The simple answer to your question is YES. Barton has been poor. Again i have old fashioned ideas in relation to my central midfielders. I like a solid 4-4-2 (yes, i know old fashioned and out dated) I like one of them to sit, break up opposition play, engage our other midfielders or front men and initiate play. At least one of a CM pair must be able to get forward. Split a defence occasionally with a pass, and in general offer support to the attacking players. I think Faurlin falls between these two types of players. IMO he is physically not strong and robust enough to play as the holding player. If you look at the physical strength of a Keane, Vierra, Diarra etc etc , Faurlin also struggles to get around the pitch quickly enough to break up the play. I know he can pass but he rarely bombs forward and grab the game by the scruff of the neck. We look very lightweight physically in the middle and neither Barton nor Faurlin have the abilty to bomb forward and arrive in the box late to help our front men.if we play with 2 holding players as NW perfers then these two guys should offer loads of protection to the back four. This has not happened either. Maybe worth going back to Derry and Faurlin sitting deep. In fairness to Derry he is not afraid to put in the crunchers. We are creating very very little in the middle of the pitch. If we play a holding 2, then Tarbs or smith etc etc should play centrally in front of them with basically a "free role" to do damage.
Totally agree,never understood what people see in him hes just not up to it and as for being a young lad,i just dont buy it.
This quote there sums him up for me. Look at every other team in the Prem and what are they doing running at you, when there is space they will run at you! Faurlin wont, he will wait until that lovely un-manned space has gone and then pass sideways! He's scared and thats another reason on the long list of why we are not scoring!
We need players who are going to run into those spaces and move more to create passing opportunity. We just need some pace and hardwork!
This is not the first time I've heard fans criticising Faurlin. The guys I go with all criticise him but I think he is one of our best players. However he does need to start creating more in the final third and scoring more. Look at Phil Jones yesterday, now that is a midfielder, box to box, great runs, great tackles, creates, shoots.........and he's a bloody centre back!!!
I can see that! Lol, people dont like hearing other peoples opinions do they!? The whole point of this site is to discuss your opinions.
Anyone slagging Faurlin off is, quite frankly, a moron. He's one of if not our best player and will be playing for a far bigger club than QPR in a few years. He didn't have a great game yesterday but there are stats there to show what a good player he is and the crappy football websites wouldn't be linking him with moves away to bigger clubs for no reason. He doesn't score many goals, and that's a weakness of his, but he's not that sort of player anyway. His ball retention and breaking up of opposition play is superb, as the stats show.
Watford, you can't go around calling people a moron because they have a different opinion to yours. At least half the guys here are raising genuine concerns about Faurlin. We all know he is young and will get better. But some people have concerns that he has serious limitations. We are all entitled to our opinions and dont need somebody like you insulting us. grow up mate.
Perhaps moron was a tad far, but I find it unbelievable that people can possibly think he's not good enough for what is not a great team. He's clearly not the finished product but the guy is class and there's statistics to back that up. Some people think all our midfielders should be box-to-box young Roy Keanes, scoring dozens a season and covering every blade of grass but the game isn't like that any more. Faurlin is very efficient in what he does, keeps the ball, wins it back, wins it in the air, what more do people want?
I understand your opinion and understand that several others also share that opinion. Thats fine. But why are so many others questioning his ability? IMO he can do the basics well. But thats about it. No pace, at all, not physical enough, and does not get forward to threaten the opposition. One of your central midfielders must have the ability to drive forward otherwise your front two become very isolated (sound familiar)
Sorry, but I do think moronic is the best term for the Faurlin/Mackie haters. Everyone seems to think we should have world class players in every position and drop everyone like hot potatoes if they fall short.
The boy is good no question but he needs to add a couple more strings to his bow. His tackling could improve and his shooting is desperate (apart from Wolves goal). He can't improve on his pace but if he can add those other two to his game then he's on a winner.
He's the second best tackler in the league, statistically, though. And our joint-top scorer from midfield, which says more about others than it does him.