[Albion] Dale Stephens? Really??

[Not Andy Naylor]

Neither of our central midfield players is going to look like Steven Gerrard in our system. He works within that.

 

[Razzoo]

He is integral to our team. I was delighted when he decided to stay and **** Burnley off. Class player who probably deserves an England call up.

 

[Hugo Rune]

He is integral to our team. I was delighted when he decided to stay and **** Burnley off. Class player who probably deserves an England call up.

It was the club who decided he was staying, he was desperate to leave. We ****ed Burnley off, not him.

When he signed the new contract with us, he realised it was his most realistic chance of playing in the Premier League as Burnley had purchased the central midfielders they needed and he’d have been well down the pecking order if he’d gone there on a free.

He is now a solid Premier League midfielder who is essential to the way we play but he needs a few goals and the confidence to hit some longer raking passes to players in space (instead of turning around & passing to a defender) if he wants to hit the next level and be talked about as a transfer target or possible England player.

I still think Kayal would be above him if he’d remained fit after his player of the season award.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Is that what some people do when there's no football on, just pick through the team one by one and find ways to criticize them? We've had threads started or revived on Solly, Locadia and now Dale in the space of 4 days. Goodness me this is woefully pathetic.

Are you saying we aren't allowed to explore the quality of Albion players on an Albion message board? I don't agree with these comments, but the op is entitled to ask and has had some well argued replies. The Locadia thread even more so. It's not criticism in the Locadia case, just bemusement - and many people are equally nonplussed.

 

[Betfair Bozo]

Neither of our central midfield players is going to look like Steven Gerrard in our system. He works within that.

Exactly. Lower down from our current lofty heights he was a little more box to box. Propper is way more progressive when playing for the Dutch. You have to remember who we are, who we are up against and who our manager is. Both of them could improve a little in terms of distribution but who couldn't? If they were any closer to being complete as midfielders you can be damn sure they wouldn't play for us anyway. Even Gerrard and Lampard needed a Lucas or a Makelele to be able to do what they did anyway.

 

[Giraffe]

See previous threads on Dean Hammond years ago. Like Dean, we would miss Dale if he left.

 

[Machiavelli]

He is now a solid Premier League midfielder who is essential to the way we play but he needs a few goals and the confidence to hit some longer raking passes to players in space (instead of turning around & passing to a defender) if he wants to hit the next level and be talked about as a transfer target or possible England player.

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.

 

[seagull_special]

Yes but apart from that what does he do?

1 he controls the tempo of the game
2 he bridges play between defending and attacking
3 he plays more forward balls than gets credit for he might also give the ball away with those passes but not as often as you clearly think
4 his game management is fantastic
5 has a fabulous understanding with the 2 cbs and the more attacking players
6plays selflessly to the benefit of the team

I suspect there’s plenty more to his game but you get the point I hope

 

[Super Steve Earle]

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.

And yet so many on NSC were creaming themselves over Wilshere who makes a career out of 10 yard passes and f*** all else

 

[darkwolf666]

And yet so many on NSC were creaming themselves over Wilshere who makes a career out of 10 yard passes and f*** all else

Wilshere is also quite good at being injured, a talent that has largely passed Dale by!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

1 he controls the tempo of the game
2 he bridges play between defending and attacking
3 he plays more forward balls than gets credit for he might also give the ball away with those passes but not as often as you clearly think
4 his game management is fantastic
5 has a fabulous understanding with the 2 cbs and the more attacking players
6plays selflessly to the benefit of the team

I suspect there’s plenty more to his game but you get the point I hope

If only the club had details under each player on the official site, you'd be able to see and analyse all his passes and distribution.

Oh.

https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/teams/first-team/midfielder/dale-stephens/

 

[Machiavelli]

If only the club had details under each player on the official site, you'd be able to see and analyse all his passes and distribution.

Oh.

https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/teams/first-team/midfielder/dale-stephens/

Height 169cm. Shurely shume mishtake

 

[Machiavelli]

Also indicates that he plays more than twice as many forward balls as backwards, although more than twice as many backward and sideways as forwards.

 

[Acker79]

So how what's our PL record with him? Without him?

Haven't seen any figures yet

Sent from my TA-1020 using Tapatalk

played 3
won 0
drawn 0
lost 3
for 0
against 6
win percent 0%
goals per game average 0
points per game average 0

Sorry, just noticed you wanted with him as well.

played 39
won 10
drawn 14
lost 15
for 39
against 55
win percent 25.6%
goals per game average 1
points per game average 1.13

 

[Acker79]

So how what's our PL record with him? Without him?

Haven't seen any figures yet

Sent from my TA-1020 using Tapatalk

played 3
won 0
drawn 0
lost 3
for 0
against 6
win percent 0%
goals per game average 0
points per game average 0

Eep!

 

[mothy]

Wilshere is also quite good at being injured, a talent that has largely passed Dale by!

Hmm. How long is he out for now?

 

[Nixonator]

1 he controls the tempo of the game
2 he bridges play between defending and attacking
3 he plays more forward balls than gets credit for he might also give the ball away with those passes but not as often as you clearly think
4 his game management is fantastic
5 has a fabulous understanding with the 2 cbs and the more attacking players
6plays selflessly to the benefit of the team

I suspect there’s plenty more to his game but you get the point I hope

But other than that, what does he do?

FORWARDS STEPHENS.

 

[Acker79]

played 3
won 0
drawn 0
lost 3
for 0
against 6
win percent 0%
goals per game average 0
points per game average 0

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...

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

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...

What games were they though? Man City away isn't exactly a fair barometer to judge such statistics...

 

[bhawoddy]

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...

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