Would You Start Schlupp At Left-Back?

[Guest MattP]

King had nailed it down until last season when Drinkwater and James's partnership became a big part of the team, but this year I'm sure he'll have a bigger part than last year. Moore looked great whenever he played and at 21 he can only get better. Schlupp could get better as well but I'm definitely not convinced that he should be first choice for left back this season, no.

 

King did well but their was no doubt he wasn't needed at all in the side when James finally started playing to his ability, I thought Moore looked excellent in parts (at centre back) but again lost his place fairly comfortably in the end.

 

I've certainly seen nothing last season to tell me King or Moore should be replacing James or Wasyl coming up a division.

[Alf Bentley]

The thing is that worries me about Schlupp is his composer on the ball, 

 

 

His composer on the ball? Brahms and Liszt? 

 

That seems very harsh to me.

Just had a look through the programme to check that out. Schlupp played 15 league games at left back and the team conceded 9 goals and scored 27. That's an average of .6 goals per game conceded and 1.8  scored.

Konchesky played 31 games and we conceded 34 and scored 53 (ave 1.09 and 1.7).

That doesn't seem to suggest an incompetent Championship left back, and while I acknowledge that there are lies, lies and damn statistics, I have to say that to my eye Jeff played very well in that position for the vast majority of the time (I am a ST holder and saw 8 away games)

His performance against Reading has been mentioned, and whilst I agree that was not his best night, we could equally point to any player on particular occasions and question them, Schmeichel v Doncaster and Blackpool for example.

I, like all of us, simply do not know how he will cope in the Premier League, but then we must say that for all of our players with the exception of Albrighton. I personally think that if he commits to the position (which he has suggested in his interview this week), he has every chance of being as successful as any in our group. I very much hope so because he is a home-grown player of great potential and is more likely to fulfil that at Left back than striker in my humble opinion.

 

A well-argued point and interesting stats. I for one would see him as a more than adequate Championship left back, but some of the performances against the better Championship wingers (e.g. Reading) are a cause for concern, as he'd playing wingers of that calibre week in, week out in the Premier.

 

It's a bit of a red herring for people to go on about opponents like Walcott and Hazard. Whoever plays LB for us is likely to have a difficult game against them. What we do need is a LB who can cope reasonably well against the wingers of the bottom 13 teams. Maybe Schlupp can make the step up. I really hope that he can; it'd be great to have one or more youth team players make it as Premier Leaguers. Obviously, NP and team will be much better judges of that than anyone on here. Wait and see, as ever, I suppose....

[kingcarr21]

I think people are getting a bit carried away here, Schulpp, Moore and King all being talked about as Premier League regulars, surely if they were they would have nailed down first team spots in the Championship?

For me though Pace is needed more in the Prem than the championship.We play Wasyl and Konchesky and we will get found out pretty quickly. I wouldnt mind seeing them in the starting line up but i would see us having a more difficult season than if we play moore and schluup. They also have age on there side and yet to reach there prime age as an outfield player. I suppose ideally i would like to see them get there fair share of gametime and not be on the bench the whole time whilst the older players play week in week out. I just hope there development will continue and not come to a halt sitting on the bench all the time.

 

Then again if the youngsters start and play well then bigger teams will come sniffing around. Guess there needs to be a happy medium.

[crisp packet]

Other than a mistake at Leeds away I don't recall a Jeffrey mistake which cost us points? But I do feel we need full back cover, would prefer one which covers right/left ?

I would start jeff.

[Jimmy]

Moore lost his place due to a broken rib and seeing as neither Wes nor Was did anything droppable he didn't get it back, James sat out some time before getting his place back after serving a ban too

[dakin_fox]

The more games Schlupp gets under his belt, the more he will improve. I can see him being a bit dodgy towards the start of the season but as he plays more, getting used to the standard in the premier league, he will improve massively and by the time January comes round i believe he will be a good premier league left back.

[HitchinFox]

Most of us have been proven wrong a few times over the past two years (Pearson out, Vardy not good enough for Championship, Wood will transform our fortunes) so I'm actually glad we're writing Schlupp off as a left back.

Personally, I too think he's nowhere near good enough for the Prem as a defender and am really worried about that position. 

All set up beautifully for Jeff to become another surprise that shows that no matter how much we THINK we know, we don't. 

 

 

[Ric Flair]

King did well but their was no doubt he wasn't needed at all in the side when James finally started playing to his ability, I thought Moore looked excellent in parts (at centre back) but again lost his place fairly comfortably in the end.

 

I've certainly seen nothing last season to tell me King or Moore should be replacing James or Wasyl coming up a division.

 

The thing is, Pearson rarely changes a winning team unless he has to. Moore lost his place the season before and I didn't think he'd then be first choice for last season but he was. He was night and day better than 2012/13 season and if it wasn't for his injury against Middlesborough then he'd have been first choice for the majority of the season. We missed his pace at times in the 2nd half of the season but Wasyl's experience and aggression plugged the gap and Nigel had no reason to change it much. I think Moore will be first choice again to start this new season.

 

King will be a squad player who'll be used when we go 3 in the middle but that's if we don't sign another central midfielder.

 

I've no idea what Schlupp will do, the potential is just as uncertain as the mistakes and weaknesses in his game. Konchesky looks no more assured either. It's a concern for me.

[Manwell Pablo]

Need a left back bringing in, Schlupp was barely good enough against the better sides in the Championship never mind the Premeir League. Konchesky is unfortunately a little over the hill to play regular top flight football.  

[AKCJ]

Is he ****

He was Sunderlands player of the season whilst on loan there and was close to an England call up.....streets ahead of what we have and still young!

Also prem experience under his belt

 

 

Oh well you've definitely won that argument.

