trask43 Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, TrickyTrev said: Hahaha not really pal, just think we've let Sasso go and replaced him with a player who AT THE MOMENT doesn't look any better. Agree with this its also about different expectations. Sasso was a free who after a good season of looking at him we decided he wasnt the required standard for a backup centre half. After not managing to recruit a centre half last season we decided as a last resort we'd bring him back as he was a better option than semedo but was still to be 4th choice behind hutch before we realised how much we missed him in midfield. Van aken by contrast was 4 million quid signing found after looking at 200 odd centre halfs and apparently was wanted by many big teams. He was to be potentially a replacement for loovens whos spending more and more time out. So far if we are honest hes shown little evidence that he has the makings of that player, of course its early days but in his first dozens appearances sasso had shown more that van aken and was a similar age. If you compare him to other centre halfs we have paid money for in the past who have been a similar age like bougherra or reda, they were similarly liable to dropping a rick but they had obvious qualities to work with, in redas case he was committed a great leader, strong in the air and the tackle, the same applies to bougherra who similar to van aken gave the opposition a good chance a game but he was like lightening strong in the air a good passer of the ball. Sadly van aken has shown little so far, the best anyone can offer up is that hes a good passer of the ball for a centre half and that he might be decent in midfield. We all hope he will come good but if were honest for me it a tall order for him to overcome all the parts of his game he currently seems to be lacking. The main thing we needed was a leader as too many of our team are a little soft and quiet and its very hard to teach that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woozie Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Van Aken's being cut some slack because he's relatively young and needs time to adapt to the League. Let's see how he is at the start of next season before we burn him at the stake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff King's dog Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 We've got some great fans haven't we? About a month ago there was the silly 'VA - transfer bargain of the season' thread and now this. Talk about blowing hot and cold! Only at S6, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daizan10 Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxing_day Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 He’s shown enough for me to see he has a future. He can carry the ball out, pass and stops us being as ponderous. Needs to be more aggressive though. His big problem is he’s playing with lees who has been at 6 and 7s all season. Amazing how he’s immune to criticism. Without loovens he’s a shadow of the player he was. People only blaming van aken for the forest and united goals. Look where lees is - totally gone walk about for both. Out of line with the rest of the back four. As the senior cb he should be dragging that line up with him. He’s not a leader or a communicator, not the type you want playing side by side with a youngish new cb. That said if loovens is fit I think we will revert to tried and tested. Clearly the knifes are out for van aken from some already. But I’d like to see he and loovens together. Both left footed yes, but that’s not the end of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveyboy66 Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 2 minutes ago, boxing_day said: He’s shown enough for me to see he has a future. He can carry the ball out, pass and stops us being as ponderous. Needs to be more aggressive though. His big problem is he’s playing with lees who has been at 6 and 7s all season. Amazing how he’s immune to criticism. Without loovens he’s a shadow of the player he was. People only blaming van aken for the forest and united goals. Look where lees is - totally gone walk about for both. Out of line with the rest of the back four. As the senior cb he should be dragging that line up with him. He’s not a leader or a communicator, not the type you want playing side by side with a youngish new cb. That said if loovens is fit I think we will revert to tried and tested. Clearly the knifes are out for van aken from some already. But I’d like to see he and loovens together. Both left footed yes, but that’s not the end of the world. The first thing Hutch did last Saturday was scream at everyone to move up 10 yards to constrict the midfield ( then sliced into his own goal ) as soon as we did that we started playing through their midfield...Lees goes missing as far as leadership is concerned but I'd still want him alongside someone who does organise things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earlsfieldowl Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 (edited) He’s been here 5 minutes and still learning his trade. Some of the expectations our fans have beggars belief. Give the guy a break - our problems are far more complex than down to one or two players Edited October 20, 2017 by Earlsfieldowl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmigo Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 No doubt the quality of Loovens has made lees look good. We can get van aken up to a strong standard though with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarn owl Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 He's young and needs experience. I think he has shown enough promise that he will develop over time. We just need to be patient. Sure that will go well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom22709 Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 I think he’d be better playing just in front of a back 4, collecting the ball from lees/loovens and pinging it around, this way he can drop into CB when defending. Less pressure on him then and I think he’s made for that role Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ron's Sovereign Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, Tom22709 said: I think he’d be better playing just in front of a back 4, collecting the ball from lees/loovens and pinging it around, this way he can drop into CB when defending. Less pressure on him then and I think he’s made for that role It's certainly an option when Loovens is