GK Nkoudou

Vegas Claret · Post by **Vegas Claret** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 6:41 pm

Crowd got behind him today which was good, he did ok. Let's no forget Brady was crap for the first couple of months after he joined.... he was our best player at the time he got injured imho

Murger · Post by **Murger** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 6:41 pm

Really don't know what some people expect. It's his first start, he was always gonna be a bit rusty. JBG hardly hit the round running.

BFC123 · Post by **BFC123** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:00 pm

Thought he played well. Gave the ball away a few times but that’s always going to happen when a player is trying to make something happen when he gets the ball. Very direct and did a lot of good defensive work.

MDWat · Post by **MDWat** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:09 pm

Worked hard. Decent defensively. Woeful end product.

Nonayforever · Post by **Nonayforever** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:18 pm

Excellent player, lots of potential, but played for himself not the team.

Steve1956 · Post by **Steve1956** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:21 pm

Nonayforever wrote:Excellent player, lots of potential, but played for himself not the team.

Not a fit at our club then?

jurek · Post by **jurek** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:24 pm

Mixed bag for GKN today and agree with many of the previous posts
but there is some promise and that's not bad given he hadn't started a game for a long time.
Also think Sean might be able to improve him.

Having said that boy was it good to see us play with two wingers who can cause problems.

claretspice · Post by **claretspice** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:53 pm

Paul Waine wrote:I wasn't at the game. All I've seen are the two goals from IT's links (thanks, IT).

GKN's pass out to the right wing was the "killer pass" that opened WBA up and led to Ashley Barnes's spectacular goal.

I think that's generous. It was a nice pass, no doubt about that, but it was the sort of pass we played a lot in the first half and it sprung the full back into space 40 yards from the dead ball line, and 20 yards from the WBA back line. The difference between that move and virtually every other time we got the ball in those positions, was that there was then a very neat, quick bit of interplay between 3 players, and some excellent movement, that sprung Lennon in behind.

It is fair to say that this was NKoudou's first game for a while, and to give him some allowance for that - particularly given he improved in the second half. His desire to get involved and come off his flank to look for opportunities to influence the game was great. But the stats say he crossed the ball 9 times, and I reckon that all but 1 - a really good, low cross after a good run into the area - missed their intended target by a startling distance, and often from good positions under minimal pressure. He also didn't really commit defenders as you'd want him to - I can't remember him using his pace to fix a defender and slip in Ward on the overlap (for example) once in the game, which was disapppointing given the number of opportunities he had to do exactly that.

None of this is to be particularly hard on NKoudou. He did some good stuff in the game and showed glimpses of talent. But at the minute the theory of NKoudou way exceeds what he offered in practice today and I think its important to be realistic about that. Had any of our other players who we are more familiar with been so wasteful they'd be getting pelters - probably unfair pelters, but pelters nonetheless.

AlargeClaret · Post by **AlargeClaret** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:56 pm

TVC15 wrote:WTF are you talking about ?
JBG has been brilliant for us this season - he is a better player than GKN in every respect.

GKN was a real mixed bag today - crossing was woeful and his decision making terrible at times. Ward was getting frustrated with him.
But it was his first ever Premier League start and he was not scared to look for the ball. He made some good runs and he also worked back in defence very well.

You’re quite right JBG has been excellent for us this year,much improved ,and good tracking back ,works hard.as mentioned a bit more Steel than GKN
However at this level i’d still class him as a “ meat and potatoes” winger ,(he does his job well without frills)
GKN though (imo) has more potential and natural ability. Though judging off one start for us ,quite how you can guage him inferior in every aspect to JBG is a slightly skewed claretspecs view. He looks a tad luxurious to me for an SD player though and was surely only a Brady stopgap

jojomk1 · Post by **jojomk1** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:10 pm

AlargeClaret wrote:You’re quite right JBG has been excellent for us this year,much improved ,and good tracking back ,works hard.as mentioned a bit more Steel than GKN
However at this level i’d still class him as a “ meat and potatoes” winger ,(he does his job well without frills)
GKN though (imo) has more potential and natural ability. Though judging off one start for us ,quite how you can guage him inferior in every aspect to JBG is a slightly skewed claretspecs view. He looks a tad luxurious to me for an SD player though and was surely only a Brady stopgap

So after one appearance you are gauging GKN as having more potential and natural ability than JBG

Unbelievable

I prefer my meat and two veg to nouvelle cuisine

boyyanno · Post by **boyyanno** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:26 pm

halfmanhalfbiscuit wrote:Sorry, it was because I was only interested in how you summed up his first half performance.
I didn’t think he had a poor first half.
I’m sorry – but is there any need to call me numpty? I’m feeling a real burn.

