Almen Abdi

[David1867]

1 minute ago, SBOwl said:

 

Change in formation to 4-5-1 as can't play forestieri in that formation easily, one up front. 4-5-1 lets you play with 3 in the middle mewing you can accommodate Abdi as an attacking midfielder as the most forward of the 3 behind the lone striker. 

It seems almost too logical for Carlos to set us up like that but I 100% agree with you. 

[York_Owl]

58 minutes ago, StudentOwl said:

Can someone do me a favour and explain what they mean when they say "with FF out Abdi can replace him, let's see what he does"?

Forestieri is best wide left or as a striker, the two positions he's played in all season. Abdi is a central attacking midfielder. Since when has a central attacking midfielder equated to being a left winger or a striker? Or am I missing something obvious? 

It could herald a change in formation e.g. 4-2-3-1 in which Abdi could play the Central attacking midfield role.

[WalthamOwl]

On the official premier league twitter feed the goal of the day they do from this day last year was scored by Abdi, cracking strike against Stoke. 

Edited December 3, 2016 by WalthamOwl

[Guest Kagoshimaowl]

Cometh the hour cometh the man.  His time to shine in the number ten role now that Fernando is suspended.

[Belfast Owl 2]

He clearly hasn't had a chance.

 

However many fans on here who seek attention write him off.

 

Must have little going for them

[Socialist_Owl]

He has to get a run during FF's absence.

[Mr. Tom]

Pure speculation this, but I do wonder if there's an element of staff politics underpinning some of this - we saw how DC and Carlos chose to play hardball with other clubs over the whole FF thing, and it does seem as though Abdi was essentially added to our Watford shopping basket as something of a non-optional 'extra' when we'd only really popped in for a bit of Pudil. Unless I've misunderstood the situation back then, I didn't really get the impression we'd gone looking to buy Abdi of our own volition, and maybe Watford had us over a barrel a bit, knowing how urgently we needed to strengthen at the back.

 

*If* that was indeed the case, I do wonder if there's a bit of 'nobody tells us who to put in our team' going on, in addition to whatever fitness issues Abdi's working through.

 

Hope he gets a better chance after Xmas when we've proved to everyone else that we can still hold a strong league position again with the team we basically already had.

[McRightSide]

1 hour ago, Mr. Tom said:

Pure speculation this, but I do wonder if there's an element of staff politics underpinning some of this - we saw how DC and Carlos chose to play hardball with other clubs over the whole FF thing, and it does seem as though Abdi was essentially added to our Watford shopping basket as something of a non-optional 'extra' when we'd only really popped in for a bit of Pudil. Unless I've misunderstood the situation back then, I didn't really get the impression we'd gone looking to buy Abdi of our own volition, and maybe Watford had us over a barrel a bit, knowing how urgently we needed to strengthen at the back.

 

*If* that was indeed the case, I do wonder if there's a bit of 'nobody tells us who to put in our team' going on, in addition to whatever fitness issues Abdi's working through.

 

Hope he gets a better chance after Xmas when we've proved to everyone else that we can still hold a strong league position again with the team we basically already had.

 

So what you're saying is we were so desperate to get Pudil that we forked out an extra 4million in transfer fees plus another 1.5million in salary to get him - on top of what we paid for Pudil

 

So that's about 6million plus salary for two players on Pudil

 

dont you think if we wanted to spend that money on a left back we'd have bought someone else?

 

have a word with yourself

[Mr. Tom]

9 minutes ago, McRightSide said:

 

So what you're saying is we were so desperate to get Pudil that we forked out an extra 4million in transfer fees plus another 1.5million in salary to get him - on top of what we paid for Pudil

 

So that's about 6million plus salary for two players on Pudil

 

dont you think if we wanted to spend that money on a left back we'd have bought someone else?

 

have a word with yourself

 

No not at all, i think we'd decided on Pudil and we were presented with the 'option' to take Abdi too (with not insignificant pressure) in order to seal the deal. Of course we weren't willing to spend £5m and two salaries to get Pudil, but if it was a case of simply 'going out and getting someone else' then we probably wouldn't have been in for Pudil at all. We weren't exactly overloaded with defensive buying options in summer.

 

Like everyone else was initially, I'm really glad we got Abdi. My point is that CC had essentially already built the bulk of his team for this season when that deal happened, and as yet he hasn't broken from that plan to create room for the marquee signing that he never really planned to make. I think that smacks somewhat of a statement, is all I'm saying.

 

Plus I couldn't really have been more clear that i wasn't stating it as gospel.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Mr. Tom

[McRightSide]

4 minutes ago, Mr. Tom said:

 

No not at all, i think we'd decided on Pudil and we were presented with the 'option' to take Abdi too (with not insignificant pressure) in order to seal the deal. Of course we weren't willing to spend £5m and two salaries to get Pudil, but if it was a case of simply 'going out and getting someone else' then we probably wouldn't have been in for Pudil at all. We weren't exactly overloaded with defensive buying options in summer.

 

Like everyone else was initially, I'm really glad we got Abdi. My point is that CC had essentially already built the bulk of his team for this season when that deal happened, and as yet he hasn't broken from that plan to create room for the marquee signing that he never really planned to make. I think that smacks somewhat of a statement, is all I'm saying.

 

Plus I couldn't really have been more clear that i wasn't stating it as gospel.

 

I never said you were saying it as gospel, I just said that your idea (which you repeated again - that we had to spend that amount on Abdi to get Pudil) is nonsense

 

and if we'd had 6million and 45k a week to spend on a left back we would have had plenty of options.

