[Albion] Evan Ferguson **Loaned to West Ham 03/02/2025**

[Withdean South Stand]

The best answer now, would probably be

"Man Utd yes, Bournemouth no"

Post of the day for me, I guffawed.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Maybe there's no reason at all. Young players fluctuate in form right? But young strikers are more prone to barren spells, they just haven't learned their trade yet and haven't filled out enough.

These are the current top 5 goal scorers in European leagues with my recollection of what they were doing at age 20, feel free to add or correct. I can't be arsed to research it

Salah = performing modestly in Switzerland
Retegui = In South America, not considered a prospect at all
Kane = Still having loan spells in the lower leagues. Not really scoring much
Lebondowski = Something about volcanoes and Blackburn, the memory fades if i'm honest
Gyokeres = Can't get a game for us. No tears shed when we sold him for £1m

Evan Ferguson has potential right? We've all seen it. This doesn't mean he'll make it, plenty don't, but it means he has a great chance. But we need to show patience, maybe years of patience. We need to get behind him when he plays for us, especially if not having a great game. Oh and random online speculation about illnesses or a drinking issue helps absolutely nobody.

 

[Han Solo]

How can it be infinitely more likely given there's no evidence at all to support this? Because he's Irish?

Leave the intelligent and rational stuff to me please.

It is infintely more likely because teenage superstars partying too hard is a thing whereas playing elite football with glandular fever in the 2020s isn't a thing. Many young players drink a bit too much or party too hard. Not many young players play in the PL during a bout of glandular fever or cholera or other severly impairing diseases.

Are you saying that evidence is needed to make one thing more likely than another?

If you come home and your wife isn't there, do you think its - given the lack of evidence - is equally likely she was abducted by aliens as the idea that she's just gone shopping some milk and liver-pie or whatever Brits buy these days?

It must be really hard living a life where nothing is more likely than something else just due to a lack of evidence. How do you even leave your house when there's no evidence that there isn't a zombe apocalypse happening?

Making assumptions based on experience and thinking rather than evidence is absolutely necessary if you want to function at all.

With that in mind:

- due to the nature of glandular fever and Evan Ferguson playing football at a time when he was supposedly suffering from it, its somewhere between impossible and exceptionally unlikely that he had glandular fever in september 2023.
- due to the nature of booze, women and young men with money, it is somewhere between unlikely but possible and mayhaps that he has been partying too hard.

 

[Milano]

There were RUMOURS doing the rounds at Palace away last year that Evan had been caught drinking at that appalling winter wonderland thing in London, and had been dropped because of it. The fact that these never made it past being rumours (this is quite a small city) mean that a) there is nothing in them, or b) he is drinking in private. I suspect it is a.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

It is infintely more likely because teenage superstars partying too hard is a thing whereas playing elite football with glandular fever in the 2020s isn't a thing. Many young players drink a bit too much or party too hard. Not many young players play in the PL during a bout of glandular fever or cholera or other severly impairing diseases.

Are you saying that evidence is needed to make one thing more likely than another?

If you come home and your wife isn't there, do you think its - given the lack of evidence - is equally likely she was abducted by aliens as the idea that she's just gone shopping some milk and liver-pie or whatever Brits buy these days?

It must be really hard living a life where nothing is more likely than something else just due to a lack of evidence. How do you even leave your house when there's no evidence that there isn't a zombe apocalypse happening?

Making assumptions based on experience and thinking rather than evidence is absolutely necessary if you want to function at all.

With that in mind:

- due to the nature of glandular fever and Evan Ferguson playing football at a time when he was supposedly suffering from it, its somewhere between impossible and exceptionally unlikely that he had glandular fever in september 2023.
- due to the nature of booze, women and young men with money, it is somewhere between unlikely but possible and mayhaps that he has been partying too hard.

...... blah blah blah

 

[Han Solo]

Leave the intelligent and rational stuff to me please.

...... blah blah blah

Thank you for showcasing exactly how the intelligent and rational analysis went when NSC diagnosed Evan Ferguson with glandular fever.

 

[Oh_aye]

Most likely, the truth about Evan Ferguson is that he's a promising striker who should be at loan with some Championship club, like a normal 20-year-old striker.
He came into the team when everything was going our way, rode that success and scored a bunch of goals, and when the team started to struggle a bit more, the true current level of this player emerged out of the darkness.

