BensGrandad
New member
Says the man who wants to put Propper in midfield on his own!
Gross would drop in when not getting forward and I am confident that Propper and him could hold Mooy and Pritchard who are both very attack minded.
Says the man who wants to put Propper in midfield on his own!
Gross would drop in when not getting forward and I am confident that Propper and him could hold Mooy and Pritchard who are both very attack minded.
On what point? Moving Loccadia or Izquierdo to the middle if necessary or my view of Baldock? Or my usual view of Bong.
I wonder if the comments from Hemed had anything to do with Baldock being ahead of him last Saturday?
Ulloa and Baldock on the bench Saturday. You cannot drop Murray after one poor game after the season he has had.
That is the way youngstes lay out their teams nowadays from left to right see also Jose, when traditionally it was always right to left
That is the way youngstes lay out their teams nowadays from left to right see also Jose, when traditionally it was always right to left
Baldock and bong points. You can't have Ulloa and Hemed on bench. Both similar. Baldock is a different option. As for Bong, I thought he's been one of our best players recently. He's made the lb spot his after the earlier alternating.
Well in my view Baldock is far too lightweight. Does a lot of running into the channels but is far too easily eased off the ball by defenders (and those were the ones in the championship). As for Bong, offers pretty much zero when going forward. I will concede that he played one excellent ball for Izquierdo to run onto in second half against Leicester but that was about the first time he has done that all season. Seems to hang on to the ball far too long and then ends up with a short pass to Izquierdo who is then easily closed down by the opposition!! If he got into the habit of releasing the ball earlier then more chances could be created. That said, we saw how woeful his crossing is last Saturday so that might explain it.
My view of Bong is different to yours (which I've recently gathered is a bit of a hobby horse of yours). I think he's either the most improved player this season, or the one that I'd under-rated in previous seasons. If you're going to assess him fairly, you'll have to take into account his defensive stats, which especially regarding one-on-ones and preventing crosses getting in is extremely strong. Mahrez, who is probably the best player in the PL outside the top six, struggled against him on Saturday.
You've acknowledged one decent ball against Leicester. I willingly concede that Bong's distribution is one of the weakest (Duffy is probably worse in my view) in the team, but it's not universally bad, it's frustratingly erratic. There were actually several good flighted balls he played on Saturday, alongside some dreadful crosses and a shot that we all knew was going wayward. Last season, he did have a number of assists. Of our left-backs, Suttner is better on the ball, but Bong is the better defender.
My view of Bong is different to yours (which I've recently gathered is a bit of a hobby horse of yours). I think he's either the most improved player this season, or the one that I'd under-rated in previous seasons. If you're going to assess him fairly, you'll have to take into account his defensive stats, which especially regarding one-on-ones and preventing crosses getting in is extremely strong. Mahrez, who is probably the best player in the PL outside the top six, struggled against him on Saturday.
You've acknowledged one decent ball against Leicester. I willingly concede that Bong's distribution is one of the weakest (Duffy is probably worse in my view) in the team, but it's not universally bad, it's frustratingly erratic. There were actually several good flighted balls he played on Saturday, alongside some dreadful crosses and a shot that we all knew was going wayward. Last season, he did have a number of assists. Of our left-backs, Suttner is better on the ball, but Bong is the better defender.
My view of Bong is different to yours (which I've recently gathered is a bit of a hobby horse of yours). I think he's either the most improved player this season, or the one that I'd under-rated in previous seasons. If you're going to assess him fairly, you'll have to take into account his defensive stats, which especially regarding one-on-ones and preventing crosses getting in is extremely strong. Mahrez, who is probably the best player in the PL outside the top six, struggled against him on Saturday.
You've acknowledged one decent ball against Leicester. I willingly concede that Bong's distribution is one of the weakest (Duffy is probably worse in my view) in the team, but it's not universally bad, it's frustratingly erratic. There were actually several good flighted balls he played on Saturday, alongside some dreadful crosses and a shot that we all knew was going wayward. Last season, he did have a number of assists. Of our left-backs, Suttner is better on the ball, but Bong is the better defender.
Agree that he is not so good going forward, and I am certain that if we stay up we will get a very decent first choice LB in the summer, but the bloke who nobody wanted, who got relegated from the Championship with Wigan, had control of a £50m winger all game. Bong is our best LB currently, and the analysis of him by the poster above is spot on.I'm not challenging his defensive stats but a full back at this level should be offering far more. Pick out those at the top and they contribute far more going forward. In the last few years we've witnessed that first with Bridge (which was exceptional for us) and then Ward. Look on the other side and see how much better at getting forward Bruno/Schelotto are.
I'm not challenging his defensive stats but a full back at this level should be offering far more. Pick out those at the top and they contribute far more going forward.
Agree that he is not so good going forward, and I am certain that if we stay up we will get a very decent first choice LB in the summer, but the bloke who nobody wanted, who got relegated from the Championship with Wigan, had control of a £50m winger all game. Bong is our best LB currently, and the analysis of him by the poster above is spot on.
For the record I think and hope Leo will start, and I would prefer Solly to start or RW so that we can bring a genuine option from the bench in Locadia.
Also I was genuinely pleased with how well Propper and Kayal played on Saturday, I really expected to miss Dale more than we did so I think they will do fine again.
Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk