This is the thing @DaveyDanger... If Fox was truly good he would be ahead of Wiggins in the First Team... in this instance he's backup so of course he's not as good as Wiggins but he's doing a good job in his absence
I think he's done ok nothing more. He's clearly not suited to playing behind a diamond midfield where his lack of pace and dribbling ability is an obvious weakness. Longer term I think Holmes-Dennis and Edwards will overtake him.
Long term I don't think Fox will even be a left back. I reckon he will be more suited as a centre back due to his physicality and lack of pace. I'd like to see him play there more
Playing people out of position is a big factor at the moment. If Peeters hasn't got faith in the back ups that he has in the positions where he is having to make these bizarre changes (wtf is Solly doing in midfield and why are we playing our shortest player up front?) then he needs to make RD and KM aware and demand resources in January. Hopefully that will happen. Or he needs to change the formation to cater for what he has got faith in. 3 strikers on the bench and he puts Harriott up top? I agree with a lot of others Tucudean might not be a goalscorer but when he played alongside Vetokele, Vetokele got goals. Or play Piggott alongside Vetokele. I like Harriot but he is a winger.
this with knobs on mate. square pegs in round holes never work.
Playing people out of position is a big factor at the moment. If Peeters hasn't got faith in the back ups that he has in the positions where he is having to make these bizarre changes (wtf is Solly doing in midfield and why are we playing our shortest player up front?) then he needs to make RD and KM aware and demand resources in January. Hopefully that will happen. Or he needs to change the formation to cater for what he has got faith in. 3 strikers on the bench and he puts Harriott up top? I agree with a lot of others Tucudean might not be a goalscorer but when he played alongside Vetokele, Vetokele got goals. Or play Piggott alongside Vetokele. I like Harriot but he is a winger.
We can be too rigid about its always being wrong to play someone in other than their normal position. For example:
1 Gomez, a CB, is being played at RB. Is it working?
2 In the absence of Wiggins is it better to play Fox in position at LB or play Solly there out of position (with Gomez at RB in either case)?
3 Can a case be made out for trying Solly in midfield when Jackson was out and Coquelin lost? I think you could argue it was worth trying. I would say that Solly is one of our strongest technical players, so it's not completely outlandish to think he might fill in effectively in midfield (cf Lahm). I can only judge on the 30 minutes of this that I saw at Blackburn, followed by an hour at LB - I suspect we won't see any more of this midfield experiment, but it wasn't stupid to try it.
4 Is Harriott too short to play up front? Was Michael Owen? Is Messi? Suarez? Is Harriott better as a winger? It's not clear to me that he is. I think BP felt he wasn't getting enough from him on the wing and perhaps felt that some of his weaknesses in that position might be side-stepped by trying him down the middle where his pace and shooting ability might be used to good effect. Will it work? Probably not - but will he work as a winger?
I'm trying to say that I think some of these switches work and some don't. It's only wrong when there is clearly no prospect of its working or where it is persisted with when not working. In the cases of the switches discussed above, my guess would be that in the short term we'll see Gomez out of position at RB, Solly out of position at LB and Harriott not starting. If so, I wouldn't criticise the coach.
Sad to say it because I do like Pope, but I'd agree he's probably at best League 1 quality. He had a class loan performance at York last year and if Hendo wasn't out injured, he could probably use another year down in league 1 or 2. I can see Pope has potential but I think he's been thrown into the fire a year too early. I'd really like to see Etheridge get a chance. All we can do is hope Pope improves. I think Gomez did better than Fox earlier in the year and he'd be my choice to start until wiggins returns, however we are still left to ponder Bob's lineups, I've come to the conclusion that he just draws his lineup out of a hat every week. Hopefully he'll draw Gomez and Ehteridge for Boxing Day.
Alright let's rephrase this, physically, he's a great shot stopper, that knows what he's doing. Mentally, if he makes a mistake, it seems to hang over him the rest of the game. If you make a mistake, you gotta just shake it off, all the great ones do. You can see that mentality in every sport in the world. He's made it up to par so far, but he's still got a lot of growing to do. So yes physically he's championship grade. mentally, still league 1 or 2. Hopefully it will just come with time
Comments
Think some people struggle with that
Sounds like a good name for a pub. Lol.
1 Gomez, a CB, is being played at RB. Is it working?
2 In the absence of Wiggins is it better to play Fox in position at LB or play Solly there out of position (with Gomez at RB in either case)?
3 Can a case be made out for trying Solly in midfield when Jackson was out and Coquelin lost? I think you could argue it was worth trying. I would say that Solly is one of our strongest technical players, so it's not completely outlandish to think he might fill in effectively in midfield (cf Lahm). I can only judge on the 30 minutes of this that I saw at Blackburn, followed by an hour at LB - I suspect we won't see any more of this midfield experiment, but it wasn't stupid to try it.
4 Is Harriott too short to play up front? Was Michael Owen? Is Messi? Suarez? Is Harriott better as a winger? It's not clear to me that he is. I think BP felt he wasn't getting enough from him on the wing and perhaps felt that some of his weaknesses in that position might be side-stepped by trying him down the middle where his pace and shooting ability might be used to good effect. Will it work? Probably not - but will he work as a winger?
I'm trying to say that I think some of these switches work and some don't. It's only wrong when there is clearly no prospect of its working or where it is persisted with when not working. In the cases of the switches discussed above, my guess would be that in the short term we'll see Gomez out of position at RB, Solly out of position at LB and Harriott not starting. If so, I wouldn't criticise the coach.
Charlton Athletic
44 Etheridge
20 Solly
26 Ben Haim
06 Bikey Amougou
03 Gomez
07 Berg Gudmundsson
17 Buyens
04 Jackson
11 Harriott
24 Cousins
29 Tucudean
Substitutes
02 Wilson
08 Bulot
14 Vetokele
15 Onyewu
21 Fox
30 Pope
43 Ahearne-Grant
Whoops