He is no doubt a lethal finisher but he needs A LOT of help getting into those chances because his overall play just isn't great and never really was.

Definitely. I've mentioned it before but Harry Kane was on loan at Millwall at his age. It's actually been a bit of a mare, him coming through with such an impact in his first season. All the 100m player shouts from the papers etc. He should be at Blackburn scoring for fun. Nothing about West ham really makes sense.

 

[Oh_aye]

There were RUMOURS doing the rounds at Palace away last year that Evan had been caught drinking at that appalling winter wonderland thing in London, and had been dropped because of it. The fact that these never made it past being rumours (this is quite a small city) mean that a) there is nothing in them, or b) he is drinking in private. I suspect it is a.

Have you ever been to Winter Wonderland? It's enough to drive anyone to drink. There's no way of enjoying it sober.

 

[Is it PotG?]

I fear we have seen the best of young Fergie.

Happy to be proved wrong though.

 

[Han Solo]

Definitely. I've mentioned it before but Harry Kane was on loan at Millwall at his age. It's actually been a bit of a mare, him coming through with such an impact in his first season. All the 100m player shouts from the papers etc. He should be at Blackburn scoring for fun. Nothing about West ham really makes sense.

Yeah the thing is...
Evan had a really good debut month for Brighton, scoring three goals in December-January 2022-2023. After that he had a brace against Southampton and a hattrick against Newcastle. Apart from those bursts, he's got 6 goals in 50 appearances.

If you are to listen to what the ratings sites say, he's been performing poorly in the majority of these games. For instance, Whoscored has his average rating for his debut season at 6.67 and 6.49 last season. Its not evidence that he isn't as good as his reputation, but it is in indicator.

He should absolutely play in the Championship but once you've had success at PL level it can be hard admitting that.

 

[jackanada]

"The virus (Epstein-Barr virus, EBV) causes extreme fatigue, muscle weakness, and an enlarged spleen, which poses a serious risk of rupture if subjected to physical contact."

My doctor really should have mentioned that. I played half a season of rugby while still shattered by it. I was fit as a butchers dog before and managed to make it through games by running less and whenever I got a decent knock I'd previously have jumped straight up from I'd have a nice little lie down.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Almost no championship club could afford his wages.

I’d imagine we would cover a large portion of these for the right loan as game time and confidence are critical for him

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

As someone who has suffered from it, do you feel it would have been possible to play against Manchester United and Bournemouth while being affected by the disease?

United, yes

Edit: already been done

 

[Theatre of Trees]

It is infintely more likely because teenage superstars partying too hard is a thing whereas playing elite football with glandular fever in the 2020s isn't a thing. Many young players drink a bit too much or party too hard. Not many young players play in the PL during a bout of glandular fever or cholera or other severly impairing diseases.

Are you saying that evidence is needed to make one thing more likely than another?

If you come home and your wife isn't there, do you think its - given the lack of evidence - is equally likely she was abducted by aliens as the idea that she's just gone shopping some milk and liver-pie or whatever Brits buy these days?

It must be really hard living a life where nothing is more likely than something else just due to a lack of evidence. How do you even leave your house when there's no evidence that there isn't a zombe apocalypse happening?

Making assumptions based on experience and thinking rather than evidence is absolutely necessary if you want to function at all.

With that in mind:

- due to the nature of glandular fever and Evan Ferguson playing football at a time when he was supposedly suffering from it, its somewhere between impossible and exceptionally unlikely that he had glandular fever in september 2023.
- due to the nature of booze, women and young men with money, it is somewhere between unlikely but possible and mayhaps that he has been partying too hard.

There is a fatal flaw in your theory, it is far easier to document evidence for partying hard than it is for illness.

Now the pipe and slippers brigade on NSC may not be imbibing anything stronger than Horlicks these days before a 9PM bed time, therefore not being in a position to investigate, but those younger bucks will and are often very keen to display bumping into celebs and sports people in clubs and pubs on Social Media. Ferguson has been based in a city known for its nightlife, has anybody seen anything on Social Media showing him visiting? Likewise, if he liked partying I'm sure there would be plenty evidence every time he returned home to Dublin - is there? Any reports from London? Aaron Connolly was seen and observed burning the candle, hence the reputation he gained. Evan so far has not.

