spt_claret wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 9:26 am
Really don't want to see Zaroury out the door as well. Would far rather ship Tresor on than either of them. But can understand why Zaroury especially might want to go given he's no longer in the Morocco squad, missed out on the ANC.
Again- if he's 'bang average' (which is practically becoming a catchphrase about him and entering 'pony' and 'give your head a wobble' territory for me) what the hell have half our new wingers been in terms of match contribution?
If Benson & Roberts ruin our intended system, then what exactly do you call what's happened this season with how one's been dropped and one barely featured? We're not exactly working as a system without them either.
I find that last note hard to wrap my head around honestly- why would you trust a manager 100% if you want him out? How is it the players that ruin the system if you think the manager should go? I'm Kompany In but I don't think he's flawless on selection. Same as how I backed Dyche but never thought he was perfect.
I don’t have an issue with Kompanys team selection. I don’t see them everyday, he does. He has access to information about players that we will never have; mental health, physical health and so on. So he has that right to pick who he picks without my criticism.
I don’t agree with his tactical outlook, I don’t like his in game management. He is very much a manager learning ‘on the job’ for me. Whilst that is okay in some settings, it is not what BFC need and what I want to see as a fan. I feel we’re suffering so he can learn. He isn’t learning very fast either!
Roberts wasn’t good enough last season to play the position being asked of him. He isn’t good enough this season when the challenge is doubled. I think I called him a poor mans Matt Cash last season, I stand by that. Cash has now been dropped when a more tactically astute manager has arrived at Villa. Both are brilliant athletes, internationals, but both have limitations when asked to play in a progressive system that brings fullbacks into midfield situations.
Give them both a sideline and the opportunity to bomb on and they’re great players to be in a squad. RB is one area I thought we’d look to improve on in this transfer window.
Benson; isn’t good enough, doesn’t work back, exposes the right side of the system. Does smack the odd spectacular goal. There’s not a LB/LCB in the Premier League that wouldn’t mark him out of the game.
Trimming as it's a long post (but makes a lot of very good points) however I would argue that firstly, he still represents a different option to our existing wingers, so as a gamechanger substitute is worth using especially in games where we need a goal. It was his specialty last season. Second, related to that, I'd argue that his transitioning to a sub role towards the end was a tactical selection reflective of the team more than him- Barnes did a lot more dropping deep but would still rough up/hassle defenders, Tella exhausted them with his pace, when the defences are tiring on comes Benson and he can be even more impactful because in addition to his own offerings the opposition are tired. He was effective against teams beyond 11-behind-the-ball defensive sides.
I'm not calling for him to be starting XI every week -I'm saying that in games we're chasing by a goal/level but could do with a win, bringing him on at the 55-60 minute mark like last season seems worth trying on at least a good half dozen occasions before deciding he can't hack it suddenly. That's the maddening part- this season has been going very badly, things aren't working especially Kompany's subs, and here we have a guy who was one of the most effective impact subs I've ever seen for Burnley, not getting a chance to do it again except 10 minutes against a Dyche Everton already at 2-0 and quite happy to Dyche out the game- probably the trickiest scenario for it. That's what I can't get- he's simply not been given the chance to do it relistically, nor has Zaroury, when what we're doing isn't working. But other players who have also offered nothing when deployed, still keep getting a lot more opportunities to come good, Tresor most glaringly. We're a team that needs something different to start happening for us, he's different, he's not even tried. Might fail might not work, honestly with how bad we've been I'd be surprised if he transformed us noticeably, but at least we'd have actually given it a try. It's the same thing as Muric in terms of how there's certain players suddenly locked out of the team even amidst endless chop-changing elsewhere in the side.