Cristian Romero

[RESPECT THE COCK]

He's only 23 mate, an absolute baby in CB terms.

I disagree.

Even with a couple of iffy moments so far I think he's already shown miles more than Rodon who's the same age and looks shite.

I agree 100% with you about Rodon, but I don't pipe up about it much because people get upset.

I fully expect some up and down games (maybe all in one game), a lot depends on the balance of the team and partnerships to form and work, this probably has a bigger influence on his game than an actual identified personal ability at this point. I think we are quite some way off this.

We must bear in mind that he has already established a reputation for being wild. Shortly before he joined us, I dug out an old Fiorentina v Atalanta game to have a gander at him. Hooked at HT because he was on an "orange" card for a challenge he never needed to make. Anyway, what I like is that he is very mobile, but the jury is out on his passing (thought it was disappointing last night). I am not really looking at partnerships and whathaveyou. But I am looking at the lunging in, for example, and it's a concern.

 

[Zomb]

He's only 23 mate, an absolute baby in CB terms. Even with a couple of iffy moments so far I think he's already shown miles more than Rodon who's the same age and looks shite.

I fully expect some up and down games (maybe all in one game), a lot depends on the balance of the team and partnerships to form and work, this probably has a bigger influence on his game than an actual identified personal ability at this point. I think we are quite some way off this.

Harsh on Rodon. Hardly looks shit, average maybe but he’s been more consistent than Sanchez ffs

 

[Matt1882]

They scored from a set-piece and a heavily deflected shot. 3rd goal came in 93rd min when game was lost basically when the 1st one was scored. At this point we had no midfield, this was the main issue, not the defence (and yeah I'm sure there are ample moments to look at in 2nd half, but the game state was we had no midfield and we were getting dominated as a result of this, not how we were defending as a back-line).

There were plenty of times where the only reason they didn't score more were because Lloris had saves our werner missed sitters

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

I disagree.

I agree 100% with you about Rodon, but I don't pipe up about it much because people get upset.

We must bear in mind that he has already established a reputation for being wild. Shortly before he joined us, I dug out an old Fiorentina v Atalanta game to have a gander at him. Hooked at HT because he was on an "orange" card for a challenge he never needed to make. Anyway, what I like is that he is very mobile, but the jury is out on his passing (thought it was disappointing last night). I am not really looking at partnerships and whathaveyou. But I am looking at the lunging in, for example, and it's a concern.

How many solid consistently good 23yr old CBs can you name?

There are some very good players I could name but all of them are hugely error-prone when at that age:
Rio Ferdinand is probably the best young CB that I can remember
Vertonghen - didn't get to watch him week in week out at Ajax but perhaps he was exceptional at 23?
Stones have always been good but has come with major fuck-ups
Ake (who BTW is 26yrs old now, wow!!!!)
Dias just finding his feet at 26yrs old
Laporte same as Dias
VVD was playing for Groningen
Toby was an RB sitting on the bench

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

There were plenty of times where the only reason they didn't score more were because Lloris had saves our werner missed sitters

Like I said this is all caused by the state of midfield, not the state of our defending. It's what was so utterly shite about us under the dinosaur (we didn't have a midfield), the defence under siege almost every game.

 

[Doc]

How many solid consistently good 23yr old CBs can you name?

There are some very good players I could name but all of them are hugely error-prone when at that age:
Rio Ferdinand is probably the best young CB that I can remember
Vertonghen - didn't get to watch him week in week out at Ajax but perhaps he was exceptional at 23?
Stones have always been good but has come with major fuck-ups
Ake (who BTW is 26yrs old now, wow!!!!)
Dias just finding his feet at 26yrs old
Laporte same as Dias
VVD was playing for Groningen
Toby was an RB sitting on the bench

Ruben Dias just turned 24. Fofana at Leicester isn't yet 21. Varane won several Champions Leagues between ages 21-25.

But agree, too soon to judge Romero, spent the best period of his career playing as a swashbuckling raider at the middle of a back three.. moving to play in a cb2 in a new league is a learning curve and he will have to alter his play without losing too much of his edge.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Ruben Dias just turned 24. Fofana at Leicester isn't yet 21. Varane won several Champions Leagues between ages 21-25.

