Ali Faurlin

It's great to have signed DJ and Jay, and Adel staying for now, but I think Ali Faurlin will be our stand out player next season. The way he coped with all the pressure on him last season, it will be great seeing him play at the highest level with that weight off his shoulders.

Come on you Rrrrrrrrrrsssssssss

 

Our young Wilkins? Reckon you could be right Perv

 

Agreed : ]

 

Adel the weak link cant defend need all hands on deck

 

F_F_F_F_Faurolin

 

I hate to say this, but he hasn't looked all that good in pre-season. I hope it is only temporary.

Luckily I'm off out now, so I won't have to deal with the inevitable flak!!!!

 

Ali is the one player I'm concerned about not being with us beyond January. Even more so than Tarbs. If Faurlin has a good 2 or 3 months we're going to struggle to keep him, he's a real talent.

 

You're having a bubble bath ain't ya?
Not being able to defend doesn't make him the weak link mate. Keeping him is massive for us over the first half of the season!!

 

A brilliant player in a brilliant team

 

Faulin: Like him. Great integrity, charismatic even but he's a bit subtle for me. Whilst I'd always want him in the team, I just don't see him as a driver of anything really - and, please, don't let him take too many direct free kicks.

Having said that, whether this post says more about the player or its author is for others to judge!

Swords: The OP residing in Peru doesn't make him a 'perv'!

However, getting back for a game at LR must be problematic, '...and your business in Peru sir?' - Where else would explaining that you're a telephone engineer or whatever, likely meet with so many cynical looks at Customs! My sympathies Peruvian Hoopster!

 

Were lucky to have him once he turns it on, the vultures will be circling

 

I don't know how anybody can criticise Faurlin! he's easily our consistently best player. RollercoasterRanger, Derry has looked worse than Faurlin preseason, i don't understand where you're coming from!

 

You won't find a bigger Faurlin fan than me, but that doesn't mean I'm not objective. I'm just going on what I saw mate. Maybe it wasn't a good sample of the matches, but his passing looked weak and inaccurate. Derry may well have been worse, but if Ali's passing is off the boil we are not very effective as an attacking force. Let's hope he has a storming match on Saturday.

I also would disagree with Brixton about letting him take direct free kicks. He got far closer to scoring than Taarabt did last season.

 

I like Faurlin's free kicks too, i'd suggest it's only his shooting that's a bit off the boil- and that's maybe a mental thing?
I'd be interested to know which games faurlin particularly disappointed you though?
I seem to remember the odd stray pass in Italy, but derry looked a lot more tentative and prone to error imo.
I suppose central mid is the most exposed position in terms of sheer ammount of play/time on the ball you have to deal with, and in preseason when everone's still a bit rusty, there's more opportunity for you to make mistakes than most other positions.
All the squad chopping and changing probably effects the players in the centre of the park more than others as well. Building an understanding with all those around you might take longer than say for an attacker, who's perhaps got slightly less of a complicated picture to adjust to?
I don't want to sound like a blinkered optimist though, i think we've got no issue with Faurlin- but watching the charity shield, our defence looks set to get butchered..

 

I still believe Ali is our greatest asset, we must keep hold of him!

 

So we have a Perv and a Gigolo on this site already. All we need now is Dave Jones to sign up and we're all set!

 

There was more than the odd stray pass in Italy. Obviously some stray passes can be down to communication issues, but there were a number of very poor short passes. However, best to get them out of the way in pre-season.

As I say, there is no bigger fan of Faurlin than me. The non-hearlded aspects of his game have improved so much over the last season or so. How often does he now win headers that he used to lose? And I agree with Hoops, he is our greatest asset, but I stand by my opinion, pre-season he hasn't looked all that good.

 

Roller, do you think all that nonsense from last season has affected him?

 

I guess that is a possibility, but if he coped with it then (and only God knows how he did) he should be ok now.

I'm sure it is just pre-season rustiness, combined with the fact that we all know how good he is so any slip ups are unexpected. I certainly have higher expectations of him than anyone else.