He did have a poor first half, but as I explained he showed enough to suggest he can be a good player. If we signed him and he played like that every week I'd be very underwhelmed. The point is I do think he can be a good player, but if you think he was good today then I'm not sure what you watched. He worked hard, tried too hard, and got a lot of the ball. Ultimately he did very little with it, is that a good preformance?

bfccrazy · Post by **bfccrazy** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:22 pm

He's played the equivalent of 90 mins in the prem before today apparently.

He may have been in England a while but training and playing will be very different - Today was probably the worst game for him to come into for his 1st ever Prem start as we were up against a WBA side happy to just sit back and try and close out our progress rather than make their own for the most part.

When he has come on late in games we have something to fight for and the pockets of space to truly exploit are there for him - today they were not, even though he had room ... the room he had was because WBA players sat off rather than were out of place.

It also shows a lot bout his game that we are criticising his attacking when his tracking back was VERY GOOD. My brother in law supports Spurs and said when we got him that Pochetino had grilled him for not tracking back in training when he first went there so what we're seeing is not his natural game - under Dyche he will come on leaps and bounds when the rest of his game becomes second nature.

I'm not comparing him to Ronaldo but even he had a season of real adjustment to the prem where he lost the ball and looked lost when first at United.

I think there is an absolute diamond in there with GKN - just needs to be kept being polished up. Pre season (if we sign him) will show us a very special player next season.

SalisburyClaret · Post by **SalisburyClaret** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:26 pm

More movement than we've seen from any player this season
Great tackling back
Did not work well with Ward
Awful end product

Gets a nosebleed in the penalty area but confidence will sort this out

claretspice · Post by **claretspice** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:30 pm

bfccrazy wrote:He's played the equivalent of 90 mins in the prem before today apparently.

He may have been in England a while but training and playing will be very different - Today was probably the worst game for him to come into for his 1st ever Prem start as we were up against a WBA side happy to just sit back and try and close out our progress rather than make their own for the most part.

When he has come on late in games we have something to fight for and the pockets of space to truly exploit are there for him - today they were not, even though he had room ... the room he had was because WBA players sat off rather than were out of place.

I'm really sorry, but I've never seen two Burnley wingers find themselves 1 v 1 with a full back/wing back as regularly as NKoudou and Lennon did today. Its true that WBA sat off a bit, but that was as much because they were scared stiff as because of a plan. They were there to be attacked. One winger saw relatively little of the ball and did lots with it, one saw lots of the ball and did relatively little with it.

I'm not slating NKoudou for the sake of it, because I tend to agree there's talent in there. But he did beat his man much today, he definitely didn't commit defenders and take the chance to slip in others (given the amount of ball and space on his flank in the first half, it was really disappointing that he didn't once commit the wing back and slip Ward in on the overlap), and his crossing wasn't very good. Sure, he's lacked game time and sure he's inexperienced. But he's hellishly raw and he was a weak point in our attack today. If we were to sign him permanently - and I'm definitely not averse to it - both he and fans are going to have to be patient because he has an awful lot to learn before he's ready to be a regular.

bfccrazy · Post by **bfccrazy** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:42 pm

His first ever start and he is a loaner - the adrenaline for every time he got the ball and also the desire to impress was evident. He's only in there because JBG couldn't play today so was trying too hard which will go away ... Ward might have been frustrated when going forward but can't have any complaints about him coming back to help him out when WBA did push on.

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:59 pm

The fact he had so much of the ball and the fact we won away at what is a notoriously tricky ground for us shows he did something right.

Admittedly plenty of room for improvement.

Iloveyoubrady · Post by **Iloveyoubrady** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 10:04 pm

I think he could be a real gem. He’s a properly pacey, exciting winger.

Players like Brady and JBG are certainly very good - they produce many assists etc. but this lad looks like he has the potential to go on another level - almost like a young Aaron Lennon.

BennyD · Post by **BennyD** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 10:04 pm

In SD I trust; if it’s in there, SD will get it out.

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 10:14 pm

Showed for the ball and swapped wings at good moments. Lacks composure, vision and ball retention but he'll learn.

bfccrazy · Post by **bfccrazy** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 10:20 pm

superdimitri wrote:Showed for the ball and swapped wings at good moments. Lacks composure, vision and ball retention but he'll learn.

