Adam Wharton

[chaddyrovers]

3 hours ago, M_B said:

Tuchel only has a chance of winning anything because of Southgate, he overhauled the whole system, it's a completely different proposition.

Players were sending  in a sicknote from their mum to get out of turning up before Southgate started, now they're champing at the bit to get in the squad.

Tuchel has to reach the final or it's failure, semis at the absolute least. That is the standard Tuchel has inherited from the wet lettuce.

1000% correct, I find its very annoyed how much some people rubbished what Southgate actually did but its been our best performances since 1966 and 1996. 

7 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Based on his initial squads, there seems very little likelihood that the above will the midfield at the World Cup.

Although even if it is, I dont know if it is sufficiently defensive to protect a below par defence. To think at one point, we had 6 or 7 centre backs all a world away from the current dearth in quality there.

plenty of good centre backs like Stones Guehi, Tomori, Branthwaite, Colwill, Konsa

7 hours ago, Mike E said:

Of course I would always rather see Wharton playing at as high a level as possible, including the men’s side BUT

Devil’s Advocate:

Might he benefit from playing every game of U21 international tournament football (similar to the old Toulon tournament) rather than two friendlies?

tbh, I think Wharton would benefit from a summer of rest and being fresh for next season

[roversfan99]

Centre backs ranging from good to average to totally out of the picture to well past their best.

So no top level centre backs that a team with supposed aspirations of winning major tournaments would expect to have.

[roverandout]

3 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Centre backs ranging from good to average to totally out of the picture to well past their best.

So no top level centre backs that a team with supposed aspirations of winning major tournaments would expect to have.

Argentina didn't have any top class defenders when they won the World cup

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Argentina didn't have any top class defenders when they won the World cup

Absolutely, but equally people would have said that about their team. You can win it without brilliant players in every position, but theres no harm in admitting that we are weak in that position.

[LWX]

7 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Argentina didn't have any top class defenders when they won the World cup

I saw a lot of Pezzella here for Betis, lead the back line and more often than not was in the right place to head clear or get a block in - class player. He wasn't first choice for Argentina during the tournament, so whoever was infront of him must've been very good. This is, of course, said with some bias on my part 😜

[riverholmes]

9 hours ago, Mike E said:

Of course I would always rather see Wharton playing at as high a level as possible, including the men’s side BUT

Devil’s Advocate:

Might he benefit from playing every game of U21 international tournament football (similar to the old Toulon tournament) rather than two friendlies?

My less-than-informed impression, which is based only really on highlights, is that Wharton has not been at his best since returning from groin injury and surgery mid-season. Though he has been starting, Palace have rotated their many CMs, including Kamada, Hughes, Lerma and Devenny. Wharton didn't play in their last game, if I remember rightly.

My guess is that there is a lot of confirmation bias going on. Every sliver of evidence being used to build the argument that Wharton is currently a world-beater - overlooking where he's not doing so well, compared to before.

It makes sense for Wharton to rest and get back to his best. Palace failed in their duty of care, I believe, in playing him when he was suffering from injury. 

 

[roverandout]

23 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Absolutely, but equally people would have said that about their team. You can win it without brilliant players in every position, but theres no harm in admitting that we are weak in that position.

I'm agreeing it's not our best position but we've always done well defensively at tournaments with the right set up especially under Southgate 

[roverandout]

16 minutes ago, LWX said:

I saw a lot of Pezzella here for Betis, lead the back line and more often than not was in the right place to head clear or get a block in - class player. He wasn't first choice for Argentina during the tournament, so whoever was infront of him must've been very good. This is, of course, said with some bias on my part 😜

De Paul is a good defensive player 

[roversfan99]

46 minutes ago, roverandout said:

I'm agreeing it's not our best position but we've always done well defensively at tournaments with the right set up especially under Southgate 

I think we have often set up quite defensively but even individually, we are much worse now because we had the likes of Stones, Walker and even Shaw who are all a shadow of their former self.

[roverandout]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I think we have often set up quite defensively but even individually, we are much worse now because we had the likes of Stones, Walker and even Shaw who are all a shadow of their former self.

Agree but tbf ghuei really stepped up at the euros. He was probably our best player and konsa has proven to be a good champions league defender