Player Watcher - Jermaine 'JJ' Jenas

[miles_64]

Chaps and Chapettes, I was thinking that we could do a sort of 'book club' but football-related: every match we pick a player to watch closely (both on and off the ball) and then compare thoughts afterwards? I did this last match for Jenas and it definitely gave me a sharper view as to what his role in the side is.

I suggest this as I get the feeling that quite a few people notice either only the good or the bad moments for each player. I know that I have been guilty over this with BAE as I (along with others) often think he's had a blinding game but other SCers say his distribution has been poor. This might also clear up some of the points that we argue about every week.

Today's Player: Jermaine Jenas

Reason for picking him: JJ is possibly the most polarising player in the team and perhaps a closer look at his play may reveal some of the issues behind this.

Look out for: You may well find JJ holds back a little more than you expect as he provides defensive cover for the likes of Modric and Lennon.

In case JJ isn't playing, Wilson Palacios will be the alternative.

I am fully aware that this thread may completely bomb out but hopefully it will get a few more of us, including myself, thinking about a player's role within the team and how well he fulfills it.

 

[hughy]

Good idea, Miles. And no better player to start with. I know you can't decide a player by one match, but today's game with Sunderland could be vital game for Jenas' future. He's split opinion for so long now, hopefully with an amount of focus on him, he could prove what he can do, but rarely shows.

 

[Delboy10]

Good idea.

 

[Yid-ol]

Good idea, might make people look at JJ and see he drops back a little more than he used to and looks for the ball, letting Keane Modric Lennon all go forward and create! he laso covers a lot of the pitch as well!! but with good coems bad, and i am sure we will get alot of negative revies for miss placed pass's

 

[Mullers]

I think JJ will play with Palacios. Palacios seems to have a good shot on him. They could work very well together, when JJ goes forward Palacios can cover for him and visa versa.

 

[lishiyo]

JJ has a decent shot on him too, I just wish he'd take the initiative and show it more. I'm surprised that Wilson hasn't scored yet in the premiership - he's not afraid to shoot and seems to have a powerful strike and has been terrible unlucky to not score for us so far...

 

[defoe18]

Yid ol, your sig has the wrong number for lennon otherwise it's class!

 

[DC_Boy]

good idea miles - let's hope he starts

incidentally papers like the telegraph and the guardian and opta stats do this kind of thing already and quite a bit is available on the net

unfortunately the prize stats of prozone we don't get - I'd love to see those stats

 

[ginol@14]

im shocked you have picked jenas as the first player
didnt see that one coming:roll:

after all he is the most talked about player on SC
lets just hope we get 3 points today
dont care who plays as long as we keep winning

coys

 

[miles_64]

good idea miles - let's hope he starts

incidentally papers like the telegraph and the guardian and opta stats do this kind of thing already and quite a bit is available on the net

unfortunately the prize stats of prozone we don't get - I'd love to see those stats

Indeed they do but they don't really tell you the whole story. I am not saying that we should write down every pass or bit of play like I did on Wednesday - more general impressions. I am guessing Opta doesn't tell us how many times a player blocks a potential pass or stifles a counter attack? I just hope that by specifically focusing on one player each week, we can come to a more balanced understanding of how each player fits into the team and of their strengths and weaknesses etc.

 

[DC_Boy]

Indeed they do but they don't really tell you the whole story. I am not saying that we should write down every pass or bit of play like I did on Wednesday - more general impressions. I am guessing Opta doesn't tell us how many times a player blocks a potential pass or stifles a counter attack? I just hope that by specifically focusing on one player each week, we can come to a more balanced understanding of how each player fits into the team and of their strengths and weaknesses etc.

fair points Miles - trouble is the minute you move away from bare stats - subjectivity comes a creeping and a crawling in

one person sees JJ ground covering another sees him being anonymous

anyway - I back your idea 100% and look forward to the results I suspect the thread might be lively

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Nice one, dude.

Would be good if anyone is actually at the ground to report back, too. Maybe too late for that, but would make for more balance as we'll still miss a bit of him when he's off-screen.

Still, look forward to returning here later.

 

[don1]

Yid ol, your sig has the wrong number for lennon otherwise it's class!

just thinking the same myself it is class how did u do it

 

[freeeki]

I can't see anything good coming of this but its a good idea so fair play.

You could scientifically prove that JJ is a worthless sack of shite and his fan club on here would still dribble over him.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I can't see anything good coming of this but its a good idea so fair play.

You could scientifically prove that JJ is a worthless sack of shite and his fan club on here would still dribble over him.

I could probably scientifically prove that you were

 

[freeeki]

Go ahead - I'm not the topic of conversation here but if that's what you want to resort to then crack on.

 

[ginol@14]

I could probably scientifically prove that you were

what a stupid and idiotic thing to say
grow up ffs
btw your boy wonder was shite as usual this half
fingers crossed he plays better in the 2nd half because he is using up the most valuable position in our team
this game is there for the taking , we need some blood and guts spilt in the 2nd half

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Let the debate commence.

Can I just make one request, though?

Naming no names (because, lets face it, I don't have to), some of us have in the past been guilty of, shall we say, a little over-exuberance in our posting about JJ. Perhaps rightly perhaps not. Either way, we don't like to see any single poster dominating discussion as it is effectively trolling. Therefore, could everyone try to do us a favour and allow debate to roll by without commenting on every single post preceding you?

Maybe you could restrict yourself to one post per page (ie every 15 posts)?

Hope that's not offensive and obviously if the thread is slow then feel free to speak as when you feel you have something interesting and incisive to say. However, if it is just going to be, oh I don't know, say, "JJ is our best midfielder and clearly in our best XI and I've been saying that since the summer." perhaps your keyboard is best left untapped.

Ta very, very muchly. :grin:

 

[alamo]

I can't really judge - my view of the match was courtesy of a dodgy stream. From what I saw though JJ didn't have too bad a game. As per usual he quietly got on with the basics. My biggest disappointment was Wilson as after the Arsenal game I expect him to be outstanding all the time :grin:

 

[Marty]

Jenas wasn't heavily involved, but did pretty well and didn't have any real 'oh my God what the hell did you just do?' moments that he can be prone to.