Jack Colback (now a free agent)

[Altamullan]

They both played well yesterday. Anita in particular.

 

I think this. I also think people would do well to bear in mind the roles Vurn & Jack are suited to/picked to play, rather than hold in mind some kind of Gerrard /Robson/Keane hybrid fantasy-uber-central midfielder to compare them unfavourably against. Think Batty-Fernando-Wilkins-Deschamps: I appreciate these are high profile examples of largely forgettable but often (formation dependent) essential roles.  IMO, humble as it is, if you’ve played/understand football, at any reasonable level, and/or are capable of reflection you will be aware of the potential impact--and the absence--of this kind of role. We might not salivate over it, but if nobody is hassling and harrying I think you soon notice the detrimental effect.

[mrmojorisin75]

Anita is so much better than Colback, it's not even a debate. Anita is average with the odd great game, Colback dreams of being even close to that.

if anita was average then our midfield wouldn't be such a disaster zone, he's shit, colbacks shit arguing over who's slightly less shit is rather pointless they're as bad as each other

Anita does have occasional games where he looks very good but all in all he's a poor player

I think Colback can maintain his level of consistent averageness/nothingness when all around him is going to shit, largely because he does fuck all but run about anyway. Anita on the other hand suffers badly when everyone else is playing badly, he can't raise his game against the tide very often with the odd exception, whereas when the team functions he performs better and looks a much better player than Colback. Which he is.

 

[M4]

Colback has a decent tackle in him now and then - but he makes a fucking idiotic lunge that's unnecessary and gets a booking every other match.

And for the other half of games he plays he'll just be grabbing and tugging on people's arms. Sorts his yellow for every game.

[The College Dropout]

Colback is consistent because he always tries. Anita has one of these games where he's first to every ball, loads of interceptions once every 15 games.

[mrmojorisin75]

First I've ever heard anyone imply Anita doesn't try tbh, which I'm assuming that is.

[The College Dropout]

Well he has matches where he's everywhere and matches where he's anonymous. The everywhere matches are few and far between. Thought he was one of the better players at Palace actually but he was still dominated and largely second to every ball.

[Geordie Ahmed]

Well he has matches where he's everywhere and matches where he's anonymous. The everywhere matches are few and far between. Thought he was one of the better players at Palace actually but he was still dominated and largely second to every ball.

Whereas Colback is always anonymous

 

I think everyone is in agreement that we do badly need 2 central midfielders BUT Anita>Colback every single day of the week for me

[Incognito]

Colback was better than he usually is but ultimately that doesn't mean an awful lot. Saw him again lose the ball on the edge of our area which fortunately we got away with but on another day could've led to a goal.

 

Anita clearly is a better player basically because he does everything better.

 

[Kanji]

Colback gets a booking sometime early in the first half and then he has to play less aggressive for the rest of the match...around the 75 minute mark he begins to look like hes about to pick up a second yellow and repeat.  That is costly.

 

f*** off with this "Anita doesn't try" bullshit. That's about as stupid and thick of a thing you could say about him. In fact, both Colback and Anita try their bollocks off for 90 minutes, Colback doesn't have any stand-out qualities and is a below average player.  Anita is a better player in my departments over Colback but he's still not an ideal DM or CM in the PL for me, and I like the guy a ton. We need two new central midfielders and we got rid of Abeid who was more than capable of holding down the defensive midfield role for his own.

[TRon]

Colback has a decent tackle in him now and then - but he makes a fucking idiotic lunge that's unnecessary and gets a booking every other match.

 

Like I said earlier though, Colback can only tackle if he's right on top of the player already. If there's a bit of space he's going to miss the tackle because he's so slow at closing down. It pretty much makes him useless if you want to press the opposition.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Yeah, his positioning is crap and he has no engine at all. I do think he tries FWIW, he's just a poor player.

[Geordie Ahmed]

He does try hence the reason he covers a lot of ground BUT it has no purpose

[henke]

He always seems involved yet has no influence on the game at all. He's like the carrier bag blowing around the stadium of light.

[timeEd32]

Jonathan Wilson on Colback, the Premier League's most booked player since Summer 2013: http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/mw7gjwhrdkm2lk5ast_rzw/Show/Player-Focus-Jack-Colback-Not-Pirlo-or-Cattermole-but-Somewhere-In-Between

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

'The criticism of Colback, even in his Sunderland days, was that his neatness didn’t necessarily lead anywhere. He’s played 411 passes in 880 minutes on the pitch this season, but none of them have led to a goal and only six have been deemed key passes; three of those have been corners.'

