Cos on the main the youth is utter rank.
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Cos on the main the youth is utter rank.
Crying my eyes out
messymascot
Player Valuation: £35m
I'm usually very pro youth. I want Kenny, Lookman and DCL in until the end of the season. I would also have brought Joe Williams back from his loan to try in the 6 role. I just think we are a mess and if we take a few hidings it could destroy Feeneys confidence.
Well there’s that yeah
ijjysmith
Calm
My worry is that they are nowhere near good enough and would actually make the situation far far worse.
On average, a very very small percentage would ever make it to the first team.
So many of those are easy criticisms to make in hindsight but betray a lack of understanding of what you really want players to be doing. Zouma should not be leaving his post to cover Vardy just on the off chance that Keane messes up. Vardy is gambling that Keane misses it because that's what strikers do, he's not anticipating what actually happens, just hoping that Keane will miss the ball and leave him through on goal. We're not asking him to man mark, he's not supposed to track him everywhere he goes, so he's held his position as I would want any centre half to do in that situation. If he drops back to go with Vardy and leaves a massive gap, Keane 'clears' the ball straight to a Leicester player who then passes the ball into the space he's vacated, then we blame him in exactly the same way he's blamed for the West Ham goal because he's too deep. Same with the Liverpool goal. There's no reason for him to track Origi there, only an utter calamity can lead to lead to the ball coming back to him, it's really weird to blame him for not anticipating that Pickford would make the mother of all cock ups because - while it would be great if they did - 99% of defenders would have done the same thing.
Fair
davids
Player Valuation: £60m
I'd agree up until DCL, Millwall showed the alarming flaws in his game more than any other.Where he should have been putting himself about and holding the ball up,when faced by a couple of grocks he went missing.
mkrudden
Player Valuation: £40m
I think you're wrong there mate. It's about smelling danger and acting appropriately given all the circumstances.
Keane leaves his post and commits. Vardy is now blind side and Zouma watches him move to fill the space vacated
Zouma has to follow. And he has to do that because to his left there is no danger AND Gueye is there. Going with Vardy should have a domino effect on Gueye who would fill the LCB spot and the gaps are plugged.
Instead, Zouma doesn't react, Gueye doesn't follow suit and we are left with a huge area of green for Vardy to run into.
This should all be chain reaction and it should have been triggered by Zouma. Instead, as the twittererer says, he just isn't concentrating or smelling danger.
You'd be right IF Zouma has someone to worry about too as well as Vardy. There isn't, instead just one striker who has sensed there could be a mistake, which happen. Keane's CB partner hasn't sensed the same.
We have posters, good people so no cricitism at all, like @Eggs who really like Zouma and point to him bailing out Keane on occasion. I think that's undeniable. What he does do as well though is use his recovery pace and strength to make up for issues he himself has caused.
I don't see Keane or Zouma as a first choice CB. I think both need a more commanding presence next to them. Hopefully Mina can be that person but he needs time to adapt. It's common knowledge that the PL is nothing like any other.
Which is fine, except that means we now can't blame Zouma for the Obiang goal like the twitter poster is doing, because we've established that going out to help others rather than keeping your own position is what we want players to do. He now becomes correct in anticipating someone else not doing their job and is totally blameless. Same with the Southampton and Eriksen goals. In both situations the midfield has dropped deep to cover the gap caused by somebody coming out of the line. We've just established that this is what we want them to do, and so again there's now no blame attached to them for not being higher up the pitch to stop shots from outside the box.
This is what I meant about hindsight, any goal can be attributed to an error if you analyse and look hard enough for it, but when you post them like that you have to apply consistent logic. You can't just pick and choose how you want the players to react to different situation to fit the blame you want to attribute to different people.
As an aside, the posters decision to apportion blame to Zouma for two horrific Pickford mistakes (and the Brighton goal where Zouma is basically just beaten in the air by a taller player but Pickford refuses to move 3 yard to catch the ball) tells me a lot about them.
messymascot
Player Valuation: £35m
All 4 of Mina, Zouma, Keane and Holgate would benefit from a more experienced centre back alongside them. Someone like Jagielka was 6-8 years ago. Unfortunately none of them seem to be ready to be dominant although there were some signs that in a couple of years Mina may have developed this as he did try and organise in the games he played. One of Feeney's attributes is he is a talker and an organiser in the u23s so if he gets some experience he could be that player but I would say he's a little bit off being ready as he doesn't appear to be the bulkiest yet. Mina is definitely the one in most need of game time between now and the end of the season.
Toffeelover
Player Valuation: £80m
Well analysed and presented but is this also an indictment of Silva's poor defence ideas?
mkrudden
Player Valuation: £40m
Definitely. Zouma should know he has to move across and that should trigger team mate response.
The fact this hasn't been drummed into them is absolutely in part due to Silva. It's also part Zouma individually switching off.
We've got so much to work on it's untrue!
4737carlin
Player Valuation: £90m
Agree on this, there isnt much between them, but we need a top draw CH in the summer. However the main thing they will benefit from is a decent manager next season
Zouma does initially move to track him but then seemingly changes his mind as he sees that Keane will deal with the ball. The reason could be positional instructions for the transition from defence to attack. Should the team be making possibly over-cautious decisions based on the chance of mistakes at the expense of attacking?
If things go differently and Zouma stays with Vardy going back behind the defensive line and a goal is scored from a counter to Keane's pass then there's no doubt that people will be freeze framing and bemoaning how Everton can't keep a straight back 4 and Zouma shouldn't be chasing a nothing run and playing other players onside.
The goal starts with an odd 30-40 yard header back from a blue shirt to Keane who then messes up. If players are dropping into defensive positions on the off chance that one player drops a clanger then the transition from defence to attack is going to be held up even more. If Keane controls the ball, and playing percentages indicate he should, then isn't Gueye supposed to be looking to go ahead of him to offer another option to move the ball into attacking areas rather than being concerned with dropping in at CB on the tiny risk that Keane miscontrols?
Look how frustrating it is when the ball comes into or around the opposition box but we still have 7-8 outfield players 10-20 yards behind play. Dropping deep and worrying about all gaps at all times while in possession to cover potential mistakes is a bit Allardycey. If Keane steps out of position to take the ball then he needs to take the ball - it's a concern if the players should be sensing danger when one of their teammates is required to do the basics under little pressure.
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