Re: James Garner
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 3:57 pm
What were your findings?
Comes back to the patterns of play conversation a bit doesn't it?Cods wrote: ↑Tue Dec 30, 2025 2:41 am What were your findings?
Devils advocate, but...
-Progressive carries were on par.
-Back passes were considerably fewer than particularly Anderson.
-Progressive passes well down (who does he have to pass to in front of him? Sideways are where our ball carriers (Grealish/NDiaye) often are, particularly after a ball recovery. To the eye, often he'll be in front of them, as they'll be covering their full backs.
-Ball recoveries lower
(might instead have his heat seeking team mate to thank for this result)
I guess the questions are:
How is he directed to play?
How are we set up to play? (Our forward passing often comes from our centre backs and GK)
Who does he have to play it to, and where are they normally standing?
For me it brings up the image of poor young Merlin the other day who made a great forward run, only to find he had noone within 30 yards to play to. We are still clunky as a team in possession, despite a bit of improvement.
Apart from any 'inate' preference and/or assurances he may have/need in his way of playing, maybe Garner might also like the idea of having MGW, CHO, NDoye, Hutchison, Kamada, Sarr, Nketia and Mateta in front of him, than say Grealish(slow), Beto(ball control), Barry(awareness/retention), KDH (pace).
He's arguably the best defensively and on the scoresheet of the three:
Garner.......1G, 2A, 79 Tkls, 83 Intcpt, 30 Blks
Anderson..1G, 1A, 84 Tkls, 51 Intcpt, 32 Blks
Wharton....0G, 2A, 60 Tkls, 73 Intcpt, 12 Blks
He does seem to prefer the one touch pass-and-move of the England youth (when he has players on the same wavelength) but hasnt had that option in the main in his time here.
I think he's doing the job Moyes asks of him. Recover, simple ball, get it wide to our possession experts, cover the slow CBs and full backs.
If Brathwaite was back, maybe partnered with Jake and some new full backs, I'd expect those stats to look different. I think a chunk of these comparisons are assuming they're asked to do the same job.