Recent Ex-Players Performing

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

Had a bit of a face on over the last couple of weeks watching Match of the Day or the Champ programme on 5. Spotted:

Michael Antonio - back from injury and back amongst the scorers.
Danny Williams looking like a world-beater against Manchester United.
Billy Sharp has scored 5 this season (obvs. one of 'em against us).
Jake Cooper notching an assist for Millwall to win.
Matej Vydra back to his best - scoring one and making the other (7 goals in as many games so far this season).
Glenn Murray netting twice for Brighton.
Lewis Grabban scoring a peach of a goal for his 5th of the season.
Dominic Samuel has also scored 5 this season.
Christ, I think even Tarique Fosu got a mention (just checked and he's scored 7 in 14 apps).

Why did they often all look so utter dogsh1t playing for us, especially the strikers?

[genome]

Many players have left us and have disappointed elsewhere. Kitson, Sonko, etc

Swings and roundabouts

[Hound]

yeah its interesting to see, and am pleased to see Williams have a decent game as I think he left us in the 'right' way and good luck to him. Mind you, think that was about his first start of the season

Vydra cost 8m, and clearly has pedigree. There was always a good player in there, but he has been rubbish for a couple of years.

Fosu is the one from that lot that is of the most interest. Sounds like he is doing really well, and maybe someone we should have tried harder to keep hold of. Grabban is the other who we almost certainly could have got if we'd made the effort - do wonder in retrospect if thats what we should have done.

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

Many players have left us and have disappointed elsewhere. Kitson, Sonko, etc

Swings and roundabouts

'greed - but at least they were decent while they were here.

Don't get me wrong, Danny WIlliams had his moments (and i love him like a brother etc), but the rest were poor for us imho.

[Dennis the Butler]

Christ, even Ryan Edwards scored last weekend !

[Snowflake Royal]

Clarke broke Vydra and it took an entire season for someone else to fix him. His problems were mental so it really was a case of needing a change of scenery.

Fosu and Samuel are playing at a lower level.

I don't think the descriptions for Williams and Cooper are convincing for them doing much better - they're rather one off.

Antonio needed to leave to get where he is. He wouldn't have had he same career if he'd stayed in our reserves.

[CountryRoyal]

Tanner got the winner for Motherwell to take them to third, whilst we're at it.

[PistolPete]

This thread should be stickied to highlight the shambles modern football has become in England. Great OP by the way, nothing against you at all!

Players and managers are either good enough or not good enough. When a team is doing badly ‘sack the manager!’, when a player does badly ‘drop/sell him!’.

Vydra is a good player, so is Grabban, so potentially were Fosu and Samuel. How do we know? They’d consistently performed at a level of football which supports the suggestion. Sure injuries (Michael Owen) and personal circumstances can take a toll, but it’s usually playing to a players strength and supporting them through a dip in form that get results. What did we do? Decided they were shit and wanted replacements.

Lee Johnson at Bristol City currently has the team in 7th place after a club record straight losses run last season. Alex Ferguson is obviously renowned for being the best ever manager after a very poor start. Brendan Rogers was, in my opinion, a victim of ‘replacement culture’ we have cultivated in England.

What’s the lesson? Give each player the best chance to play well - Play players in the correct position (Aluko!) but be open minded that experimenting often has fantastic results (Victor Moses). Someomes let managers learn from their mistakes at your club, rather than sack them and be better elsewhere. Give youth players more than a couple of games to see if they can step up. Don’t flip flop between tactical philosophies as a knee jerk reaction; things take time!

[PistolPete]

I keep hearing a new manager at Everton would have to wait until January to get his own players in - what a joke!!

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

I keep hearing a new manager at Everton would have to wait until January to get his own players in - what a joke!!

Er, that's because the Transfer window is shut.

[PistolPete]

I keep hearing a new manager at Everton would have to wait until January to get his own players in - what a joke!!

Er, that's because the Transfer window is shut.

The joke being that we’ve been conditioned to believe the only way to turn around a teams performances is buying players!

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

I keep hearing a new manager at Everton would have to wait until January to get his own players in - what a joke!!

Er, that's because the Transfer window is shut.

The joke being that we’ve been conditioned to believe the only way to turn around a teams performances is buying players!

Looks like I've been whooshed!

[Half Biscuit]

Had a bit of a face on over the last couple of weeks watching Match of the Day or the Champ programme on 5. Spotted:

Michael Antonio - back from injury and back amongst the scorers.
Danny Williams looking like a world-beater against Manchester United.
Billy Sharp has scored 5 this season (obvs. one of 'em against us).
Jake Cooper notching an assist for Millwall to win.
Matej Vydra back to his best - scoring one and making the other (7 goals in as many games so far this season).
Glenn Murray netting twice for Brighton.
Lewis Grabban scoring a peach of a goal for his 5th of the season.
Dominic Samuel has also scored 5 this season.
Christ, I think even Tarique Fosu got a mention (just checked and he's scored 7 in 14 apps).

Why did they often all look so utter dogsh1t playing for us, especially the strikers?

Sharp, Vydra, Murray and Grabban are particularly galling in their recent success.
The common denominator?
- They were all on loan and didn't have to care. It's not the way forward.

[Snowflake Royal]

Murray did an absolutely fine job. And we didn't let him go, we had no choice. So he's rather misplaced there.

[SCIAG]

Murray did very well for us. Sharp wasn't here for very long but wasn't exactly bad. Vydra quite clearly cared but just couldn't shoot.

[bagman]

Angus MacDonald and Karl MacHugh both let go on frees and are no captaining Barnsley and Motherwell respectively