2021/22 Anthony Gordon

[catcherintherye]

I rate him a lot, but his set piece delivery is not top flight standard. He either needs to get better quickly, or someone else should get a go.

He's the big plus of the season, but I get stupidly wound up by pro footballers who can't hit a corner properly

Its funny as Clement highlighted him as having good set peice delivery. He seems to float them in a bit. Are his deliveries that bad. I know theres the corner at the end that went out, but honestly my view is someone has to be attacking the back post.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Its funny as Clement highlighted him as having good set peice delivery. He seems to float them in a bit. Are his deliveries that bad. I know theres the corner at the end that went out, but honestly my view is someone has to be attacking the back post.

We were one of the best sides at set plays last year, and are one of the worst this season. Although we have got slightly better in recent weeks.

We had Sigurddsson and Rodriguez last season and there deliveries were consistently pretty decent. This year it's a lot more hit and miss, and I don't think Gordon is good enough at them to be our number 1 option.

 

[banno]

Its funny as Clement highlighted him as having good set peice delivery. He seems to float them in a bit. Are his deliveries that bad. I know theres the corner at the end that went out, but honestly my view is someone has to be attacking the back post.

I have noticed all season that we don't do back posts offensively and defensively. Offensively it means the ball goes out and defensively it means we have left attacking players free to have a pop resulting in many goals conceded this season

 

[yakublue]

We were one of the best sides at set plays last year, and are one of the worst this season. Although we have got slightly better in recent weeks.

We had Sigurddsson and Rodriguez last season and there deliveries were consistently pretty decent. This year it's a lot more hit and miss, and I don't think Gordon is good enough at them to be our number 1 option.

and digne

 

[maccavennie]

Fair point in an ideal world but just for some perspective he's only 2 goals behind pienaars best return for us. Scored more than Kilbane and Limpar ever did in a season and has been used in a mid 5 as a true winger as well as an inside forward. He's also on Par for DCL's return at the same age. The lad has been exceptional and in an ideal world he would be scoring more but this year the team as a whole haven't been that positive in front of goal. Hopefully if we can avoid the drop then we can look at the other sides of his game and as a team push on and score more but for now I'm happy with his output.

Good points mate.

 

[BlueToff]

"Crap" being massive endosement deals and a global fan following?

I think United would be happy to buy DCL if that were the case.




Thats just daft. If we were a good team then he'd be rotating in/out instead of playing 90mins every game with no other creative playeds to link with.


I think with Patterson behind him and a new creative midfielder in the team he'll have players on the same wavelength.

When youve got Gray and Richarlison up top with you theres not going to be much combination play.

Doucoure of course wont link with him and Iwobi is...Iwobi.

Gordon and Gray in the same team atm are very hindering because they both do the same thing.

He was crap last night, absolutely awful.

 

[Lanolin]

Yes fair point. In any meaningful sense, this is his first season. It's the one hes broken through.

The half season bit, is probably half true, but it's to just give a little context that he didnt start the season in the team. We all know 4 goals isnt enough, but that's an important caveat.

Our forward players havent got enough. Townsend 3 (with 1 pen) Gray 5, Gordon 4, Richarilison has 8 but some are pens. We havent scored enough goals. Its not all on Gordon, but as he looks to improve that is a key area.

I think he will have to do one of 2 things if he wants to kick on. Either add more numbers in front of goal, or drop a little deeper and maintain defensive contribution in a deeper role. He could do either. His defensive contribution is very good currently.

I'd also say, we appear to be reaching that inflection point for some, where he has gone from overhyped, to being slaughtered because he doesnt score every week. Hes not going to, or at least currently shows no propensity for it. Hes a good squad option, and does some things well, and others less so. People would be happier if they accepted that.

Ah come on, he is absolutely not being slaughtered and nobody is expecting him to score every week. This farcical defensiveness over certain players ever receiving the slightest bit of criticism doesn’t do anyone any favours.

The fact is he’s in the ‘done well for an academy graduate’ category of performance rather than the ‘best young player in the world’ category that some people want to put him in. That’s fine, he and we should be pleased with that, but it’s not helpful to pretend that it’s unreasonable to say 1 heavily deflected goal and no assists in the last 3 months isn’t really enough from a player in his position.

