I actually thought he did quite well against Villa until he came off, not his biggest fan but i thought he was assured and steady. I know that we only started to play well after the break when he'd been taken off but i dont think that was anything to do with him.. why the hate? on a side note, jose= awesome today (shut a few people up!) and why are we watering the pitch so much? i know it helps our style of play but our players spent much more time eating soil in the first half than they should have been. Joe
I really did think Fox was appalling today. I normally don't want to insult our own players too much but he was terrible. Fonte was, however, very impressive.
Sorry JR but I have to disagree with you. Whenever Fox came under pressure he either ran himself into trouble or tried a hopeless hoof up the pitch (giving the ball away). I just think that he didn't offer a lot compared to the rest of the team. On the other hand, when Richardson came on he did some very encouraging things. He was calm and collective under pressure, he ran down the touchline and provided good support, and he tried putting in some great crosses like the ones we saw last season. After that performance, Richardson probably deserves a start and maybe Clyne could settle in at LB.
He was rubbish today. We were on another planet in the second half without him on the pitch. Clyne was undefendable with his pace with all that space to run into, he was much better in attack on that side. Richardson used his brain to stay back when Clyne was committed and is an extreme solid, consistent, professional player. Anyone not wanting a Richardson at RB and Clyne LB for the Everton game is crazy.
Fonte 83% passing Clyne 82% passing Richardson 80% passing Yoshida 74% passing Fox 66% passing Long ball attempts (completed/attempted) Fox 4/9 Yoshida 5/8 Clyne 6/7 Fonte 4/4 Richardson 1/2 -Clyne played left back for half the game and got 82% despite being in the final 3rd of the pitch a lot.
Fox = Hoof. Doesn't pass up the wing because he is always looking down at the ball. Doesn't look up. Transfer list in Jan and one for Big Sam to add to his collection
One of the most damning aspects for me is his lack of defensive responsibility. He is far two passive and stands off the wide man. At the end of the 1st half was a great example. The ball had been on the villa right for a while and both Lallana & Schneiderlin were back helping retrieve the ball. Villa tried to cross and it was headed away up in the air toward the sideline. Fox was closest to the ball, but didn't go and challenge and just allowed their full back to bring the ball down, look up and pick a cross. This happens consistently and puts our defenders and keeper under pressure
Hi Joe, it is funny how people see different things. I usually stick up for Fox on here as he gets lambasted unnecessarily fairly often. I felt that yesterday his passing was very poor, several going straight out of play. He also let Bent drift passed him for their goal.
I am the same as FLT, I usually give him the benefit of the doubt, but I couldn't have been happier when he came off yesterday. He just kept giving it away.
What I said in a thread before the game "Hopefully the tide will be out, and I hope they don't water the pitch just before the start or Lala will spend most of the time on his backside as usual."
guess i must be the only one then haha although richardson was guilty of putting the ball out of play a couple times too imo, but he's been a quality RB ever since he joined. a few people made a good point about Clyne's link up play with Lallana, inclyned (sorry) to agree with them on that and Frazer probably should start next game with Clyne on the left, much better link up. I still feel more comfortable with Fox in the team now (defensively) than i did before yesterday tho, he has been woeful in previous games and won me over a bit
Was it just coincidence that we played so much better in the second half when Frazer came on as he seemed to have shored up the right hand side and Clyne seemed to really flourish on the left and didn't feel the need to try and hit 50m passes up to Rickie
The commentator yesterday on whatever channel it was I was streaming did actually mention Fox's annoying tendency to hoof it.
Fox has to take some of the blame for the Villa goal as he made no challenge on Bent at all and he was right beside him when he received the ball. However I am a little worried now as the blokes sitting behind me who were giving poor old Guly all the stick possible turned to Fox once Guly wasn't in the team. Without Fox I wonder who they will turn their nastiness onto next?
