- Jun 4, 2004
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- 12,398
Yesterday's win against Everton proved a significant point for me with regard to our young right back.
Kyle tends to split the fan base from what I've seen on here. Some think he's not good enough and other's, myself included, think he has the potential to be great. I said as much in a comment on a story on the front page last week where I defended him quite strongly.
However.....
What Walker did yesterday is prove to me why we still need to have some concerns about him and moreover, showed what he needs to work on to improve.
I don't have the official stats, and so would be interested if someone can find them - especially for yesterdays game - his crossing was absolutely woeful. We all know that he is superb at supporting the attack and gets himself into brilliant positions to cross but I actually found myself screaming at my TV yesterday because he must have hit the first defender on 90% of his attempted crosses. It was absolutely infuriating.
Of course, his quick thinking led to a good chipped pass into Ade to score the goal and get him an assist which proves he has the vision (at least to an extent) and the ability to hit a weighted ball into the box. What I find baffling is how often he will get to the wing but then totally blow his cross. I can't tell if this is technique or just over exuberance because of where he finds himself.
Defensively I think he has the speed and strength to deal with the best wingers. My worry is his concentration levels. I fear that he is not switched on for 90 mins and as a result he can make crazy decisions.
What were other people's views of his game yesterday? Is Kyle the long term answer at RB or should we be thinking about upgrading?
Kyle tends to split the fan base from what I've seen on here. Some think he's not good enough and other's, myself included, think he has the potential to be great. I said as much in a comment on a story on the front page last week where I defended him quite strongly.
However.....
What Walker did yesterday is prove to me why we still need to have some concerns about him and moreover, showed what he needs to work on to improve.
I don't have the official stats, and so would be interested if someone can find them - especially for yesterdays game - his crossing was absolutely woeful. We all know that he is superb at supporting the attack and gets himself into brilliant positions to cross but I actually found myself screaming at my TV yesterday because he must have hit the first defender on 90% of his attempted crosses. It was absolutely infuriating.
Of course, his quick thinking led to a good chipped pass into Ade to score the goal and get him an assist which proves he has the vision (at least to an extent) and the ability to hit a weighted ball into the box. What I find baffling is how often he will get to the wing but then totally blow his cross. I can't tell if this is technique or just over exuberance because of where he finds himself.
Defensively I think he has the speed and strength to deal with the best wingers. My worry is his concentration levels. I fear that he is not switched on for 90 mins and as a result he can make crazy decisions.
What were other people's views of his game yesterday? Is Kyle the long term answer at RB or should we be thinking about upgrading?