[Albion] JFC

[Codner's Wallop]

How conveniently you forget the goal of the season.

How conveniently you forgot the 58 from 63 games he DIDN'T score. Quite a feat for this so-called 'attacking midfielder' everyone seems to bang on about....

 

[Thunder Bolt]

How conveniently you forgot the 58 from 63 games he DIDN'T score. Quite a feat for this so-called 'attacking midfielder' everyone seems to bang on about....

I haven't forgotten anything. He is playing how the manager wants him to play. I'm not the one with blinkers on.

 

[B.W.]

But that was just "a fluke" don't you know. It was "one good moment". I once scored a worldy from 30 yards in the Under 14s but that doesn't make me Championship quality. JFC wouldn't have got in our team anyway. Sideways passes, ducks tackles, League 1 quality, too lightweight, never gonna make it, poster boy, I see him every week and can't for the life of me see what five professional football managers see, etc etc yada yada.

You know how it works by now TB. If he does something good, it's just his job/about time/a slice of luck. If he does something poor it's proof they're right/tactical experts, and he'll be playing for Whitehawk by January.

Observation bias huh. It's a funny old game.

Except that our current extremely experienced manager has dumped him out of the starting 11, which you conveniently ignore...

 

[Codner's Wallop]

I haven't forgotten anything. He is playing how the manager wants him to play. I'm not the one with blinkers on.

Considering his tendency to prod the ball a) fewer than 10 feet b) sideways or backwards, I can only assume you're referring to JFC's blinkers?

 

[brightonrock]

Except that our current extremely experienced manager has dumped him out of the starting 11, which you conveniently ignore...

And our extremely experienced manager has still picked him in all 3 and played him in 2 out of the 3 games so far this season, which YOU ignore. I don't recall saying he should always feature in the starting XI in my post.

My point is that some very smug and bitter individuals have decided he's terrible, so the hate blinkers are on and they're not having any of it when a dissenting opinion is given. Anything good is written off, anything bad is validation of their pre-decided opinion. They want him to fail so they can be right. See also Barnes, Ashley.

Personally I find it very sad that some people are so desperate to be right, and to be seen as some kind of wise underappreciated sage, that they feel the need to act like that. But each to their own I guess, just so long as I don't have to talk to the miserable *******s at parties.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Considering his tendency to prod the ball a) fewer than 10 feet b) sideways or backwards, I can only assume you're referring to JFC's blinkers?

He is doing what the manager tells him to do. You may not like it, but it works. Very experienced managers have and still select him for our team and England youth teams at four different levels. I would wager they know a lot more about football and tactics than your or I.

 

[Codner's Wallop]

He is doing what the manager tells him to do. You may not like it, but it works. Very experienced managers have and still select him for our team and England youth teams at four different levels. I would wager they know a lot more about football and tactics than your or I.

The England link is a classic red herring. Granted, it's full of England's finest young prospects. But while some make the very top grade, the Football League is littered with these great England 'prospects' who gradually find their level in the lower reaches. A paltry 51 appearances in six seasons with Albion would suggest that he is ISN'T doing what the manager tells him - or that it particularly 'works', as you choose to put it....

 

[Diego Napier]

How conveniently you forgot the 58 from 63 games he DIDN'T score. Quite a feat for this so-called 'attacking midfielder' everyone seems to bang on about....

I think the banging on is mostly done by the small band of JFC boo boys, you know, faceless internet entities who nevertheless, in all probability, possess such sharp intellects, over-abundant footballing prowess, astute team skills and natural positional awareness that no doubt has, or would have, enabled them all to easily perform at the highest levels of professional football and who are therefore obviously qualified and confident enough to continually criticise a lad who, in spite of successfully coming through Brighton's youth ranks and is considered good enough to play for his country as well as his Championship club by 4 successive Brighton managers, is certainly not worth being encouraged or supported, let alone being given the benefit of the doubt.

 

[beefypigeon]

People are so quick to write players off. JFC obviously wasn't at his best last season in a team that, quite frankly, was under-performing all over the pitch. He should have been, and was dropped later in the year.

I personally think he's got talent and it just needs to be nurtured a little better. Hopefully CH is the right person to do this and JFC can offer us some of these useful cameos throughout the season.

I also think he is best deployed in a more advanced attacking role, a CAM if you will, rather than used as a defensive or box-to-box midfielder. He has an eye for a pass (as proved for the LuaLua through-ball) and I think being played higher up the pitch will allow him to play more 'instinctively' with more freedom. If I'm not mistaken he often plays higher up the pitch for England, and he often looks pretty good in doing so?

 

[Rookie]

The England link is a classic red herring. Granted, it's full of England's finest young prospects. But while some make the very top grade, the Football League is littered with these great England 'prospects' who gradually find their level in the lower reaches. A paltry 51 appearances in six seasons with Albion would suggest that he is ISN'T doing what the manager tells him - or that it particularly 'works', as you choose to put it....

How to use stats and make them say what ever you want to. So you expected him to be a regular at 16, 17 ...

 

[KZNSeagull]

People are so quick to write players off. JFC obviously wasn't at his best last season in a team that, quite frankly, was under-performing all over the pitch. He should have been, and was dropped later in the year.

