by all accounts he was poor again tonight. so what are our options? from what I can see its either faurlin or park. both are short on confidence at the moment and struggle to make any kind of impact on the game. apart from those 2 I'm stumped.
Played himself up throughout the game today. It was clear from the offset that his confidence is shot to pieces. Played both passes for our first half chances (Remy and Adel), especially the pass for Adel's big chance was of a very high calibre. If we could just cut him some slack and let the boy get on with his football, I'm sure he'll come good given time.
Bang on the money mate. He made a lot of mistakes, but he got better as the game went on and did some good stuff, the ones you mention and other times coolly playing us out of defense.
Booing him before the free kick won't help either. I know Adel is crowd favorite but you need to support others too
Exactly! Not Granero's decission, who's going to take the set pieces are decided by the management prior to the game.
Spot on Norway. He improved as the game progressed. All the players gave the ball away as City pressed hard so why people look for one or two scapegoats is always puzzling. That's not to take anything away from anyone else either because we also held the ball and moved it quicker than I've seen recently. I'd give Granero a few games to play himself into form because we know he has quality and we'll need that over the coming months to convert grit into wins.
tbh I get pissed of at his short corners. Every time after the short corner we just lose the ball. At least try to cross it in the box
Ok,he got a bit better,but off the pace and the times he did give the ball away,could have been punished. Why we looking at Kranjear??. Hes just another Graner,Faurlin type player. We need someone strong and quick in the middle.
Granero's a player that's finding his feet, both metaphorically - and literally in the second half tonight. Generally couldn't do a thing right in the first half, one misplaced pass after another. To his credit, he didn't let it get to him too much though. Sensibly dropped down a gear second half and got his game working with a few very simple passes to get the monkey off his back and then upped his contribution from there. Showed me he's still a potential class act if he can put some authority into his performance. It could take a while but for a forward minded player, some of his defensive efforts were excellent imo. So while that's the case he's got time to develop the full repertoire. We've got to remember, he's still adapting to the cut and thrust and harsher weather conditions of the much faster premier league. No time to hang around on the ball plotting a telling pass. Fact is he was doing fine before all the Hughes kerfuffle kicked off in earnest. Southampton game is where his form went. Then there was a bit of an injury and the need to convince 'Arry. He'll get there, of that I've no doubt. Just hope it's with us when he does.
Just back Brix. Sorry I didn't come and find you after you said hi tonight. I went and saw Goldie at half time to bring him over to you, but we couldn't see you anywhere. Next time eh? As for Granero.....looks like we have a Faurlin situation in reverse between you and I where he's concerned. I really don't see it with him. Technically sound, but far too lightweight and prone to getting caught in possession. I agree he improved 2nd half, but let's be honest, that wasn't difficult after such an awful 1st half. My lad was despairing with him by half time. He also doesn't get "touch close" in the middle. He drifts around and I'm really not convinced he's what we need in a relegation scrap. Still.....time will tell eh? Nice to see you, all be it too briefly!!
Nice one Col. Yeah, that's the beauty of our relationship mate: don't see eye to eye on what's going on in front of us! But that's why we come on here isn't it? To swap ideas on the way things are going for our club. Cos of you I'll be looking at Granero again but for the time being I got only one thing to say to you: Grrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just back too, thanks to the Hanger Lane underpass being closed. Big surprise for me tonight was getting to my seat, 5 minutes late, and the bloke in the one non-ST seat around us introducing himself as Roller! Right the beginning of the season I'd told him where we sat in the event he fancied a trip to the Loft, and forgotten all about it. Very pleasurable evening. I really like Granero, but he hasn't done himself any favours recently. Tonight a real 50/50 performance, some poor passes, lost possession but also some fight and good stuff too. I reckon Harold rates him, sees the quality. He got a good round of applause when subbed, spoiled only by some booing of Park coming on. OK he's not covered himself in glory either, and had Zamora yelling at him and pointing to where he should be at one stage, but the booing, from an otherwise really loud, positive crowd (and very funny chants re Joe Harts head and shoulders ads) just pointless. Haven't read any other threads yet, but for me a good night against quality opposition, Cesar immense, and great send off for Nelsen at the end - made a big impression in just six months.
I thought Granero did OK. Certainly an improvement on Saturday. He started well and drifted mid-way through the first half but finished it strongly with a great through ball to Adel and got in a couple of very good tackles. The second half he was as good as anyone, and held his own pretty well considering the opposition. Yes he gave the ball away a few times but then so did everyone. I'm expecting him to step up to the plate in our next two games.
All of these qoutes are about right definately argree with Col and the Faurlin syndrome in his first year but also agree is this what we need now and the answer is no, however he can play a part as a squad player. I personally think that Diakite has more to offer espicially going forward on his mazy runs albeit with a few dodgy tackles, time will tell.
A lot of decent posts here....i think Norway's first post on the matter was spot on. Yeah his confidence is a lil bit shot and he seemed to give away a few pointless frees...but he is adapting....albeit slowly. If he feels the crowd are on his back he may never get his confidence whilst with us. I do however feel he is trying.....I hope i am right and that he does become what we all want him to be.
He started bad and looked like he didnt have much confidence but grew as the game went on. it was an acceptable performance as was everyones game today. The bloke behind me who spends the whole game moaning at Park decided to start on Fabio and Granero but in the end even he shut up.
