The Chalobah Renaissance

Of course the media will only have heard of Doucoure since he started playing for Watford, so he must have done something right since then.

 

Hughes will/should have to do what Chalobah did without causing a fuss - wait for an opportunity and then take it.

 

During the Spuds match, the commentator for the US stream I watched called us West Brom at least once and said that Femenia had cleared one of their crosses.

 

That was Efan Ekoku. The funniest bit was how he then realised his mistake and went on about West Brom for 3 minutes making it seem natural.

 

Classic accidental trip and make it look like an intended jog.

 

The title of this thread reminds me of "The Shawshank Redemption" every time I see it.

I can just imagine Morgan Freeman narrating over a Chalobah interview.

NC: "Yeah, I felt good today, no trace of the injury."
MF: Chalobah did not actually feel good today.

 

You love to see it.

 

Not sure if serious or deranged.

 

As is frequently the case with VoR posts....

 

He has improved and been playing well, but I still think he's a bit below where I'd hoped he would be and talk of a full-blown "renaissance" is a tad premature.

For one thing, he is now playing in a better drilled, more compact team. He is also playing as part of a three man midfield, where Capoue and Doucoure have still had the slight edge on him in their performances and impact on the match.

I still remember the 3-3 at home to Liverpool at the start of the 17/18 season when Chalobah was in a two man midfield with Doucoure and they ran the show. Capoue was out and I was amazed that we hardly seemed to miss him - Doucoure and Chalobah were absolutely everywhere. I still think the intensity in his game is down a bit from what it was then (despite it being up from earlier in the season) and I wouldn't count on him being able to replicate such an all-action performance as part of a two-man midfield against a top team again just yet. The current system, with him playing more of a deep-lying, shielding role, suits where he is at the moment, as he doesn't have to cover as much ground and there are other players to cover from him if he doesn't want to slide in for a challenge.

His passing has been quite conservative as well over this period, he often goes for the short ball either sideways or backwards when a forward ball through the lines is very much possible should he want to try it. We've also seen little of the pin-point long balls to the flanks he would often dig out (and which Capoue still does with aplomb).

 

I think you have to take into account that it takes about 5-6 games to get up to full speed after a prolonged absence, he hasn't played much for 2 years and the only way to get back is to play games consistently, something previous coaches haven't risked.

Pearson clearly rates him and has told him to trust his body which is the big psychological obstacle. I remember when Del Piero did all the ligaments in his knee, took him a long time to overcome it mentally.

I think his rehabilitation is coming along just fine and consistently playing will see him back up there.

 

We may well be entering the Chalobaroque era.

 

The Chalobaroquefort era ?

 

I bet Bach could play the Chalobaroque.