[Albion] Most improved player so far this season?

[NorthLainer]

Got to be Moder surely?

I mean, what did he do last season
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Yes, yes...I know...

 

[The Fits]

Goodnight has gone from being a waste of a first team player to looking almost vital at times, especially playing more centrally.
Nobody really doubted his class but I think a few, myself included, got a bit worried about the toil of being so ineffectual for so long. I thought he looked so out of his depth that it might cause serious long term damage to his confidence and development but he looks tougher, more confident, and has cut out (or at least seriously reduced) the histrionics.
He looks an absolute shoe in for the number ten role next season, and as others have said, you're now starting to look at him and think 'which senior player is going to dislodge this kid now?'.

 

[Seagull58]

Van Hecke. I'm looking forward to him taking on Lukaku.

 

[Zeberdi]

Irish Twitter are gunning for RDZ.

Would love to know how they've perceived that as 'slating' him. That's the kind of crap the Iranian Jahanbakhsh enthusiasts came out with.

He clearly is not that good of a player that a 'team should be built around him' yet, what an absurd statement. Not that we would 'build a team around' any player anyway, no matter how good they are. What does that even mean?! And what do you do when the player you've 'built a team around' is injured?

He has been underperforming for months for whatever reason, perhaps not fully recovered from the reported illness he had. That's not 'slating' him either, it's the truth.

Yeah, agree with all this.

A bit off the thread topic now but I am beginning to wonder though whether Ferguson’s style at the moment is working at Brighton - for him or us? He is no doubt a very talented no 9 and on a trajectory to be a world class striker (despite a low goal scoring performance this season) but RDZ is not really setting up around a number 9 to head our attacking play is he? The comments then in the Irish Twitter post provokes more questions for me because they seem to assume that Fergie is a certain type of striker and we are a certain type of team. RDZ relies heavily on attacking FBs, inverted wingers, No 10s (and false 9s at times) which gives us a very broad goal-scoring distribution so we don’t really have that emphasis on a traditional striker-led attacking style of play - ie where the striker is more forward than anyone else in the field and relies on service from the midfield coming up behind him. Yet Fergie seems to be exactly that kind of traditional striker. It seems to me that last season Caicedo and Mackie were very adept at getting the ball forward much quicker and much more directly in attacking transitions without losing possession or going all round the houses multiple times - has our 2023/4 defensive and central midfield set up made it much harder for Fergie to get service? When I compared him with Welbz yesterday, Danny was picking up the ball much deeper and dribbling it forward for longer distances. Could Fergie benefit from engaging much sooner when we initiate attacking sequences?

Be genuinely interested to know if anyone has seen improvements in his play in any other areas this season (setting aside the lack of goals) - is he tackling better? Playing deeper to pick up balls earlier?

 

[DavePage]

Off Piste a bit but does Gilmour miss Wolves or City?

 

[DJ NOBO]

Sorry stand by it, attended the games and he was dreadful, in the same way he was superb vs Haaland.

As for Blackburn as you say lower level.

For me the most improved

As a long term JPVH fanboy it irks me slightly that he bore the brunt for Newc and Leic as the whole team was fragile.
That said, I can see how you might think he was previously crap and has improved drastically.
If you saw him at Blackburn (I only did as a friend is a Blackburn fan and I watched a few games with him) , i doubt you would think that.
You could just tell he was destined for the top. Similar to Ferguson last season. If JPVH can sort out the occasional blond moment, he could replace Van Dijk one day for Holland .
Thank god we didn’t let him slip through our fingers a year or so ago

 

[dazzer6666]

Off Piste a bit but does Gilmour miss Wolves or City?

Wolves. Reds carry across domestic competitions

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

As a long term JPVH fanboy it irks me slightly that he bore the brunt for Newc and Leic as the whole team was fragile.
That said, I can see how you might think he was previously crap and has improved drastically.
If you saw him at Blackburn (I only did as a friend is a Blackburn fan and I watched a few games with him) , i doubt you would think that.
You could just tell he was destined for the top. Similar to Ferguson last season. If JPVH can sort out the occasional blond moment, he could replace Van Dijk one day for Holland .
Thank god we didn’t let him slip through our fingers a year or so ago

We did get a point at Leicester

Getting closer and closer…… great leader as well.

