Hamza Choudhury

[StriderHiryu]

Might be controversial but I thought he was not so good tonight. Defensively he was superb, often times rescuing teammates when they made mistakes. But on the ball especially in the first half he gave it away a lot. Generally speaking this season he has been good on the ball but not so much tonight. I think you see the games Enzo uses him in, ones where the opposition sit back so much that if he loses it, it’s not terminal. 
 

The role he’s been asked to play is very difficult, but I suspect we will sign someone to compete / rotate with Winks and Ricardo. 

[Aleksz]

5 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Might be controversial but I thought he was not so good tonight. Defensively he was superb, often times rescuing teammates when they made mistakes. But on the ball especially in the first half he gave it away a lot. Generally speaking this season he has been good on the ball but not so much tonight. I think you see the games Enzo uses him in, ones where the opposition sit back so much that if he loses it, it’s not terminal. 
 

The role he’s been asked to play is very difficult, but I suspect we will sign someone to compete / rotate with Winks and Ricardo. 

Couldn’t disagree more. I think tonight was his best game in possession for us for a long long time, if not ever - albeit against an absolutely redundant press from Cardiff.

 

I think it’s important with Hamza to appreciate his limitations, but also what he’s very good at. When he’s in there alongside Winks it’s not his job to dictate the game - That’s Winks’.

 

I said it before a couple of weeks back on the previous page (Which probably says a lot about how much appreciation he doesn’t get sometimes) but Hamza’s role in this team is to break things up when we get caught in transition playing our pretty stuff. Players like Fernandinho and Rodri have been integral to Pep’s glory years by breaking things up, getting away with a silly amount of yellow cards - You see how much Man City fall apart without Rodri in there doing that.

 

Like someone said in the post match thread we could have really done with Hamza in the last 20 minutes against Ipswich. 
 

Hamza knows his role now, he knows his purpose thanks to Enzo’s fantastic coaching - and sure he will need to be replaced and upgraded eventually, but I think this profile is something that’s pretty integral.

[Ted Maul]

Not sure why he's still underrated by our fans. Probably wouldn't have lost at Ipswich if he got brought on.

[Chrysalis]

3 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Might be controversial but I thought he was not so good tonight. Defensively he was superb, often times rescuing teammates when they made mistakes. But on the ball especially in the first half he gave it away a lot. Generally speaking this season he has been good on the ball but not so much tonight. I think you see the games Enzo uses him in, ones where the opposition sit back so much that if he loses it, it’s not terminal. 
 

The role he’s been asked to play is very difficult, but I suspect we will sign someone to compete / rotate with Winks and Ricardo. 

Seems to be looking for negatives, lets put it this way, if he was on the pitch against ipswich doing what he did in this game I think we wouldnt have conceded.   All those rescues easily outweigh the odd loose ball.  His loose balls are also usually not in dangerous area, e.g. when mads passes it to someone running at our goal, thats what I call a problem.

 

However I think this is his best game for us this season, so we need consistency at that level.  I also can only recall 1 loose pass in my head from him that I noticed in the game towards the end.

 

Dont want to be in the Rodgers mindset where losing the ball is considered to be the biggest sin, I so hated that mentality, it got so bad it had clearly got in the players heads (as well as a some fans).  Thankfully Enzo doesnt seem to have the same obsession, he wants control of games, but I dont think he is panicking over the odd misplaced pass.  Enzo ball 2.0 which we now play is also more risky.

Edited 30 December 2023 by Chrysalis

[Tommy Fresh]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Might be controversial but I thought he was not so good tonight. Defensively he was superb, often times rescuing teammates when they made mistakes. But on the ball especially in the first half he gave it away a lot. Generally speaking this season he has been good on the ball but not so much tonight. I think you see the games Enzo uses him in, ones where the opposition sit back so much that if he loses it, it’s not terminal. 
 

The role he’s been asked to play is very difficult, but I suspect we will sign someone to compete / rotate with Winks and Ricardo. 

According to WhoScored his passing accuracy was at 92% 5th in the team.

[Foxinmarkfield]

7 hours ago, Ted Maul said:

Not sure why he's still underrated by our fans. Probably wouldn't have lost at Ipswich if he got brought on.

Felt like a loss at the time but I’m pretty sure we got a point 😉

[StriderHiryu]

 

Hamza lost the ball 10 times. Watch the first 15 minutes of that game again, he gave it away 5 times in the first 15 minutes! Often times when under no pressure and having time to pick his pass.

 

The stats show he had a great game defensively, as previously mentioned. But I'll have to agree to disagree with those saying this was his best game for us this season. This was against a team that did not press the midfield pivot of Winks or Choudhury at all. They backed off into a low block and let us build from the back as often as we wanted to.

 

I'm a big supporter of Hamza and think he's had a great season. He's always done a good job for us this season, and in general his passing has been good every time he's played. But for me, this game shows why Enzo doesn't pick him in games against the high pressing teams in the division. I can't go as far as to say he had a bad game, because he most certainly didn't. I just think that in possession, he needs to be sharper on the ball.

[Tommy Fresh]

27 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

Hamza lost the ball 10 times. Watch the first 15 minutes of that game again, he gave it away 5 times in the first 15 minutes! Often times when under no pressure and having time to pick his pass.

