By Brian Neil Gay
WITH the halfway point reached this season it is interesting to note that while in terms of points we are in a similar position to last year it feels so much better this time around.
It was this time last year of course that the great slide was underway as the trap door opened and our form fell away. We all know what torture it was attending or watching matches between January and May 2015.
So just why is there this feeling that we are in a much better place this year? Has Slaven Billic really made that much difference? He’s had injuries to contend with just as Sam Allardyce faced last year, so what is different?
For some clues to the answers let’s look at the festive period from the last two years, a time which in reality has not been that productive for the Irons for many a year. Under Sam Allardyce we went into the 2014 Xmas period the form team in the top 4 and looking good.Then the injuries kicked in and without Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia’s up-front double act, the form that had taken us towards the top was about to crumble and disintegrate. We simply could not cope.
Under Billic we entered the 2015 Xmas period already battered and beleaguered with numerous injuries to our first team yet we have managed to have go several games unbeaten with a largely makeshift 1st 11. They weathered the storm and, with first Lanzini, and then Payet returning, the team were back to winning ways suggesting that the slide of last year will not be repeated.
The fact that we went through those matches without key players unbeaten would seem to me to be down to the way Billic has managed the second, third and fourth choice players in the squad.
Yes you can point out that SB has been furnished with a deeper squad than SA before him but ironically it’s players from the previous charges squad that Billic is making into better players.
A classic case in point is James Collins in what he describes as being, and it is difficult to argue with him, the form of his life. Told he was fourth choice CB at the start of the season JC has knuckled down and grafted and taken his chance with both hands. I wonder if anyone told they were fourth choice under SA would have put that sort of effort in?
James Tomkins is another who looked to be at best third choice for his 1st team place but rather than consider a move he’s battled hard impressing Billic enough to go from being a makeshift RB to one who is now considered above the original first choice for that position Carl Jenkinson.
Two examples of guys in the background putting the effort in and impressing the gaffer. Two guys who are Irons assets too.
Michail Antonio is another,who after the joy of signing for a PL side, has had to wait patiently, working hard in training. Can’t be easy when you have been one of the top goalscorers in the Championship, used to being the main man – look at Patrick Bamford’s experience at Palace!
Michail is another working not only for himself but for the gaffer, prepared to wait for his chance rather than look for a loan and regular first team runs elsewhere. Unlike Bamford, Michail waited, worked and his chance came when another of our expensive loans Victor Moses was injured.
He might be raw and a bit wild at times but the effort is there for all to see, the potential too and now he’s scoring who knows how far he will go? Let’s be honest Moses for all his excellence at times is hit or miss and he’s been that way for a a few years now and is in danger of becoming a short term journeyman.
Let’s move onto Andy Carroll. His last few displays for me have been pretty much better than anything I saw from him under Allardyce, more rounded more complete but still with the end result he is known for.
Could this be down to the fact that he is no longer taken for granted as the main man who the team is built around but one who has to fight for his place? On the evidence of his form now and the way his rehab from injury has been handled, this time it seems to me that yes he very much does want to perform for the gaffer.
No toys thrown, no prima donna off field displays , just a willingness to accept and battle for his place. This suggests to me The gaffer has sorted him.
Even Enner Valencia’s, recent contributions, without Diafra Sakho alongside him, have been far more effective than any from last season when he was without DS as a partner. I think the boss must be getting more from EV too.
It is also good to see improvement in the newer signings like Angleo Ogbonna and Pedro Obiang their recent efforts much better than the early form.
With some of these stand-ins showing their best form it could be difficult for the like of Winston Reid and Moses to get back in straight away and that can only be good to maintain a high standard all round.
For me these are all the signs that Bilic as a man manger is right up there, he’s not one to have teacher’s pets, no one is guaranteed their place and everyone has to work for it.
Yet it is the sign of largely settled squad, if any of them had any doubt about dissent, step out of line and you can expect to become the next Morgan Amalfitano.
Spot on
Good piece ,Slav is what we definatly wished for !
Agree with everything you say, in the case of JC and Antonio I think they are by nature not complainers, JC has been exceptional, Antonio should start ahead of Moses every match, the more I watch him the more he reminds me of James Milner, consistently very good at everything without being exceptional yet at any discipline which is great and he still has a lot of room to improve which hopefully we will see that over the course of the next few years. Under SA the way we played with AC was aimless long balls mostly diagonal which didn’t utilise all his assets, under SB we get forward in numbers and now both EV and MA are reading his knockdowns getting ahead of him, a bit like Ighalo and Deeney do this is creating opportunities. I think if we can get our players fit we should do well and finish with between 60 – 70 points which should be good enough for a European place, I doubt this season it will be top 4 but who knows if we can go on a run and keep it going anything is possible, COYI!
Great article! Super slav seems to have the midas touch, long may it continue! COYI!
Slav is a humble type of guy.Does nt try to large it over players . The players respect that and respond .hence he gets the best out of them.
Best article this season could not get more spot on,
This season is going to be our best for 10 years