Consequently, this post contains as much supposition as those containing opinions on possible glandular fever, both are opinions and neither factual.

 

[Han Solo]

There is a fatal flaw in your theory, it is far easier to document evidence for partying hard than it is for illness.

Now the pipe and slippers brigade on NSC may not be imbibing anything stronger than Horlicks these days before a 9PM bed time, therefore not being in a position to investigate, but those younger bucks will and are often very keen to display bumping into celebs and sports people in clubs and pubs on Social Media. Ferguson has been based in a city known for its nightlife, has anybody seen anything on Social Media showing him visiting? Likewise, if he liked partying I'm sure there would be plenty evidence every time he returned home to Dublin - is there? Any reports from London? Aaron Connolly was seen and observed burning the candle, hence the reputation he gained. Evan so far has not.

Consequently, this post contains as much supposition as those containing opinions on possible glandular fever, both are opinions and neither factual.

May well be the case. In Sweden we have night clubs for very rich people where people simply won't be allowed to take photos or show it off on social media. Maybe not the case in England

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the subject of whether it is more likely that Evan has had a few too many late nights rather than play elite football while having a glandular fever. I'm not stating that Evan drinks too much, I'm just doing some very basic probability theory.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

It is really useful to see it set out like this, but it's worth noting that...

Bournemouth 24 September: Yes, he did start against Bournemouth but was withdrawn at half time (reported because he was feeling unwell).

He then started the next match against Villa on 30 September, but was again withdrawn at half time.

Whatever the reason, it's clear that an injury started to take its toll in September '23 and he also had an illness which lasted at least a couple of weeks. After which, he has found things harder on the pitch.

I had glandular fever at 20. I withdrew from a round of golf after 12 holes, the following week after 9. I was off work for 3m after I couldn't walk from the City back to London Bridge any more. I never played another round of golf and it took a year to recover my energy levels and enthusiasm for anything involving any effort. I was one who suggested glandular fever. I may even have started it, because lethargy and unable to manage more than 45m of football before falling by the wayside for a year seemed about right to me. Long covid problem the same.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

So far he's played 91 minutes of football for West Ham.

He’s started 2 games all season. He’s played less than 400 minutes of Premier League football, with most of it being 10 minute cameos at the end of games.

Irrespective of whether he had a big injury or illness last year (and I must admit I bought into the chat that he had, such was the drop off), there’s no footballer in the world that can play such a small amount of football, and have that football as staggered as his has been, and still be expected to perform.

 

[Weststander]

Same goes for the people talking about Evan having some disease or another. Feels like they should prove it rather than people proving he wasn't sick.
Given neither him nor any media source has ever mentioned him having glandular fever, its more likely than not that its just bullshit made up on NSC.

This.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Yeah the thing is...
Evan had a really good debut month for Brighton, scoring three goals in December-January 2022-2023. After that he had a brace against Southampton and a hattrick against Newcastle. Apart from those bursts, he's got 6 goals in 50 appearances.

If you are to listen to what the ratings sites say, he's been performing poorly in the majority of these games. For instance, Whoscored has his average rating for his debut season at 6.67 and 6.49 last season. Its not evidence that he isn't as good as his reputation, but it is in indicator.

He should absolutely play in the Championship but once you've had success at PL level it can be hard admitting that.

As with anything, data can be manipulated to fit any narrative.

He scored 6 in 10 starts (950 minutes) in the first season, and 6 in 15 starts (1366 minutes) in the second season, when he was asked to do a lot more tactically. These are incredible stats for a player of his age.

Equally, he’s got 1 goal in 2 starts / 230 minutes this season. Again, not awful numbers.

Personally, I think much of the issue, whether there’s been fitness issues or not, has been his lack of tactical fit with FH. Sometimes that happens with a player, irrespective of their ability. He’s a typical number 9, in a world where typical number 9s don’t really exist anymore. Welbeck, who’s his biggest competition is undoubtedly a much more rounded player who’s more comfortable bringing others into play, so it was always unlikely he’d get the minutes required to get up to fitness.

 

[nickjhs]

There is a fatal flaw in your theory, it is far easier to document evidence for partying hard than it is for illness.

And here was me thinking the fatal flaw lay in "infinitely more likely".