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Matt Ritchie (now playing for Portsmouth)


Fenham Mag

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On talk sport at 11.

 

Managed to catch him on there completely by accident.  He was on about 12 in the end.  He spoke pretty well and seemed a lot more excitable and interesting than usual.  Still plenty of clichés and standard footballer chat, but it was a decent enough listen.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest Howaythetoon

I’ve been critical of him this season and wanted him dropped, but since the arrival of Kennedy he’s been very good and deserves his place in the team. I link Kennedy arriving and his upturn in form as no coincidence by the way. I think the pressure is off him now that we have someone competent on the left meaning he isn’t doing as much donkey work as he was which meant he was shagged by 60 minutes and unable to contribute much outside of set pieces in the tracking 3rd. Good on him and hopefully it will continue. I fancy him to add to his recent goals by the end of the season too.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Think his lack of pace means that decent premier league full backs don't really struggle to defend against him when he's going wide. He's had more success coming inside as ever but he has been shunted around positions a bit, Rafa seemed to try him in no 10 role briefly. Coming inside was more difficult too when we were playing that 4-4-2 that wasn't really a success.

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yeah, also we've pushed a bit higher up the pitch of late, maybe not for all Arsenal match but think him and Perez have really benefited from that bit more support in forward areas and having less distance to run to get ball into dangerous areas

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The marked improvement since before the turn of the year has a lot to do with him moving the ball quicker IMO. He used to hang onto it and wander forwards very slowly which really hampered our play.

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Think he looks quicker now than he did earlier in the season.  Certainly seemed to be closing players down pretty quickly.

 

There was one particular moment Arsenal broke and I was shocked to see him being one of the first back to try and cover.

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Never lost faith in this guy, and never wanted him out of the team. He is such a positive influence on the team from a leadership standpoint. Does such an outstanding job pressing the opposition.

 

Such a composed finisher and strikes the ball very well, so happy to see him getting into dangerous positions more often, and taking advantage.

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Guest Howaythetoon

I think the main reason he’s now performing or looking capable is because he’s doing less of the donkey work and that’s because we now have a threat down the left. He still works hard of course, but he’s not running around like a lunatic and has more time to think now. Kennedy’s arrival has helped hi, just as much as the team itself because most of our play was going through Ritchie and we were looking for him to assist all the time or most of the time. He’s won me over, but he’s still limited and I’d like to see us upgrade on him if we can.

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I think there's a few players who are in the same category, not really good enough to take us to the next level, but give us so much in sheer work rate and team ethic. Think Perez, Dummett and Diame would also fit that description. Even if we upgrade I could see them all staying here as squad players, Rafa will really value players who he can rely on.

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