[Albion] Dale Stephens? Really??

[Dick Head]

This is a question for those of you with a deep knowledge of the technicalities of the game. We are told regularly that Dale Stephens is an absolutely pivotal member of the team, first name out of the hat, a real players' player, etc, etc.

What we non-cognoscenti will actually see is a player who:–

Constantly slows the game down, resulting in loss of impetus and attacking opportunity
Is ponderous on the ball, looking simply indecisive
Instinctively passes backwards or sideways, rarely forward
Frequently misplaces even the simplest short passes, to howls of anguish from the crowd
Wastes shooting opportunities through poor technique – eg spectacular Row ZZ example against Fulham

​

And yet… And yet… People in the know really rate the guy.
]Anyone care to explain why?

Sorry.

 

[Weststander]

What a load of tosh! Do you really expect him to consistently lump one forward to Murray or Gross? That's the surest way of inviting pressure straight away. Dale is working to our system which will mean (in his case) fetching and carrying, breaking up opponents play and being available for a pass out of defence. To my mind he does a pretty good job of it and has done since he arrived from Charlton. A bargain.

Do you sit somewhere behind me in WSL?

Great post. In a nutshell Stephens performs the Makelele/Kante role. If he never scores or rarely gets an assist, it’s completely irrelevant.

His height and power is also useful in defending set pieces, and prevents us being bullied against teams (Cardiff and Burnley) that try that.

 

[Weststander]

I'd go along with this point. In order for Dale to improve, he needs to hit longer forward passes, so that he has a fuller repertoire, and we have more variety in our play, and can exploit the pace that our forward players possess (Izquierdo, Andone, Knockaert, Jahanbakhsh, March and, I think, Locadia). It was noticeable against Southampton when Gross was playing the deep midfield role just how many long forward passes he hit, many of which were accurate, and despite the near unanimity of the comments on this board claiming the role didn't suit him.

At age 29 DS is not going to develop long range passing assists and to start scoring at PL level.

Out and out defensive midfielders rarely do that, instead they quietly do the unglamorous bits and pieces for the team ... that’s Dale Stephens.

 

[Nixonator]

what utter nonsense...........

You should check our record without him in our 2 promotion campaigns. It's not easy reading...

Here it is if interested: https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/showthread.php?367096-Stephens&p=8611716&viewfull=1#post8611716

 

[Nixonator]

played 4
won 0
drawn 0
lost 4
for 0
against 8
win percent 0%
goals per game average 0
points per game average 0

The first time I compared our record without Stephens to Palace's without Zaha, my tongue was firmly in cheek. Starting to wonder...

It's 5 actually, unless you want to count those 19 mins vs Spurs.

 

[Acker79]

It's 5 actually, unless you want to count those 19 mins vs Spurs.

You mean, unless I want to include a game he played a part in a list of games he didn't play in?

Officially he played 21 minutes (well, both the Seasgulls site, and Soccerbase have the substitution taking place in the 21st minute), 23% nigh on a quarter of the game. No, I'm not including the spurs game in the list of games without dale stephens.

 

[Nixonator]

You mean, unless I want to include a game he played a part in a list of games he didn't play in?

Officially he played 21 minutes (well, both the Seasgulls site, and Soccerbase have the substitution taking place in the 21st minute), 23% nigh on a quarter of the game. No, I'm not including the spurs game in the list of games without dale stephens.

I guess we can also add wins then where he played a couple of mins at the end when returning from injury. Good to know.

 

[Da Man Clay]

I guess we can also add wins then where he played a couple of mins at the end when returning from injury. Good to know.

Quite. As that’ll be a game he played in.

 

[Nixonator]

Quite. As that’ll be a game he played in.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I wonder what sort of job satisfaction Stephens and Propper get from their work - almost constantly under pressure, having to play safe, dull passes most of the time, getting plenty of criticism and very little glory. I hope the wages make up for it.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Lord we miss Stephens.

Kayal was ok at breaking up the game, but that was it.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

This is a question for those of you with a deep knowledge of the technicalities of the game. We are told regularly that Dale Stephens is an absolutely pivotal member of the team, first name out of the hat, a real players' player, etc, etc.

What we non-cognoscenti will actually see is a player who:–

Constantly slows the game down, resulting in loss of impetus and attacking opportunity
Is ponderous on the ball, looking simply indecisive
Instinctively passes backwards or sideways, rarely forward
Frequently misplaces even the simplest short passes, to howls of anguish from the crowd
Wastes shooting opportunities through poor technique – eg spectacular Row ZZ example against Fulham

​

And yet… And yet… People in the know really rate the guy.

Anyone care to explain why?

Well I can't explain it, much like you I'm anything but an expert on our beautiful game, but what l do know is this . . .

Much like Dean Hammond when he was with us, Dale Stephens isn't a player who is exactly easy on the eye, however, when he isn't out there, my God we seem to miss him.

 

[twickers]

This is a question for those of you with a deep knowledge of the technicalities of the game. We are told regularly that Dale Stephens is an absolutely pivotal member of the team, first name out of the hat, a real players' player, etc, etc.

What we non-cognoscenti will actually see is a player who:–

Constantly slows the game down, resulting in loss of impetus and attacking opportunity
Is ponderous on the ball, looking simply indecisive
Instinctively passes backwards or sideways, rarely forward
Frequently misplaces even the simplest short passes, to howls of anguish from the crowd
Wastes shooting opportunities through poor technique – eg spectacular Row ZZ example against Fulham

​

And yet… And yet… People in the know really rate the guy.

Anyone care to explain why?

"This is a question for those of you with a deep knowledge of the technicalities of the game."

You are being ironic, right?

 

[AZ Gull]

I wonder what sort of job satisfaction Stephens and Propper get from their work - almost constantly under pressure, having to play safe, dull passes most of the time, getting plenty of criticism and very little glory. I hope the wages make up for it.

Beats having to work for a living though.....

 

[Acker79]

Yay! He's not our Zaha anymore!

 

[Green Gull]

This is a question for those of you with a deep knowledge of the technicalities of the game. We are told regularly that Dale Stephens is an absolutely pivotal member of the team, first name out of the hat, a real players' player, etc, etc.

What we non-cognoscenti will actually see is a player who:–

Constantly slows the game down, resulting in loss of impetus and attacking opportunity
Is ponderous on the ball, looking simply indecisive
Instinctively passes backwards or sideways, rarely forward
Frequently misplaces even the simplest short passes, to howls of anguish from the crowd
Wastes shooting opportunities through poor technique – eg spectacular Row ZZ example against Fulham

​

And yet… And yet… People in the know really rate the guy.

Anyone care to explain why?

"We are regularly told" ??
Do you even watch football or just listen to what other people tell you about the game. This post is beyond nonsensical.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[Justice]

Lord we miss Stephens.

Kayal was ok at breaking up the game, but that was it.

ASSIST

 

[Pogue Mahone]

ASSIST

He made his post last week.

However, his implied criticism of Kayal was unfair - I'm not sure how much more he expected away to Manchester City.

 

[Is it PotG?]

ASSIST

A thousand apologies, I was referring to the Man City game. Will start looking through my other posts now, to see if I've ever made a comment that was later not applicable to a future match.

Kayal was immense last night.

 

[Justice]

A thousand apologies, I was referring to the Man City game. Will start looking through my other posts now, to see if I've ever made a comment that was later not applicable to a future match.

Kayal was immense last night.

I know you did mate I was on a wind up he was quality last night.