Apparently his best attributes at Spurs were ball retention, running at players and laying off to others but Pochetino tried to drill into him to track back more. Could be he's more frightened of just letting loose when going forward and consciously remembering to track back which is an even bigger job at Burnley than was at Spurs.

Once it all comes together and he finds his flow it'll be special to watch.

bartons baggage · Post by **bartons baggage** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:14 am

Been said earlier,trying to hard. However when his tricks come off and they will,he will be a match winner no doubt about it.
Glen little had his off days,but when he was at it he was unplayable.

Murger · Post by **Murger** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:16 am

If we could have him permanently, I would.

RVclaret · Post by **RVclaret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:53 am

Thought he performed pretty much as I expected he would today. Certainly a mixed bag - end product was poor but so is Zaha’s and look at him now.

First Prem start, first minutes for months and on loan wanting to impress. He should be watching video after video of his colleague on the opposite wing’s career.

Bullabill · Post by **Bullabill** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:00 am

The lad's got potential, given a bit of maturity he could be really good for us. I'm certain Sean and his team can turn him into a really good player.

Top Claret · Post by **Top Claret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:03 am

It was his 1st start and the lad was trying a little to hard imo. Needs to use the ball better and stop trying to beat his man all the time and look for the simple pass.

Shappie · Post by **Shappie** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:54 am

Murger wrote:If we could have him permanently, I would.

I agree

DCWat · Post by **DCWat** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:39 am

With the number of one on one opportunities he got on the flank yesterday, he should have delivered far more than he did. He looked devoid of ideas when faced with being in a one v one opportunity.

There may be a player in there although I’d be very wary of signing him for a significant fee.

Papabendi · Post by **Papabendi** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 11:51 am

Clearly very raw and there was more bad than good yesterday. Although funnily enough, I think we suffered when he came off.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 11:57 am

DCWat wrote:With the number of one on one opportunities he got on the flank yesterday, he should have delivered far more than he did. He looked devoid of ideas when faced with being in a one v one opportunity.

There may be a player in there although I’d be very wary of signing him for a significant fee.

I'd be very wary of signing him - thought he was very poor. I know it was his first start but, one corner and one good pass apart, he offered precious little despite seeing a hell of a lot of the ball.

Murger · Post by **Murger** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:04 pm

ClaretTony wrote:I'd be very wary of signing him - thought he was very poor. I know it was his first start but, one corner and one good pass apart, he offered precious little despite seeing a hell of a lot of the ball.

Did you write off every player who had an indifferent first start?

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:08 pm

Murger wrote:Did you write off every player who had an indifferent first start?

I haven't written anyone off - I said i would be wary of signing him based on that performance because I thought he looked miles away from being good enough yesterday. Would you rather me say he'd played well when in reality he was downright poor?

Papabendi · Post by **Papabendi** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:12 pm

Too hard to judge off one showing what we should be doing.. In any case Spurs rate him enough not to want to sell.

KRBFC · Post by **KRBFC** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:13 pm

ClaretTony wrote:I'd be very wary of signing him - thought he was very poor. I know it was his first start but, one corner and one good pass apart, he offered precious little despite seeing a hell of a lot of the ball.

Very positive comments about one of our players making his first ever PL start, cut the kid some slack, he worked tirelessly back and forward, had a hand in the first goal and was positive throughout. He looked a threat, constantly found space in good areas. I certainly won't be slagging him off after 65 minutes of football anyway but each to their own. GK is the type of player who will lack consistent end product, most fast skillful wingers do, Lennon, N Dyer, Walcott, Bolasie, Zaha, Townsend, Atsu, Boufal, Deulofeu are a few others outside the top 6 clubs.

3putt · Post by **3putt** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:13 pm

Amazed at some of the flack he's getting. First game in how long? First ever start in the Prem. Really don't know what some people expect?

To me, he looks like he has bags of potential and ability. Appeared a bit greedy at times and sometimes chose the wrong option, but there was some good stuff in there too. Obviously rusty and probably over eager to impress. Very attack minded which is great to see.

Not so sure the West Brom defence would of thought he was poor as some of our fans did.

As suggested in # 78, we were less effective when he came off.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 12:14 pm

Papabendi wrote:Too hard to judge off one showing what we should be doing.. In any case Spurs rate him enough not to want to sell.

I don't know Pochettino's plans so couldn't comment on that. I do take the point of not judging on one showing but he had so many opportunities yesterday and wasted virtually all of them. Really disappointing performance.

