England’s Anthony Gordon

[Stottie]

2 hours ago, NWMag said:

He looks scared to make a mistake to me. It’s not out of the question that he’s aware a lot of fans are on his back online/social media and he’s terrified of trying something that doesn’t come off which would only increase the negative comments.

I said that earlier in the thread. At that time, Gordon's passing completion rate was the same as a center half, i.e., short easy passes only.

 

In Gordon's first appearance, the ball zipped of him and he hit one our passes of the season, an epic throughball to Wilson who was stopped by that great covering tackle. He looked a class above. I don't know what's happened since.

 

I didn't see it side on, but how close was the Firpo foul to a penalty? It won't have been far away. 

 

[worthy]

8 hours ago, cajuntoon said:

The wealth of hate for AG on here and through other media outlets is driven by two things - first is on-pitch results, second is an unfounded agenda.

 

Let's be totally honest here. Gordon went from being the wunderkind of a massive club on a major decline to the smallest fish in a newly renovated pond with a fanbase who didn't want him. As a winger who received collegiate offers (small potatoes, sure, but), I would be SHITTING myself to take a wingback on if I knew the moment I lost possession it'd be the only thing discussed for weeks by my own fans. It's getting absolutely ridiculous.

 

Gordon is one of our own now. Whether you like it or not. Let him create. Let him make errors. Let him develop.

 

All these people acting like we should be winning the UCL this season and every young player we sign should be Vinicius reincarnate when we had 5 points in november a season ago. Get a grip for Christ's sake. So ungrateful

 

 

For 45 million I expect much much more. Considering what that can get you in terms of talent outside England. We should have spent the cash better.

[SUPERTOON]

9 hours ago, cajuntoon said:

The wealth of hate for AG on here and through other media outlets is driven by two things - first is on-pitch results, second is an unfounded agenda.

 

Let's be totally honest here. Gordon went from being the wunderkind of a massive club on a major decline to the smallest fish in a newly renovated pond with a fanbase who didn't want him. As a winger who received collegiate offers (small potatoes, sure, but), I would be SHITTING myself to take a wingback on if I knew the moment I lost possession it'd be the only thing discussed for weeks by my own fans. It's getting absolutely ridiculous.

 

Gordon is one of our own now. Whether you like it or not. Let him create. Let him make errors. Let him develop.

 

All these people acting like we should be winning the UCL this season and every young player we sign should be Vinicius reincarnate when we had 5 points in november a season ago. Get a grip for Christ's sake. So ungrateful

 

 

He’s never been a wonder kid 

[Peder75]

A pre-season with the team will do him good. I think we'll see a much improved Gordon next season. Both tactically and mentally.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I always thought he was one of Everton’s best players TBH, and really highly rated. That was based on very brief periods of watching though. 
 

I think he’ll get better for us, it’s very early days. 

[Cronky]

14 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

He’s never been a wonder kid 

 

Wonder kid is putting it a bit strong, but he did stand out at Everton. He played with a lot of fire and freedom, and I did take notice of him at that earlier stage. I was pleased when we signed him.

 

He did lose his regular starting spot at Everton this season, so I'm wondering a bit where this loss of form or confidence came in. Maybe he got disillusioned with all that was going on at Everton, and stopped enjoying his football.  Getting that edge back may be quite difficult. It's not like flicking a switch.

 

Fine margins. What if he'd been able to bury that chance in the final minute? He'd have got a last-gap winner in an important game and walked off a hero.

[SUPERTOON]

4 minutes ago, Cronky said:

 

Wonder kid is putting it a bit strong, but he did stand out at Everton. He played with a lot of fire and freedom, and I did take notice of him at that earlier stage. I was pleased when we signed him.

 

He did lose his regular starting spot at Everton this season, so I'm wondering a bit where this loss of form or confidence came in. Maybe he got disillusioned with all that was going on at Everton, and stopped enjoying his football.  Getting that edge back may be quite difficult. It's not like flicking a switch.

