I know he's had a delayed start to the season for various reasons, but Ole has to face facts - how unfit does this guy look to you? He's a solid midfielder who looks confident enough on the ball, but at the moment he's another factor in the "slow midfield" discussion raging amongst supporters. It was so much better when Ralls came on for him on Saturday. When Daehli was eventually taken off, the energy and pace of Adeyemi on for him would have been a far better option than Eikrem - far to similar to Whitts for me. I'd take keen and fit inexperienced guys like Ralls and Adeyemi every time over those with a longer track record who are possibly struggling for fitness. How about picking the guys who are up to speed right now rather than using half fit players who look off the pace?
Ole spoke about how bad our ball retention was after the Wolves game. Dikgacoi is much better on the ball than Adeyemi so i suppose that was the reason.
We didn't even do that - the first half performance was bordering on a disgrace. It got noticeably better after he went off.
We kept the ball okay for the first 15 minutes. Trouble was it was Swansea style across the back 4 and Marshall. As soon as we thought about going forward it wasn't so much telegraphed as smoke signalled and that's when we started giving it away and Fulham came in to the game. I'm with you Sparks and wanted Adeyemi on to push forward from central midfield with some pace and pressurise their back 4. Dare I say it as Mutch did - albeit occasionally. Other than a direct replacement for Whitts I'm not at all sure what Eikrem brings to the party. Neat on the ball, good control and short passing but I haven't seen anything else and we would have a long wait if he and Whitts were in a 100 metere race. I'm all for Daehli having a crack in central midfield as his lack of pace is exposed out wide. If he has Dikgacoi and Adeyemi as minders he could do well there. However, if Noonie returns out wide and we persist with 2 strikers its going to leave a space out wide other than expecting the full backs to bomb forward more with the 2 more defensive mid fielders having to fill in behind them. I expected more from Dikgacoi having seen him do well for Palarse against us on several occasions. He should be getting stuck into the opposition and winning the ball for us before passing on the the more creative players. I don't anticipate seeing him make 30/40 yars defence splitting passes. Perhaps he is a couple of weeks behind in fitness so the 2 week break should give him a chance to get up to speed - assuming he doesn't have to go jet hopping for an international friendly somewhere.
I've liked what I've seen of Dikgacoi in the past - big lad providing a strong presence around the middle of the park and certainly can support the more creative players alongside him. He just doesn't seem to on his game at the moment and looks very overweight. Mind you, I'll admit he's lost a bit since this was taken....... please log in to view this image
2 weeks of intense fitness training to come. Maybe that is why Gabbidon is coming, to pair up with his former Palace team mate so they can get fit together! ps. OS, that scene was probably my favourite ever James Bond moment from my favourite Bond film.
Funnilly enough Nin, the guy's name in that still was Kananga - no relation to Manga I hope...... Mind you, with that expression on his face, I'm worried about what that guy in the blue shirt is doing behind him.
well as the commentators call him Dik Cash Wee, is at the moment imo quite useless and not up to what he is being paid for, has he got a flat above that delicious burger bar in Barry island or something.
