[SIGNED perm] Ashley Fletcher

Re. Perica: after Mazzarri and Doucoure (and to a lesser extent QSF and Berghuis) I no longer accept a manager not picking a player as proof that they’re no good.

 

I mean, Xisco seems to have a vendetta against Ngakia and Wilmot too! Still believe Perica would be a good option for many Championship clubs, although he's not much use to us in the Prem

 

I still really do not understand what in the world comments like this are actually based on. The bloke is clearly ****.

 

I agree with your old headmaster, very impressive!

 

Are you a mate of Greg Davies the comedian? This story is exactly the same story he told on Would I Lie To You.

 

Actually I think that was Andy Hamilton re 'Fisher'

 

Blimey. Yes you’re right.

 

It's possible not to rate a player without it being a vendetta.

 

Those two never even got chances. Perica got chances in the first half of the season and looked pretty poor. He looked "lively" in that he ran quicker than Deeney but that seemed to be it.

I do have a question mark about Xisco's treatment of Wilmot and Ngakia but not really sure I saw anything in Perica to honestly say he was any better than Gray / Success.

 

No idea. Perhaps down the years it's become a story told to teachers as a warning?

 

He didn’t really treat Ngakia badly. Femenia was playing brilliantly and showing that he didn’t really need resting as his form was being upheld with every game. And when the opportunity came due to Femenia being injured, Ngakia was also carrying a knock, hence why Cathcart played RB.

I also don’t really think there was poor treatment of Wilmot. WTE and Sierralta established themselves as first choice and Cathcart never let anyone down. Wilmot was always coming from a lower base than those 3. And then he went away with England U21’s during the run-in so stands to reason others would get traction with the manager while he was gone.

I think it’s a case of circumstance rather than them being treated badly or not being rated by Xisco.

As for Perica - the guy is obviously not very good.

 

I only think there were a few times where Kiko could have come off in the last 20-30 minutes of games.

I think it is more the way he was bumped from 2nd choice down to 5th. Other pointless players like Lazaar and Navarro got a run out but Wilmot was totally exiled.

These are minor issues though and it all depends on the conversations Xisco had with both which I am not privy to.

Yeah I think Perica is poor.

 

I just think Lazaar and Navarro got run out's because they were naturals at FB - dreadful all the same but it was their positions. Whilst Wilmot may have been able to do a job in those positions, he isn't a FB and never has been.

I love the idea of Wilmot and Ngakia being young, English players who will go on to be absolute class. I'm just not convinced they are anything other than average. Time is on their side though!

 

A vendetta is a little harsh. Kiko became almost undroppable last season. So Ngakia needs to be pushing hard to claim the spot when the opportunity arises. Wilmot sorry but I've not seen anything in his play that says he's even a decent squad option. He's far too weak. Perica obviously showed nothing to Xisco in training or the majority of fans who saw him.

 

My older son got a report for French in which it said he had learned a lot that term but that the teacher would welcome more contributions in class.

He didn’t take French. Which may explain the lack of contributions

 

Wilmot did fine in his preferred position of centre back, and can do a job in various other positions, surely he'd have been a better option than Lazaar? A wasted opportunity not even to put him in the team for the 2 games after promotion was sealed. I get Kiko was one of our best players, but so was Sierralta, and he didn't play every game after he came into the squad, I don't see any reason why Ngakia couldn't have started a few more games at RB, even if he had horrible luck to be injured at the back end of the season when Kiko was injured. Perica isn't exactly an Ivan Toney, and physically despite his size he's more Pussetto than Sierralta, but in the relatively short time he had on the field, stuff did happen. It all worked out in the end, but I'm still not quite sure how he didn't get into the team ahead of Gray when JP was absent

 

Where does the idea that Wilmot would be a competent LB come from? Not trying to start an argument at all but I just don’t see it - and he never looked like a great ball carrier beyond the halfway line and we never saw him cross a ball either.

 

Fair enough but I want more than just fine in a CB. He doesn't give me personally what i want from a defender. He should have developed more physically imo. I can honestly see him leaving on loan or sold. Sticking him at LB is not the option even if it was only Lazar coming in. Ok he was poor against the Scum but not one Watford player stood out that game.
Again i will champion Ajer, he's available and wants out this is my type of CB i want. Young, hungry, talented and very experienced for youngster playing that position. If there's any possibility at all of getting him we should be looking into it. I would move on Kabs and Wilmot for this to happen without batting an eyelid. He's only going to get better. Him and FS at the heart of defence would be amazing.

 

Sierralta has been amazing, but like Bachmann, for me, we still don’t really know his level. I think Troost elevates Sierralta a fair bit

 

How so? I suppose they've developed quite the understanding over the last few months, but apart from his off-field contributions, I think WTE hasn't quite lived up to the lofty heights I thought he'd reach in the Championship

 

I reckon he'll look very Fletch-ing in a Watford shirt

 

WILTY is comedy gold

 

WTE does a lot of talking on the pitch and is a leader of sorts. He also leads the line of the back 4. He’s been very very poor with the ball at his feet - but he’s been good off the ball and also doing his actual defensive work.

 

I am going to say that is......TRUE !

 

It’s comedy silver, apart from when Bob Mortimer is on. Then it’s definitely comedy gold.

 

Disagree. Mack and Mitchell are excellent. Mortimer is class.

 

Mack, Mitchell, &Brydon are all excellent. As you say Mortimer is always excellent as are Greg D, Henning W, Rhod G etc

 

He is delightfully bonkers. You know that the more insane the story is that he's telling, the more likely it is is to be true.

 

I see this too. Sierralta’s best trick in the couple of months after he came into the team was putting the ball out of play sharpish whenever there was danger. Towards the end of the season he started to delude himself that he was an absolute baller and he looked pretty rank. Hopefully he gets back to the no nonsense stuff.

 

I thought he was excellent with the ball against Brentford, showing composure and a decent range of passing. He took the responsibility of playing out from the back as Kabasele is atrocious with the ball.

 

Defending he was OK, but not a clear upgrade on what we already had like I thought he'd be, and was still liable to being exposed from time to time even at Championship level

He's no van Dijk, but he's fine with the ball at his feet, I suppose we'll probably need someone like that if WTE will still be playing, if we could just tell him to hoof it long when he has the ball at his feet...

 

Yes I don't think he's the ball playing centre back we all want to see but that game surprised me. As @UEA_Hornet has said, he looked excellent when he just stuck to getting rid of it. Teams won't just sit off us next season though so he's going to have to cope with not playing a simple 20 yard pass to Troost-Ekong whenever he has the ball. That game against Brentford gave me a bit of hope that he's not just a defending machine, which isn't a bad thing of course.

 

Why all this discussion about CHs on the Fletcher thread ?

 

Because we had deduced that we must be buying Fletcher as a CB - because no way should we be getting him in as a striker.

 

One more page until someone suggests playing Deeney at centre back...