 

[catcherintherye]

We were one of the best sides at set plays last year, and are one of the worst this season. Although we have got slightly better in recent weeks.

We had Sigurddsson and Rodriguez last season and there deliveries were consistently pretty decent. This year it's a lot more hit and miss, and I don't think Gordon is good enough at them to be our number 1 option.

He needs to get better. And we have missed those 2.

 

[catcherintherye]

Ah come on, he is absolutely not being slaughtered and nobody is expecting him to score every week. This farcical defensiveness over certain players ever receiving the slightest bit of criticism doesn’t do anyone any favours.

The fact is he’s in the ‘done well for an academy graduate’ category of performance rather than the ‘best young player in the world’ category that some people want to put him in. That’s fine, he and we should be pleased with that, but it’s not helpful to pretend that it’s unreasonable to say 1 heavily deflected goal and no assists in the last 3 months isn’t really enough from a player in his position.

Some of the comments on here are a bit odd mate, for starters. I saw one that said his performance last night was worse than Iwobis worst game for for the club. It just feels a bit hyperbolic to me. He wasnt great last night, but he was ok. Looks a bit tired. That people would make out he was a disgrace last night is a bit puzzling.

For his age, he is very talented, but he needs to keep improving. He may not improve rapidly and only be a sort of Leon Osman level player. I'll be honest, that was what I felt he could be when I 1st saw him, so that would be fine.

His returns arent good enough, but are reflective of the team. I do think hes been a little unlucky. Should have had 2 penalties at Anfield for me, and hes inches away from an assist. Hes also doing a good job defensively for the team.

We do need a little more from our attacking players though. A lot of this is about composure. People have slaughtered Keane, Holgate, Coleman and even Mykolenko when he started, but they have all done ok in recent weeks.

 

[willo30]

It's now easier to understand how bad we are when AG is considered one of our best players.

For me he has the skill but not the brain. His decision making is shocking.

 

[meagher94]

He was worse than iwobis worst game ever was. Good runner and fighter but he needs to work on his finishing and delivery with crosses and corners. That and his judgement when to fight and when not. Debruyne he is not.

Ffs De Bruyne is one of the best in the world, why is that even part of the conversation. He's a 21 year old lad who cost us absolutely nothing and has been one of the best players in a (just about) Premier League outfit.

Perhaps the issue is people's expectations are too high.

 

[meagher94]

He has some real talent and he’s put a proper shift in this season but we have to be honest and say one goal involvement in his last 12 starts is a pretty major reason we are where we are.

Quite the opposite actually in my opinion.

His willingness to leave everything out on the pitch is one of the reasons we look less likely to go down now than we did before.

Before the whole team decided to pull their fingers out of their arses, he was the one setting the standard. Hence why he's been rewarded with so many starts.

 

[Lanolin]

Quite the opposite actually in my opinion.

His willingness to leave everything out on the pitch is one of the reasons we look less likely to go down now than we did before.

Before the whole team decided to pull their fingers out of their arses, he was the one setting the standard. Hence why he's been rewarded with so many starts.

How's that the opposite? Nobody's doubting his effort, but I don't think anybody can really dispute that the fact we don't create a lot of chances or score a lot of goals is a major reason we are where we are. As one of our key attacking players that reflects as much on Gordon as it does on anybody else. It's just a fact really.

 

[MACCA75]

Him and Gray can be effective on the counter with space to run into - that’s likely going to be useful at Arsenal but not so much in the next 2.

Dele is more the type of player we will need, but he seems to have fallen even further out of favour.

 

[BlueToff]

Ah come on, he is absolutely not being slaughtered and nobody is expecting him to score every week. This farcical defensiveness over certain players ever receiving the slightest bit of criticism doesn’t do anyone any favours.

The fact is he’s in the ‘done well for an academy graduate’ category of performance rather than the ‘best young player in the world’ category that some people want to put him in. That’s fine, he and we should be pleased with that, but it’s not helpful to pretend that it’s unreasonable to say 1 heavily deflected goal and no assists in the last 3 months isn’t really enough from a player in his position.

he's one of the most unproductive players in the league in his position in terms of chances created. It's sad but it's true.

That's not to say he's not good, and at the moment he's clearly running on fumes because he's one of the few players Lampard trusts. But the fact we've relied on him for so much of this season to be our creative spark shows why we're so poor in attack.