I'd give Saman a 7/10 rating yesterday. Much of which was for his defensive contribution yesterday.
He effectively played 2 positions. He was a RWB out of possession and a RW in possession.
Defensively, he was excellent. He kept Sessegnon in his pocket, marking him well and blocking most of his crosses. There were excellent moments where he showed good defensive awareness off the ball, like when CB was drawn out of possession by a Spurs player and he read the run of another Spurs player into the box and blocked out the pass.
His first touch let him down on occasions or brought avoidable pressure on him from the opposition. His lack of speed was yet again an evident chink in his attributes and on occasion he made some lazy passes that turned over possession so not his best offering offensively today.
His injury was an unfortunate coming together, tangle of legs with a Spurs player in the box. He kept dropping down as clearly injured but tried to play on as Spurs were in possession fin the Brentford half for about 30 seconds when the injury happened. Credit to him for that.
Also a lovely moment when he came off the pitch where I was standing and hobbled half of the ground to the bench, to a majority standing applause by the fans and returning high fives and fist bumps to those on the front row. I think generally most Brentford fans appreciated his contribution yesterday which is evident on their forum and even the replies on their Twitter man of the match poll due to his absence as an option. Jansson or Toney were man of the match for me.
I think he's been coached in that WB position very well and seemed to be taking less direction from the touchline than he did in those appearances as LWB earlier in the season. He really proved that he can cover for Henry or hopefully a new RWB next season if Brentford continue with a back 3 and he has that defensive cover... and if he remains at the club.
I think given we're going to set up defensively (I hope) in most world cup games, it's not a bad thing he's getting coached as a wing back. It would be interesting to see him get a few games there in any friendlies we manage to arrange against decent opposition.
He effectively played 2 positions. He was a RWB out of possession and a RW in possession.
Defensively, he was excellent. He kept Sessegnon in his pocket, marking him well and blocking most of his crosses. There were excellent moments where he showed good defensive awareness off the ball, like when CB was drawn out of possession by a Spurs player and he read the run of another Spurs player into the box and blocked out the pass.
His first touch let him down on occasions or brought avoidable pressure on him from the opposition. His lack of speed was yet again an evident chink in his attributes and on occasion he made some lazy passes that turned over possession so not his best offering offensively today.
His injury was an unfortunate coming together, tangle of legs with a Spurs player in the box. He kept dropping down as clearly injured but tried to play on as Spurs were in possession fin the Brentford half for about 30 seconds when the injury happened. Credit to him for that.
Also a lovely moment when he came off the pitch where I was standing and hobbled half of the ground to the bench, to a majority standing applause by the fans and returning high fives and fist bumps to those on the front row. I think generally most Brentford fans appreciated his contribution yesterday which is evident on their forum and even the replies on their Twitter man of the match poll due to his absence as an option. Jansson or Toney were man of the match for me.
I think he's been coached in that WB position very well and seemed to be taking less direction from the touchline than he did in those appearances as LWB earlier in the season. He really proved that he can cover for Henry or hopefully a new RWB next season if Brentford continue with a back 3 and he has that defensive cover... and if he remains at the club.
I think given we're going to set up defensively (I hope) in most world cup games, it's not a bad thing he's getting coached as a wing back. It would be interesting to see him get a few games there in any friendlies we manage to arrange against decent opposition.
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