I personally think he's got talent and it just needs to be nurtured a little better. Hopefully CH is the right person to do this and JFC can offer us some of these useful cameos throughout the season.

I also think he is best deployed in a more advanced attacking role, a CAM if you will, rather than used as a defensive or box-to-box midfielder. He has an eye for a pass (as proved for the LuaLua through-ball) and I think being played higher up the pitch will allow him to play more 'instinctively' with more freedom. If I'm not mistaken he often plays higher up the pitch for England, and he often looks pretty good in doing so?

I suspect that he has been confused about his role by having a different manager every year. Hopefully CH will have defined it for him and he can then gear his game to that. On the Roar recently it was mentioned that Oscar saw Solly as an attacking midfielder, whereas CH sees him as a winger. I suspect something similar has happened to JFC. I posted on another thread the other day that I could not see what his role is in the current squad, but that does not mean that I think he is a bad player - I just think that he needs consistent direction in what is expected of him.

 

[Cian]

[And while we're doing lazy journalistic cliches, when did you last see a CARBON copy?]

The receipt book I have to use for my residents association fees still uses ye olde carbon copy sheet in it.

Previous job I worked with NCR paper that did exactly the same thing but didn't actually use carbon.

 

[NooBHA]

I just think that the more the squad evolves, the more you will see more of the players who are not good enough drop out of contention.

That said, CH often likes to use the cup matches to get a look at younger players and ones performing well in training. So I think it's a case of. if he improves, he will continue to figure in the match day squad. If he doesnt then it is likely he will be replaced in the match day squad by people like Murphy and Harper in the coming months so it will be up to JFC himself and how he does on match days and in training as to whether he has a future at the club.

In the Championship you need a minimum 30 man squad given the number of league and cup games which need to be played in a season and there will be injuries and suspensions to deal with during the course of the season

 

[Codner's Wallop]

I think the banging on is mostly done by the small band of JFC boo boys, you know, faceless internet entities who nevertheless, in all probability, possess such sharp intellects, over-abundant footballing prowess, astute team skills and natural positional awareness that no doubt has, or would have, enabled them all to easily perform at the highest levels of professional football and who are therefore obviously qualified and confident enough to continually criticise a lad who, in spite of successfully coming through Brighton's youth ranks and is considered good enough to play for his country as well as his Championship club by 4 successive Brighton managers, is certainly not worth being encouraged or supported, let alone being given the benefit of the doubt.

Whoaa, just a bit precious here SURELY? Food goodness sake, boys far younger than JFC go to war or may live the most oppressive, miserable lives. Professional footballers are some of the most privileged human beings on the planet. JFC most likely earns more than 99% of his peers - along with an enviable lifestyle. Living in the spotlight this way, of course he's not immune to criticism. But as far as I can see, the vast majority of JFC's critics are just like me - Albion fans with a measured opinion. Not exactly this braying pack of nefarious trolls you seem to have imagined. It's a football fans forum - you know, a place where fans talk about football and players etc.

JFC is a truly gifted prodigy, with perceptive tactical awareness and the eye for a killer pass. He's Albion's star of the future - and he plays for England. There, feel better now.....perhaps a lie down?

 

[Diego Napier]

Whoaa, just a bit precious here SURELY? Food goodness sake, boys far younger than JFC go to war or may live the most oppressive, miserable lives. Professional footballers are some of the most privileged human beings on the planet. JFC most likely earns more than 99% of his peers - along with an enviable lifestyle. Living in the spotlight this way, of course he's not immune to criticism. But as far as I can see, the vast majority of JFC's critics are just like me - Albion fans with a measured opinion. Not exactly this braying pack of nefarious trolls you seem to have imagined. It's a football fans forum - you know, a place where fans talk about football and players etc.

JFC is a truly gifted prodigy, with perceptive tactical awareness and the eye for a killer pass. He's Albion's star of the future - and he plays for England. There, feel better now.....perhaps a lie down?

Not precious at all, just trying to counter the constantly inanely monotonously tediously boringly tiresomely repetitive booing. You had 4 mind numbing goes on this thread alone before creating this masterly riposte.

Justifying your booing by comparing JFC with boys going off to war? Good Grief, talk about non sequiturs, what a speciously desperate and rather ludicrous leap into the "lets find a strong justification for my stance, I know, I'll use a topic on which I'm frequently posting, the iniquity of which is close to my heart and is sure to gain me the high moral ground, totally justify my stance and also pour ridicule on this guy's opinion" bin of bad decisions. What on earth has that go to do with the price of sliced bread?

You are wrong. I don't imagine that the boo boys are a braying pack of nefarious trolls. We both know that everyone is entitled to their opinion. What I would suggest typically qualifies any opinion however is the value that can be placed on it based on the experience, intellect and skills of the person delivering it and the nature, quality and succinctness of the delivery, coupled with reasonableness and the comprehensive nature of any associated arguments. On that basis, the value of the "vast majority of JFC's critics" (the ones apparently just like you) repetitive booing get a generous 1 out of 10.

You are right, I do need a lie down, you've slayed me by your conclusion, such a devastating ingenious combination of subtle wit and horrifyingly sharp sarcasm.