But agree, too soon to judge Romero, spent the best period of his career playing as a swashbuckling raider at the middle of a back three.. moving to play in a cb2 in a new league is a learning curve and he will have to alter his play without losing too much of his edge.

That's why I put Dias down there, numerous examples to point towards when teams are countering City where he's been made to look daft. But he's an exceptional CB. And Varane, who was exceptional but still you could point towards poor moments.

Good shout on Fofana, I haven't seen many games of his but has been exceptional every time I've watched.

Campbell, unfortunately, I guess you could add in with Ferdinand.

I think it took Ledley a while longer due to nailing down a CB position, rather than midfield???

There are just some players that have got that 'x' factor, it's hard to define exactly what it is but whatever it is, Romero might have it (I've by no means seen enough of him hang my hat on him yet). Gil is another that sends me these vibes, fingers crossed.

 

[Matt1882]

This is our defence most games

Like I said this is all caused by the state of midfield, not the state of our defending. It's what was so utterly shite about us under the dinosaur (we didn't have a midfield), the defence under siege almost every game.

The state of the team really. But the midfield are just additional defenders most of the time and have been for a few years. It's almost as if the shit we had last season wasn't all Mourinhos fault.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

This is our defence most games

The state of the team really. But the midfield are just additional defenders most of the time and have been for a few years. It's almost as if the shit we had last season wasn't all Mourinhos fault.

This wasn't the case in the first half though was it? This matters, this wasn't just an improvement it was positively light years from what we've been watching for three fucking years now. Achieved in only his 5th PL game in charge, with players still not physically up to speed (Kane & Ndombele), with Son camming back from injury and two players who did train with the team, against arguably the best team in the Wolrd (I think them and Bayern are currently), fielding a team almost of his preferred choosing (still affected by not being able to field 2 players Bergy and Lucas at least that could have contributed positively off the bench) for the first time this season.

 

[Danius]

How many solid consistently good 23yr old CBs can you name?

There are some very good players I could name but all of them are hugely error-prone when at that age:
Rio Ferdinand is probably the best young CB that I can remember
Vertonghen - didn't get to watch him week in week out at Ajax but perhaps he was exceptional at 23?
Stones have always been good but has come with major fuck-ups
Ake (who BTW is 26yrs old now, wow!!!!)
Dias just finding his feet at 26yrs old
Laporte same as Dias
VVD was playing for Groningen
Toby was an RB sitting on the bench

Age has little to do with it. players get opportunities at different ages, and sometimes, even if they aren't ready, they might find an unexpected good run of form right from the start, and earn themselves a large number of encores based on a couple games, whereas another player might expectedly have a poor first match, and it might cost him a year or two before he gets another opportunity. It's great that Romero is young, but he also has lots of experience, and made some mistakes last night that were concerning, considering his experience and the fact that he is the reigning Serie A Defender of the Season. You shouldn't be expecting the same of Rodon as you do Romero, regardless of age, because Rodon doesn't have the same high-level experience. Romero may need time to settle in, but he's also on loan, so obviously, his settlement time has a shelf life (or at least it should).

 

[Nawh]

I hope he won't need 2 years as Sanchez :auriergrin:

 

[Murphy]

What does Romero have anything to do with Kane's goal tally?

Romero literally just joined the team so I don't get how people are already making conclusions about him. Our best singing the past decade was not good for the first 6-12 months before he blossomed.

It's more you suggest waiting before condemning a player. Yet you condem Kane despite him proving his worth. Little but hypocritical, no?

 

[Matt1882]

This wasn't the case in the first half though was it? This matters, this wasn't just an improvement it was positively light years from what we've been watching for three fucking years now. Achieved in only his 5th PL game in charge, with players still not physically up to speed (Kane & Ndombele), with Son camming back from injury and two players who did train with the team, against arguably the best team in the Wolrd (I think them and Bayern are currently), fielding a team almost of his preferred choosing (still affected by not being able to field 2 players Bergy and Lucas at least that could have contributed positively off the bench) for the first time this season.