[fuchsntf]

All the players are a concern, this team has never played in the PL, so give Schlupp,his chance.

Lets quit denouncing the guy before a ball is kicked.

This time last year, many of you wanted to hang Pearson, Vardy, and uncle tom cobberly.

You aint on the selection seats, thank god.

All of you phsycho analysed, all the why nots on Nugent and Vardy, same as you are doing now with Schlupp.

Ive come to bury ceasar not praise him seems many of your, prepared posts after 1st game.

[Danno]

Is he ****

He was Sunderlands player of the season whilst on loan there and was close to an England call up.....streets ahead of what we have and still young!

Also prem experience under his belt

Despite Spurs fans hating him and abusing him on social networks then

[tomtom]

Oh well you've definitely won that argument.

Best player for a team who were at that time comfortable in the premier,... I dare say I'm actually right

[tomtom]

Despite Spurs fans hating him and abusing him on social networks then

Like our fans hating and abusing Pearson, Vardy, Drinkwater at certain points on social networks.......hmmm, must be a given then

[Guest MattP]

The thing is, Pearson rarely changes a winning team unless he has to. Moore lost his place the season before and I didn't think he'd then be first choice for last season but he was. He was night and day better than 2012/13 season and if it wasn't for his injury against Middlesborough then he'd have been first choice for the majority of the season. We missed his pace at times in the 2nd half of the season but Wasyl's experience and aggression plugged the gap and Nigel had no reason to change it much. I think Moore will be first choice again to start this new season.

 

King will be a squad player who'll be used when we go 3 in the middle but that's if we don't sign another central midfielder.

 

I've no idea what Schlupp will do, the potential is just as uncertain as the mistakes and weaknesses in his game. Konchesky looks no more assured either. It's a concern for me.

 

He rarely changes but if Moore and King were THAT good they would have regained their places. Wood was an able deputy for Vardy at times, James and Drinks dropped out a couple of times for King later on but they still were instantly returned to the first upon full fitness as they were that important to the side.

 

Neither of these two were that impressive they demanded a first team spot whenever fully fit like Kasper, RDL, Vardy, Drinks, James, Morgan and Mahrez did. I really don't see how they will a level up. (although with his age obviously Moore could still improve considerably)

[Fox Ulike]

He rarely changes but if Moore and King were THAT good they would have regained their places. Wood was an able deputy for Vardy at times, James and Drinks dropped out a couple of times for King later on but they still were instantly returned to the first upon full fitness as they were that important to the side.

 

Neither of these two were that impressive they demanded a first team spot whenever fully fit like Kasper, RDL, Vardy, Drinks, James, Morgan and Mahrez did. I really don't see how they will a level up. (although with his age obviously Moore could still improve considerably)

 

Bizarre argument. So last season when James was keeping King out, and Moore was keeping Was out - would you have argued that neither James nor Was were good enough. Cos if they were  THAT good they would have regained their places?

 

It's a squad game.  Squad rotation's what you need. If you want to be the best, if you want to beat the rest... squad rotation's what ya need.

[MC Prussian]

It's a tough call with left-backs, I think. Isn't there a general consensus that it's the position where teams really struggle to find good enough talent?

I can but assume there's a few makeshift outer defenders in the game just like Schlupp - players that started out in a completely different position (I know it's common for players to switch positions pretty often in their youth days).

 

What I wanted to point out is that it's hard to name a couple of current left-backs that are both affordable and tested at a top tier level.

 

There's the prevailing hope that Schlupp can develop into a fine player like Patrice Evra.

[Guest MattP]

Bizarre argument. So last season when James was keeping King out, and Moore was keeping Was out - would you have argued that neither James nor Was were good enough. Cos if they were  THAT good they would have regained their places?

 

It's a squad game.  Squad rotation's what you need. If you want to be the best, if you want to beat the rest... squad rotation's what ya need.

 

Well not at all because at that time we hardly seen Wasyl or James actually have a run of games in the side so they hadn't earn't the right to an automatic place at that point. I can assure you if King puts together a run of games whilst one of our middle is injured now that James or Drinkwater would still return to the side upon recovery, that's because we know the class they have now over an extended period.

 

If you think King would hold his place over Drinkwater on a couple of good games then you're wrong.

 

Surprised at the second line as apart from Millwall on NYD or towards the season end when we were already up, Nigel very rarely did use squad rotation, he generally stuck to what he thought he best 11 was.

[Fox Ulike]

Well not at all because at that time we hardly seen Wasyl or James actually have a run of games in the side so they hadn't earn't the right to an automatic place at that point. I can assure you if King puts together a run of games whilst one of our middle is injured now that James or Drinkwater would still return to the side upon recovery, that's because we know the class they have now over an extended period.

 

If you think King would hold his place over Drinkwater on a couple of good games then you're wrong.

 

Surprised at the second line as apart from Millwall on NYD or towards the season end when we were already up, Nigel very rarely did use squad rotation, he generally stuck to what he thought he best 11 was.

 

Ah yeah I don't mean squad rotation do I. I mean that Pearson rarely automatically recalls a 'first teamer' if they have been out of the side. He tries to build a squad and if you come in and do well chances are you'll stay there.

 

Every position is up for grabs. Drinkwater/Schmiecal the only possible exceptions to this.

[Livid]

If it's an either or with no new signing then I would go with Schlupp for his pace alone.

 

My confidence in him has been dented somewhat after his performance for Ghana against Holland, yes I know he was unfamiliar with the team, playing the 3rd best team in the world and up against Robben, but they ripped him a new one.

 

Whilst he won't be up against Robben every week he will be facing some real quality at times.

 

I'm happy with our forward line, think we have the depth in Midfield but the Centre and Left Back's we have make me nervous. Fantastic job last year but i'm not sure about their quality and pace at this level.