Dunk

[Danny-Boy]

I thought he had a really good game last night, making some excellent last ditch tackles. Apropos of nothing, as I was filling my car up for the return journey at the BP garage on Mill Road, he pulled in to fill his chelsea tractor up. I gave him a discreet cheery thumbs up as I drove away which he faintly acknowledged while managing to send facial signals saying "don't stop and get out of your car". Fair enough; but I do worry about the impact that such relative lack of wanting to mix with the fans has on the kids who are just starting out on their fandom journey. This isn't a pop at Lewis - nearly all footballers are the same (Calde excepted, obviously) - just a general observation.

Good point, I think most footballers in the League generally are in the "celeb bubble", I got rather irate about this whilst having a haircut last Saturday as the seat next to me was filled by a "poseur" who claimed he was a tekkie for Sky or somebody and claimed to have just been everywhere round the world filming football or whatever. There is a whole industry now around Premiership and top League football, look at the hordes of "pundits"..

Which begs the question: why was he having a bog-standard haircut in Seaford, rather than a perm and set somewhere more "exclusive"...

 

[Withdean11]

Dunk was much better than he has been recently, but still lacked concentration a couple of times and quite a few mis placed passes. He also failed to clear the ball once and gave it straight to Derby on the edge of the box. Certainly not excellent as some have described.

The criticism of Greer is getting very boring now. Not sure what people have against him. He was fairly solid and picked up the pieces for Dunk when he lapsed concentration. Some decent forward passes too.

Both deserve a 7/10.

 

[Machiavelli]

Financially there is never a wrong time to move from Championship to Premier League but in every other respect it is the WRONG time for Dunk to be moving.

His court case is in the past, we have a settled management / coaching staff of 3 former defenders including Calderwood with his vast experience, there's every likelihood Greer may not be captain next season and Dunk has to be a frontrunner for that position. We have some good players contracted for next season, we're under no pressure to sell. I personally believe that Dunk's stock could rise a hell of a lot higher than it is now, it is not inconceivable he could be captaining a promotion-chasing side in just 6 months' time, and if he makes his mark at the top end of the table then who knows.

He currently has faults and these will be ruthlessly exposed in the Prem. Better to iron these out in the more forgiving Championship, become the finished article then maybe make that move and become a starter for the likes of Sunderland, West Brom or Stoke (obviously not Palace!), rather than be a bench player for a bottom three Prem side. Defenders get very little game time when they're on the bench as managers are under financial pressure to chase wins by bringing on attacking players or industrious midfielders.

Some good points here. I'm hoping that Greer loses the captaincy for next season, and either Dunk or, perhaps better, Kayal gets it. I'd be happy with Dunk getting it if it means it increases his likelihood of staying, as you suggest.
RE bench players. Defenders tend not to get brought on, because managers like consistent selections in defence, and especially goalkeepers and centre-backs. I do think that you're right that, long-term, Dunk would be wise to stay with us at least until the January transfer window and probably for the whole of next season. But perhaps I/you/we would say that, wouldn't we.

 

[BensGrandad]

According to a scout that is all paper and agent talk as apparently most Premier clubs including West Ham do not rate him very highly, there are many better, 2 at AFCB, apparently.. This is good news for us as he can stay and be our main CB for some years to come. I thought that he had a good game against Derby but it must be remebered he had no recognised striker to mark but you can only do well against those put up against you, which he did.

 

[Algernon]

He's a great asset to the team and works his socks off. However he was lucky he didn't give away a penalty when he gave Ince a shove to send him past the ball. Apparently Ince tripped over himself (29 secs)


Obligatory "I've seen them given for less" comment.

 

[Hugh'sDad]

Dunk is improving steadily but he still makes errors, he defends too deep at times. If he moves this summer it will be one year too early. I think he will play in the Prem though.

This.

Next Season

£7mil

 

[Danny-Boy]

According to a scout that is all paper and agent talk as apparently most Premier clubs including West Ham do not rate him very highly, there are many better, 2 at AFCB, apparently.. This is good news for us as he can stay and be our main CB for some years to come. I thought that he had a good game against Derby but it must be remebered he had no recognised striker to mark but you can only do well against those put up against you, which he did.

Wasn't it against West Ham he scored a classic OG a couple of seasons ago...