 

Fine margins. What if he'd been able to bury that chance in the final minute? He'd have got a last-gap winner in an important game and walked off a hero.

He stood out for me more for his running and work rate rather than any sort of technical quality. The concerning thing so far for us is he doesn’t seem to put in any work off the ball. He’s pretty lazy out of possession imo.

[jackyboy]

Eddie has already said that he needs a full pre season to get up to speed and fully understand our way of playing.

I think a lot of the criticism on here and other sites is unfair. Eddie obviously sees a lot of potential in the lad so give him time.

 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, jackyboy said:

Eddie has already said that he needs a full pre season to get up to speed and fully understand our way of playing.

I think a lot of the criticism on here and other sites is unfair. Eddie obviously sees a lot of potential in the lad so give him time.

 

Some of it may be a bit over the top, but I think most of it is fair considering the price we paid and the lack of quality so far.

[Ikon]

He might come good but a dumb signing at the time. We needed a player that could come in more or less straight away out wide. For that money we could easily have got someone who offers more than Gordon and our other options out wide. Hopefully he will come good and not be a waste of money. Signing him hasn’t helped us this season like it should have. 

[TheGuv]

He’ll come good man. 

Looking forward to reading back and quoting in this thread next season when he’s starting regularly and performing well. 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, TheGuv said:

He’ll come good man. 

Looking forward to reading back and quoting in this thread next season when he’s starting regularly and performing well. 

Everyone hopes to see that happen, I’m not convinced though.

[Ikon]

2 minutes ago, TheGuv said:

He’ll come good man. 

Looking forward to reading back and quoting in this thread next season when he’s starting regularly and performing well. 

Hopefully he will. I still think it was the wrong signing at the time. We should have signed someone who could help us push forward this season already. Not spending this much on a player that might come good later. I also don’t see him as certainly becoming top class either.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Ikon

[Hanshithispantz]

He wanted Gordon for years and we took advantage of the situation with Everton. It wouldn't have stopped us going in for anyone else.

[Lush Vlad]

I’m not as convinced as others. But obviously hope it works out for him. 
 

His end product was crap at Everton and it’s not been much better here. Granted, he’s had limited chances to prove himself. 
 

Early days at Everton. I remember being really impressed with how direct, fast and skilful he was. Plus the fact he played off both feet. Maybe it was because he was an unknown quantity when he first burst on the scene, or perhaps he played with more freedom. But he hasn’t played like that in a long while now. 
 

I think he’ll end up being a squad player, which might be fine in the long run. Just a big fee for someone at this stage. 

[Thumbheed]

He's short on confidence, it's as simple as that.

 

I've seen nothing in his short time on the pitch to suggest he's a bad player or lacks a fundamental quality he's just struggling to get any rhythm. 

 

A pre-season away from this sort of scrutiny will do him a world of good.

[Ikon]

Confidence should not make you look lazy though as he has been in some moments. If anything he could at least give 110% and I have not seen that. 

[brummie]

I haven’t seen much of him so don’t feel qualified to say if he’s worth the money or not, but I would suspect that coming from a team which has been so shit for so long, at which you’ve spent your whole career, it is going to take a while to “wash that off” and be in a position to start delivering your best. Imagine what playing for Everton does to your confidence. 
 

I’d suggest giving him a pass for this season and seeing what he does next year. 
 

Of course, that’s easy for me to say with it not being my club.

[brummie]

2 minutes ago, Ikon said:

Confidence should not make you look lazy though as he has been in some moments. If anything he could at least give 110% and I have not seen that. 

Not too sure about that, tbh. I can see how that would be the case in a lot of players. 
 

Leon Bailey for us is like that. Although Tbf, he is poor. 