Murger · Post by **Murger** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:32 pm

ClaretTony wrote:I don't know Pochettino's plans so couldn't comment on that. I do take the point of not judging on one showing but he had so many opportunities yesterday and wasted virtually all of them. Really disappointing performance.

Not as disappointing as Hendrick's performances this season.

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:35 pm

He did very well defensively and carrying the ball forward, which takes lots of pressure off our defence. His crossing will need to improve but he didn't get much support off his teammates for decent lay offs. Maybe they thought he was too greedy and never bothered to make decent runs etc.

He certainly had a better game than Lennon yesterday who got lucky with an awful cross that Barnes finished magnificently, to claim an assist.

Cleveleys_claret · Post by **Cleveleys_claret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:25 pm

ClaretTony wrote:I'd be very wary of signing him - thought he was very poor. I know it was his first start but, one corner and one good pass apart, he offered precious little despite seeing a hell of a lot of the ball.

I also wasnt overly impressed but 2 things struck me during the match. The first was the amount of times we gave him the ball. If the other players who see him week in week out didnt rate him I doubt they would have given him the ball so much. I think in training he must have impressed them. The second was the amount of players who made a point of tapping him on the head when he came off. I think ours is a tight knit bunch and they see him as the young pup of the group. If he was dog s*** I doubt they would pay him as much attention a la Bamford.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:29 pm

He’s probably not up his own arse like Bamford but our squad are really tight knit which is a massive strength.

You’re right, he did see a lot of the ball.

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:29 pm

He got a rousing reception from the away end when he went off, so I presume most of those berating him watched on a stream?

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:30 pm

Quickenthetempo wrote:He certainly had a better game than Lennon yesterday who got lucky with an awful cross that Barnes finished magnificently, to claim an assist.

I thought Lennon was outstanding.

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:33 pm

he had a better game than Lennon?

Only if you are on glue

Cleveleys_claret · Post by **Cleveleys_claret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:35 pm

I would like to see us sign him as I do feel the next layer which we need is a couple of younger players on the fringes. SD often talks about layers whwn discussing the clubs progress and I think this is something he may try to do this summer. If he did sign it would show that like Taylor, Pope, Tarks and Long that he understands that you wait for your turn but always are putting in 100% and always ready when called upon. If SD does sign him then I believe he will have displayed these traits and for me that means SD has a player he can improve

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:36 pm

I think a full season loan with pre-agreed fee next season could be the best move. Agree it early and give him a Dyche pre-season

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:37 pm

ClaretTony wrote:I thought Lennon was outstanding.

He had good moments but didn't see that much of the ball across the whole of the 90 minutes.
Having the two pacy wingers certainly helped us with them having to defend so deep.
The best overall performance of the season I think.

Cleveleys_claret · Post by **Cleveleys_claret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:39 pm

Also regards yesterdays match, sometimes just having a player with pace on the flank like Lennon and GK it can unsettle the opposition before a ball is kicked and influence the way they set up during the match. They were so deep 1st half they really obvs were fearful of the two pronged attack but their fullbacks sat so deep as if they didnt want to get beaten on their flanks to far from goal

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:41 pm

Cleveleys_claret wrote:Also regards yesterdays match, sometimes just having a player with pace on the flank like Lennon and GK it can unsettle the opposition before a ball is kicked and influence the way they set up during the match. They were so deep 1st half they really obvs were fearful of the two pronged attack but their fullbacks sat so deep as if they didnt want to get beaten on their flanks to far from goal

They were so deep I thought they’d dropped behind the fans behind the goal. Phil Bardsley commented on it today on MOTD2 Extra and said we hadn’t expected it.

Cleveleys_claret · Post by **Cleveleys_claret** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:50 pm

ClaretTony wrote:They were so deep I thought they’d dropped behind the fans behind the goal. Phil Bardsley commented on it today on MOTD2 Extra and said we hadn’t expected it.

They just seem to have become one of them teams which has zero pace and most players are on their last legs. Whether this is the Pardew effect and they just cant be bothered I dont know. I know Dawson is only 27 and not sure of the others but think most are close to drawing to their pension

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:51 pm

Lancasterclaret wrote:he had a better game than Lennon?

Only if you are on glue

Must be eh.

We're bound to have different opinions as we had different views. You had a close up on a stream I was in the away end behind the goal.

chekhov · Post by **chekhov** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:01 pm

ClaretTony wrote:He’s probably not up his own arse like Bamford but our squad are really tight knit which is a massive strength.

Oh dear, that's very poor.