There's more to playing football well though than those two stats. For example how many times did he play a key pass to release a wide player, who could square for a tap in? It's not going to come under either stat but is arguably the most important contribution to a goal like that. If he was no good in that role, then Bournemouth wouldn't have continued to play him there, they wouldn't have had such a good season, and they wouldn't want him back. He must have been doing something right!
I understand but... we played Elmander and he was sh*t, we played Bassong and he was sh*t, we played Johnson and he was sh*t. Game time isnt always a demonstration of good form. Hopefully youre right though and he will come back a better player than he was when he left because I genuinely didnt rate him at all.
Bedford, if you rate those three as sh*t then I don't value your appraisal of ANY footballer, all three of them could be absolutely amazing on their day, which was most days!
Ffs ****? Really?? That's simply an outrageous statement! Bassong made/makes mistakes accept that but it doesn't make him **** Elmander worked hard and was not **** Johnson for me is a bit of a lightweight, gives the ball away a fair bit but he's again not ****
I dont rate Bassong or Johnson as sh*t but they were both terrible more often then not LAST SEASON. If you think that most days they are amazing then Im afraid it is I who should be knocking YOUR appraisal of players. As for Elmander, he was never amazing. Slow, couldnt control, couldnt finish, crap. Working hard is NOT ENOUGH! Anyway, my point was that if they can get game time playing the way they were then not too much should be read into minutes on the pitch when considering Surman.
I think Bassong certainly had some horror games - home v Swansea and Stoke and effectively cost us at least 4 points. Johnson was certainly better, but he needs to improve his pass accuracy. I'm hoping Bassong is on his way out of CR!!!
Johnson's 75% pass success rate according to 'Whoscored' is not **** as some make out. Completing 3 out of 4 passes is just distinctly average (or will be in the Championship). Passing is not his strong point by any means, but he's not as bad as some make out. Tettey's is 88% and Howson and Fer's 84% are better, but the difference isn't that great. Back to possible transfers, it's interesting what Adams has said today in the EDP: “It doesn’t necessarily mean because we have brought in two forwards, two have to leave. I want to keep everyone here if I can,” he said. “The reality is you might not be able to keep everyone because they all can’t get a game. People may assume players have to leave. They don’t. They are here for pre-season and they will all look to compete. Of course, there might come a time when perhaps one or two want to leave. As the manager of this club right now I want them all fighting for a place in the team and that is what pre-season is all about.”
Well we were pretty awful for a lot of games last season, so if no-one was crap then I struggle to see how the whole team was so often. All players that stay have to up their game, it's as simple as that. I believe they will do so, and I want them to stay as a consequence, but if you believe they were good enough last season then IMO you're lacking ambition. A lot of them were awful a lot of the time. Even Snodgrass, our player of the season, was tripe for the first 20 games or so.
What about last season? All them were far too inconsistent. Bassong went from being one of our better players to easily one of the worst in the squad, Johnson could pull the odd performance out of the bag but he can't pass to a yellow shirt, Elmander put's in effort but the quality wasn't there.
why does everyone continuously exaggerate everything these days? are bassong, elmander and johnson '****e'? nope. are bassong, elmander and johnson 'absolutely amazing'? nope. reality sits somewhere in the middle.
Bassong and Elmander were disappointing, granted. I do find Johnson criticism a bit harsh though, he's been a good, solid player for us and I reckon he will be good in the Championship. When you think we are paying him a lot less than Bassong and Elmander last season I think it makes the criticism unjust. He can't pass, yes, but he does what it says on the tin. Determination and physicality in the middle of the park which is often neccessary.
I think some people have to realise who we were playing against last year. Many of them have been playing or are still playing in the World Cup. This year we're playing in the Championship and, IMO, our players will look very different in that context. It's interesting to note Grabban's recent comment that the first thing he noticed was the quality of players we have here. That from a player, rather than an 'armchair critic'.
Bloomin' eck! I'm starting to wish hughton was still with the club at least then we could all agree on something! Bassong is/was a good player, prone to the odd error. Unfortunately if you want to eliminate those errors you're gonna have to pay a load more than the £4m we bought him for! As for Johnson, he will be invaluable in the Championship. As for his passing, no it ain't the best, but he does have some vision and has more than once surprised us with a defence splitting pass. In the Championship, against considerably lesser players he may just do that a little more! Elmander did little for us and didn't get to show his best but then what forward could under Chris Calamity! We have good squad (for the Championship) let's all cheer in a bit! I can't wait for the 10th for some proper sporting action! COYY Bah!
He has some good traits don't get me wrong and he covers a lot of ground too so you can add that to the argument, but his one of those players who'll play a beast of a game or play poor there is never no in-between for me, with the passing thing I think it's when he tries more complex passes it has the tenancy to go wrong, actually funny enough I remember there was a great team goal we scored two seasons ago and Johnson played a killer pass at the end, as a squad player I don't mind having him about but as a first choice player I'm not very keen. All I'm waiting for is Adam's to produce the goods and get in some quality creative midfielders preferable two of them being attacking midfielders.
Discussion ruined again by Dave's stupid put downs. Remember Northampton, perfect grammar or your post will be invalid. A mod provoking an argument makes perfect sense. For what it's worth I agree. Much better player when he plays the simple game when he has the ball. He adds bite in midfield which isn't a bad thing and also a threat ( sort of) at set pieces. He had got his head on a couple during his spell here. I just wouldn't put as much criticism on him as I've seen on here.
