Mid-season Review 2018-19

MrsGrey

This discussion was created from comments split from: West Ham United v Birmingham City 12:30, 5/1/19.

claretandbluesky

A few observations now the Christmas run has come to an end.

Rice looks to me to be the player we could least be without and looking likely hammer of the year with Fabianski as competition. He and Diop I think have also played every minute of this Christmas period without rest, yet looked pretty ok with it which is clear testament to their fitness.

We have done incredibly well with a patched up squad and even though our performance has indeed dipped during matches the effort level hasn't !

Carroll does look like he may struggle to make an impact in this team playing this way, yet his desire to make an impact from the very first moment is immense, a credit to himself.

Each time Anderson is on the ball I get excited and think something good can happen.

However each time Antonio is on the ball despite excellent work, pace and strength to go past players I always think nothing will come of it as his last pass, shot or decision will always fail to match his raw aggression and ability. There are simply some things that are untrainable. Give him Chicos finishing and Andersons passing and you would have a 100m player.

Someone someday will unearth themselves a great winger in Masuaku in the way Moyes made a striker out of Arnie. He is no more than a squad full back at present however.

MrsGrey

c+b, I moved your post out of the Birmingham match thread.