Doubt cast over potential of Man Utd starlet; PL defender ideal for Chelsea
Manchester United fans wonder if Brandon Williams will fail to live up to expectations, Arsenal are criticised for already making two major transfer errors this month, and a Chelsea reader names one defender they should have their eyes on – all in Your Says of the Day.
Join in the debate here…
TWO DECISIONS HAVE RUINED TRANSFER WINDOW FOR ARSENAL
im also very underwhelmed that Arteta has “persuaded” Xhaka to stay and thinks he is imprtant, first decision of his that im against personally i can only hope he sees something i dont and has a real plan to use him in a way that suits him as a player and maybe coaches him in a role he wants, grasping at staws maybe but very dissapointed, we could have both him and Miki of the wage bill but have kept both, already makes it a bad window for me
steveosnakeeye
VILLA DEFENDER WOULD HAVE TERRY POTENTIAL AT CHELSEA
I agree with 1967 about our need for a leader. Watching Villa yesterday I was very impressed with Mings as a player AND as a leader, he was constantly organising the Villa defence in a JT like manner. Obviously he would not be available in Jan as Villa are fighting relegation, but to me I prefer him to Christensen and Zouma and would be interested in the summer.
alanp
QUESTIONING JOE GOMEZ’S ‘INJURY PRONE’ TAG
Joe Gomez injury history…
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joe-gomez/verletzungen/spieler/256178
He’s doesn’t have a history or reoccurring soft tissue/muscular problems like persistent hamstring injuries or thigh/calf/groin issues.
The most recent 3 ”injuries” on the list are really 1 injury. He damaged the ankle, then needed surgery, then needed further surgery as it didn’t take. If yous remember that initial ankle injury came from contact in a tackle. It wasn’t just something he routinely picked up.
He not actually “injury prone” as the phrase would commonly be used. He’s just been unlucky with 2 very serious injuries that have kept him out for a long time.
gingerlfc
I agree with that ginger but I don’t think he has completed a full season without missing a lot of games. Hopefully Gomez is fit for the rest of the season.
Sean the sailor
Doesn’t matter what type of injuries they are, Gomez, Matip and Lovren all miss many games because of injuries.
Looking at their apps, over the previous 3 seasons, Gomez has actually made the least apps by far – Matip 98, Lovren 93, Gomez 69. Compare this to Van Dijk with 114 apps.
However this season (so far) Gomez has not had any serious injury and has made the most apps – Gomez 23, Lovren 12, Matip 10.
In fact I think the debate as to who should partner the Van Dijk, is strongly influenced by the fact that the other 3 CBs are rarely fully fit all at the same time, and all seem to suffer at least one disruptive injury every season
Songman
If Gomez can stay injury free, he and VVD will form the best Centre back partnership in the premier league in years to come. We’ve now kept 5 clean sheets in a row or something since Gomez is back in the 1st team. Thats no coincidence.
redsforever
An injury is an injury. I fully understand Gomez injury has been more misfortune than being injury prone but it still means he’ll be out for a good number of games and that matters:
kopite
Kopite, quite right, what matters most of all is how many games you miss because of an injury, not what type of injury it is.
And the stats show quite clearly that Gomez has missed the most games in the previous 3 seasons through injury out of all our centre backs.
This season though, he is fit and has made the most apps (of the 3 supporting CBs), and let’s hope he remains that way going forward
Songman
Every injury is not the same.
If a player has a history of hamstring, calf, thigh or groin injuries you can make an informed judgment that there’s a weakness there and he’ll continue to have issues and miss further games.
If a player breaks his leg and is treated properly chances are he’ll not have any further issues related to it.
We have Matip and Lovren with consistently “niggly” injuries.
We have Gomez with 2 serious injuries that don’t seem to be holding him back.
If you had to make a judgment on a centreback to get rid off based purely on injury history the science would dictate it would be one of Matip/Lovren.
gingerlfc
Kopite, I’ve yet to to Gomez continually break down like Lallana or Sturridge do… on the other hand I would like to see him protecting himself a bit better but he is the sort of lad that will break his leg for us in a tackle. There is nothing injury prone about that, especially when he keeps up his mentality and does not start to doubt his own body and jump out of duals.
Also arguing about Matip and Gomez is just stupid, they are both such valuable players to the squad, so is Lovren but his time is coming to an end as his contract has not that much time on it and he would easily walk into most teams around Europe. He will go in search of more game time and I really hope that Spanish lad is coming over to replace him.
We need four centerback and we need the right balance between them.
NotoriousBingo
DEBATE OVER POTENTIAL OF BRANDON WILLIAMS
To be honest i remember the hype around Borthwick Johnson on this page after a couple of appearances
Sorry to say history is repeating itself again with Brandon willliams
He was torn to shreds by walker on Tuesday but after the game fans were saying he was the only bright spark and will become a big player for us.
Why’s that i wonder? Can’t be anything to do with the fact the lads from Manchester and came through our youth set up can it?
rs83
Hang on rs83, you can’t compare Brandon Williams to CBJ mate because there is no comparison. And Williams was actually torn to shreds by Walker, Mahrez and Silva, because all three of ‘em were tear arsing down that side and the young lad was pulled all over the place. A bit of assistance from those other oafs would have been useful.
jm1502
See, if the lad Brandon Williams is being torn to shreds after one bad performance what hope does anyone have of actually coming through…?!
happyhurling
I’m with JM on this. In fact throughout the first half, the commentators remarked how United had clearly given lucence to Rashford NOT to track back which allowed City overload the RHS. Further evidenced in the post match interview with Walker who said he simply drove into the free space repeatedly – vacated by Rashford and ably facilitated by OGS baffling decision to omit our only fit defensive central mid in Matic. It was 3 versus 1 on the RHS for much of the first half and the entire tie was lost in the period. It was a tactical brainfart by OGS and inexplicable that it took them until HT to change things.
While Im not here to cite Williams as the second coming of Maldini, he has been impressive defending and attacking, he has a nasty streak to him and he clearly wears his heart on his sleeve. A stark contrast to tubby, soft and lazy Shaw.
moral
Come on mate,Williams has been outstanding so far this season,10x the player Shaw has been or is.The lad should be played LB for the rest of days.
redblood
PEREIRA IS THE NEW LINGARD
It will be Matic, Fred and Andy in midfield.
Andy is the new Lingard. He is doing really great you know as Ole keeps trying to convince himself.
If we fail to break down the stubborn Norwich resistance, we can “wheel” out the ageless Juan Mata to thrill us with his bag of tricks.
Lingard, Perreira and Mata. We are rwally spoiled….
moral
MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR MAN UTD
On another note, I see Max Aarons is the new most wanted kid on the block. I pointed this lad out well over a year ago and we should have got him then. Better and cheaper than Wan-Bissaka in my opinion.
jm1502
DOUBTS ABOUT CHELSEA CHANCES V BURNLEY
One word based on the last couple of home PL games against struggling sides “tricky”. But surely we’ve got to start winning these sort of games soon.
nine nine nine
I won’t underestimate Burnley. They are a tough side. And what we must learn from recent form: we lost points against lesser side. This match will be exactly like against Southampton or Bournemouth or West Ham. We really have to be careful here. Our form at home is not great either. So I cannot say that I am optimistic about this match
aindro