[Mr. Tom]

2 minutes ago, McRightSide said:

 

I never said you were saying it as gospel, I just said that your idea (which you repeated again - that we had to spend that amount on Abdi to get Pudil) is nonsense

 

and if we'd had 6million and 45k a week to spend on a left back we would have had plenty of options.

 

Ok, but I feel you're still slightly altering the focus of what I said from what I intended to get across. Could be my fault, maybe I put it badly - basically, I thought it was fairly widely accepted in our camp at the time that we'd been 'invited' to take Abdi as part of a bigger transaction *involving* the sale to us of Pudil, and rather than walk away and look elsewhere for a LB we actually felt it might be a good deal for us. But it wasn't part of the original plan, and CC seems very keen to stick to plans in general, and I wonder if that's *partly* why Abdi has found it extra tough to break in. 

[rawowl]

Based on the fact Abdi has been one of the best Championhip playmakers since he came over to England year in year out. And has good well in the Prem for Watford  went picked makes me a little upset we haven't seen him for weeks now.

 

two of our most creative players Abdi & McGugan) are nowhere to be seen when we are about to hit a Heavy fixture period and have new suspensions and injuries piling up.

 

is it a case of "ok lads you can come back in and have another go now"

 

or will bridges already be burned & both lack fitness due to not playing for so long.

[jellybean]

I think he's doing a great job as our weekly 'cheesy gee up message on twitter' bloke. Not sure it's a job worth 20 grand a week though? 

[David1867]

1 hour ago, rawowl said:

Based on the fact Abdi has been one of the best Championhip playmakers since he came over to England year in year out. And has good well in the Prem for Watford  went picked makes me a little upset we haven't seen him for weeks now.

 

two of our most creative players Abdi & McGugan) are nowhere to be seen when we are about to hit a Heavy fixture period and have new suspensions and injuries piling up.

 

is it a case of "ok lads you can come back in and have another go now"

 

or will bridges already be burned & both lack fitness due to not playing for so long.

mcgugan for whatever reason will never play for us again, he hasn't even been given a squad number, which in my opinion is a shame as he can offer something to the team (creativity and goals). He doesn't feature for the development squad and doesn't train with the first team either. 

 

Abdi im not so sure about, it's definitely a strange situation to pay £4m (at the time a club record fee for cash paid) and then not play him seems bonkers. He has a quality track record in this division and he clearly said that he wasn't happy at Watford as he was getting played out of position, so what do we do? Play him out of position of course, which hasn't worked out at all. I really hope we see him in his proper position but I have a feeling Carlos won't  alter his tactics (even with injuries) and we won't see anything else from Abdi. 

[frastheowl]

 

If he doesn't feature in the next three games whilst FF is suspended, then there's no way he'll ever get a chance at this club currently.

 

For me, next week, he comes in and starts, in his best position, and give him three games to find his feet. 

 

Sometimes, players just don't fit into a club, but until Abdi gets a genuine crack at been in the team for a sustained period, we'd be foolish to write him off. Nobody doubts Abdi's ability, and his past record and endorsement at Watford backs that up.

 

At Reading, I cannot see Carlos going with two out and out centre forwards in Fletcher and Joao, and with Hooper out injured, we've nobody else in the squad who could play that False Nine/Number 10 role that FF plays so well. So, it makes perfect sense to bring Abdi into the side, and allow him that free role just behind Joao (I would suspect). If Wallace is injured, bring Pudil back to left back, move Reach forward, and play Hutchinson behind Lee & Bannan. That side should be more than capable of going to Reading and getting a result (a point would be a good result next week), and hopefully will allow Abdi 90 minutes to shake off the rustiness (he's bound to have), and prepare him well for two key home games against Barnsley & Rotherham. 

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

12 minutes ago, David1867 said:

mcgugan for whatever reason will never play for us again, he hasn't even been given a squad number, which in my opinion is a shame as he can offer something to the team (creativity and goals). He doesn't feature for the development squad and doesn't train with the first team either. 

 

Abdi im not so sure about, it's definitely a strange situation to pay £4m (at the time a club record fee for cash paid) and then not play him seems bonkers. He has a quality track record in this division and he clearly said that he wasn't happy at Watford as he was getting played out of position, so what do we do? Play him out of position of course, which hasn't worked out at all. I really hope we see him in his proper position but I have a feeling Carlos won't  alter his tactics (even with injuries) and we won't see anything else from Abdi. 

I hope you're wrong mate but it wouldn't surprise me in the least, I like Carlos but I think on certain issues he is far too stubborn and in the long run this could hamper our promotion aspirations especially now with FF suspended and injury issues.

[owlZfan84]

1 hour ago, jellybean said:

I think he's doing a great job as our weekly 'cheesy gee up message on twitter' bloke. Not sure it's a job worth 20 grand a week though? 

 

At least he's still showing some enthusiasm for the club whilst not involved in the matchday squad. What else can the guy do? 

 

Some fans just aren't happy unless they are giving someone a kicking.

[Hack-Abusi]

not been given a fair chance hell no especially in the centre of midfield

[sweetsheri]

Westwood

 

Pudil

Lees

Hutch

Hunt

 

Lee

Jones

 

Bannan

Abdi

Reach

 

Fletcher

 

 

[HIGHERSTATE]

Am I the only one that thought 'Thats a good signing, but how the hell does he fit into our team' when we bought him?  Our midfield was magnificent last season.

 

 Carlos can be stubborn but he is not stupid..There must be a reason why he doesn't start but wants to keep things within the squad..Same with Mcgugan.

 

And I'm incredibly dubious that he was chosen by Carlos.