Walker makes a huge difference!

[Bobbins]

As a right back, I would say Lamine Gassama from Lorient is an interesting player. He has gained some experience now and would be a bargain in my opinion. Wouldn't cost much.

They never do

 

[Flobadob]

What does he lack? Crossing ability, that's it. He has every attribute to be the world best RB if he improves his final ball, but it needs to improve dramatically. I actually think he's a very solid defender when he's fit and in form. He's out of position quite often, but who actually cares when he has the pace and determination to recover 9 times out of 10 when a team counters us?

Get on the training field and improve that final ball PLEASE! I don't want to see someone with so much potential squander it when it can be sorted with some old fashioned elbow grease on the training ground

 

[Kiedis]

He's far from back to his best, and he'll only get better as the season progresses.

 

[thinktank]

What does he lack? Crossing ability, that's it. He has every attribute to be the world best RB if he improves his final ball, but it needs to improve dramatically. I actually think he's a very solid defender when he's fit and in form. He's out of position quite often, but who actually cares when he has the pace and determination to recover 9 times out of 10 when a team counters us?

Get on the training field and improve that final ball PLEASE! I don't want to see someone with so much potential squander it when it can be sorted with some old fashioned elbow grease on the training ground

The guy can't defend, pal. His positioning is horrible, his reading of the game is horrible, he makes bonkers decisions all the time and really just doesn't know what's going on most games.

I was looking forward to him coming back as we were desperate for his pace and hoped he would have had time to reflect on his game and come back more mature and composed but he's even worse.

Maybe poch can work on his game, but I can see that taking forever to bear fruit with kyle. He just doesn't have the right make-up to be a top defender imo.

I still fancy vlad there instead of him atm - that says it all! At least after all the bonkery at the back vlad would still get a few crosses in and try to get behind the LB and cause trouble for the oppo.

The only decent FB we have is Davies tbf (hoping yedlin comes in swinging and pushes Walker to get his head right, but I don't have much hope of that at all...walker getting his head right, I mean).

I really would sell walker in the summer and have us try and find a Clyne type. Watched kyle very closely for years now and hoped he'd develop, but it's the end of the road with him for me, personally.

Speed is nothing without a brain for the game.

 

[SteveH]

The guy can't defend, pal. His positioning is horrible, his reading of the game is horrible, he makes bonkers decisions all the time and really just doesn't know what's going on most games.

I was looking forward to him coming back as we were desperate for his pace and hoped he would have had time to reflect on his game and come back more mature and composed but he's even worse.

Maybe poch can work on his game, but I can see that taking forever to bear fruit with kyle. He just doesn't have the right make-up to be a top defender imo.

I still fancy vlad there instead of him atm - that says it all! At least after all the bonkery at the back vlad would still get a few crosses in and try to get behind the LB and cause trouble for the oppo.

The only decent FB we have is Davies tbf (hoping yedlin comes in swinging and pushes Walker to get his head right, but I don't have much hope of that at all...walker getting his head right, I mean).

I really would sell walker in the summer and have us try and find a Clyne type. Watched kyle very closely for years now and hoped he'd develop, but it's the end of the road with him for me, personally.

Speed is nothing without a brain for the game.

Just back from a long layoff from injury give him some time. Only been back ?a month or so?

What this "pal" business bit unnecessary?

 

[thinktank]

Just back from a long layoff from injury give him some time. Only been back ?a month or so?

What this "pal" business bit unnecessary?

'Pal', 'mate', 'buddy'. Take your pick, Mr Misread.

 

[Chris12]

Don't have much confidence in him at the moment unfortunately. I understand been out for a while so patience needed, but there are sometimes where he can't even complete a basic pass and has been given a run around by average players.

 

[nicdic]

He's fine, just needs to learn to cross and attack the full back.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

He's fine, just needs to learn to cross and attack the full back.

And not give the ball away carelessly. And defend. And control the ball under pressure. And take throw ins.

 

[ostrov]

He can't be that bad as some portray him to be ,can he?

 

[Bus-Conductor]

He's a fucking spanner and it's time everyone stopped making excuses for all the daft shit he does.

He makes Atouba seem like Lahm.

 

[mpickard2087]

He doesn't read the game well either. The timing of his runs on the overlap are atrocious, as is his positioning. Numerous times at the weekend he would be sat 15-20 yards in field when we needed him hugging the touchline.

Then there was the utter stupidity where he found himself in the box, the ball ran for him and instead of swinging his left foot at it and sending the ball towards the fucking goal he half ran around it and then backheeled it to nowhere.

He just doesn't have the brain capacity or football instinct to make the correct decisions often enough.

 

[Chris12]

Main issue for me is his passing, it's so bad at times its actually extraordinary and his crossing is diabolical, amount of good positions been in and puts in a shit ball

 

[faze_coys]

Been extremely poor since coming back imo,

 

[Flobadob]

The guy can't defend, pal. His positioning is horrible, his reading of the game is horrible, he makes bonkers decisions all the time and really just doesn't know what's going on most games.

I was looking forward to him coming back as we were desperate for his pace and hoped he would have had time to reflect on his game and come back more mature and composed but he's even worse.

Maybe poch can work on his game, but I can see that taking forever to bear fruit with kyle. He just doesn't have the right make-up to be a top defender imo.

I still fancy vlad there instead of him atm - that says it all! At least after all the bonkery at the back vlad would still get a few crosses in and try to get behind the LB and cause trouble for the oppo.