 

The stats show he had a great game defensively, as previously mentioned. But I'll have to agree to disagree with those saying this was his best game for us this season. This was against a team that did not press the midfield pivot of Winks or Choudhury at all. They backed off into a low block and let us build from the back as often as we wanted to.

 

I'm a big supporter of Hamza and think he's had a great season. He's always done a good job for us this season, and in general his passing has been good every time he's played. But for me, this game shows why Enzo doesn't pick him in games against the high pressing teams in the division. I can't go as far as to say he had a bad game, because he most certainly didn't. I just think that in possession, he needs to be sharper on the ball.

Winks lost it 8 times, and Dewsbury-Hall 14. You've also ignored him having a pretty good pass completion rate last night

[deep blue]

I do think there are a few on here who have an agenda against Hamza (I don't include you amongst those, Stryder).

 

When assessing any of our squad who were with us before this season you have to take into account the damage done by the treatment of certain players by the poisoned dwarf.  

 

In Hamza's case, he was given opportunities by the previous incumbent and responded well.  His strength was always as a destroyer but he was young enough to improve on his creative side were he given the right coaching and opportunity, But he was virtually frozen out by Rodgers.  I seem to remember one particular game where he was thrown into a weakened team as CB against Liverpool; we won 2-1 very much against the odds, he excelled and was lauded by Rodgers for his performance, and was summarily dropped out of sight.

 

So during his most important few years of his development he has been neglected.  It's always heartening to see our local lads make their way into the team, so although their abilities shouldn't be assessed through blue-tinted specs I feel they should receive encouragement from the fans.

 

What you can definitely say about Hamza is that he always gives of his best and he loves the club.  If only the same could have been said about some of the faint hearts who contributed to our demise over the last 2 seasons.

[baldeagle]

54 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Winks lost it 8 times, and Dewsbury-Hall 14. You've also ignored him having a pretty good pass completion rate last night

His passing  mostly consisted of 2 yards backwards passing though. I don’t rate Hamza at all but  I have to admit he has been a lot better this season so good on him , but last night he reverted back to his old self . 

Edited 30 December 2023 by baldeagle

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Love a local lad captaining the side.

[Ted Maul]

3 hours ago, Foxinmarkfield said:

Felt like a loss at the time but I’m pretty sure we got a point 😉

Yeah, I'd had a few when I posted that but the point still stands 

[Claridge]

11 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Might be controversial but I thought he was not so good tonight. Defensively he was superb, often times rescuing teammates when they made mistakes. But on the ball especially in the first half he gave it away a lot. Generally speaking this season he has been good on the ball but not so much tonight. I think you see the games Enzo uses him in, ones where the opposition sit back so much that if he loses it, it’s not terminal. 
 

The role he’s been asked to play is very difficult, but I suspect we will sign someone to compete / rotate with Winks and Ricardo. 

poor on the ball as usual but covered well. Not a prem standard player if go up

Edited 30 December 2023 by Claridge

[StriderHiryu]

Very good in the cup game. He played as the Winks replacement and in this one, the opposition pressed up high and tried to disrupt the double pivot. Hamza didn't put a foot wrong all game long, and several times received the ball under heavy pressure and dealt with it very well. Not just playing it back the way it came, but moving it onwards progressively. Defensively, he was also excellent.

 

I was critical of him in the last game, in this one he was my MOTM. In that position, you need confidence that if you give him the ball, he will look after it and get us out of trouble. I felt he did that all game long and Stolarczyk should have used him more often!

[frany104]

30 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Very good in the cup game. He played as the Winks replacement and in this one, the opposition pressed up high and tried to disrupt the double pivot. Hamza didn't put a foot wrong all game long, and several times received the ball under heavy pressure and dealt with it very well. Not just playing it back the way it came, but moving it onwards progressively. Defensively, he was also excellent.

 

I was critical of him in the last game, in this one he was my MOTM. In that position, you need confidence that if you give him the ball, he will look after it and get us out of trouble. I felt he did that all game long and Stolarczyk should have used him more often!

I agree MOTM for me too. Looks very composed on the ball to go with his defensive abilities already. He should be starting more games for us now. Enzo has improved him massively. 

[WigstonWanderer]

Thought he had a good match today. Looks very comfortable on the ball.

[Hamilton Fox]

Very composed today did well

[coolhandfox]

Give us an option? If we need to push Ricardo to number 8.

[Kierzz]

Don't normal rate Hamza but today he was brilliant both on the ball and off it.

 

Its refreshing to see a number of our players genuinely improving under a manager...

[Bryn]

I'd keep him at the club for the long-term personally. Don't think he will ever a Premier League star player but think he's got quality.

[Marshall Cockney Fox]

He's got a great eye for timing a challenge or interception. Brings his energy all around the park. Occasionally I feel his 'swagger' in possession is misplaced. As he's really not that talented to warrant an ego. But if we focus on his positive attributes & maximise them. He's a resource in this division. As for the prem - 🤔

[westernpark]

Charged with drink driving according to the Sun.

[alanf0x]

Seems to have that swagger that he is a lot better than he actually is

[Ric Flair]

I thought he was excellent last night.

[westernpark]

Just now, Ric Flair said:

I thought he was excellent last night.

I thought he was good but shouldn’t have been playing left back, got caught a number of times by Burns over the top, which was just down to positioning or not being switched on enough due to unfamiliarity of position.. His tackling was excellent and I’d have liked to have seen him move centrally during the game.