2017/18 Ashley Williams

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Bolasie has put on several impressive displays at Goodison - as a Palace player.

After the Everton v United semifinal, I went to the Palace v Watford semifinal the next day. Bolasie put in a great performance and was undoubtedly the Man of the Match.

The problem is, we let players such as Arouna Kone and Ahmed Musa run us ragged as well.

Bolasie’s awful career path fairly reflects his awful ability as a footballer. As does Williams’.
 

The problem is, we let players such as Arouna Kone and Ahmed Musa run us ragged as well.

Bolasie’s awful career path fairly reflects his awful ability as a footballer. As does Williams’.

Including a £28 million transfer to Everton for Bolasie? And Williams was the captain of Wales and Swansea when we bought him.

Exactly what was so awful - their career paths, our decision to buy them or our failure to get any benefit from the deals?
 
Including a £28 million transfer to Everton for Bolasie? And Williams was the captain of Wales and Swansea when we bought him.

Exactly what was so awful - their career paths, our decision to buy them or our failure to get any benefit from the deals?

As if that means anything at all, look at the state of the signings we made and the money we paid for them under Koeman and Walsh. Being signed by Everton is not an indication that you’re a good player.

As for the second question, obviously all of the above. We were never going to get our returns on the money we spent on them because they’re just not very good footballers.
 

I spoke to a Swansea fan about him for the podcast and he told me they couldn't believe the cash they got for him, he hadn't been decent for them for a while. He's been on the decline for a while. Not sure we've had one truly good performance out of him.

a while was stretching it, he'd just come off the back of his worst season at swansea, but he wasn't exactly bad, just obviously starting to decline. I was totally against his signing for that very reason. It annoyed me tbh, obviously the depth of scouting, like i got the feeling with bolasie and again with keane was not of a very good standard. Brands' words about right mentalities gives me hope this won't be an issue in the next few years.
 
As if that means anything at all, look at the state of the signings we made and the money we paid for them under Koeman and Walsh. Being signed by Everton is not an indication that you’re a good player.

As for the second question, obviously all of the above. We were never going to get our returns on the money we spent on them because they’re just not very good footballers.

The problem is that we haven't seen them at their best. We don't really know how good they can be.

They certainly played much better for their previous clubs - and quite well enough to persuade us to part with our money.
 
The problem is that we haven't seen them at their best. We don't really know how good they can be.

They certainly played much better for their previous clubs - and quite well enough to persuade us to part with our money.
The worst thing is, we do know how good they are.

There was widespread dismay from fans at the signings of Bolasie and Williams, because the majority of us knew the level of value they represented. The fact that our DoF and manager seemingly didn't is both embarrassing and shameful. Seriously, anybody who's surprised that a 32 year old centre half who had spent half his career outside the top flight and the other half in the lower reaches of it turned out to be average and getting worse needs to have a word with themselves.
 

The worst thing is, we do know how good they are.

There was widespread dismay from fans at the signings of Bolasie and Williams, because the majority of us knew the level of value they represented. The fact that our DoF and manager seemingly didn't is both embarrassing and shameful. Seriously, anybody who's surprised that a 32 year old centre half who had spent half his career outside the top flight and the other half in the lower reaches of it turned out to be average and getting worse needs to have a word with themselves.

Obviously, you hope that a player will respond to a move to a higher league or a bigger club. But playing outside the top flight - or even outside the Football League - doesn't necessarily condemn you as a bad player. Several Bournemouth players were playing for them in the lower leagues. And some players can continue well into their thirties.

From Wikipedia; [Tony] Book followed Malcolm Allison again [from Plymouth Argyle] to Manchester City two years later, this time for a transfer fee of £17,000. Manager Joe Mercer was initially reluctant to spend such a fee on a player over 30 years old, but was persuaded after Allison pointed out that Mercer's career had included a successful move at a similar age, when he joined Arsenal from Everton aged 32.

Book prospered under the management of Mercer and Allison. He made his Manchester City debut in the opening match of the 1966–67 season, a 1–1 draw with Southampton, and became a near-permanent fixture in the team. In his first season at the club he missed just one game, becoming the inaugural winner of the club's Player of the Year award in a season in which the club consolidated their position following promotion.

In the 1967 close season, Book was named captain following the transfer of previous captain Johnny Crossan to Middlesbrough, and was henceforth nicknamed Skip by his teammates. His first season as captain was a very successful one, leading Manchester City to their second league championship and playing every game.
 
Obviously, you hope that a player will respond to a move to a higher league or a bigger club. But playing outside the top flight - or even outside the Football League - doesn't necessarily condemn you as a bad player. Several Bournemouth players were playing for them in the lower leagues. And some players can continue well into their thirties.

From Wikipedia; [Tony] Book followed Malcolm Allison again [from Plymouth Argyle] to Manchester City two years later, this time for a transfer fee of £17,000. Manager Joe Mercer was initially reluctant to spend such a fee on a player over 30 years old, but was persuaded after Allison pointed out that Mercer's career had included a successful move at a similar age, when he joined Arsenal from Everton aged 32.

Book prospered under the management of Mercer and Allison. He made his Manchester City debut in the opening match of the 1966–67 season, a 1–1 draw with Southampton, and became a near-permanent fixture in the team. In his first season at the club he missed just one game, becoming the inaugural winner of the club's Player of the Year award in a season in which the club consolidated their position following promotion.

In the 1967 close season, Book was named captain following the transfer of previous captain Johnny Crossan to Middlesbrough, and was henceforth nicknamed Skip by his teammates. His first season as captain was a very successful one, leading Manchester City to their second league championship and playing every game.
I mean, it's great to know that 50 years ago somebody had a good season at the age of 32, but it doesn't really affect the point at hand.

Ashley Williams was never a top class PL centre half. There's a reason why the highest position he will ever finish in was when he was playing for us and was one of our worst players, because he was never any better than average. Some people get swayed by stats and good write ups in the paper, but anybody who had actually watched him more than a couple of times could see his limitations and knew that he was only likely to get worse. At the time we signed him I said all of this, but also gave him the benefit of the doubt because I thought we'd signed him as a stop gap who'd do a steady job filling in for a year. Had I realised he'd be a first team regular for 2 years, i'd have been even more against it than I was at the time.
 
The ball booted at RVP's head was the first thing that got my attention ,deliberate = shitehouse. Then several times on MOTD he admitted ducking under incoming crosses "because I might have scored an OG". I despaired the day we signed him.
 

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