Gylfi Sigurdsson

[aswan_dam]

What's going on here?

His role in the team seems to have been reduced to running around like a headless chicken harrassing the oppositions back four, but never actually touching the ball.

And when we're on the attack the ball seems to mysteriously elude him. His touches on the ball seem to be limited to dead-ball situations.

What's happened to the creative, assisting, goal-scoring Gylfi of last season?

 

[ValleyGraduate12]

I believe that with Ayew coming inside it's suffocating Gylfis space. Not to mention that Gomis likes to drop in deep often.
Personally I'd like to see Montero and Barrow on the wings with Gylfi in behind Ayew up front for a game or two.

 

[PGFWhite]

I'd bench Ayew and play Barrow against Southampton. That should allow Syggi to play his normal game.

 

[Kifflom!]

Don't think we should be benching the recently announced player of the month do you? Siggy is playing badly right now. His touch has been poor, when he gets the ball he loses it and his passing has been off. That can't be down to anything except himself.

Someone suggested dropping Siggy for a while and letting Ayew play in behind Gomis, with Barrow on the right wing. That works for me, even if it isn't how we start the game. I think it's quite an exciting prospect actually.

 

[neathjack]

Talked about this on Radio wales, mentioned that gyfli used bony as a wall for one two passes but gomis likes the through ball.

Shelvey always looking for gomis but rarely passes to gylfi. I also agree that Ayew is in his space. Few times today we needed a player to stay on the right.

Today think we needed three out and out mid fielders, like in the days Britton pratley and boddie ( may not have remembered the right names but midfield before we used AM)

 

[PGFWhite]

Don't think we should be benching the recently announced player of the month do you? Siggy is playing badly right now. His touch has been poor, when he gets the ball he loses it and his passing has been off. That can't be down to anything except himself.

Someone suggested dropping Siggy for a while and letting Ayew play in behind Gomis, with Barrow on the right wing. That works for me, even if it isn't how we start the game. I think it's quite an exciting prospect actually.

I would, just to give him a kick up the backside as he's been in cruise mode for the last two games. Perhaps that's why none of the "top four" came in for him, he can produce some cracking football, but only when he's in the mood. Time will tell of course.

 

[Kifflom!]

I don't think Ayew was 'cruising'. He's been identified as a threat now and teams are doubling up on him. Always busy, always trying imo. I think the top four missed Ayew for reasons other than ability. You don't win African Footballer of The Year if you have a tendency to cruise imo.

Still think that on form, Siggy is the one to drop - he's been poor all season. Barrow has shown what he can do, let's give him a go wide with Ayew in the hole. My guess is Monk will stick with the same setup though.

 

[ValleyGraduate12]

Tbh I don't see why we are not playing the diamond. We know THAT works.

Ki needs to come back into the team for me.

 

[PGFWhite]

I don't think Ayew was 'cruising'. He's been identified as a threat now and teams are doubling up on him. Always busy, always trying imo. I think the top four missed Ayew for reasons other than ability. You don't win African Footballer of The Year if you have a tendency to cruise imo.

Still think that on form, Siggy is the one to drop - he's been poor all season. Barrow has shown what he can do, let's give him a go wide with Ayew in the hole. My guess is Monk will stick with the same setup though.

Were you at the Watford game?

 

[Kifflom!]

No. Why? I did watch it on TV though and my assessment was that we were poor all over the pitch in virtually every position. Maybe you have a different perspective because you were there. If so, it would be a different perspective to every other poster I've seen on here. Watford was a collective lack of effort front to back.

 

[daimungeezer]

I wouldn't say Gylfi was playing particularly badly, the current formation just doesn't suit him or play to his strengths. If Monk doesn't want to change the style to accommodate Gylfi then he should be dropped and use players appropriately.

I'd also like to give Barrow a go on the right wing, which will put less pressure on Monty as well as giving him more freedom to do his thing. It will also give us more space and threat across midfield as the opposition will be more stretched.

 

[PGFWhite]

No. Why? I did watch it on TV though and my assessment was that we were poor all over the pitch in virtually every position. Maybe you have a different perspective because you were there. If so, it would be a different perspective to every other poster I've seen on here. Watford was a collective lack of effort front to back.

Yes I was there. I was interested to see how you formed your opinion. Being there does give you a different outlook as you can see all of the players, not just the perspective that TV gives you which is a limitation to having an informed opinion. As you can see above, my comments were about Ayew specifically, not the team.

 

[Kifflom!]

Exactly. Why single out Ayew in the Watford game when everyone was gash? I don't understand that. But the bottom line for me is that on performances in a white shirt so far this season if you are going to bench one of them at all then Ayew doesn't deserve to lose his starting spot but Siggy does.

