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[Albion] Evan Ferguson









Flounce

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Nov 15, 2006
4,676
I'd like to see him given sometime against Palace's Guehi who struggles with balls in the air.
Is Ferguson not a bit shit in the air? I may be wrong but I don’t recall him winning many aerial battles, he tends to fall over. Nowhere near the level of Welbeck.
 


Flounce

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Nov 15, 2006
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I have to disagree wirh yr thoughts.
He's come back from injury, cannot get into the first eleven, due to Welbz and Pedro playing well.
So obviously his chances are going to be limited and you cannot always expect him to come on and have an impact, especially when for the last two games, where we haven't won and the whole teams morale hasn't been that great when struggling to get that win.
He's got a strikers selfish mentality, where he needs to be playing and scoring regularly.
It will come for him and hopefully soon.
Fair enough, all about opinions.
 


Sarisbury Seagull

Solly March Fan Club
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Nov 22, 2007
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I think it’s so hard to judge anyone who’s had so few minutes over the past 12 months. Something’s clearly not been right, but I think the instincts are still there. It’s just a case of playing regularly enough to get those instincts fine tuned.

Given our options, I suspect that’ll happen elsewhere for 6 months, which makes sense.
He’s played over 1,200 minutes of club football in the last 12 months plus whatever for Ireland so I don’t think he can complain about lack of minutes for someone of his age and so patently off the pace. Only scored 1 goal on last 1,000 minutes of club football is not good for a supposedly natural striker.
 




sussex_guy2k2

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Jun 6, 2014
4,339
He’s played over 1,200 minutes of club football in the last 12 months plus whatever for Ireland so I don’t think he can complain about lack of minutes for someone of his age and so patently off the pace. Only scored 1 goal on last 1,000 minutes of club football is not good for a supposedly natural striker.
Whilst on the face of it I agree, I think you’re trying to make a grey issue into a black and white one, and forgetting the nuance.

It’s pretty much common knowledge the kid had glandular fever last year. Anyone who knows anyone that’s had it knows that that’s a year of being at 50% at best, and you can’t drop to those levels in the Prem. It takes time to get back to where you were.

And again, in terms of time, he’s started one Premier League game this season. And that was against Newcastle, in a front 2 with Welbeck, a system we’ve not played under the new manager apart from in that game.

Yes, he’s played for Ireland, but it’s a different level, with different team mates. It’s hardly an argument for him not being up to scratch.

The other issues are tactical. RDZ wanted him dropping in deeper, and it seems that’s also how FH wants the striker to play - Welbeck certainly does this a lot. I’m not personally sure that’s Ferguson’s game, as he seems to want to be the central number 9 occupying CBs in a team that controls the game. But even then, he’s often been brought on when we’re under the cosh or counter attacking, and pace in behind isn’t really his game either.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m worried about where he’s at, as I’m sure the club is, but I’ve seen enough in the past to know the potential there is huge, and it may require time away getting games consistently from the start to really excel again.

Or maybe he’s totally shot. I just find that hard to believe at his age, and would prefer to be optimistic, as I think he’s by far and away the best finisher at the club.
 








Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
21,147
Born In Shoreham
The
The curse of the big pro contract strikes again....
Not at all it roughly takes ten full or almost full 90 minute games for Pro to fully get up to speed not 10 minutes after we go a goal down and people expect him to perform a miracle.
Before his set back how people laughed when Chelsea were sniffing around and then Manure.
Unfortunately real life football isn’t played on a games console players need to start to feel good again on the pitch.
How the board cried about Gykores and what a mistake we made. Imagine the uproar if another manager trusted Evan after an average sale and he became that superstar we all know is in there. Mugs we would look absolute mugs.

One of the touted best young strikers in world football and his own fans don’t rate him is sad tbh. Alan Shearer wrote a paper on him saying he sees much of his younger self in Evan the path won’t always be smooth yet by the time he’s 22+ he could be exceptional.
The trouble with FH is his own age, we’ve been told it’s not a problem although I think with recent players reactions we can see they don’t respect him or his decision making which won’t help the development of young players.
 
