I think us missing ASM was the reason we didn't beat WHU personally. We put Fraser and Murphy on the left together to compensate , and we continuedly threatened from that side. Imagine if ASM was there to exploit that? I agree that a decent CF would have been decent lol. 25m for Wood is insane. Hopefully he finds a bit of confidence.
I see a bit of hate for ASM here, I can't ****ing fathom it to be honest. Does he score with every attack? No. But he's 2nd in the list of ball carriers in the PL, behind Rice. Rice carries it from defence to midfield most of the time, ASM is getting us up near the box and byline - no other attacker is even close. He's an incredible footballer, I honestly don't know what people look at when they say he doesn't do x, y or z. He's pretty much a £100m footballer waiting to blossom, you build a team around players like him. I've never seen anyone run with a ball at feet that quick. Wood is one of the worst pieces of business I think we'll ever see. I don't think he'll score before he's sold. Soon as Wilson's back, Wood will be out and we won't look back. In this dynamic 4-3-3, he's unnecessary. We might as well have spent big on a youngster and re-signed Andy Carroll. Nobody can tell me Wood has done more than Carroll would've, and Carroll is utter clart - in fact, Carroll would have scored one of the 3-4 gilt-edged chances Wood has had, particularly that pathetic header. I'm not even sure Mitrovic would've cost a lot more. Really, really weird business - but hopefully with a bottomless pit as a club "worth" £320tn it won't matter.
Bang on Same with Hatem, "but he doesn't track back" Same people love players like Hayden who "work hard" yet couldn't trap a bag of cement
Hayden once said it’s not like football manager….:: he was wrong. It is absolutely the same…. He is **** in both.
The mighty Burton are a top quality team. i mean, they even managed to take a point off those trailblazers from Sunderland.
Nope, a number of others. Maybe I don't see football the same, but when you have a bloke able to pick up a ball, skip past every first man and run it 40 yards upfield, I think it's incredibly valuable. Does he lose it sometimes? Yeah. Does he want to lose it? No. He's an immense talent, as good as any I've seen.
I have quite the selection. I'll be shocked if I'm eating any tomorrow though. This is the game Brentford are pinning their survival on.
I think his vision and decision making are poor at times. As I said on the West Ham match thread it was noticeable how much better we retained possession when he wasn't playing. It made for slower build-ups but it was more controlled. Don't get me wrong I think he is a great player because he can do the unexpected and unlike many players, actually go past an opponent. But there are times where you wish he would just take the simple option and allow the move to build and us retain possession, particularly when we are winning. It's nice that he feels that he can always beat players but he could vastly improve his game by understanding the right time to pick a pass. There are only 3 games this season where we have had more possession than the opposition: Brentford and Watford at home and West Ham away. It's also noticeable that we have lost a lot of points from winning positions by conceding late goals. I suspect that comes down to not retaining possession well enough.
I think there were a few others issues with Hatem though - like Chicken Cottage for a start Great player, just a troubled soul. We knew that when we signed him though. Don’t understand the ASM thing. There are aspects like any player he needs to work on. Like chucking his toys out when he gets kicked. But there were signs the other week that was sinking in. We are lucky to have someone of that ability and we will see him in a better light with less **** hawks around him. The likes of Hayden, Murphy - each to their own but I’ve just never rated them. Effort takes you so far but you need ability with the football at the highest level. Simple as that, you’ve got to be able to play. ASM can and very few players can go past people with the ease he does at this level. We should be surrounding him with better footballers and we will. He’s a game changer too.
