Until the quality of refereeing in the EFL improves, maybe the FA could provide a black-painted, securely tethered, football in the pitchside officials' area, for players and staff to vent their frustration on as they enter or leave the field of play .......
Is this the thread to wish everyone Happy Christmas! ? As Nelson said, "I see no other", so ...... Happy Christmas! everyone.
According to Capology, which is new to me, our biggest current earners are Stacey and Duffey on £35,000 per week. Last season Sara was on £18,000, now he is on £72,000. No wonder he left, how can you survive on such a low income.
With half the season completed, here are our top 10 rated performers according to WhoScored: Borja Sainz 7.25 Josh Sargent 7.02 Callum Doyle 6.94 Marcelino Núñez 6.90 Emi Marcondes 6.85 Kenny McLean 6.75 Ante Crnac 6.74 Shane Duffy 6.72 Kellen Fisher 6.59 Jack Stacey 6.49 Well done! to the 3 youngsters deservedly featuring in that ten -- Doyle, Crnac and Fisher
Interesting, but that list is influenced by substitute ratings that rarely get over 6.3, which lower players' ratings overall. Stacey has a 6.85 average rating for his 12 starts and an average of 6.13 for his 12 sub appearances. Without the sub appearances he would be about equal with Marcondes on 6.85 though Emi would be slightly higher if his 2 sub appearances at 6.2 were removed. Also, Schwartau would be competing with Fisher at around 6.6 if his 11 sub appearances were not included. Quite a feat for an 18 year old who won't turn 19 until May. He turned in his best performance yet at 7.44 yesterday in spite of playing out of position, as he has done so much this season.
Considering they came on free transfers, their overall cost is reasonable and any new contract would be negotiated at a lower rate (Stacey is still only 28).
I'm a bit surprised that Duffy has not received more praise in the last couple of months. He seems to have buckled down and cut out a lot of mistakes and has returned to what he was at Brighton - a defensive leader and organiser.
He has received some praise for his role as captain in McLean's absence. He's adjusted to JHT's tactics well and organised the defence, as you say.
He didn’t last long, Paul Clements (GK coach) also went with him, so it will be interesting to see if he stays on
Rick, I don't get this. Ratings are earned for contribution to the game during the period the player is on the pitch. A sub can come on and completely swing the game, scoring a hat trick, and finishing MOM; another can come on and end up with a "minus" score, below the 6.0 with which he enters the pitch. If subs generally end up with relatively low ratings, it's because generally that's what their contribution while on the pitch warrants. It's not uncommon for subs to earn ratings comparable to team mates who started. Two examples from recent games: -- against Luton, Núñez came on in the 74th minute in place of Slimane; he finished the game with a rating of 6.7, better than Gunn, McLean and Slimane, all of whom had started; similarly, against Pompey, Fisher replaced Stacey in the 68th minute, earning himself a rating of 6.6, the same as Sainz and Núñez, both of whom started. Others make a right pig's ear of it, like Barnes when he replaced Slimane at half-time against QPR and ended with a rating lower than the struggling Dane.
The examples you cite are very much the exceptions, Robbie. Núñez has only been a sub once in 16 appearances and Fisher only 3 times in 18 appearances. My main point was about Schwartau who has 8 starts averaging 6.85 and 11 brief sub appearances averaging 6.23, dragging his overall ratings down to 6.38. The same is true of Stacey, who has had 12 starts averaging 6.85 and 12 brief sub appearances averaging 6.13 dragging his overall ratings down to 6.49. My point was that Schwartau and Stacey are better players than their overall ratings suggest. In Oscar's case, you could well have 4 young players to applaud for their achievements, which is even more remarkable given that he's only 18, usually playing out of position in a new club, in a new league in a new country. Quite remarkable IMO.
I must admit that all of this leaves me completely cold. I judge players on what I see and, to a lesser extent, what I hear and read. I couldn't care less what percentage figure some remote entity comes up with.
All of those methods are subjective to a fair extent and none should be taken to be definitive. The WhoScored ratings detail every contribution a player makes from goals or assists to takeaways and interceptions. I find those difficult to keep track of during the match but there's no guarantee that these are free from subjectivity. The Pinkun ratings are usually based on a few very dubious and subjective observations unreliable at best, and quite dramatically wrong in some cases.
JHT on the midfield partnerships: “It's good to see the flow that they can get into when we have that midfield, with Kenny, with Nacho, with Anis and Emi. There's a good connection between them, and we can really play some good footballing moments. With the way that we play, with the high pressing, with a lot of movements in midfield, it is a demanding role to be a midfielder with us, and we can see that, especially when we play Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, again, we need to give them a rest once in a while." It's amazing that Marcondes and Slimane have come in on a free transfer and a loan (with a £1.4m fee to sign him) and made such a difference after the loss of Sara.
Latest update on Sargent's return: "The initial hope was that Sargent would be fit enough to play a minor part in Norwich's home Championship clash against Coventry on Saturday, but Thorup has explained why they will opt for caution over managing his return to action." "It will be a little bit longer [than Coventry]. If everything goes well, then I think we can expect him to be a part of the training starting next week. We will, nice and easy, integrate him with the squad and then we will see how that goes. When we have a couple of trainings with him being a part of the team, then we know exactly when to put him on. To begin with, it will probably be from the bench and after doing it a couple of times, he can be a starter for us. If everything goes well, it's realistic to think that he could be a part of training starting next week."
I would rather he comes back fit and strong, less chance of getting another injury than if we rush him (as much as I would love him on the pitch)
