honeybradger

He's also benefitting from playing with better players. We wasted him in a front 4 with Ayew, Cordova Reid and an old Vardy.

Yet Winks and Soumare had a similar number of progressive passes and key passes. Not sure how you can say one stat pads and not the other, both are very conservative with the ball and usually play the safest pass available instead of progressing up the pitch. I fully agree that Bouba becoming a regular in our side at this level is a sign of our demise and that he is made to look decent by the opposition being poor. The same goes to Winks though, both are decent midfielders at this level but that is a result of the opposition being poor more than anything else. I just find issue with reactions on here like Winks had an 8/10 performance and Soumare had a 4/10 performance. It's more that Winks was a 6.5/10 and Soumare was a 6.3/10, both serviceable and didn't do much wrong but didn't do much good either.

Centre back

At least this time you actually provided some reason instead of some crude statements. I disagree that he sped it up when needed, he's usually too slow on the ball and kills our attacks, same as Soumare. I used stats because we clearly have different opinions from watching the game, stats are just objective.

Yh, just a bunch of meaningless phrases that the zombies on here love to lap up. I provide stats and substance, you proved empty phrases like 'he's mustard at this level' 'he dictated the game' 'miles better than bouba'. All worthless phrases with no real meaning, weight or substantiation to them. You like most people dont know how to look past your own preconceived opinions of players. Probably not even your own opinion but based purely off what you read here. You see people coming on here to talk about how bad Soumare and Thomas were when they had a perfectly fine game and how class Winks was when he did ok. Just zombies regurgitating the same opinions.

Bunch of word jargon without actually saying much. Soumare 'dictated the game' against Coventry just as much as Winks. Saying anyone dictated the game when we werent much better than Coventry on the day is complete rubbish by the way. Soumare and Winks both completed a high number of passes, Winks 79, Soumare 58, both had a similar number of progressive pases Winks 8 soumare 7, similar number of long balls Winks 4, Soumare 5, similar number of key passes Winks 2, Soumare 3. I dont rate either by the way, but both are fine at this level. Winks just benefited from playing at a lower level for us in his first season and gained a better first impression with us by looking good against poor opposition. Soumare isnt rated because of how poor he was in the Premier League for us but Winks was also poor at that level and at this level there isnt much between them.

He did about as much as Winks. One gets celebrated for passing sideways and offering little in attack and defence, the other gets hounded. Soumare is at the same level as the rest of his teammates (Winks, Vestergaard, Faes, Ayew). If youre fine with those players starting then you should be fine with Soumare.

Why not both?

Good defensively as well just a couple brain farts.

Couple mistakes defensively but he is just so ridiculously good. No way Kristiansen is on the bench ahead of him on footballing merit.

Taken off early so maybe.

Back on

Aluko injured

Sat behind me in the stands

I kind of agree that he's not been as good as the last time we were in the championship, his passing game seems to have regressed quite a bit and he's pretty much solely taking players on and shooting. That being said he's just got so much natural ability that despite being more one dimensional that dimension is still far too good for this league and he's still effective.

The negative is that he was left off the bench in the first game after signing his pro deal for Bobby Decordova Reid. Really hope the club do right by Page but i fear that we won't see him play for the first team for a while now that we have him nailed down on a contract, especially when Ramsey is back.

Monga shone because of Ayew

I remember looking at the season before he left Palace their win rate in the league with him starting was around 30% and without him starting it was 70%. It was a sample size of 31 games vs 7 games mind you but it just shows you how much a player like Ayew can hold a team back. Anyone who has played football themselves know that ball hogs like him are a nightmare to play with.

Yh Faes and Vestergaard who kept passing the ball to the opposition in the second half are proper decent whereas Thomas was useless I'll have what youre smoking

Got to be happy that he's at least playing and got the backing of the fans. Hopefully the form continues.

Interesting to see the polar opposite reactions to Winks's and Soumare's performances last night. One is getting slated and the other is being treated as the second coming. From what I saw there wasnt much between them, both were tidy in possession but didn't offer much in terms of forward penetration or defensive work. The reality is Soumare, like Winks, is good enough at this level because the opposition is so poor, he was fine yesterday.

I think we should look to sell in January if it looks like Cifuentes will still be here to the end of the season. Cifuentes clearly doesnt rate him and Nelson will only have one year left at the end of this season. It would be the best for both parties, allows Nelson to get a fresh start elsewhere where he can hopefully kick his career on and means we dont lose him on a free.

He was available, just dropped from the bench for Cordova Reid. Cifuentes himself said so in his pre match conference. I wouldnt put any weight into those 2 starts, now that we allegedly have him locked down with a new contract there is no longer a need to show him a pathway into the first team, he's not even making the bench with Ramsey out. Nelson was also available btw.

All I want at this point is to at least see one of Nelson or Page on the bench. It's been a bit gutting to see the divide that Cifuentes has created between the first team and the academy.