Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
Neither of our central midfield players is going to look like Steven Gerrard in our system. He works within that.
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[Albion] Dale Stephens? Really??
- Thread starter Gilliver's Travels
- Start date
Razzoo
Well-known member
He is integral to our team. I was delighted when he decided to stay and **** Burnley off. Class player who probably deserves an England call up.
It was the club who decided he was staying, he was desperate to leave. We ****ed Burnley off, not him.
When he signed the new contract with us, he realised it was his most realistic chance of playing in the Premier League as Burnley had purchased the central midfielders they needed and he’d have been well down the pecking order if he’d gone there on a free.
He is now a solid Premier League midfielder who is essential to the way we play but he needs a few goals and the confidence to hit some longer raking passes to players in space (instead of turning around & passing to a defender) if he wants to hit the next level and be talked about as a transfer target or possible England player.
I still think Kayal would be above him if he’d remained fit after his player of the season award.
Are you saying we aren't allowed to explore the quality of Albion players on an Albion message board? I don't agree with these comments, but the op is entitled to ask and has had some well argued replies. The Locadia thread even more so. It's not criticism in the Locadia case, just bemusement - and many people are equally nonplussed.
Betfair Bozo
Well-known member
- Jul 24, 2007
- 2,096
Exactly. Lower down from our current lofty heights he was a little more box to box. Propper is way more progressive when playing for the Dutch. You have to remember who we are, who we are up against and who our manager is. Both of them could improve a little in terms of distribution but who couldn't? If they were any closer to being complete as midfielders you can be damn sure they wouldn't play for us anyway. Even Gerrard and Lampard needed a Lucas or a Makelele to be able to do what they did anyway.
Machiavelli
Well-known member
I'd go along with this point. In order for Dale to improve, he needs to hit longer forward passes, so that he has a fuller repertoire, and we have more variety in our play, and can exploit the pace that our forward players possess (Izquierdo, Andone, Knockaert, Jahanbakhsh, March and, I think, Locadia). It was noticeable against Southampton when Gross was playing the deep midfield role just how many long forward passes he hit, many of which were accurate, and despite the near unanimity of the comments on this board claiming the role didn't suit him.
seagull_special
Well-known member
Yes but apart from that what does he do?
Super Steve Earle
Well-known member
And yet so many on NSC were creaming themselves over Wilshere who makes a career out of 10 yard passes and f*** all else
darkwolf666
Well-known member
And yet so many on NSC were creaming themselves over Wilshere who makes a career out of 10 yard passes and f*** all else
Wilshere is also quite good at being injured, a talent that has largely passed Dale by!
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
If only the club had details under each player on the official site, you'd be able to see and analyse all his passes and distribution.
Oh.
https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/teams/first-team/midfielder/dale-stephens/
Machiavelli
Well-known member
Height 169cm. Shurely shume mishtake
Machiavelli
Well-known member
Also indicates that he plays more than twice as many forward balls as backwards, although more than twice as many backward and sideways as forwards.
Sorry, just noticed you wanted with him as well.
played 39
won 10
drawn 14
lost 15
for 39
against 55
win percent 25.6%
goals per game average 1
points per game average 1.13
Hmm. How long is he out for now?
Nixonator
Well-known member
played 4
won 0
drawn 0
lost 4
for 0
against 8
win percent 0%
goals per game average 0
points per game average 0
The first time I compared our record without Stephens to Palace's without Zaha, my tongue was firmly in cheek. Starting to wonder...
sussex_guy2k2
Well-known member
- Jun 6, 2014
- 3,734
What games were they though? Man City away isn't exactly a fair barometer to judge such statistics...