As Daimun says, if Monk isn't prepared to change things up to accommodate Siggy then he should be benched for a bit.

 

[PGFWhite]

Exactly. Why single out Ayew in the Watford game when everyone was gash? I don't understand that. But the bottom line for me is that on performances in a white shirt so far this season if you are going to bench one of them at all then Ayew doesn't deserve to lose his starting spot but Siggy does.

I singled him out because as I've already said, I think he's been in cruise mode for the last two games. What's worse is that he appears to be undermining the role of Siggurdson, unbalancing the team, narrowing our area of attack and making us easy to defend against. Maybe that was why was everyone gash.

You may think he wasn't cruising. That's fine because that is your opinion, but I have my own opinion based on what I have seen.

 

[Kifflom!]

Then we can agree to disagree. If 'unbalancing' means a lack of width on the right I agree. But that's worked well apart from v Watford. Siggy has exhibited a lack of control, a lack of accurate passing and ability to get caught on the ball too many times this season for me. That's down to him, not the presence of Ayew. It's also been the case all season not 'the last two games' during which the whole team was awful in one and we were playing a well drilled defence in the other. Blaming Ayew's presence for everyone playing badly v Watford is an interesting concept.

IF, and it's a big if, Monk is going to look to change things then I completely agree that benching Ayew is an option but imo we can do no worse than Ayew's replacing Siggy behind Gomis and putting Barrow out wide right.

Dropping August's player of the month would be underserved when he'd be making space for a player who has yet to turn up this season. Ayew's contribution has been huge, Siggy's almost non-existent.

Siggy still has a part to play this season but he needs to show some form. We all know he's capable but it's frustrating to watch him right now.

 

[PGFWhite]

It didn't work against Watford and it didn't work yesterday either. I put it down to Big Time Charlie syndrome, you obviously have a different opinion, which is fine.

It's a conundrum that Monk has got to sort out and fairly quickly. In effect Ayew seems to be ousting Siggurdson from his position and that won't go down too well if Siggy leaves in January and is soon followed by Ayew making his move to a "Top 4" Club. Monk has already stated that Ayew is a leader and it begs the question what is going on behind the scenes as Sigurrdson is a more submissive character.

I hope Ayew has a great season, because it will benefit us immensely. However our play over the last decade has been based on strict systems, but Ayew seems to have a floating role which he hasn't fulfilled properly in the last two matches and this undermines the system the rest of the team are playing..

We can agree to disagree, but I have a feeling that we will be back here in a few months discussing the effect of Ayew on the squad.

 

[Kifflom!]

Maybe.

But whichever way you look at it you are concentrating on two matches. There were four before that so it's probably a little premature to have a go at a player who was the best in the Prem in August.

What evidence is there of Ayew's 'Big Time Charlie Syndrome'? From the way he plays? From what he says off the pitch? You may be right but to be fair I've seen no evidence of that at all.

 

[PGFWhite]

Maybe.

But whichever way you look at it you are concentrating on two matches. There were four before that. What evidence is there of Ayew's 'Big Time Charlie Syndrome'? From the way he plays? From what he says off the pitch? You may be right but to be fair I've seen no evidence of that at all.

Correct. I am talking about the last two matches as I have already stated. The evidence of him cruising? Ambling around the pitch, not covering the right hand side, not making runs when Shelvey puts a ball out into open space for him (as he did against Watford). His performance level has dropped. 5 minutes of Barrow produced more disarray in the opposition defence than the previous 175 minutes with Barrow.

That is my opinion based on my observations of the last two matches. Two matches where we have created few chances and scored zero goals. His role is to fit into our system, not undermine it.

 

[Kifflom!]

No. Read my post again. The evidence of 'Big Time Charlie Syndrome'. I'm interested to see how you formed that opinion.

"5 minutes of Barrow produced more disarray in the opposition defence than the previous 175 minutes with Barrow."

I totally agree with that, but Barrow was playing in a different position with a different role.

 

[Nosugarman1]

I don't think Gylfi is playing badly it's just in my view we have 3 players namely Ayew, Gylfi and Jonjo competing for the traditional No10 role. By playing all three the team seems unbalanced. On yesterday's performance I would have subbed Jonjo not Gylfi. The lack of balance is further highlighted because we are constantly looking for Montero on the left because we have no flyer on the right. This also means that Naughton is isolated on the right. Incidentally unlike some I did'nt think he had too bad a game as by manouvering the Everton players wide and not diving in the Everton attacks were slowed down.