Tomori gets the Jack Stamps
Keogh gets the players’ player. Curious that his peers and his managers rate him so highly yet he divides fans so much.
Bogle gets the young player award
In a season where we have been consistently at the top end challenging for promotion it is our defenders who are singled out for praise. This seems right to me. None of the forward players has played well with any kind of consistency. Wagstaff and Marriott have looked good only in patches. Wilson’s great goals have masked what are often anonymous performances. Mount looks top class but can be a peripheral figure. Lawrence, Holmes, Bennett have been very inconsistent while Zoon has unfortunately been too consistent and not in the way we hoped. Johnson’s return has certainly helped the defence but on the ball he remains poor.
And we haven’t played well, not really. Only on rare occasions have we dominated or controlled play, even against poorer teams. The midfield has never looked a proper unit and the wide players too often give the ball away cheaply. How are we sixth? With occasional exceptions like at St Andrews the defence has been solid and given away few cheap goals. Often it has rescued us when we have lost the ball in midfield and teams have broken forward. Wilson’s worldies have probably added a dozen points or so to what we might have otherwise accumulated, and the table and our assessment of the season would be very different without them.
I will still be surprised if we finish sixth, though I hope for it. There is certainly character in the team - we have come back from being behind many times - but I hoped for signs of an established, fluid pattern of play by now under Lampard. I watched Brentford beat Leeds the other day and I thought how pleasing they were on the eye. I wish we played a bit more like that.
Lampard is still learning of course. One season to get a feel for it, OK, but next season he needs to stamp a bit of style on the play. It would be great if a year from now the winners were players like Marriott, Thomas and Mitchell-Lawson. Then we would have seen some football.
POTYs
posted on 25/4/19
Rowett agreed to sell him but i would argue he had very little say on the fee and from what i was told he was pushing for a move anyway.
Can't really argue with the selections for player of the year as both Tomori and Keogh have been the 2 almost ever present and consistent this season. Bogle has grown in to the side, just hope we are not tempted by a derisory bid from the likes of Burnley again.
Hoping for the play off's as it means i will get to at least 1 more game before the end of the season.
posted on 25/4/19
comment by Scouse (U9675)
posted 1 hour, 33 minutes ago
3R, I don't think Will's price would be dictated by GR.
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See what you're saying, but Rowatt must have had some influence one way or another.
posted on 25/4/19
Tommo, I'm hoping for the playoffs too. The weekend's results will be interesting! We need at least a draw at Ashton Gate. And wins v Swansea and Wet Bum.
posted on 25/4/19
The tough game is going to be at Swansea, their home record is fantastic despite what Spart says about statistics. If we beat Brizzle, the game in Wales won't be so critical.
posted on 25/4/19
Shane Long has not scored the quickest goal ever, that was scored by Jim Fryatt a long time ago, in 4 seconds. If I remember correctly Fryatt always used to give McFarland a rough time in matches, he was a very physical centre forward from the old school.
My question to you is: who provided the pass for Fryatt's fastest goal?
posted on 25/4/19
I can't answer your question VC, but you should know that football didn't exist until 1992, so Jim Fryatt's goal never happened.
posted on 25/4/19
I'll give you a hint: the club that the goal that never happened was in Yorkshire and my is a clue.
posted on 25/4/19
Well if it was for BPA, I would guess Kevin Hector?
posted on 25/4/19
George Smiley?
posted on 25/4/19
Scouse, congratulations you are correct and have won the mystery prize.
There is an article in today's Telegraph sport section about Jim Fryatt and it says that: Fryatt kicked off and the ball went to the right half Atkinson who passed to the right wing Lawrie, he cut back and passed the ball to the inside right, (The Great) Kevin Hector, who passed to a charging Jim Fryatt who smashed the ball home.
When I read that at breakfast it gave me a real feel good urge, I'd forgotten about Jim Fryatt but I still remember Zak!!!