did evans go off injured yesterday? anybody know how he is? me and my mate where saying just before what a joy it was watching him and koren as the midfield partnership...not a dig at mckenna and cairney, they did ok..but we where both hoping at the beginning of the season that evans/koren would be the partnership.. 2 proper footballers, get the ball, look up, dont panic in possesion and give the ball away cheaply, but both with a bit of extra pace then cairney to make it all a bit more fluent and dangerous. we dominated a good passing team in the 2nd half, mainly because we had 2 better footballers in the engine room imo..hope they can continue and evans isnt seriously hurt.
NP has finally worked out that we get the best out of Koren in the middle, Evans is the future, McKenna will compete with him until he's the finished article. Cairney can learn from Koren. 4 good midfielders.. Harper won't get a look in from now on unless we had a couple of injuries. Harper is a decent guy but not the level of these 4.
R Humb commentary saw he 'pulled a hamstring'. Maybe not serious, but taken off to be on the safe side? We should know Monday...
Evans was thought to be the better prospect between him and his brother at Man U. For one reason or another its worked out for his brother and he's had to drop down to us, leaving Man U must have been hard for him aswell as his brother doin so well there. I think it shows a lot of character to get back into our first time after a bad start here, the kid needs encouraging and supporting. NP is doing a great job with a young group of players, its not just about kicking a ball its also about getting them in the right state mentally. I think Evans can go on to be a top player for us.
He's not a patch on Tom Cairney ability wise imo and isn't strong enough to be the combative centre mid.
Bollocks, Cairney has a lot to learn and so does Evans. Ability wise I don't think there is much between them, there different types of player. Cairney and Evans in the centre is the future, at the minute Koren playing in the middle will keep TC out.
Precisely. McKenna and Evans are competing for the holding midfield role and Cairney and Koren are competing for the attacking midfield role. Comparing Cairney and Evans is almost childish, it's like comparing Chester with Rosenior as defenders, ridiculous.
i personally dont think mckenna offers much an an enforcer/defnsive midfielder whatever you wana call them...i always argued a team has to have that type of player (mainly to win arguments about ashbee playing )...but now im not sure you always do, if you have 2 decent footballers in there, you can just try and outplay them...it was summed up when mckenna came on for 2 mins, i think he touched the ball once and it was an aimless hoof up front, fair enough hes a different type of player to the others, but it was in complete contrast to the stuff evans/koren had produced for the 1st 88... i wasnt sure about evans at 1st either, and maybe koren is helping him look good, but last couple of games hes looked really decent imo, didnt realise what quick feet he had, etc until yesterday, when he got out of some tight situations with some nice footwork.
he had a great game yesterday. Maybe his best ever. Or am i getting carried away with the team performance. I reckon he d had two very hard internationals in 10 days, lots of travelling and hed ran himself into the ground. no more. i hope so anyway. he did come out early to keep his muscles moving after half time as well
McKenna is a niggler, a battler and was surely meant to be Ashbee's replacement. Ian Ashbee had something very few players have and it's what you might call presence. You know he's the boss, my favourite moment was when he nodded at Robinho in the tunnel before the match with Man City, a nod which kind of said "You might be a clever player but let's see if you like pain". Evans has got quality, he's consitent and an intelligent footballer, remember how Boateng helped Cairney a couple of season's ago, I think Koren is helping Evans as well, they've both got quick feet and add Stewart & Brady to this midfield and the engine room looks well.
Correct; but they are different types of players (suitable for different roles) and are still develping as well. That's what is really interesting about the squad we have. I am a fan of both players and hope NP uses them in the "horses for courses" selection and game plan.
That's nice. You're entitled to your respective opinions but imo they're wrong. Don't like or rate Evans but that's just me.
I take it you didn't go to the game yesterday? And how long are you going to keep that tagline on your profile? (Koren having been largely responsible for our more attacking football recently, now he's in his preferred position)
Koren is one of the best central midfield players outside the Prem. You can't argue with that, he's proved it over and over again.
I like Evans and I'm chuffed he played well yesterday . I've got to say though that I thought McKenna was just starting to find his feet prior to getting knocked . He was my MOTM against Portsmouth, he was outstanding . He does the simple things well and goes about his business efficiently . It's a nice dilemma to have a few central midfielders to choose from .
I love koren in the middle and I think theres a lot more to come from Evans the partnership works well. Its a nice postition to be in having Mckenna and Cairney as back up. Stewart Evans Koren Brady Is up there with the best midfield in this league. Pearson has done a fantastic job with our squad he deserves a lot more credit.