 

[trueblue]

Buonanotte for me. Has gone from a youngster who looked like he might not cut it in England to a very exciting prospect - helped by being able to play in more central areas. Intelligent at finding pockets of space, battles hard and has a cracking shot on him.

 

[ClemFandango]

Yeah, agree with all this.

A bit off the thread topic now but I am beginning to wonder though whether Ferguson’s style at the moment is working at Brighton - for him or us? He is no doubt a very talented no 9 and on a trajectory to be a world class striker (despite a low goal scoring performance this season) but RDZ is not really setting up around a number 9 to head our attacking play is he? The comments then in the Irish Twitter post provokes more questions for me because they seem to assume that Fergie is a certain type of striker and we are a certain type of team. RDZ relies heavily on attacking FBs, inverted wingers, No 10s (and false 9s at times) which gives us a very broad goal-scoring distribution so we don’t really have that emphasis on a traditional striker-led attacking style of play - ie where the striker is more forward than anyone else in the field and relies on service from the midfield coming up behind him. Yet Fergie seems to be exactly that kind of traditional striker. It seems to me that last season Caicedo and Mackie were very adept at getting the ball forward much quicker and much more directly in attacking transitions without losing possession or going all round the houses multiple times - has our 2023/4 defensive and central midfield set up made it much harder for Fergie to get service? When I compared him with Welbz yesterday, Danny was picking up the ball much deeper and dribbling it forward for longer distances. Could Fergie benefit from engaging much sooner when we initiate attacking sequences?

Be genuinely interested to know if anyone has seen improvements in his play in any other areas this season (setting aside the lack of goals) - is he tackling better? Playing deeper to pick up balls earlier?

That’s the concern, compared to Welbz his hold-up play seems to be getting worse. He had one nice turn in the first half yesterday to get away from his man and make a good pass forward. But that was about it sadly. Fingers crossed he gets his confidence back soon

 

[ClemFandango]

Yeah, agree with all this.

A bit off the thread topic now but I am beginning to wonder though whether Ferguson’s style at the moment is working at Brighton - for him or us? He is no doubt a very talented no 9 and on a trajectory to be a world class striker (despite a low goal scoring performance this season) but RDZ is not really setting up around a number 9 to head our attacking play is he? The comments then in the Irish Twitter post provokes more questions for me because they seem to assume that Fergie is a certain type of striker and we are a certain type of team. RDZ relies heavily on attacking FBs, inverted wingers, No 10s (and false 9s at times) which gives us a very broad goal-scoring distribution so we don’t really have that emphasis on a traditional striker-led attacking style of play - ie where the striker is more forward than anyone else in the field and relies on service from the midfield coming up behind him. Yet Fergie seems to be exactly that kind of traditional striker. It seems to me that last season Caicedo and Mackie were very adept at getting the ball forward much quicker and much more directly in attacking transitions without losing possession or going all round the houses multiple times - has our 2023/4 defensive and central midfield set up made it much harder for Fergie to get service? When I compared him with Welbz yesterday, Danny was picking up the ball much deeper and dribbling it forward for longer distances. Could Fergie benefit from engaging much sooner when we initiate attacking sequences?

Be genuinely interested to know if anyone has seen improvements in his play in any other areas this season (setting aside the lack of goals) - is he tackling better? Playing deeper to pick up balls earlier?

That’s the concern, compared to Welbz his hold-up play seems to be getting worse. He had one nice turn in the first half yesterday to get away from his man and make a good pass forward. But that was about it sadly. Fingers crossed he gets his confidence back soon

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Buonanotte or Van Hecke for me.

I was hoping for a breakout season for Buonanotte this year similar to Enciso last year. He showed his potential in flashes last season so I was hoping to see more on a consistent basis. The fact that he nearly went on loan and then had a slow start to the season meant I was beginning to think maybe the breakout would have to wait for next season but he's really kicked on in the last few weeks.

