad buys when we spend a lot of money,Kevin is the worst and he will be gone in the summer if we stay up or not,I've seen he's highlights reel from Shaktar and I can't see why we were so insistence on buying him as there is very little on there to think he is special.

Excellent research - I am surprised the scouting team haven't snapped you up.