Jump to content

Mike Williamson (now unemployed)


Recommended Posts

Guest Tyson

Has always been the current-day version of Andy O'brien. He's a solid professional, and will give you 100% commitment & effort. But forwards do manage to get goalside him too easily. With Williamson it's just down to a lack of of athleticism, strength & balance. And that's suicidal in our current defensive set-up ie. Pardew employing a high defensive line.

 

Like O'brien, because he plays such a close checking marking game, he has to play for the accidental 'tangle-up' with his opposite number. Back in O'briens hey-day refs didn't really crack down on that sort of cynical & accidental foul. That's no longer the case now. His forwardplaying 1st touch, or when when mopping up the looseballs as well, is far too heavy. He always gives maruading strikers, with a high defensive & pressing workrate aka. somebody like Bellamy, a sniff at a gifted opportunity.

 

We've missed Taylor badly, who is a marked improvement in each area just mentioned. Taylor has always been a solid man-marker, he's weakness was defending opening space when backpeddling on the counter ie. not commiting to breaking up the ball-carrier quick enough, particularly when the opposition isn't committing extra attackers through the central corridor/or when those extra options are effectively covered by those midfielders who are not shirking their defensive responsibilities in transition from attack to defense.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Guest Tyson

O'Brien was at least a goal threat.

 

Attacking from set-pieces, and alternatively clearing the lines down back where heading is concerned, was O'brien's bread & butter stuff and redeeming quality (the simple stuff), to go along with other intangibles mentioned. It was easy to see why SBR was first attracted to him (re- effort & heart) at a time when the manager & board was initially (prior to Summer of 01/02) reloading/rebuilding the playing list, in the wake of Gullit's spending excess on foreign exports who didn't adapt to the hustle & bustle of the league.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

He hasn't looked the same player since his comeback from injury. I hope it's just a question of fitness and that a good pre-season will restore his confidence. His ability in the air is still there, but on the ground, he's being turned more easily.

 

Taylor is a strong athlete, and whilst he's not the most refined of centre backs, he's been excellent at getting out to opponents and blocking shots.

Link to post
Share on other sites

He hasn't looked the same player since his comeback from injury. I hope it's just a question of fitness and that a good pre-season will restore his confidence. His ability in the air is still there, but on the ground, he's being turned more easily.

 

Taylor is a strong athlete, and whilst he's not the most refined of centre backs, he's been excellent at getting out to opponents and blocking shots.

 

I thought the opposite actually. Looked good in his first 4-5 games, seems to have fallen apart since Brighton.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I had him on par with Taylor last year, how wrong I was. I'm not quite sure how I ever didn't see his major flaws. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a decent back up centre half but he's just not cut out for being in our first team.

 

I wouldn't beat yourself up about that assumption. At the half way point of last season we'd never seen Taylor have a spell where he looked consistently up to top flight level whereas Williamson was looking generally solid if not outstanding in the Prem.

 

Taylor's clearly got better natural attributes, but up until that point both had proven to be of a similar standard for us. I still think the start of this season was the best football Taylor has played in his career by a distance.

 

Taylor had been showing 4 years previously that he was capable of playing well in the Premier League, he was just one of the players who people decided was s*** following relegation.

 

Didn't help that he was doing twattish things like over-celebrating goals and trying to get the crowd going.... :lol:

 

Always loved a bit of Stevie T myself.  :saylor:

Link to post
Share on other sites

He's not very good.

 

Not signing a CB in January could cost us our Euro spot, this lad is not good enough for the Premiership and it's having a knock-on affect on the rest of the team.

 

We have to play a deep line because he's slow as fuck, meaning the midfield has to sit deeper (in Pardew's head at least) which in turn leads to so much of our hoofball because the strikers are so isolated.

 

Not his fault really, but I hope he'll be gone in the summer. Not good enough even as a squad player.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Struggling to work out who is the biggest liability out of Williamson and Simpson.

 

It is scary how bad Williamson has become in a year. I don't know what is up with him. He never had pace and has always been dicey in shirt pulling but he at least seemed to read the game well, was pretty calm and made the right decisions, even if it was just hoofing it into touch. Now he bungles everything, gets himself into trouble and rarely picks the right option.

 

Think I'd be more tempted to put Perch at CB and keep Simpson on the starting sheet right now. Tough call though.

 

Ideally right now;            Santon    Perch    Colo    Raylor      (looks fucking shocking on paper though)

Link to post
Share on other sites

No fan of his, think he is a shocking footballer BUT thought it was disgraceful the way the crowd got on his back. The lad struggles on the ball at the best of times so why the f*** would you want to crank up the pressure on him?

 

 

 

We really shouldn't be saying this about a Premiership footballer.

Link to post
Share on other sites

He's been s***, but it doesn't help that he's got Simpson on his side too. Poor sod.

 

The same can be said for Simpson

 

Well, not to the same extent. Williamson has to cover any player who gets past Simpson. And that is almost every player in the entire universe.

Link to post
Share on other sites

He's been s***, but it doesn't help that he's got Simpson on his side too. Poor sod.

 

Midfield refusing to do anything but sit deep in front of him probably doesn't help the constant pressure either. Still night and day from last season and the year before.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...