Nicolas Nkoulou

Discussion in 'Former Players Archive' started by Smudger, Oct 11, 2021.

  1. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    wfc4ever likes this.
  2. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    We really need this guy to do the business for us . I think it may have been mentioned before but we are very light at CB.
     
  3. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Shame we won’t see him for 3 weeks ..

    Was a video of Pedro skinning him in training earlier .
     
  4. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Well, his hamstrings may have snapped in two had he played, but he surely couldn't have been any worse than who played lol
     
  5. GoingDown

    GoingDown "The Stability"

    How unfit must have been to need three weeks of intense training to even get considered to be involved.

    Usual Trotters Independent Traders recruitment style.
     
    UEA_Hornet and RS2 like this.
  6. NathWFC

    NathWFC First Team

    I don't care if he's got two broken legs, he'll still do a better job than Cathcart, the useless old clown.
     
  7. RS2

    RS2 Squad Player

    Please god let him be fit for next week. He could be awful but that's still an upgrade on the current CBs.
     
  8. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    I mean he was training with the squad and surely must have kept fairly fit even without a club?
     
  9. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Watching Brentford and they have their late free agent signing Zanka involved straight away (signed a few weeks ago, but still, it's annoying we have to wait nearly a month to see Nkoulou when we need him now!)
     
  10. luke_golden

    luke_golden Space Cadet

    Blew my mind to discover Cathcart is only 32. He moves like he’s in his mid-50s. The Glenn Murray of defenders.
     
    Chumlax likes this.
  11. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yes, he’s still got a couple of years left in him at this level.
     
    carboy98 likes this.
  12. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    So I guess they gave him 3/4 to get fit too?

    Probably wasn’t needed either though so they could afford to let him get up to speed .

    The issue for us is like you say though we need defenders ready to play now .
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2021
  13. WatfordTalk

    WatfordTalk First Team

    New contract incoming?
     
  14. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    No, he featured for them before the international break too, he didn't seem to have to acclimatise. Perhaps he was training with them for a while, but it begs the question, why couldn't we do that with Nkoulou?
     
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  15. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Not that he did an awful lot, but what a ******* introduction!
     
  16. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    So got fitter and ready to play quicker than expected - bit unusual for our players.
     
  17. hornetboy1

    hornetboy1 First Team Captain

    Came on in the 76th minute with us losing 2-1. Played 14 minutes and we won 4-0 during that period. Wasn't impressed with his impact.
     
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  18. Teide1

    Teide1 Squad Player

    Seriously how did he do as apart from above I haven’t seen him mentioned
     
  19. RS2

    RS2 Squad Player

    Had 4 touches, made 1 pass and won his only aerial duel. He didn't have much to do as Everton completely crumbled.
     
    Teide1 likes this.
  20. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Had a good game I thought, perhaps we'll see him pair up with Sierralta after the international break
     
  21. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Has to be him and Frannie at the back. Consummate play today. Showed his class and composure. An absolute steal. Hope that is the last we see of Ekong at this level. Because unfortunately nice as he is as a person he keeps making errors that get punished at this level.
     
  22. NathWFC

    NathWFC First Team

    Surprise, surprise, he's immeasurably more competent than the couple of clowns we've had at centre back the past few weeks.

    Signing a centre back fit for the level... imagine that.
     
    Jumbolina, carboy98, Chumlax and 4 others like this.
  23. Hornpete

    Hornpete Squad Player

    He looks incredibly measured and calm. Not even sure he's made a tackle or done anything of note yet. I think this is a really good thing?
     
  24. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    The ten seconds before the United goal are interesting viewing though. His eyes are on the ball the entire time, as it's played up through the centre, out wide and the cross then comes in. Not once does he look around him, has absolutely no idea where Van Der Beek is, hence why there's a free header in the six yard box...
     
  25. sydney_horn

    sydney_horn Squad Player

    He's not going to be perfect though because, like every player, he wouldn't be playing for us if he were.

    I think what was noticeable on Saturday was how calm the whole back four were, in the first half particularly, compared to other games.

    I have a lot of time for WTE. He wears his heart on his sleeve. But you can feel him and the crowd tense up when he receives the ball in our half.

    When Nkoulou got it there was just a calm assuredness that he had "got this".

    I don't think Man U's pressing was particularly impressive and other teams may fluster him but, based on what I've seen so far, I'm confident they won't.
     
  26. leighton buzzard horn

    leighton buzzard horn Squad Player

    Exactly right. It was a really noticeable difference, a calm head and much less frantic all round at the back. Cathcart and Masina seemed to be much improved with Nkoulou nearby.
     
    FromDiv4, sydney_horn and wfc4ever like this.
  27. Relegation Certs

    Relegation Certs Squad Player

    Why didn't munoz insist we sign him in the summer? What a terrible decision it was to retain that hapless terd.
     
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  28. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yes thought the same but then again, VDB is a midfielder, surely one of our CMs should have been with him with NN focusing on the strikers ?
     
  29. domthehornet

    domthehornet Moderator Staff Member

    It looks as though Louza loses him.
     
  30. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yep, Louza loses. The pile of **** bought just to sweeten Gino's mate :)
     
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  31. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    Of course, and you could say that multiple players were culpable but just thought it was an extreme example of ball watching given he didn't even glance over his shoulder once in the whole passage of play lasting over ten seconds. Hopefully a one off lapse...
     
    sydney_horn likes this.
  32. reids

    reids First Team

    Scanning is one of the main things that seperates a normal pro and an "elite" footballer. There's some interesting research being done on it at the moment and a study has found a link between success and the number of times players look around them ("From a sample of 118 players and 1279 game situations, Jordet et al (2013) argued that there was a positive relationship between visual exploration and performance. The results were a 53.7% pass success rate for low frequency visual exploration, 61% for medium frequency visual exploration and 72.6% for high frequency visual exploration. As part of the study, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, (both players who played at the highest level for club and country), were identified as making 0.62 searches/second")

    Take a look at this clip for instance to see how often Lampard turns his head to build a picture of what's around him - absolutely crazy.



    Whilst it's obviously a hugely important aspect for midfielders, it's also hugely important for defenders as you'll have players making runs in behind you etc that you'll need to be wary of. Hopefully it's just a bit of rust after a few months of not playing.
     
  33. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    They do say the best way to approach a joke is to just pile it on; really smash it into the ground. If it's not added to every sentence written for the next three or four days, how can you have any hope of it landing? Comedy craft 101.
     
  34. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    Anecdotally it seemed like Nkoulou's positioning and awareness in the United game (outside this scanning issue) were far superior to what we've seen up to now - I feel like I saw him step up and cut out/intercept balls some distance in front of our box that might have been dawdled or prevaricated on by any of our other centre backs and led to an opposition break/opportunity several times - I don't know if anyone with access to/a better understanding of defensive stats from the game can confirm or deny that...
     
  35. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Not sure I agree. I'm not convinced this forum is ready for in-jokes of a repetitive nature. Certainly not without reference to cheeses.
     

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