Van Hecke had both great and terrible games last season. It was a question of which were more reflective of the 'real' van hecke for this season. Seems it's the former. He's been really good most weeks. He has the odd moment where he goes wrong but then so did Dunk I think? That Van Hecke is doing it at a much higher level than Dunk was can only be a good thing. Dunk went from a talented but with a rush of blood Championshop defender to a top premier league defender. Van Hecke is currently a solid prem defender prone to a rush of blood. What's his limit?

I don't think Gilmour counts for this debate. He was decent when he played last year, he just rarely played.

 

[dazzer6666]

Buonanotte for me. Has gone from a youngster who looked like he might not cut it in England to a very exciting prospect - helped by being able to play in more central areas. Intelligent at finding pockets of space, battles hard and has a cracking shot on him.

Only to a few on here……..

 

[Bold Seagull]

But other than;
Buonatte
Van Hecke
Adringa
Pedro
Gilmour
Igor
Hinshelwood

Who has actually improved?

Oh yeah, think Gross and Dunk are actually having one of their best seasons for us, Welbeck looking as sharp as ever…

But who else?

I mean, are they actually doing any coaching at Lancing!

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Yeah, agree with all this.

A bit off the thread topic now but I am beginning to wonder though whether Ferguson’s style at the moment is working at Brighton - for him or us? He is no doubt a very talented no 9 and on a trajectory to be a world class striker (despite a low goal scoring performance this season) but RDZ is not really setting up around a number 9 to head our attacking play is he? The comments then in the Irish Twitter post provokes more questions for me because they seem to assume that Fergie is a certain type of striker and we are a certain type of team. RDZ relies heavily on attacking FBs, inverted wingers, No 10s (and false 9s at times) which gives us a very broad goal-scoring distribution so we don’t really have that emphasis on a traditional striker-led attacking style of play - ie where the striker is more forward than anyone else in the field and relies on service from the midfield coming up behind him. Yet Fergie seems to be exactly that kind of traditional striker. It seems to me that last season Caicedo and Mackie were very adept at getting the ball forward much quicker and much more directly in attacking transitions without losing possession or going all round the houses multiple times - has our 2023/4 defensive and central midfield set up made it much harder for Fergie to get service? When I compared him with Welbz yesterday, Danny was picking up the ball much deeper and dribbling it forward for longer distances. Could Fergie benefit from engaging much sooner when we initiate attacking sequences?

Be genuinely interested to know if anyone has seen improvements in his play in any other areas this season (setting aside the lack of goals) - is he tackling better? Playing deeper to pick up balls earlier?

I actually think he’s holding it up better this season, teams are tighter on him and he looks stronger. For me, last season and the start of this he had a pocket of space to operate in, just in front of the defenders, which made his life easier. Teams have worked that out, so he’s now coming even deeper, which IMO is not where we want him.

His movement in the box needs improvement, and generally neither he or Welbeck make many near post runs, particularly when the ball is wide.

However, the second season is often the hardest for a young player.
He remains a fantastic prospect and all of a sudden something will click…..

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

But other than;
Buonatte
Van Hecke
Adringa
Pedro
Gilmour
Igor
Hinshelwood

Who has actually improved?

Oh yeah, think Gross and Dunk are actually having one of their best seasons for us, Welbeck looking as sharp as ever…

But who else?

I mean, are they actually doing any coaching at Lancing!

It is astonishing, isn't it.

 

[BBassic]

Van Hecke for me.

Buonanotte is up there as well but he needs to cut out the rolling around after getting tackled. Leave that shit to Bruno Fernandes.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

Ferguson is young, is a finisher but he isn't getting too many opportunities to score. Obviously RDZ wants more from him but for the most part it's a team problem recently in terms of chance creation, not a player one.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Buonanotte for me. Has gone from a youngster who looked like he might not cut it in England to a very exciting prospect - helped by being able to play in more central areas. Intelligent at finding pockets of space, battles hard and has a cracking shot on him.

It annoys me how each youngster that has come in has been written off as ’not good enough for English football’. It happened with Biss, Mac, Ceicado, Enciso and Bounanotte. You’d have thought we would have learnt by now.

 

[Marshy]

JPVH is the clear winner