Jan and Fazio a budding partnership?

[onthetwo]

Early days for this pair, but I would persevere.

They have the potential but both are a little slow.....

agree, they remind me of Terry and Lescott for England a few years ago, i.e if someone pings a few balls over the top as Rooney was doing on Sunday they just stand and watch it go over their heads.
If they manage to shut Costa out on Thursday i will be delighted (and shocked) but i think theres something developing there which we should persist with.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

I'm just not getting all the Fazio love. His one good feature is his ability to head the ball but even that is aimless and finds an opposition player more often than not. I hope he proves me wrong and I admit he's looked better in recent matches, but 'better' is a relative term and he simply doesn't fill me with confidence.

And despite all the protestations to the contrary he is incredibly slow.

He also is great at anticipating and intercepting. Steps out of defence well and cuts out attacks before the opposition are able to play balls through or over the defence.

He is not as slow as everyone makes out. He is tall, which means he has a long stride pattern. Making him appear slow but I have never seen him totally outpaced like Dawson was numerous times in the past.

 

[Kaboul'sForehead]

I think he is growing into the player I wrote reports on several months ago.

 

[ILS]

I'm just not getting all the Fazio love. His one good feature is his ability to head the ball but even that is aimless and finds an opposition player more often than not. I hope he proves me wrong and I admit he's looked better in recent matches, but 'better' is a relative term and he simply doesn't fill me with confidence.

And despite all the protestations to the contrary he is incredibly slow.

Totally agree he is good in the air but the amount of times him and Jan get caught out by the simplest ball over the top is embarrassing. Plus against utd the times he tried to be clever with knockdown that caught us out. He is the best option at the moment but can't see him the long term answer.

I saw some stat that showed as a partnership they have only lost once in 14 games... Didn't mention the amount of times Hugo saved their arsed during that run.

Fazio will end up like capoue on these boards... Fans think he us better then he actually is at the start but then over a period time will realise that he is average, slow and will be calling for a better version ASAP.

 

[EastLondonYid]

Jury still out, though they are the best we have got atm......i wonder what the opinion of them would be if MU had took half their chances or Leicester for that matter...fine margins.

 

[SteveH]

agree, they remind me of Terry and Lescott for England a few years ago, i.e if someone pings a few balls over the top as Rooney was doing on Sunday they just stand and watch it go over their heads.
If they manage to shut Costa out on Thursday i will be delighted (and shocked) but i think theres something developing there which we should persist with.

Fazio has been doing a lot of work with Lloris - Both he and Jan have started showing players on to Hugo's near post where he's very strong and above all they 'try' to now stay on thier feet!

 

[DiamondLites]

Beauty and The Beast get innadequate protection in front of them, which makes their job a lot more difficult that it frankly should be

I personally cannot wait for Big Bad Faz and Diego Costa to lock horns again!!!

 

[nowayjose]

I loved the Thierry Henry quote about King being the only defender getting the ball off him without dirty tricks, last few games openend my eyes to the amount of shirt tugging Vertonghen does, thought he was better than having to resort to it so much. I guess it's sometimes more a bad habit than even being a necessary last resort. Though to be fair he probably is no better or worse than most other defenders in the league. And while being a gentleman is cool, might not be a reason why they shouldnt use every trick to the extent that referees allow

 

[mil1lion]

We need a 3rd centre back just to fill the big gap in between Fazio and Vertonghen

 

[davidmatzdorf]

I saw some stat that showed as a partnership they have only lost once in 14 games... Didn't mention the amount of times Hugo saved their arsed during that run.

I think you've missed the point of the statistic. Other defensive partnerships also had Lloris to 'save their arses', as Vorm has rarely played, but we lost most of those matches despite Hugo being the near-constant. That indicates that Vertonghen and Fazio are playing more effectively than other defensive pairs.

If it is true that our record with that pair is 10 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss (I remain sceptical), then the record of all other defensive combinations is 7 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses, as our record in all competitions thus far is 17 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses. It's not a marginal difference.

 

[ILS]

I think you've missed the point of the statistic. Other defensive partnerships also had Lloris to 'save their arses', as Vorm has rarely played, but we lost most of those matches despite Hugo being the near-constant. That indicates that Vertonghen and Fazio are playing more effectively than other defensive pairs.

If it is true that our record with that pair is 10 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss (I remain sceptical), then the record of all other defensive combinations is 7 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses, as our record in all competitions thus far is 17 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses. It's not a marginal difference.

People can chuck stats all day long at me and others but apart from the Everton game we have had looked dodgy at the back and lady luck, bad finishing and Hugo have saved us and not the centre half partnership in front of them. Take the Swansea game we won that so according to the stats Fazio and Jan were in the winning team... However if you watched it Bony was destroying them with basic centre forward play.

 

[tiger666]

Maybe they'd look better if Poch played a proper defensive mid. You know, the thing Sherwood got ripped apart for.

 

[SteveH]

I loved the Thierry Henry quote about King being the only defender getting the ball off him without dirty tricks, last few games opened my eyes to the amount of shirt tugging Vertonghen does, thought he was better than having to resort to it so much. I guess it's sometimes more a bad habit than even being a necessary last resort. Though to be fair he probably is no better or worse than most other defenders in the league. And while being a gentleman is cool, might not be a reason why they shouldn't use every trick to the extent that referees allow

I dont think Poch will suffer Jan's recurring faults for too long. Jan will end up running the tea trolley along with 'the captain'.
Before he joins QPR........

 

[Gassin's finest]

I'll say this for Fazio, he is unmatchable in the air. Wins everything that comes his way. On top of that he made Falcao look shit. Not to mention Vertonghen making Van Persil look like a schoolboy.

Impressed so far.