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Albion my Albion

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Feb 6, 2016
19,937
Indiana, USA






Albion my Albion

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Feb 6, 2016
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Indiana, USA
We didn’t need to know the finer details mate, say he’s a decent poster and move on.

Tom Hark is a decent poster. What finer details?

1733632312345.png
 


Han Solo

Well-known member
May 25, 2024
2,985
I have big faith in Evan and think he'll become a top striker.

He scored a bit too many goals in the beginning and created some unreal expectations. But even when he was scoring for fun he struggled in overall play. He had the benefit of playing one of the very few times we could afford to have a poacher on the pitch.
If we have the same situation in a year, it looks worrying but as it stands I think things have "normalised" more than anything. He's very young and still rather meh by PL standards.

If Ireland could f*** off for five minutes and not let this recently turned 20-year-old carry the nation on his shoulders, it'd be nice. Also think a clever loan would do him a world of good.
 


zefarelly

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Jul 7, 2003
22,912
Sussex, by the sea
Why don't we loan him in Jan for the rest of the season, buy VG back half price as we get our money back . . . . Get Ferguson bak in the summer on fire and sell VG to Chelsea for £150m. Simple.
 




dazzer6666

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Mar 27, 2013
56,071
Burgess Hill
He’s played over 1,200 minutes of club football in the last 12 months plus whatever for Ireland so I don’t think he can complain about lack of minutes for someone of his age and so patently off the pace. Only scored 1 goal on last 1,000 minutes of club football is not good for a supposedly natural striker.
A dozen or so games in total, spread out over 12 months with loads of those minutes being short cameos after a long injury and illness. No wonder he’s short of form. Give the kid a break.
 






CheeseRolls

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Jan 27, 2009
6,250
Shoreham Beach
Not really enjoying the pile on for either Ferguson or Enciso. The only way either can answer this is to play and prove the doubters wrong. For whatever reason Hurtzeler believes he has better options. I think both should have come on versus Saints with 20 minutes to go and we would not have seen the passive end to the game and Ferguson should have started against Fulham, with Wellbeck absent.

We have a telling period coming up and Hurtzeler needs to find a way to get the most out of his squad, during a busy and key period.
 




Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
21,147
Born In Shoreham
Not really enjoying the pile on for either Ferguson or Enciso. The only way either can answer this is to play and prove the doubters wrong. For whatever reason Hurtzeler believes he has better options. I think both should have come on versus Saints with 20 minutes to go and we would not have seen the passive end to the game and Ferguson should have started against Fulham, with Wellbeck absent.

We have a telling period coming up and Hurtzeler needs to find a way to get the most out of his squad, during a busy and key period.
Enciso wasn’t on the bench was he the pitch invader 🤔
 


Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
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Oct 20, 2022
7,271
Can understand the speculation on whether Ferguson will be on the move in January based on his need for game time as a young player but I don’t understand the pile on with his level of performance. Most of 2023/4 Evan was either ill or injured or recovering from an ankle operation - You can’t play 90mins of EPL football with post-viral fatigue either - exercise can actually make it worse, it has to be managed carefully.

That said, I don’t believe Ferguson is far behind Welbeck and Pedro as a player - different strokes for different players but in 2022/3 and at the beginning of 2023/4, his shooting was sublime. A fully fit and peak conditioned Ferguson is still one of the best young strikers in Europe - he just needs that opportunity to kick start where he left off before becoming ill and injured. I hope he will still find that at Brighton with patience and training but a 6 month loan in January to finish the season might not be a bad idea tbh.

(Sadly) West Ham will be looking for another no.9 in January to boost the squad after Antonio’s accident and maybe Evan will find his form again with a team who still leads with a traditional no9 up front? (without an option to buy of course!). It’s whether any Club is willing to take a punt on a striker who is struggling to score at the moment. No1s and No9s are probably the most important positions on the pitch where you want your players to be in peak performance.
 


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