[M4]

He always seems involved yet has no influence on the game at all. He's like the carrier bag blowing around the stadium of light.

perfect.

[Ikon]

At least the carrier bag had a purpose once..

[TRon]

Jonathan Wilson on Colback, the Premier League's most booked player since Summer 2013: http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/mw7gjwhrdkm2lk5ast_rzw/Show/Player-Focus-Jack-Colback-Not-Pirlo-or-Cattermole-but-Somewhere-In-Between

 

Rubbish article.

[mozy]

Jonathan Wilson on Colback, the Premier League's most booked player since Summer 2013: http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/mw7gjwhrdkm2lk5ast_rzw/Show/Player-Focus-Jack-Colback-Not-Pirlo-or-Cattermole-but-Somewhere-In-Between

 

Rubbish article.

 

Harsh. It's on point to a degree, but fails to make reference to the important fact that Colback can't operate as a holding player by himself because he isn't good enough basically.

[TRon]

Jonathan Wilson on Colback, the Premier League's most booked player since Summer 2013: http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/mw7gjwhrdkm2lk5ast_rzw/Show/Player-Focus-Jack-Colback-Not-Pirlo-or-Cattermole-but-Somewhere-In-Between

 

Rubbish article.

 

Harsh. It's on point to a degree, but fails to make reference to the important fact that Colback can't operate as a holding player by himself because he isn't good enough basically.

 

It's creating a false image of him as a successful tackler when in reality he's too slow to close down effectively when the opponent has any space. The rest of it I could even put up with such as the safe passing. I actually think he's quite good on the ball other than he slows the game down sometimes while he decides where to pass (usually backwards).

 

I don't know if you ever saw Paul Bracewell when he used to play for Everton, but he was everything that Colback should be. Just played it simple and recycled the ball quickly, but alongside Peter Reid he could shut down the opposition midfield in an instant. They wouldn't be jogging around the centre circle watching the opposition string together nice passing triangles that's for sure.

[M4]

If he would just stop pretending that he's going to pass it anywhere else than backwards he would indeed cut down a big chunk of the time he wastes.

[Marmoset]

Maybe, particularly against the bigger sides when we're under the cosh, he's asked to slow the game down a bit and just keep the ball? Not that he'd be capable of launching perfect through ball after through ball if you told him to mind.

[TRon]

Maybe, particularly against the bigger sides when we're under the cosh, he's asked to slow the game down a bit and just keep the ball? Not that he'd be capable of launching perfect through ball after through ball if you told him to mind.

 

What does he do different against the smaller sides? I can't say I've noticed much difference.

[mozy]

Jonathan Wilson on Colback, the Premier League's most booked player since Summer 2013: http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/mw7gjwhrdkm2lk5ast_rzw/Show/Player-Focus-Jack-Colback-Not-Pirlo-or-Cattermole-but-Somewhere-In-Between

 

Rubbish article.

 

Harsh. It's on point to a degree, but fails to make reference to the important fact that Colback can't operate as a holding player by himself because he isn't good enough basically.

 

It's creating a false image of him as a successful tackler when in reality he's too slow to close down effectively when the opponent has any space. The rest of it I could even put up with such as the safe passing. I actually think he's quite good on the ball other than he slows the game down sometimes while he decides where to pass (usually backwards).

 

I don't know if you ever saw Paul Bracewell when he used to play for Everton, but he was everything that Colback should be. Just played it simple and recycled the ball quickly, but alongside Peter Reid he could shut down the opposition midfield in an instant. They wouldn't be jogging around the centre circle watching the opposition string together nice passing triangles that's for sure.

 

His closing down is absolute shite like, fully agree. Never saw Bracewell but the description you give sounds spot on. Anita was much better at this vs Liverpool, the tackle where he left his foot in on one of their players (Allen?) was one of the most pleased I'd been with him since he joined us. That sounds stupid, but we need him to be a zippy, committed ball winner.

 

Back to Colback, he looks a lot better vs the bigger sides where his job is more simple (no real creative responsibility) and he has less ground to cover because we naturally sit deeper. Vs the smaller sides he sees a lot more of the ball and doesn't do a great deal with it, plus he gets caught out on the counter more often.

[buzza]

Jonathan Wilson on Colback, the Premier League's most booked player since Summer 2013: http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/mw7gjwhrdkm2lk5ast_rzw/Show/Player-Focus-Jack-Colback-Not-Pirlo-or-Cattermole-but-Somewhere-In-Between

Nailed it for me that article! exactly as he says, he does the unglamourous work, gives the ball to better players who will create things, the better the team around him the better he will look. Astonished to see he has 86% pass rate.