fit. Straight swap for Jones, has defensive abilities and can play a sublime ball. It's early days and he's been dropped in at the deep end, but he lad looks quality and can see him being a mainstay in our defence for years to come. Let's not crucify him just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emilianenko Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Got bullied by Gary Madine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Lestrade Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Seems a decent player to me, as good as anyone else in our defense, probably another way to have a pop at CC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwlsMan1961 Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Wednesday let Sasso leave without a replacement, Loovens was injured and is getting on a bit anyway, Tom Lees looks increasingly uncomfortable with a football at his feet, and Van Aken has been thrown in at the deep end, into a system where the left back is not a left back and every club in the division has sussed us out. The goals last week at Bolton are there for all to see, first goal, three Wednesday players backing off at the edge of the box, one slips on the 'watered pitch' the goal scorer curls it round the lot of them without being challenged, second goal, back pass from Hutch to our nervy kicking reserve keeper who kicks it straight to an opposition striker, Hutch scrambles back to block and concede a corner but then swipes resulting corner into his own net, calamitous .... don't just pick on Van Aken ffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roundhayowl Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 2 hours ago, Tom22709 said: I think he’d be better playing just in front of a back 4, collecting the ball from lees/loovens and pinging it around, this way he can drop into CB when defending. Less pressure on him then and I think he’s made for that role 100% agree - he is a defensive midfielder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debram Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 2 hours ago, Tom22709 said: I think he’d be better playing just in front of a back 4, collecting the ball from lees/loovens and pinging it around, this way he can drop into CB when defending. Less pressure on him then and I think he’s made for that role pinging it around like he did at Bolton, mis timed over hit passes ,thinks hes Beckanbuer, million miles from it, youre in the championship son, adapt or bye bye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lionel Fessi Posted October 20, 2017 Author Share Posted October 20, 2017 13 hours ago, mcmigo said: I have said many times over the last two years, Loovens is our best player and an unbelievable defender to have at this level. He could play the game at this level in slippers and keep clean sheets. A huge miss. van aken will be fine once the footwork issue is sorted out. That's the root of everything the op has called out. He is driving from the wrong foot too often as his first move, which means he looks either weak in the air, out of shape of the defensive line or flat footed when balls come forward either in the air or on the ground. The pace of the game here and it being more direct is likely cause and it can be fixed. Agree. I for one have certainly neglected how important he was to the team, especially how important his partnership with Lees is. However as mentioned if we really did look at 200+ CBs was there really no better options? Not a Loovens esc CB to bring in? 13 hours ago, ANDY said: You don’t like to single players out so you’ve singled a player out. The last time I posted a thread singling one player out was about why Rhodes won't fit into this team and why signing him was going to be a very bad decision. How has all that panned out again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lionel Fessi Posted October 20, 2017 Author Share Posted October 20, 2017 7 hours ago, prowl said: That's he thing about needing to get promoted this season..... no time to develop good prospects. We need to win, win, win, if a player isn't up to speed he's going to cost us points while he learns, points we can't afford to drop. Nothing against Van Aken, I think he's a potential star. We have the same problem with young Hirst, no time to blood him. We need players who can slot into the side and do a job straight away. Pity the transfer system isn't doing the business. 100% correct. Sadly most of the fans slating this thread don't understand this. We are in a position where we need to get better fast, we've had two seasons to develop players e,g Bannan, Hunt and Reach now we need to be bringing in proven players who can deliver straight away at this level and give us that bit extra to get us over the line into a top two side. We can develop all the players we want, I have no issue with that. But if we do i'm 95% confident we will still be in the Championship in two years time and our solid core of players who are at the level we need them to be right now like Westwood, Lees, Loovens, Lee, Bannan, Hutchinson, FF, Hooper will all have gotten worse or been sold. And where does that leave us? Back to square one again. 4 hours ago, Earlsfieldowl said: He’s been here 5 minutes and still learning his trade. Some of the expectations our fans have beggars belief. Give the guy a break - our problems are far more complex than down to one or two players Are they? If Forestieri was fit and we had Loovens partnering Lees instead of VA we would be in the top 6, if not higher? I'm not disagreeing with you but its worth thinking if we hadn't been so unlucky with injuries or maybe if we've made one or two slightly better transfer decisions this summer we would be in a much better position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSlicer Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 21 hours ago, McRightSide said: First touch isn't good enough - I said that before we signed him and someone posted that highlights video. Doesn't know how to use his body well enough Can't turn and beeps when he goes backwards Some raw ability there, but needs serious coaching to get to where we need him to. Is he a lorry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swiss Toni Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 21 hours ago, Lionel Fessi said: Can i blame it on spellcheck? Well you can’t blame it on the sunshine, moonlight or good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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