2018/19 Kurt Zouma

[BernieH]

he's formed a decent partnership with Keane, who looks a lot more confident alongside Zouma, it's a shame people can't give keane the credit he deserves for turning around his woeful form of last year. I do hope we can sign Zouma on a perm because then we have 3 good centre backs as keane maybe isn't the big donkey he showed us he can be last season when things go poorly, he's obviously a confidence player.

 

[Papa Shango]

he's formed a decent partnership with Keane, who looks a lot more confident alongside Zouma, it's a shame people can't give keane the credit he deserves for turning around his woeful form of last year. I do hope we can sign Zouma on a perm because then we have 3 good centre backs as keane maybe isn't the big donkey he showed us he can be last season when things go poorly, he's obviously a confidence player.

Keane has done great this season and does deserve credit.

That said you cant have a centre back who is a confidence player. That is a very dangerous thing. To be honest I don't think he is a confidence player per se. I just think he played crap last season.

 

[PhilM]

Keane has done great this season and does deserve credit.

That said you cant have a centre back who is a confidence player. That is a very dangerous thing. To be honest I don't think he is a confidence player per se. I just think he played crap last season.

@BernieH makes a good point as I do feel that for many of our fans, unfortunately Keane's reputation has already be tarred because of last year's woefulness.

It's not a new story, as our fan base often becomes entrenched in views: you're either always great or you're awful. There's no middle ground...or forgiveness.

For me, Keane has greatly improved this season and has built a formidable partnership with Zouma; this should make it difficult for Mina to get in the starting XI.

 

[Lanolin]

Personally I think some of the perceived improvement of Keane is just down to us looking generally better as a unit. If you look at him statistically last year, he was still pretty good at winning headers, blocking, clearances etc, he was just shown to be very very limited when isolated. Last year he found him being isolated quite a lot, and he was often playing with Jagielka or Williams, who couldn't help him out when it happened. This year he's been isolated less, and Zouma has shown himself to be very good at getting back round to cover when necessary. That's not supposed to be a criticism of Keane, in a way it's a defence of him, in that some of what happened last year was outside of his control. In my opinion though, he's still more limited than I would like in the long run.

Zouma, on the other hand, is exactly the type of player I think we need at this stage of our development. He'll make mistakes and have poor games, but if we could get him on a permanent deal I think he could be a real asset to us for years.

 

[Blueclouds]

said when we signed him he was a very good defender, was a great defender for Chelsea before his injury then was playing RB for stoke mostly

he's helped keane tenfold with his pace, even keane looks like a very good defender these days

Tbf keane had williams or jags next to him last season

 

[Eggs]

he's formed a decent partnership with Keane, who looks a lot more confident alongside Zouma, it's a shame people can't give keane the credit he deserves for turning around his woeful form of last year. I do hope we can sign Zouma on a perm because then we have 3 good centre backs as keane maybe isn't the big donkey he showed us he can be last season when things go poorly, he's obviously a confidence player.

...it’s a good point actually, Keane now has athleticism and powers of recovery alongside him to compliment his weaknesses.

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

Looks good on defense but I wish his offensive capabilities improve. Needs to work on heading down from corners. I hope MIna will show him how its done.

 

[Charlie Sweet]

Looks good on defense but I wish his offensive capabilities improve. Needs to work on heading down from corners. I hope MIna will show him how its done.

Lad. He's primarily a defender. And "Heading down from corners"?

 

[Tennessee Blue Mike]

Lad. He's primarily a defender. And "Heading down from corners"?

Sorry that does sound out of sorts. What I meant was it would be nice if Zouma would threaten the opponents goal instead of skying it all the time over the bar from Siggy's corners.

 

[Big Fat Sam]

I like this lid.

 

[CRIMHEAD]

They complement each other really well.

Zouma has that pace over distance that Keane evidently doesn't have, and I think Keane has grown into the role of being the 'leader' out of the two really well.

Martial/Rashford/Lukaku will be a huge test at the weekend though, even with Utd playing badly.

It doesn't hurt either Zouma or Keane to have serious competition behind them, as well.

Again, for like the 50th time, Keane is fast and has plenty of pace over distance whatever that means. Is it just that some if you don't believe Sam Dyche and his stopwatch and think the mirror just made up those sprint times?

 

[TheBigIguana]

Personally I think some of the perceived improvement of Keane is just down to us looking generally better as a unit. If you look at him statistically last year, he was still pretty good at winning headers, blocking, clearances etc, he was just shown to be very very limited when isolated. Last year he found him being isolated quite a lot, and he was often playing with Jagielka or Williams, who couldn't help him out when it happened. This year he's been isolated less, and Zouma has shown himself to be very good at getting back round to cover when necessary. That's not supposed to be a criticism of Keane, in a way it's a defence of him, in that some of what happened last year was outside of his control. In my opinion though, he's still more limited than I would like in the long run.

Zouma, on the other hand, is exactly the type of player I think we need at this stage of our development. He'll make mistakes and have poor games, but if we could get him on a permanent deal I think he could be a real asset to us for years.

That first paragraph is a pretty spot on assessment of Keane imo. There's a reason he looked good for Burnley who make their whole goal to not get opened up and looked better now that we have some actual structure and players around him.

 

[BernieH]

Keane has done great this season and does deserve credit.

That said you cant have a centre back who is a confidence player. That is a very dangerous thing. To be honest I don't think he is a confidence player per se. I just think he played crap last season.

Aye, you are probably right, I mean lets be honest he wasn't the only player who struggled for form last season, I think a lot was expected of him and so he became a target but so did a few others. I'm glad he's showing he's actually a decent player.

 

[PhilM]

Aye, you are probably right, I mean lets be honest he wasn't the only player who struggled for form last season, I think a lot was expected of him and so he became a target but so did a few others. I'm glad he's showing he's actually a decent player.

Last season's turmoil had a negative impact on a lot of players. Koeman lost the dressing room, Unsworth wasn't up to the task and Sam's football was well...

 

[Eggs]

..he’ll be carrying my couple of quid for first goalscorer.