DarrenFreemansPerm
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
There isn’t a player in our team that wouldn’t benefit from us having a true defensive midfielder. It’s a large and glaringly obvious hole. Baleba isn’t it, he’s a good player but he’s more box to box than DM.
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[Albion] Mahmoud Dahoud (Loaned to VfB Stuttgart 31/01/24)
- Thread starter macbeth
- Start date
I remember one guest talking quite strongly about this on Albion Roar.
Clive Walker
Stand Or Fall
Think he was an 8 vs Ajax if memory serves me. Other than that he’s been poor.
Earlier this season I was struggling to see much positivitiy in him, but he gradually started to show signs, then had a couple of good games, the second of which was good until he got sent off.
He didn't have his best game yesterday, but I'm hopeful he will start to improve as he gets back into the groove.
He didn't have his best game yesterday, but I'm hopeful he will start to improve as he gets back into the groove.
deletebeepbeepbeep
Well-known member
- May 12, 2009
- 21,918
Cheap option that hasn't worked.
I don’t think Dahoud has looked all that good so far but to be fair to him, he hasn’t had a great chance yet to get up to speed with the league and the style of play. He’s not played all that many games, definitely far too early to write him off. The worry for him will be getting the games he needs, seems to be behind Gross, Gilmour, now maybe Baleba in those positions.
the wanderbus
Well-known member
He hasn’t got up to speed in the premier league yet and I don’t think he ever will. It’s clearly too fast and too physical.
This. We’ve clearly sold Caicedo “out of sequence” (we’d have been planning to lose him next summer). This is one of the risks with our strategy if one of our talents progresses hugely and quickly (coupled with greedy leeching agents), we could find ourselves short in a key area. Hopefully lessons for the club, as we now (IMHO) need to find a first team ready DM in January, along with a fullback, in a window when we traditionally don’t do much business.
GingerBeerMan
3-0
- Dec 29, 2011
- 8,217
Jesus, what a fantastic post.
Mustafa II
Well-known member
Think Dahoud will come good. He has the quality.
Feel he would benefit from a decent run of games though, which he hasn't had yet (partly his own fault).
Feel he would benefit from a decent run of games though, which he hasn't had yet (partly his own fault).
- Nov 11, 2009
- 12,379
He was virtually anonymous. Our Midfield non existent. Was a lot better with more control when Gilmour came on
with Mitoma, Igor and Hinshlewood.
- Nov 11, 2009
- 12,379
Interesting. But watching games as played rather than by stats. I don't think anyone would seriously argue that Baleba is currently a better player for us than Caicedo was?
The one benchmark I keep thinking back to is Biss in his first season (young age, from French League 1), he too was similarly raw with inconsistent performances, flashes of something special but also not quite at it consistently.
We all know how pivotal and improved Biss became with time, patience and games.
I'm really hopeful in 19yo Baleba we will have another Bissouma. Next season will be his year, this season is about finding his feet.
Potential is evident
Think Mo played well at Ajax but most games is pretty anonymous. Real shame he didn’t grab his chance yesterday as we need to utilise our squad.
Might have been better if Baleba had played in midfield as the semi sweeper role didn’t work. With Lallana having an off day our midfield was nonexistent in the first half.
Our signings including Milner give de Zerbi a real challenge following our two star departures from midfield last season
Might have been better if Baleba had played in midfield as the semi sweeper role didn’t work. With Lallana having an off day our midfield was nonexistent in the first half.
Our signings including Milner give de Zerbi a real challenge following our two star departures from midfield last season
Kosh
'The' Yaztromo
Does he though? Maybe
as a kind of play making AMC, but defensively he’s woeful… so expecting him to run the midfield with industry and tenacity in the tackle is the dictionary definition of a folly… yet, Roberto seems to be of another opinion… in short he reminds me of lazy Davy, who needed a ball winning ball breaker or two behind him to look the part…Sadly we sold both of our PL level and genuine DMC/MCs over the summer and recruited an inexperienced box to box flyer who is somewhere between early Biss and errrmmm himself, something we don’t really know much about ourselves right now… Roberto doesn’t seem to either, which is a slight concern.
Back to Mo… he’s not pulling up trees, he’s not doing enough, he’s not making telling contributions… it’s a case of he should be better than he is… so why isn’t he ? He’s not 21, he’s played at a high level… for me, he’s not being used correctly but I doubt he will be unless we fix the deeper midfield areas and fast.
Of course he's not currently a better player than Caicedo was for us. But the fact is he's outperforming Chelsea's Caicedo on a range of metrics already, which bodes well.
His numbers actually stand up quite well against those of peak Brighton Caicedo too.
(Edited to fix typo)
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London Irish
Well-known member
Except he did make telling contributions in the Everton and Ajax games so writing him off completely is just the standard NSC poster overreactionDoes he though? Maybe
Sadly we sold both of our PL level and genuine DMC/MCs over the summer and recruited an inexperienced box to box flyer who is somewhere between early Biss and errrmmm himself, something we don’t really know much about ourselves right now… Roberto doesn’t seem to either, which is a slight concern.
Back to Mo… he’s not pulling up trees, he’s not doing enough, he’s not making telling contributions… it’s a case of he should be better than he is… so why isn’t he ? He’s not 21, he’s played at a high level… for me, he’s not being used correctly but I doubt he will be unless we fix the deeper midfield areas and fast.