Rubbish? - player ratings

[Dave the OAP]

who is chamberlain?

 

[Da Man Clay]

Youth team midfielder.

 

[Gully]

El Abd certainly ran his nuts off last night, gave all he had, was worried about some of his tackles late on as he was already on a yellow...can't doubt his commitment.

 

[Yorkie]

who is chamberlain?

He was picked out by Peter Beardsley as being the best player on the pitch at Newcastle last year in the FA Youth cup 6th round. It looks like he is about to break into the first team along with the others.
A good reliable midfielder.

 

[Da Man Clay]

Because Gatting is a striker and expected to score 25 goals in a season.

 

[BensGrandad]

Every team needs to have a ball winner in their midfield to win the ball and give a simple pass to other players to begin attacks.

El Abd does that very efficiently for us and it is not his fault that having won the ball for the other midfielders they cannot distribute it very well.

It has been said, many times, that what we need is a ball playing old midfielder for El Abd to win the ball and give it to to pass it around in the Darren Anderton mould at Bournemouth or as we had many years ago in Denis Mortimer or more recently Darren Currie.

 

[Yorkie]

Also, just to compare him nsc's favourite scapegoat from the youth team at the moment, ie Gatting, I think Gatting has shown a lot more promise in his appearances than Fraser has, so why does Gatting get the slating and Fraser nothing?

I agree with every word of that.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Also, just to compare him nsc's favourite scapegoat from the youth team at the moment, ie Gatting, I think Gatting has shown a lot more promise in his appearances than Fraser has, so why does Gatting get the slating and Fraser nothing?

Fraser WAS getting a slating at first, until EVERYBODY (except Wilkins, apparently) realised that he's clearly NOT a right winger!

 

[Yorkie]

Maybe people are worried about Mad Frankie?

 

[BensGrandad]

, why does Gatting take a battering on here, and Fraser barely gets a mention?

Simply because Fraser is being played out of position and everybody other than the management can see that so they give a little more tolerance.

Having signed this player from Millwall who is a left back/midfielder I hope that we will play him on the left and move Cox out wide on the right and then have 2 from 3 in central midfield Hammond, El Abd and Fraser.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Simply because Fraser is being played out of position and everybody other than the management can see that so they give a little more tolerance.

Saves me typing it out

 

[Hiney]

Of course. Michel wasn't really lobbed from 4 yards though, was he? Ok, Enoch was close to the goal, but he was on the left and the ball ended up in the right, so in order to get it up and over Michel I would say it was more like 8 or 10 yards.

As for El Abd, what do you see in him that's so good? Genuine question. I obviously don't agree, but I'm just wondering how several people managed to see midfield qualities in him last night.

Pedantic little fucker aren't you.

It's all about opinions and we're all entitled to one. What I fail to see is how your reading of some of the players last night is SO different from many other people's assessments.

In my opinion, Adam El Abd had a decent game last night, despite being booked early on for a 'shit he's done me' type of challenge. As someone pointed out earlier, he and Dean Hammond found it difficult to pick out Jake Robinson and Joe Gatting, which gave the impression that they were just giving the ball away.

The big problem, as I see it, is that the front players don't have the voice of experience alongside them, helping them to make the right runs and also work hard OFF the ball.

This means that defenders can cut them off quite easily and intercept the passes becuase our front men don't have the GUILE needed to unlock defences, even at this level.

Back to El Abd, I think he has proved a whole load of people wrong since he has been in midfield. There were serious concerns that his 'action man' style would lead to an avalanche of red cards but I think he has done really well and there is the basis of a really good partnership in midfield with Dean Hammond.

Criticise all you like, these are young players who are trying their best and, by and large, are doing well.

We were well beaten last night by a really well-drilled side who looked as if they could do OK in The Championship next season. It was really disappointing to lose and a few of the players will have woken up this morning thinking they didn't do themselves justice, but I don't think Adam El Abd is one of them.

 

[Yorkie]

I'm going to look like a plum now, but I don't really know anything about his grandfather, so are you joking or not?

I was joking here but his grandfather is Mad Frankie Fraser.

Do a search and you'll find one or two threads about it.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The thing with Fraser, is that the fans can see something of themselves in him - he always looks like he cares, and always looks like he's giving 100%. Fans will always warm to a player like that, regardless of their actual talent. [See Crumplin, Peter Smith, Hans Kraay, Gary Hart, etc, etc, etc.]

Gatting's style is a little different, so he hasn't got that on his side. Doesn't in itself make him a better or worse player.

That is all.

 

[Hiney]

Que?

I know it's all about opinions, as Yorkie and I agreed on that about 2 pages ago. I've probably criticised about three players today - hardly drastic. What exactly makes me a "pedantic little fucker?" Oh, and if it's because I made the point that although our Enoch was in the six yard box, he was wide enough to make the angle to lob Michel, that's really pathetic.

OK then