The only decent FB we have is Davies tbf (hoping yedlin comes in swinging and pushes Walker to get his head right, but I don't have much hope of that at all...walker getting his head right, I mean).

I really would sell walker in the summer and have us try and find a Clyne type. Watched kyle very closely for years now and hoped he'd develop, but it's the end of the road with him for me, personally.

Speed is nothing without a brain for the game.

I can't take any of this seriously when you then say you want Vlad there instead. All of the issues you listed apply to Vlad in a worse way. Walker has only just come back from injury and our play has been better for it, even if he isn't playing well right now at all. He was awful against Sunderland going forward, but his energy makes a huge difference and he gives us an outlet on so many occasions out wide. His positioning isn't good, i agree, but it doesn't matter because like i say, he recovers 9 times out of 10 during counter attacks anyway, you can't deny that. I also agree that it's quite telling that Vlad's crossing ability, as a CB by trade, is better than Walkers and that's really what my post was about tbh. He needs to spend hours and hours on that final ball, because he so often gets into excellent positions. If he had a good final ball he would be such a threat. He's unorthadox as a defender and does lack some key attributes (he will improve under Poch's coaching IMO) like you say, but for me he gets the job done the vast majority of the time defensively anyway.

I'm happy as larry with our options at fullback and i cannot for the life of me understand why you refuse to rate Rose after he's performed excellently in quite a few matches this season and turned in far more consistent performances. He was awesome at the start of last season and i feel he's getting close to that level right now and you are letting his bad performances from the second half of the season last year cloud your judgement of him as a player for me. Give him a chance. I can see why you rate Davies, because he's good on the ball, positions himself well, doesn't dive in and instead jockeys players and he has a decent final ball, but he doesn't have the same affect on our shape and attacking play as Rose does and i can list just as many good attributes that Rose posseses. I prefer Rose for the majority of games, because we need to attack and keep a good shape and width in most games, but i'd prefer Davies to play when we have to defend and keep a better defensive shape. As i've said before, it's a horses for courses situation in my mind.

I'd love Clyne as well, but you can't always have what you want unfortunately. There aren't many fullbacks like him that are attainable for us IMO and i believe with some good coaching Walker has the raw materials to become a very good full back. He's still young and players develop at different stages, i still have hope for him. Regarding Yedlin, i guess we'll see with him. He looks a very exciting prospect to me, but i believe it's probably a little too much for him to come from the MLS to the PL and make an impact straight away. It's definitely a possibility that he could overtake Walker in time though, because his final ball already looks in a different league to me, it's just defensively that i'd have some question marks over him, but he's never been coached by someone of the level of Poch before on a consistent basis (don't particularly rate Klinsman tbh) and some players take to it like a duck to water, so hopefully that's the case

 

[ostrov]

Poch can do a good job on his passing I hope. Townsend has improved his in the last few games .

 

[onthetwo]

Id like a shoot-out for the RB slot in pre-season between Kyle W, Yedders and Fredders as i thought he looked a decent prospect at RB in pre-season. For me, the rest can leave i.e Vlad, Kyle N and Younes and id like a 4th choice CB with the proceeds. (Easy this football malarkey).

 

[Bobbins]

The guy can't defend, pal. His positioning is horrible, his reading of the game is horrible, he makes bonkers decisions all the time and really just doesn't know what's going on most games.

I was looking forward to him coming back as we were desperate for his pace and hoped he would have had time to reflect on his game and come back more mature and composed but he's even worse.

Maybe poch can work on his game, but I can see that taking forever to bear fruit with kyle. He just doesn't have the right make-up to be a top defender imo.

I still fancy vlad there instead of him atm - that says it all! At least after all the bonkery at the back vlad would still get a few crosses in and try to get behind the LB and cause trouble for the oppo.

The only decent FB we have is Davies tbf (hoping yedlin comes in swinging and pushes Walker to get his head right, but I don't have much hope of that at all...walker getting his head right, I mean).

I really would sell walker in the summer and have us try and find a Clyne type. Watched kyle very closely for years now and hoped he'd develop, but it's the end of the road with him for me, personally.

Speed is nothing without a brain for the game.

Whilst I don't agree with 99% of this post, I do fully endorse the further use of this amazing word and phrase

Sounds like a Carry On film.

 

[BPR_U16]

Not the perfect rb by any means. Has serious faults in his game as others, particulatly 'thinktank' have highlighted but strangely our defence is more solid with him than without - results over last seasons reflect this. He adds another dimension to team going forward that others lack.
Vlad/Naughton have both been tried this season but both been found wanting in respect of their input to the collective.
in time Yedlin might make the position his own but wouldnt be surprised if Walker improved with more guidance from Poch + cos he has fight on for his place in team

 

[cliff jones]

Walker is frustrating, especially on the ball where he really needs to stop thinking and instead pass more instinctively! He created a great chance for Eriksen with a fab overlap and cut back in the first half at Palace and his recovery speed is a great help to Fazio in particular. I'd love him to mix up his often mishit first time crosses with the odd drive into the box to commit the oppo left back. I live in hope Poch and his assistants can help him with these apsects.

Yeah he got done by Zaha for their winner but even the likes of Zabaleta and Ivanovic get done every once in a while. Many good left sided players don't even try to take him on and drift off somewhere else. Even Hazard decided to try his luck elsewhere.

A great asset to the first team, we have far bigger holes elsewhere to prioritise.