[Ikon]

1 minute ago, brummie said:

I haven’t seen much of him so don’t feel qualified to say if he’s worth the money or not, but I would suspect that coming from a team which has been so shit for so long, at which you’ve spent your whole career, it is going to take a while to “wash that off” and be in a position to start delivering your best. Imagine what playing for Everton does to your confidence. 
 

I’d suggest giving him a pass for this season and seeing what he does next year. 
 

Of course, that’s easy for me to say with it not being my club.

Good points and I agree. Hopefully you are right. I just wanted us to go for someone that could actually be a safer bet for the money and help us this season already. Considering how weak we are out wide.

[Ikon]

Just an example but I don’t know if it would have been doable, but someone like Nico Williams could have been bought for the same money. More proven and two years younger with a higher ceiling potentially. Has already shown that he has end product too. He isn’t very strong defensively and perhaps a bit lazy at times. Work rate is easier to improve than real natural talent though. I’m sure there is a lot of other options from abroad for the money. PL experience is one thing too I know, but a bit blown out of proportions at times too.

[alexf]

Delayed that through ball to Isak way too long unfortunately.

[Abacus]

I think part of the criticism of Gordon isn't actually about him, it's about the January transfer window in general. So, it's unfair to lay it all on him.

 

We all wanted reinforcements in certain areas. Selling Wood and Shelvey left us exposed up front and in midfield. No-one would argue with those deals on their own AT ALL.

 

But, for Wood, it left us exposed to another injury to Wilson without having a replacement. I'm pretty sure taking him off at 2-1 yesterday was to protect him for future games, making it obvious that's one place we had needed to strengthen.

 

Likewise, an injury to Bruno would've put us right up the creek. Shelvey, for all his faults, could at least come in and cover for a game or two under Howe. So, we were running a risk in a couple of key positions. And now Bruno seems to be carrying a knock and not able to play like he has been, so we probably could have done with Shelvey for a game or two (as much as I dislike him).

 

Instead of which, we seemed to chase Gordon for all that window, who was neither and for a role that I couldn't really define. I still don't really know what his role is yet, though I understand he needs time, patience and proper coaching.

 

However, and this isn't on him either, on top of that I don't know why he has been brought on or started in certain key games. The sub yesterday was a mistake - he doesn't seem to know how to press in a game we just needed to close down and where people were already losing their heads.

 

As for him, he's at least more two footed than Almiron, much like any biped, but he doesn't seem to know what he's doing. He so far can't seemingly dribble, tackle, or make the right decisions and then acted a bit petulantly with his substitution a few games back.

 

Yes, he may well become a mainstay in the side in the future.

 

But I think the frustration towards him is that in January he wasn't what we needed. Now, maybe that's because they weren't available or perhaps because I just don't know what he is. And then, of course, being thrown into certain games before he seems to know how to fit into the team makes him a bit of a lightning rod for criticism, even though neither of things are his fault.

[Thumbheed]

2 hours ago, Ikon said:

Confidence should not make you look lazy though as he has been in some moments. If anything he could at least give 110% and I have not seen that. 

That is exactly what a lack of confidence can do to a person.

 

A couple inches here and there and he'd have already had a couple goals to his name, which all of a sudden would look like a great return from his limited game time. 

[Ikon]

24 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

That is exactly what a lack of confidence can do to a person.

 

A couple inches here and there and he'd have already had a couple goals to his name, which all of a sudden would look like a great return from his limited game time. 

 

I know it can affect some players. However if this is the case with Gordon then I would have to question our judgement on character and failing to know about his mentality and the weakness he seem to have regarding this. Low on confidence I can accept in a signing, however the lack of effort I have seen in quite a few situations with him simply isn’t good enough. Some might try and brush it under the carpet but not me. If there is ONE thing he has to do then it’s giving his all in every situation and then there is at least a much better chance of things turning out for the better. I’m talking about “off the ball now”. On the ball confidence is a massive reason if you look quicker regarding everything, both decision wise and physically. If not confident you hesitate and do everything much slower. Off the ball, nah, shouldn’t look lazy.