The main issue with Anderson is, I have rarely seen a central midfielder so uncomfortable with receiving the ball under pressure. He gives the ball away getting caught in possession far too often. He is a good runner and presses well but technically is a way off the required standard currently. He is young and will improve but shouldn't be starting at this level.
How much of it is technical ability and how much is it better reading of the game, decision making, composure etc? I think it’s probably a bit of both rather than him purely being a poor technical player.
Our other midfielders have their own weaknesses, I don’t agree that it’s as simple as he shouldn’t start. Not every academy player will be a PL star of the future (copyright Katrien Meire), other hard working reliable players like Wagstaff, Cousins, Wilson and Lapslie played their part for us in successful seasons. As long as we’re not overly reliant on players like Anderson and Kanu it’s got to be better than paying a lot more on wages to sign another Tennai Watson who’s not much better but has no real potential to play at a higher level.
Yeah, my issue with Karoy is his decision-making, he just seems in a rush when on the ball, all the dynamic stuff he does is great, just that bit of quality on the ball is what's lacking for me
Karoy does the difficult things well and seems to mess up on the easier stuff. If he can sort that out he'll be very good.
At U18 and U21 level he was very good on the ball, he was a key playmaker for those teams, so it's there but he's yet to show that consistently at senior level.
Obviously, he is playing against older and better opposition and being asked to play a different game than he did before and maybe he'll never be as fluid with his passing as he was when younger but he is still young.
If he has a career similar to Prately, who played mainly in the Championship and a few seasons in the Premier League and is still going strong at 38 or whoever old he is now, he will have done very well for himself.
DP will be 40 before the end of the season, very impressive longevity.
Thought he did ok, was really the only midfielder trying to push forward with the ball and attempt a forward pass. Was clear when he went off and Coventry started to get more of the ball that we started going backwards and sideways more. It almost looks like CC doesn't pass hard/incisively enough when he plays the ball forward...
I thought he did okay last night, I would like him to stamp his mark on the game more, as I feel he is that type of player, I can't see any reason why him and CC can't work together. CC prob had his worse game in a Charlton shirt last night, sometimes you just have a stinker, and what ever you do doesn't come off.
To be fair to Coventry, he was involved in a lovely bit of interplay on the edge of the box that should have led to a goal if Godden had shown a little more composure. That was probably the most spark we showed all game and the work for the chance came from him
Bit random but I bumped into Terry Taylors dad at the game, felt like a bit of a James Bond movie scene as he is quite a strapping bloke and looked at me and said 'We must stop meeting like this Charlie' in his strong Scottish accent.
Anyway, lovely bloke, his wife is lovely too*. Just said Taylor needs time to settle as he's obviously been out for a while. I still have high hopes for Terry here, and as his family are so nice, got a bit of a soft spot/bias.
Another decent game I thought and feel like he's done enough to earn another start.
To be a bit less biased, I think he's fortunate that our other midfielders aren't performing, as I don't reckon he was part of Jones plans. Sometimes things like this just work out like that in football though, similar to Corey's situation when we signed him. Hopefully Terry will go on to make a similar impact but with a happier ending.
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Our other midfielders have their own weaknesses, I don’t agree that it’s as simple as he shouldn’t start. Not every academy player will be a PL star of the future (copyright Katrien Meire), other hard working reliable players like Wagstaff, Cousins, Wilson and Lapslie played their part for us in successful seasons. As long as we’re not overly reliant on players like Anderson and Kanu it’s got to be better than paying a lot more on wages to sign another Tennai Watson who’s not much better but has no real potential to play at a higher level.
Anyway, lovely bloke, his wife is lovely too*. Just said Taylor needs time to settle as he's obviously been out for a while. I still have high hopes for Terry here, and as his family are so nice, got a bit of a soft spot/bias.
Another decent game I thought and feel like he's done enough to earn another start.
To be a bit less biased, I think he's fortunate that our other midfielders aren't performing, as I don't reckon he was part of Jones plans. Sometimes things like this just work out like that in football though, similar to Corey's situation when we signed him. Hopefully Terry will go on to make a similar impact but with a happier ending.