Hammond..just go NOW

[Finchley Seagull]

We have noone to replace him with, which is why he will continue to play.

Precisley, which seems a good reason for getting behind him and hoping that he turns this blip in form around rather than calling for him to be sold like some people are (I realise not you).

 

[Seasider78]

Absolutely, I agree he's a good player, and I have never suggested selling him. At first, I backed him to regain his good form of last season, but we're now half way into a season and he's still not found that form. How long do we wait? I'm not suggesting selling him, I just think there must be a way to help him back to the player he was, and playing him week after week while he churns out the same performance won't help in the long run.

I don't think he has been helped by the lack of consistancy with who partners him in midfield. Like central defenders consistancy breeds an understanding between players which helps with performance.

We need to find someone in the transfer window who compliments Hammond in midfield and stick with them. That way they can build a midfield partnership and Hammond can get back to playing how we know he can.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

I don't think he has been helped by the lack of consistancy with who partners him in midfield. Like central defenders consistancy breeds an understanding between players which helps with performance.

We need to find someone in the transfer window who compliments Hammond in midfield and stick with them. That way they can build a midfield partnership and Hammond can get back to playing how we know he can.

Gavin Mahon would compliment him well.

 

[The Large One]

I probably did say he's been very poor this season, which I stand by. What I would say is that it's all about expectations though. Hammond has performed at a similar level this season to a lot of our other players. The difference is that Hammond is our player of the season, he was the one player we could not do without last year. So, to see him falling way short of that level is frustrating, and by those standards he has undoubtedly been poor. That's why he gets criticism. At the start of the season it looked to me like he hadn't fully recovered from the hernia injury, which meant he started slowly. Since then, he's got a little better, but hasn't really been an integral part of the team like he was last year. He's not been our worst player, and there's no need to get hysterical, but anyone who says he's more than half the player he was last year is wrong.

So, what to do with him as he is now. Was last season a one-off, in which case we can all accept him for what he is (an ok league one player) and get off his back? Or do we continue to get frustrated with a player that's capable of more, because we remain convinced he is?

You must have a short memory. His best time for us before last season was in the last season in the Championship. He did superbly well - two goals against West Ham spring to mind. SO, no it's no a one-off.

The season before last was, for me, a write-off which I would partially explain as playing in a combination with Richard Carpenter, which, for whatever reason, just didn't work. It did playing alongside other midfielders, but not him. Don't know why.

I also don't agree with the 'half the player he was' tag. You can't simply dismiss that opinion as 'wrong'. Writing off the first few games this season where it's acknowledged he was not at his best, there have been games where he has been as good if not better than last season. And you don't throw away commitment and talent like that purely because it's not happening on as regular basis as it could or should be.

 

[Les Biehn]

I am totally confused by the whole Hammond issue because there seems to be so many factors involved in it.

a. Hammond has shown that as an attacking midfielder he has ability, he plays neat one twos, he is good in the air, can finsish and times his runs well.
b. Hammond has shown as the midfield engine he is out of his depth, play passes him by, his tackling is late, his passing is so so and he goes missing for long periods.

Now is the problem;
i. He is trying to do to much full stop?
ii. He is trying to do too much as captain?
iii. Wilkins is asking him to do this role?
iv. He has just hit a poor patch of form?
v. It is just luck that sometimes he plays well in that attacking role?
vi. He hasn't learnt properly how to play as the attacking midfielder?
vii. He is having to adapt his role because of the changing personel in the middle?
viii. Our central midfield is a general problem area?
ix. Our whole midfield is a problem?
x. Our wingers don't offer enough support in the middle?
xi. Our forwards don't offer enough support?
xii. A mix of the above?
xiii. All of the above?

I'm even more confused now. I think we need to look at the whole midfield because it seems to me they all dip in and out of games and form far more regualrly then they should. I think the midfield needs settling down. I would have;

Reid Fraser Hammond Cox.

That looks solid to me, all can pass, all can tackle. You have the older head of Reid in there and the experience of Hammond and Cox. Fraser has shown what he can do.

I would say that it will only be possible to really judge Hamond when we have a solid midfield unit that seems to work well together.

Good knows though, maybe he's the problem which would blow all my theories out the water.

Oh yeah, and I would make Elphick captain with Hammond as vice-captain.

 

[British Bulldog]

A player in the Bertin mould is what I would suggest.

Now your talking fella I thought they complemented each other well, If we had'nt lost Hammond through injury i'm convinced we'd have finished much higher up the table with those 2 in midfield.

 

[Seasider78]

Gavin Mahon would compliment him well.

A good shout but imagine one of the lower championship sides or top league 1's will be sniffing about but no harm in us trying!!

 

[Scotty Mac]

saying hammond should go is just absurd - he IS a good player, but he is just out of form at the minute

he seems to have one good season, followed by one disapointing one. in 2004/05 he was superb, 05/06 looked out of his depth, last season brilliant again, and this year disapointing

maybe he could do with being rested for a few games, in order to try and regain his form. unfortunately, with o'callaghan gone, we have no real options to come in and take his place

 

[Les Biehn]

saying hammond should go is just absurd - he IS a good player, but he is just out of form at the minute

he seems to have one good season, followed by one disapointing one. in 2004/05 he was superb, 05/06 looked out of his depth, last season brilliant again, and this year disapointing

maybe he could do with being rested for a few games, in order to try and regain his form. unfortunately, with o'callaghan gone, we have no real options to come in and take his place

Fraser and Reid in the middle might be alright?

 

[Uncle Buck]

From midfield? I thought a couple of them were penalties.

However somebody still has to convert those penalties, which Hammond tends to do.

 

[The Large One]

Actually, now that O'Callaghan's gone, I think Hammond will play even better.

 

[Scotty Mac]

Fraser and Reid in the middle might be alright?

that would be my prefered option - only concern would be the lack of reserve games and whether reid would be up to match speed in the middle of the park

 

[The Large One]

However somebody still has to convert those penalties, which Hammond tends to do.

100% record this season - right?