I wonder if I've been looking at Andersen through Ream-colored glasses and expecting another 5 years of his upsides outweighing his declining footspeed. Looks like I was wrong about that.
One of the positives, for me, was that these defensive mistakes were actual mistakes - and not simply byproducts of a defensive plan from the manager that sends everyone forward without acknowledging that the other team might ever possess the ball.
Did Fulham make mistakes at the back today? Absolutely, and they need to be eliminated from our play going forward but the past two matches have at least looked like Arbeloa is willing and able to make adjustments - which is some kind of progress, no?
Is a scrappy win AWAY to a team just two places below us in the pyramid really a bad thing?
Andersen reminds me of FIFA Career Mode, where a player would hit 30 and see their ability to run vanish overnight. There's still part of me that believes he'll turn things around but given the pace of the modern PL it'll be quite the recovery, particularly now that we have Affengruber in his place (and LDF to return from his loan deal).
You are right though that our mistakes weren't quite as structural as previous weeks, and though West Ham aren't quite a PL outfit (though as you say it's only two places in the pyramid) the team reacted well as the game went on, showing some signs of flexibility and pragmatism. Here's hoping that continues over to the weekend!
If we stay up, and I think we will, we have some real quality once it’s been bedded in. Palacios is maybe not one for regular league starts right now but he’s clearly one for the near-future. Castagne was pretty poor with his defensive duties—goal line clearance aside. It’s surely got to be Tete until further notice.
I reckon we'll have a clearer idea of where we are at the end of October - it's still quite early in the season to put us straight into the relegation battle, and there's still a lot of time for sides like Hull and Ipswich to potentially wear off their promotion high and slip closer to the bottom. I'd also say we're likelier to stay up than not though!
Definitely agree on Palacios, there's a gem waiting to develop there. If Tete's fit he's my first pick for RB in any game... Castagne has done admirably and I do think he was the best out of the backline last night (albeit with the usual difficulties dealing with pacey wingers) but Kenny has the quality and physicality you need to hold off the better attackers.
Great report. Thanks for your refreshing honesty. I can’t comment on the others but I think Andersen is a total liability and shouldn’t start at all. He used to be a fantastic passer and there are still glimpses of this as here, but he’s 30 now, has slowed right down, and just makes too many inexcusable errors.
As for Kevin, that infamous internet video of his footballing exploits for SD, has to be one of the greatest cons ever pulled on our moronic ‘director of football’, in hyping up a player seeking to move on to greener pastures… along with ESR, these are all £25mish players being flogged to us for £35m, although Andersen was 30m, I think, from CP, after Fulham passed on their original post-loan option of 20!
great to see that Charles is the real deal, and hopefully Affengruber too. We shall see…
I agree on Andersen - no idea what's happened but he's gone from a reliable starter to having car crash moments in every match he plays. Hopefully Affengruber's excellent start wasn't a one-off, and as you say Charles looks great too.
ESR has been unfortunate with injuries and doesn't quite seem able to string a run of games in the XI together where he plays to his best... that said, the modern game is a physically-challenging one and there may have to be some tricky questions asked if the best of his performances are going to come against Wimbledon in Round 3 of the cup. Kevin is similar, but I feel he has a little more time to hone his game (worth also considering that he was on the wrong side last night!)
The less said about our very own Wrestling™ promoter the better!
Decent performance given rotation and a strong Championship team. Good to see Larsson and Angel get a run out, they looked sound. But some comical defending again. I'm not sure what has happened to Cuenca, some nice stuff on the ball, but defensively really seems to have lost his mojo. And the less said about Kevin the better. Dreadful performance.
Both CBs that played last night were off it. I have more confidence in Cuenca picking things up again than I do Andersen at this point, but they both need to shake off whatever faults/insecurity is holding them back at the moment - we can't concede goals like that multiple times a game and expect to win.
I am also quietly pleased with Larsson, who will be very useful when the fixture list piles up and we need dependable players in midfield, and with a little more muscle Angel will be a very nifty player to have around the team too. Plenty to be excited about around the squad... let's see if Arbeloa and co. can take us forward with it!
Thanks Terry! I was happy with Lecomte too, who will hopefully keep putting Leno under pressure to maintain a high standard. On the height thing, West Ham and Liverpool last weekend happen to have fielded quite tall teams so it made our guys look much smaller... if the players can sharpen up there's no reason their size has to be a critical issue!
Thanks for another great write-up, Owen.
I wonder if I've been looking at Andersen through Ream-colored glasses and expecting another 5 years of his upsides outweighing his declining footspeed. Looks like I was wrong about that.
One of the positives, for me, was that these defensive mistakes were actual mistakes - and not simply byproducts of a defensive plan from the manager that sends everyone forward without acknowledging that the other team might ever possess the ball.
Did Fulham make mistakes at the back today? Absolutely, and they need to be eliminated from our play going forward but the past two matches have at least looked like Arbeloa is willing and able to make adjustments - which is some kind of progress, no?
Is a scrappy win AWAY to a team just two places below us in the pyramid really a bad thing?
Thanks Doug!
Andersen reminds me of FIFA Career Mode, where a player would hit 30 and see their ability to run vanish overnight. There's still part of me that believes he'll turn things around but given the pace of the modern PL it'll be quite the recovery, particularly now that we have Affengruber in his place (and LDF to return from his loan deal).
You are right though that our mistakes weren't quite as structural as previous weeks, and though West Ham aren't quite a PL outfit (though as you say it's only two places in the pyramid) the team reacted well as the game went on, showing some signs of flexibility and pragmatism. Here's hoping that continues over to the weekend!
If we stay up, and I think we will, we have some real quality once it’s been bedded in. Palacios is maybe not one for regular league starts right now but he’s clearly one for the near-future. Castagne was pretty poor with his defensive duties—goal line clearance aside. It’s surely got to be Tete until further notice.
I reckon we'll have a clearer idea of where we are at the end of October - it's still quite early in the season to put us straight into the relegation battle, and there's still a lot of time for sides like Hull and Ipswich to potentially wear off their promotion high and slip closer to the bottom. I'd also say we're likelier to stay up than not though!
Definitely agree on Palacios, there's a gem waiting to develop there. If Tete's fit he's my first pick for RB in any game... Castagne has done admirably and I do think he was the best out of the backline last night (albeit with the usual difficulties dealing with pacey wingers) but Kenny has the quality and physicality you need to hold off the better attackers.
Great report. Thanks for your refreshing honesty. I can’t comment on the others but I think Andersen is a total liability and shouldn’t start at all. He used to be a fantastic passer and there are still glimpses of this as here, but he’s 30 now, has slowed right down, and just makes too many inexcusable errors.
As for Kevin, that infamous internet video of his footballing exploits for SD, has to be one of the greatest cons ever pulled on our moronic ‘director of football’, in hyping up a player seeking to move on to greener pastures… along with ESR, these are all £25mish players being flogged to us for £35m, although Andersen was 30m, I think, from CP, after Fulham passed on their original post-loan option of 20!
great to see that Charles is the real deal, and hopefully Affengruber too. We shall see…
Thanks Nigel!
I agree on Andersen - no idea what's happened but he's gone from a reliable starter to having car crash moments in every match he plays. Hopefully Affengruber's excellent start wasn't a one-off, and as you say Charles looks great too.
ESR has been unfortunate with injuries and doesn't quite seem able to string a run of games in the XI together where he plays to his best... that said, the modern game is a physically-challenging one and there may have to be some tricky questions asked if the best of his performances are going to come against Wimbledon in Round 3 of the cup. Kevin is similar, but I feel he has a little more time to hone his game (worth also considering that he was on the wrong side last night!)
The less said about our very own Wrestling™ promoter the better!
Decent performance given rotation and a strong Championship team. Good to see Larsson and Angel get a run out, they looked sound. But some comical defending again. I'm not sure what has happened to Cuenca, some nice stuff on the ball, but defensively really seems to have lost his mojo. And the less said about Kevin the better. Dreadful performance.
Both CBs that played last night were off it. I have more confidence in Cuenca picking things up again than I do Andersen at this point, but they both need to shake off whatever faults/insecurity is holding them back at the moment - we can't concede goals like that multiple times a game and expect to win.
I am also quietly pleased with Larsson, who will be very useful when the fixture list piles up and we need dependable players in midfield, and with a little more muscle Angel will be a very nifty player to have around the team too. Plenty to be excited about around the squad... let's see if Arbeloa and co. can take us forward with it!
A great reflection of the game. Le Comte was good last night too. The lack of height in both attack and defence showed up I think.
Thanks Terry! I was happy with Lecomte too, who will hopefully keep putting Leno under pressure to maintain a high standard. On the height thing, West Ham and Liverpool last weekend happen to have fielded quite tall teams so it made our guys look much smaller... if the players can sharpen up there's no reason their size has to be a critical issue!