Soumare

[Dan]

He's honestly infuriating. Because he is capable. I cannot be sold on him until we've seen a sustained run of good form from him. He's got a lot of the tools. But for the love of god give us a sustained run.

[Marshall Cockney Fox]

Credit where credits due. Latterly his impression of a footballer has been much improved. Let's hope it continues.

[shiv]

8 hours ago, Finnegan said:

Not sure about some of the praise. Especially funny as well in tandem with Ndidi getting motm. 

 

He had some good moments and was OK when he got on the ball, put in a couple of alright tackles. 

 

But they were absolutely walking through us time and time again. There was just oceans of room in the middle of the park as neither of them really held shape and both were frequently just jogging around lost. 

 

Absolutely fully acknowledge that it was a big improvement for him personally and would also say it was a collective, team issue and we had similar when Enzo first came in and tried to establish the defensive shape. 

 

So I'm not for one second calling him out for that performance. But some of these reactions, you'd think he put the shift in BEK did. 

 

There seems to be a common perception that the midfield is supposed to stop opposition teams from breaking through. In what universe can 2 players cover the entirety of the midfield along with covering wingers when they don’t track back? That’s a shape issue not a personnel issue. No midfielder except Kante can cover that much ground.

 

Soumare was excellent last night. His biggest issue for us has always been his work ethic, but he put an absolute shift in. Anyone that thinks otherwise is deluded. 

[Fox42]

For me, it’s his off the ball movement that needs work on which will take him to the next level. One thing he has been consistently good at for the past month now is his passing, and his range of passing today was more vast since the start of his redemption period a few games ago.

[trooky]

23 minutes ago, shiv said:

There seems to be a common perception that the midfield is supposed to stop opposition teams from breaking through. In what universe can 2 players cover the entirety of the midfield along with covering wingers when they don’t track back? That’s a shape issue not a personnel issue. No midfielder except Kante can cover that much ground.

 

Soumare was excellent last night. His biggest issue for us has always been his work ethic, but he put an absolute shift in. Anyone that thinks otherwise is deluded. 

Totally agree, he worked very hard last night. 

[coolhandfox]

I think he has the attributes to be a decent player, just prone to mistakes and switch off.  

 

Similar to Faes he has the ability but lacks application.

[brookfox]

It’s the way he uses his body to shield the ball and then dribble out of space that’s so impressive for a guy of his size. Never going to be a destroyer like Wilf or a ball winner like Kante but he’s got quality when he’s on it. Think the biggest question for Ruud is who starts out of him and Winks, as Wilf as CDM is still a real asset in our position. If we start getting more of the ball maybe Winks + Soumare can work, but for me right now it’s Wilf +1.

[JonesLCFC]

10 hours ago, sm1 said:

His best performance for us, but we all know that's a low bar. Still think he loses concentration and lets runners past him too often. I think in an ideal world he'd play further up because his passing is pretty good. 

This gets commented every time he has a good game! I think it’s time we admit that he’s actually had quite a few decent performances for us now. He just needs to consistently put in the effort, which should be a given! He was really good last night—I’m not sure about some of the posts saying he was average and Ndidi carried him. They worked well as a team together!

[Tommy G]

Ruud clearly loves him, if he can get to 60% of Yaya Toure level we've got a player.

[Bablemikey]

To be fair he's been improving over the last few games. I think we can give full credit to Cooper for this impressive development.

[Aleksz]

Every manager that’s come in (Barring enzo, presumably because he showed no desire to play championship football) has seen something in him in training to want to play him from the off. I think Coady has said as much about him on talksport iirc?

 

Theres so clearly a player in there, it just needs to be translated into some consistency in a match day. At least from the aspect of intensity/desire. 

[honeybradger]

I think he stopped a lot more attacks the other night than he let through. Considering how much stick he gets for losing his runner (I am guilty of this as well), lets give him some praise for the way he put his all in to stopping attackers from getting past him last night.

[Chelmofox]

I thought he was one of the better players against Chelsea (i know we were poor overall, but he still stood out). Thought he was really good yesterday. 

 

Might be reading too much into it, but it feels like something has clicked. 

[roblcfc84]

Had a really good game last night, and has showed some other good moments this season. Previously the criticism of him was totally justified, but he’s playing well now and developing with each game. 

[Aleksz]

5 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I thought he was one of the better players against Chelsea (i know we were poor overall, but he still stood out). Thought he was really good yesterday. 

 

Might be reading too much into it, but it feels like something has clicked. 

Been quite good since United in the cup tbh, was the best of a bad bunch that night too. 

[pmcla26]

When he plays well he's extremely good. 

 

I love watching him when he's on it, I really want him to succeed here. 

[Dahnsouff]

Much more of this type of form finding nonsense and we will be able to field a "Redemption Arc" XI 

[AKCJ]

Any manager that gets tubs to run around like that gets the thumbs up from me.

 

Got the ability, just needs to show he wants it on a consistent basis.

 

When he's charging about like that he's pretty much untouchable. 

[Jobyfox]

44 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Ruud clearly loves him, if he can get to 60% of Yaya Toure level we've got a player.

He’s not yet been here a week and has selected him for one game …. 

[kingpower]

with Wilf, Bouba and Winks in the midfield I just wish we hadn't gone out and spunked £25m on Skipp - who I'm unclear as to what his strengths are.
That money could have been spent on a more creative, box-to-box ball carrier which I think we desperately lack 

Edited 4 December 2024 by kingpower

[Bordersfox]

Just now, kingpower said:

with Wilf, Bouba and Winks in the midfield I just wish we hadn't gone out and spunked £25m on Skipp - who I'm unclear as to his strengths are.
That money could have been spent on a more creative, box-to-box ball carrier which I think we desperately lack 

My fear always with Ndidi is he often gets injured for a decent portion of the season and we are then left with pretty poor options to replace him. 

 

Bouba still has a lot to prove and nobody would have seen him in our first team in the summer.  

 

Of course, now we've spent 25m on Skipp Ndidi will be fit as a fiddle all season!

 

I still think Skipp will prove a good signing in time but yes, there are definitely other areas that need strengthening more urgently.  

[kingpower]

5 minutes ago, Bordersfox said:

My fear always with Ndidi is he often gets injured for a decent portion of the season and we are then left with pretty poor options to replace him. 

 

Bouba still has a lot to prove and nobody would have seen him in our first team in the summer.  

 

Of course, now we've spent 25m on Skipp Ndidi will be fit as a fiddle all season!

 

I still think Skipp will prove a good signing in time but yes, there are definitely other areas that need strengthening more urgently.  

for £25m you would ideally want a nailed on starter at our level/budget.
I'm not writing off Skipp - but he isn't nailed on

[Chelmofox]

3 minutes ago, kingpower said:

for £25m you would ideally want a nailed on starter at our level/budget.
I'm not writing off Skipp - but he isn't nailed on

Winks got injured. Ndidi will get injured. Skipp will come good.

[Tommy G]

50 minutes ago, Jobyfox said:

He’s not yet been here a week and has selected him for one game …. 

Comments post match

[Jobyfox]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Comments post match

Ah ok 👍