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Author Topic: Rank the players - season so far  (Read 5983 times)

Offline The Edge

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #30 on: January 25, 2021, 10:28:13 AM »
Watching the Newcastle game it struck me just how good Martinez's distribution is. There was one moment when he launched it long and high for Ollie to try and win. It looked so alien to the way we operate now and I realised that after years of watching our keepers use that most basic tactic we have a keeper of such a high calibre now. I think compiling a list is such a tough call as so many of our players have been unrecognisable but I do think I'd have Martinez down as number 1. He's improved our defence and our defending massively and our open play has improved so much thanks in a large part to his distribution.

Offline Pat Mustard

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #31 on: January 25, 2021, 10:45:39 AM »
Top 5 for me would be  Jack, Martinez, Watkins, Konsa and Targett - on their own that would be the basis for a good team, with what they have around them now, and given their respective ages, that is the basis for a top side for a good few years.

Re Mings, I think him being lower down the list is simply down to the improvement in everyone else.  If anything he has improved as well this season, just not at the same rate as all of the others (and starting from a higher base too).  I wouldn't want any other centre-half pairing ahead of Mings and Konsa at the moment, and we should always remember we are only where we are at the moment because of the Mings signing two years ago.

Offline rob_bridge

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #32 on: January 25, 2021, 11:05:07 AM »
Coaching I think Shakespeare recruitment to the fold was a master stroke

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #33 on: January 25, 2021, 01:28:41 PM »
If we're doing standard ratings pretty much all of the regular 11 are 9 or 10/10 this season.

The vast improvement in Targett has astounded me, he's now as solid as Bouma was for us one v one and adds more going forward.

Mings debate is interesting. He's probably had the poorest season of all our key players but still been part of a team that's kept an incredibly high number of clean sheets.

Difference is though when we lost him to hamstring injury last December the defence completely fell apart over xmas. Now though Hause can come in and we only concede once away to Chelsea.

Konsa is probably more important at the back now for us.

Offline rob_bridge

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #34 on: January 25, 2021, 01:34:44 PM »
The fact that realistically Cash Konsa and Targett could be in the England reckoning soon to compliment the now established Mings and Jack is always a good barometer. For Watkins it is harder as much more competition. McGinn is mainstay of best Scotland team in years, Luis is a Brazilian international and we have the African international contingent to go with that.

Things are on the up.

Offline Toronto Villa

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #35 on: January 25, 2021, 01:39:23 PM »
Given how a number of those players were not bought this season I do wonder if the perception of Suso and his place in our history should be revisited based on just how much some of these players have improved? Add to that Wesley can’t be properly evaluated because of his injury. Nor Heaton for the same reason but he was an established international. And January is a tough time to buy so Samatta was a flier. Drinkwater was bollocks but we were also restricted by FFP. But that summers other signings for the most part have all contributed positively to our success this season.

Offline ktvillan

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #36 on: January 26, 2021, 09:58:18 AM »
Criticism of Mings isn't undue in my view.  We're playing at elite level now and it's small margins.  Often the teams that succeed are those that make the fewest unforced errors.  Whilst generally playing very well, unfortunately Mings has a habit of making errors in key areas that have led to us conceding or causing other problems, like his red against Palace.  Compare to Konsa who rarely puts a foot wrong.  If Mings can cut out the cock ups he'd be brilliant.  Until then he's not.

Offline Lastfootstamper

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #37 on: January 26, 2021, 10:22:52 AM »
I don't think it's fair to compare Mings with Konsa. They're different players bringing different skill sets to the centre of defence. Konsa could have played as a stopper in the finest catenaccio setups of the 70s & 80s, but I'm struggling to recall him pinging too many 40yd balls into a forward's path. Mings is more your traditional English lump that commits to blocks, tackles and headers, but he's blessed with a pretty sweet left foot. I'd say his biggest drawback is one he can do little about; his size. It makes him not exactly nimble in the turn,

But I said 2 years ago when we started to hit our stride that I'd rather see our defenders skimming passes past the toes of attackers than 'playing percentages' or 'getting rid', and I'm more entrenched in that opinion now that it's bearing fruit and, much more importantly, bringing me joy.

Offline Ads

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #38 on: January 26, 2021, 10:38:12 AM »
1. Konsa
2. Martinez
3. Jack
4. Targett
5. Cash

Offline chrisw1

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #39 on: January 26, 2021, 10:43:30 AM »
Too hard and that's great as it makes you realise what a great contribution they've all made.  For example I can't put Trez 13 given the shift he put in during his run in the team at the start of the season.

But top 5 most key to our succes for me have been:

1 Jack
2. Martinez
3. Luiz
4. Watkins
5. Konsa

I think if Barkley had stayed fit he would have been in there as a I still think his incredible performance against Liverpool played a big role in setting the tone for the season.

Offline Percy McCarthy

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #40 on: January 26, 2021, 11:03:16 AM »
1. Konsa
2. Martinez
3. Jack
4. Targett
5. Cash

Just picking this top five as it’s the neatest and there is no comment attached, but as with others’ choices, it’s brilliant that we can pick a top 5 with no room top players, in this case Watkins, Luis and SMJ for instance. Pretty sure Smith will have this problem when picking eleven of them soon.

To me Watkins and McGinn are vital because they set the tone.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2021, 11:12:09 AM by Percy McCarthy »

Offline ktvillan

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #41 on: January 26, 2021, 02:16:57 PM »
The comparison between Mings and Konsa is valid in that I'm not talking about what else they bring to the table, I'm just comparing their ability to avoid calamitous errors.  Or lack of it.  And by the way I don't think we'd be lauding Emi's distribution so much if he was chucking the ball in his net every few games.

Offline ez

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #42 on: January 28, 2021, 02:37:12 PM »
We've got a lot of good players and a few very good players. We are exciting to watch as well. The thing that bothers me is looking at the table and seeing us in 10th place which suggests we are bang average. We should be higher than that.

Offline dave.woodhall

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #43 on: January 28, 2021, 02:44:03 PM »
We've got a lot of good players and a few very good players. We are exciting to watch as well. The thing that bothers me is looking at the table and seeing us in 10th place which suggests we are bang average. We should be higher than that.

A point off two teams we have two games in hand over, which would put us higher than we've finished for a decade. How many of us, hand in heart, wouldn't settle for that?

Offline LeeB

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Re: Rank the players - season so far
« Reply #44 on: January 28, 2021, 03:49:44 PM »
We've got a lot of good players and a few very good players. We are exciting to watch as well. The thing that bothers me is looking at the table and seeing us in 10th place which suggests we are bang average. We should be higher than that.

A point off two teams we have two games in hand over, which would put us higher than we've finished for a decade. How many of us, hand in heart, wouldn't settle for that?

I think the problem is that we look so good most of the time that you can't help thinking we should win, which given where we were 12 months ago is incredible.

I keep saying to my brother that I'm not worrying about results now, because I'm so confident that our play will reap its rewards in the fullness of time, and that we will learn and improve as a team.

And also because watching us play is just tremendous fun.

 


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