El Abd hailed as the best

[clippedgull]

Headline on back page of this morning Argus.

It goes on to say Poyet regards Adam El Abd as his best defender.

"His understanding of what i want from a full back and his relationship with Elphick in the defensive department has been excellent.

He has been our best defender without any doubt"

Well done Adam

 

[xenophon]

+1

100% dedication

nails

top bloke

 

[seven stands]

does this mean everyone who slags him off will like him now

 

[Titanic]

No... no... no... this MUST be a mistake.

NSC has spoken, and often... and El Abd is shit, useless, slow, always out of position, passes to the opposition, usually gets a 2 or 3 in 'player rating' threads, is a non-league footballer at best, does that strange thing with his shorts, and should be shipped out in January.

I'm confused ??

 

[Common as Mook]

I wonder what the cognoscenti have to say about this? (although one of them is banned for wishing him a slow death)

 

[ali jenkins]

About time!!

The fact is that he HAS been our best defender recently!

Lets hope that people start to recognise this rather than jumping on a bandwagon! (Just like Kuipers' kicking)

 

[Mendoza]

He is good at defending. But as soon as he tries to play football, he is a bit toilet. If he is heading clearances, and making tackles he is good. A lot of his "hard tackles" are a result of his first touch being so bad, his second touch is a tackle. His hollywood 60 yard crossfield balls NEVER work, so he needs to be coached to do a small pass on the deck to Dicker or Crofts

Him and Tunnicliffe have been our best defenders. El Abd has done well since playing out of position at left back.

 

[Billy the Fish]

To be fair he has been the best defender since Poyet arrived. Mabye everyone should give him a clean slate like Gus has. Will this mean a spot at CB for El Abd now that McNulty is fit?

 

[Mellotron]

He has been our most consistent defender, form wise. With Tunnicliffe a close second.

McNulty is still to get fully back into the team though, and it's a shame that El Abd misses out when he does, I would consider sticking him at centre back in place of Elphick.

 

[NMH]

I wonder what the cognoscenti have to say about this? (although one of them is banned for wishing him a slow death)

Hah! To think, I was practically arguing the point for Adam el-Abd single-handedly for a couple of seasons, and the first bloke to crop up in agreement? Gus Poyet.
Well, obviously Gus and the other managers who have played Adam in the squad all those times.

Albion legend - has been Captain, but really should get out of himself a little more and boss things around. He could be our Brian Horton, if he would just take on the role a bit more.

 

[lizard]

No... no... no... this MUST be a mistake.

NSC has spoken, and often... and El Abd is shit, useless, slow, always out of position, passes to the opposition, usually gets a 2 or 3 in 'player rating' threads, is a non-league footballer at best, does that strange thing with his shorts, and should be shipped out in January.

I'm confused ??

Ditto.
El Abd is shite.

 

[NMH]

He is good at defending. But as soon as he tries to play football, he is a bit toilet. If he is heading clearances, and making tackles he is good. A lot of his "hard tackles" are a result of his first touch being so bad, his second touch is a tackle. His hollywood 60 yard crossfield balls NEVER work, so he needs to be coached to do a small pass on the deck to Dicker or Crofts

Him and Tunnicliffe have been our best defenders. El Abd has done well since playing out of position at left back.

To be fair, he was cited as a better midfielder than a back.
There's also the fact that he takes up positions on the field where everyone else has gone totally awol - and then they don't get into places for him to lay off to! Our players (apart from Nick Forster) are usually standing static while anyone has the ball, WAITING to see what happens - rather than get moving into a position where they can get fed a pass into a space.
His long crosses are the only option at times. It's preferable to a dodgy pass to a static midfielder - that gets cut off and will see an attacker suddenly gratefully bearing down on him with the ball heading for goal!
This is another reason we've seen Adam electing to pass back to the keeper with everyone standing in the opposition's half.

 

[Peter Grummit]

He is good at defending. But as soon as he tries to play football, he is a bit toilet. If he is heading clearances, and making tackles he is good. A lot of his "hard tackles" are a result of his first touch being so bad, his second touch is a tackle. His hollywood 60 yard crossfield balls NEVER work, so he needs to be coached to do a small pass on the deck to Dicker or Crofts

Him and Tunnicliffe have been our best defenders. El Abd has done well since playing out of position at left back.

We refer to Adam as 'triangular boots' in E Block due to his marvellous first touch and passing ability. Having said that he is a natural defender and a hell of a strong guy. I would like to see him play right side in a back 3 with Bennett and McNulty as wingbacks.

PG

 

[The Large One]

I see this as a hefty two-fingered salute from Poyet to El-Abd's detractors.

 

[Scampi]

Hah! To think, I was practically arguing the point for Adam el-Abd single-handedly for a couple of seasons, .

What a load of self-serving tosh. You haven't been the only one supporting El-Abd, it's just the likes of TCB shout so loud that more measured responses get drowned out in a shitstorm of tabloidese

 

[HP Seagull]

He has been our most consistent defender, form wise. With Tunnicliffe a close second.

McNulty is still to get fully back into the team though, and it's a shame that El Abd misses out when he does, I would consider sticking him at centre back in place of Elphick.

My thoughts exactly. He should definitely start at centre-half with Tunni when McNulty is fit.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Hadn't really thought about him moving to centreback when McNulty is fit enough to start - good idea in my opinion

 

[Colbourne Kid]

Proud to be the shirt sponsor of our best defender.

Not going to argue with Gus!!!!

 

[Scotty Mac]

being our best defender since gus poyet arrived isnt exactly much of an accolade given some of the defensive performances that have happened

 

[hans kraay fan club]

People follow like sheep, when the guy was getting slated.

Now you follow like sheep, because Gus praises him.

Just a small clarification required here. The quote is that El Abd HAS BEEN the best defender [since Gus came in], rather than, he IS the best defender...

I've seen El Abd play a lot more games than Gus has, or probably ever will, and the unfortunate fact is that he is very limited. Of course he can crunch into a tackle - that's a given. However, he is beaten way too easily, way too often, and even more often than that, the man does even need to beat him - he backs off and off long enough for the winger to get in his cross without bothering. His distribution is also very poor.

Played reasonably recently - yes. Good enough, long term - sorry, no.