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Player Xavi Simons
- Thread starter The Fighting Cock
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Simons is a "must play" - he is a bit weak but with some encouragement from both on and off the field he is our best chance of making something happen
I get a sense that he puts a lot of pressure on himself - that can be addressed (largely) by the manager and the captain as the match goes along
I get a sense that he puts a lot of pressure on himself - that can be addressed (largely) by the manager and the captain as the match goes along
Its not just physical weakness - he’s sloppy on the ball and slow making decisions. Agree he’s probs the best chance of doing something and a better wide option than Richy and Muani
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He’s a rubbish player but he’s the only number 10 we have, we may as well chuck him in. He can’t be any worse than Bergvall as a 10.
Not really, the majority of those starts were in Europe where the physical demands are much lower.
In the PL he can’t handle it, easily bullied and can’t get the weight of basic passes right when players are flying at him. We need to play him now because we’ve tried everything else but nobody should be surprised if he stinks the place out. He’s another Bryan Gil.
Not really, the majority of those starts were in Europe where the physical demands are much lower.
In the PL he can’t handle it, easily bullied and can’t get the weight of basic passes right when players are flying at him. We need to play him now because we’ve tried everything else but nobody should be surprised if he stinks the place out. He’s another Bryan Gil.
He's far better any alternative we can come up with to start as a 10 and that alone should seal his place in the starting 11, that's all there is to it.
Let's use a bit of common sense
Well yeah, that’s exactly what I said. When the alternative is Bergvall, Sarr or Gallagher as a 10 then he has to play. Even if he’s crap. The others are that bad.
Yeah this is my view. He's proven he's not the answer but the alternatives are worse.He’s shit, but he’s our only hope.
Worrying.
Somehow getting the best out of Xavi is about our only hope of staying up tbh. And that's a horribe position for us to be in.
The least suited player to the Prem I have ever seen. Small, slow, weak, ponderous and no resilience. He is a different beast in European games but the Prem just passes him by
If we go down there arent many players I am expecting to head for the exit doors before him. He loves jumping ship from clubs and as I said in the summer, he will do the same to us, hence the fear in signing him. He was a panic signing then because he didnt suit our team. Put him in the Liverpool or City teams and he'd be a different beast. DZ has to get something out of him in the next 6 weeks though for sure.
Hard to assess Simons because once more we failed to appreciate the difficulty of transition for a young player, and one in a new and tough league.
We signed him as provider in chief through the middle, effectively doing what Madfison did/does.We had tried for proven PL players.
There was no issue buying Simons, but as ever the failure was buying him in isolation knowing full well that it was months before an expected Kulusevski return let alone that of Madfison.
We did the same with Johnson in Januar, by selling him and failing to replace him, arguably with the need for 2 additional front players, as we have strikers, none of whom can hit a ball from distance or who are two-footed, or indeed pacey.
The squad is not poor but it's unbalanced.
To have a CEO, and Lange so unaware of what a PL squad requires, on top of having a 'mate' as a manager is incredible.
On Simons, if he stays and if Madfison returns to fitness we would have 2 good creators, but to get straight back up we would need 3 or 4. No p!ssing about.
We signed him as provider in chief through the middle, effectively doing what Madfison did/does.We had tried for proven PL players.
There was no issue buying Simons, but as ever the failure was buying him in isolation knowing full well that it was months before an expected Kulusevski return let alone that of Madfison.
We did the same with Johnson in Januar, by selling him and failing to replace him, arguably with the need for 2 additional front players, as we have strikers, none of whom can hit a ball from distance or who are two-footed, or indeed pacey.
The squad is not poor but it's unbalanced.
To have a CEO, and Lange so unaware of what a PL squad requires, on top of having a 'mate' as a manager is incredible.
On Simons, if he stays and if Madfison returns to fitness we would have 2 good creators, but to get straight back up we would need 3 or 4. No p!ssing about.
I feel like banging my head against a brick wall on this, wtf have we not seen any meaningful periods of Xavi in the 10 with Tel and AN Other central up top?
Why the Hell have we persisted with formations requiring wide players when we have ZERO wide players?
I was excited for RDZ but his first team selection containing RKM and RIcharlison on the wings began to erode that excitement pretty damn quick...
Getting up to speed with the physical demands isn't insurmountable though, unfortunately getting splinters on the bench isn't the best way of achieving that.
He should have been played through the poor form earlier in the season in order to have him capable of contributing now, so another thing to thank Frank, and to some extent Tudor, for.
the wrong player at the wrong time
a club that finished 17th urgently needed someone with a proven track record in English football, preferably PL of course.
The danger with him was that he would take half a season minimum to get up to speed.
a club that finished 17th urgently needed someone with a proven track record in English football, preferably PL of course.
The danger with him was that he would take half a season minimum to get up to speed.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for a little while. Sometimes managers take a few games to get the real measure of players and there could be attitude issues in training we're unaware of.
If her persists with this type of setup (3 strikers and 3 number 8s) game after game then I'll be a bit concerned, although next season (whichever division we're in) will be the time to truly judge him.
What’s most worrying is that for all his shortcomings he remains our player with the most through balls this season.
With 3.
Sarr has 2.
That’s 1 every 535 minutes he’s on the pitch!
Sarr every 675.
Be interesting to see exactly when these 5 passes happened over our 32 games of football.
2880 minutes.
Edit. Worth noting Simons has played about 55% of those 2880 minutes.
Sarr about 45%.
If those two aren’t on the pitch it’s slim pickings up front.
Probably why we keep seeing Solanke wandering around aimlessly in central midfield trying to be Harry Kane.
De Zerbi really will earn his salary getting these guys firing.
With 3.
Sarr has 2.
That’s 1 every 535 minutes he’s on the pitch!
Sarr every 675.
Be interesting to see exactly when these 5 passes happened over our 32 games of football.
2880 minutes.
Edit. Worth noting Simons has played about 55% of those 2880 minutes.
Sarr about 45%.
If those two aren’t on the pitch it’s slim pickings up front.
Probably why we keep seeing Solanke wandering around aimlessly in central midfield trying to be Harry Kane.
De Zerbi really will earn his salary getting these guys firing.
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Absolutely laughable stats - we really are shite
For one I’ll agree with shady..
He’s a fucking lightweight and like Wirtz the league is a bit much for him, but he’s clearly still by far our best creative option for the 10. The other options are shite. Bergvall is not a 10, he can’t play creative passes ffs.
Just play him. I’m not saying he will be good but he will on average create stuff whereas nobody else we have will. Who else is there, Connor fucking Gallagher?
He’s a fucking lightweight and like Wirtz the league is a bit much for him, but he’s clearly still by far our best creative option for the 10. The other options are shite. Bergvall is not a 10, he can’t play creative passes ffs.
Just play him. I’m not saying he will be good but he will on average create stuff whereas nobody else we have will. Who else is there, Connor fucking Gallagher?
Wharton and Pino at Palace = 22 between them!
Fernandes and Mbeumo = 18
Cherki and Foden = 15.
For some context.
I think its a combination of Frank's negative coaching and our awful squad profiling. That article floating around sums it up - Lange has gone hard on 90th+ percentile athletes across the squad at the expense of actual footballers.
Xavi's clearly not suited to the Prem but if you coached him well and surrounded him with a few other technical players he'd look much better - and we've seen flashes of that in Europe this season when Odobert was playing next to him.