First half of Wolves? I didn't think Wolves were even trying. It felt like they weren't told there was a game on. I think the first half against Chelsea was the more interesting. They did look a bit off it, but we clearly had the winning of the midfield. The problem was, it took one sub by them to completely flip it and we have nothing to counter it. Kante was absolutely sublime.

 

[To Dare Is To Do.]

First half of Wolves? I didn't think Wolves were even trying. It felt like they weren't told there was a game on. I think the first half against Chelsea was the more interesting. They did look a bit off it, but we clearly had the winning of the midfield. The problem was, it took one sub by them to completely flip it and we have nothing to counter it. Kante was absolutely sublime.

What is our best formation/ line up then?

 

[Matt1882]

What is our best formation/ line up then?

I can't pick 11 players from our squad that I like. That's how bad it's got at THFC.

 

[Airfixx]

I can't pick 11 players from our squad that I like. That's how bad it's got at THFC.

No-one asked you who you "like".....

Picking a best XI from those who are fit is an inescapable managerial quandary.... If one hasn't even got the balls to even put their 'neck' on the line on a mere fan-forum, then they don't really have the right to condemn a manager for his selection.

......It's not like they can cop out and say "I don't like 11 of my players".

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

First half of Wolves? I didn't think Wolves were even trying. It felt like they weren't told there was a game on. I think the first half against Chelsea was the more interesting. They did look a bit off it, but we clearly had the winning of the midfield. The problem was, it took one sub by them to completely flip it and we have nothing to counter it. Kante was absolutely sublime.

Wolves couldn't get in the game first half because we dominated it (right up to the goal).

It wasn't just the one sub that made the difference, Chavs came back in the game at the end of the first half when Tuchel dropped Mount into midfield, from this point they became more competitive and we found it harder to play through them (neither team had the upper hand at this point).

IN my view, it was a double whammy though, for us. I have to 2nd guess here but I feel Nuno took the right approach, to go for it first half and try to get a goal (something I might add only Liverpool has managed to score the one against them), then try to sit and play on the counter more (hopefully not on the edge of our box but aggressively as we did against City). We tanked after the first half-pressing (& that we also played Thursday whilst they played at home on Tuesday are all marginal gain in their favour, not ours) and when they scored from a set-piece we didn't have the bench to actually change and react (almost certainly had Berg & Lucas been available they would have been used for example and have enough quality to effect a game). 100% I'm not saying we would have won, I was completely expecting to get beat handsomely against them, I certainly didn't expect us to dominate/control any aspect of the game let alone do so in such a pro-active way that we did.

 

[Kane you believe it]

Spurs need to find a reliable partner for Romero before he is here long enough to develop dier and sanchez's bad habits.

 

[To Dare Is To Do.]

Wolves couldn't get in the game first half because we dominated it (right up to the goal).

It wasn't just the one sub that made the difference, Chavs came back in the game at the end of the first half when Tuchel dropped Mount into midfield, from this point they became more competitive and we found it harder to play through them (neither team had the upper hand at this point).

IN my view, it was a double whammy though, for us. I have to 2nd guess here but I feel Nuno took the right approach, to go for it first half and try to get a goal (something I might add only Liverpool has managed to score the one against them), then try to sit and play on the counter more (hopefully not on the edge of our box but aggressively as we did against City). We tanked after the first half-pressing (& that we also played Thursday whilst they played at home on Tuesday are all marginal gain in their favour, not ours) and when they scored from a set-piece we didn't have the bench to actually change and react (almost certainly had Berg & Lucas been available they would have been used for example and have enough quality to effect a game). 100% I'm not saying we would have won, I was completely expecting to get beat handsomely against them, I certainly didn't expect us to dominate/control any aspect of the game let alone do so in such a pro-active way that we did.

Have enjoyed your recent posts, good in depth analysis.
You or Doc should start a separate thread with this stuff

 

[To Dare Is To Do.]

I can't pick 11 players from our squad that I like. That's how bad it's got at THFC.

Son Kane Lucas
GLC Hojbjerg Ndombele
Reguilon Dier Romero Tanganga
Lloris

Sub options:
Either Gil or Skipp on for Ndombele at minute 60, depending on state of the game.
Bergwijn on for Lucas if we need some pace.

Next summer, if we get a class RW and CB, I think we have a quality team/ squad actually.