7 hours ago, Jangz said:

to be fair Benteke would bully a lot of CBs .. he is 6-4 and built like a rock.. but he should be able to figure out a way to play by now against taller/stronger opponents... he is not a young kid now.. i think that really affects his game ... for the second goal he committed and did nothing... tbf thought Reece's flank was so porus most CBs would have struggled.. for the last one though i think he made the wrong decision to try and follow the runner wide.. 95th minute you defend your box..

He reminds me a little bit of Pique, he may just be an amazing player in Laliga but to make a career here.... a lot of work needs to happen..

I agree with most of this except the part about him being more suited to the Spanish league. This is a widely held view on here. But it’s predicated on a myth in my view, which is that somehow centre forwards in Spain are less physical / easier to handle than in the premier league. But there are and have been some absolute beasts there: Costa and Suarez spring to mind but there are many others. Why do people think Christensen wouldn’t get bullied by the likes of them? Also, when i think of the most impressive CBs in Spain , they’re beasts too. Two that spring to mind are Puyol and Ramos. They are/ were hellishly strong. Ramos is a fxcking animal. So i think that for Christensen to become a world class CB in any league, he does need to toughen up.

I dont think Kurt was happy with him:-

Not good enough. If he didn't come from our Academy then people would have wanted him out a lot sooner.

Has had enough chances to show what he can do and improve, he's not good enough if we want to challenge anytime soon.

decent ball player but not a premier league defender.

4 hours ago, Dean said:

I agree with most of this except the part about him being more suited to the Spanish league. This is a widely held view on here. But it’s predicated on a myth in my view, which is that somehow centre forwards in Spain are less physical / easier to handle than in the premier league. But there are and have been some absolute beasts there: Costa and Suarez spring to mind but there are many others. Why do people think Christensen wouldn’t get bullied by the likes of them? Also, when i think of the most impressive CBs in Spain , they’re beasts too. Two that spring to mind are Puyol and Ramos. They are/ were hellishly strong. Ramos is a fxcking animal. So i think that for Christensen to become a world class CB in any league, he does need to toughen up.

Sure Dean.. my point was more about style of play as apart from  probably Athletico and the basque club Athletic.. most play a more possession based game which i believe is more suited for him.. something similar to the City game.. but 

I'm sure just as us supporters are running out of faith with Christensen, Lamps and Jody are too. Real shame as I had such high hopes for him a few seasons back.

I watched him a lot in the Youth Team and he did look class and I took a lot from what Adi Viveash said about Christensen being the best young defender in Europe. He seemed to do well in Germany and broke into Danish National side and was on the right track and I would have been gutted if we had sold him when rumours were circulating. We were being rumoured with spunking millions on John Stones so at least Christensen stopped us making that mistake. But just like Jeffrey Bruma before him, Christensen has found out there is a massive difference between being a great prospect at youth level and then coming up against PL strikers week in, week out. 

He's not alone. To be honest there seems to be a real shortage of quality defenders - especially centre backs, but we can only hope that our coaching and scouting teams are doing all they can to find the next JT. Would sell Christensen and Rudiger in the summer.

 

We should either keep him and play him exclusively against Man City/Barcelona or sell him. What on earth was he doing for Sheffield United's second goal? It was farcical.

On 08/07/2020 at 17:09, Nibs said:

I'm sure just as us supporters are running out of faith with Christensen, Lamps and Jody are too. Real shame as I had such high hopes for him a few seasons back.

I watched him a lot in the Youth Team and he did look class and I took a lot from what Adi Viveash said about Christensen being the best young defender in Europe. He seemed to do well in Germany and broke into Danish National side and was on the right track and I would have been gutted if we had sold him when rumours were circulating. We were being rumoured with spunking millions on John Stones so at least Christensen stopped us making that mistake. But just like Jeffrey Bruma before him, Christensen has found out there is a massive difference between being a great prospect at youth level and then coming up against PL strikers week in, week out. 

He's not alone. To be honest there seems to be a real shortage of quality defenders - especially centre backs, but we can only hope that our coaching and scouting teams are doing all they can to find the next JT. Would sell Christensen and Rudiger in the summer.

 

Agree with your opinion of Christensen, Rudiger surprisingly flies under the radar for criticism by many when he is equally as bad.

3 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

We should either keep him and play him exclusively against Man City/Barcelona or sell him. What on earth was he doing for Sheffield United's second goal? It was farcical.

The last time he played Man City they played with a false 9 so he had an easy job. The last time he played Barcelona...he had traumas for months afterwards.

After 2 seasons in the bundesliga and 3 with us his time should be well and truly up. Not anywhere near good enough in any aspect of his game.

We concede an average of 1.65 goals a game when Christensen is a starter ... that's all anyone needs to know ... SELL.

 

3 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

The last time he played Man City they played with a false 9 so he had an easy job. The last time he played Barcelona...he had traumas for months afterwards.

Well yeah, it relates to the paraphrasing I mentioned a few days ago - he has the potential to be the best centre back in the world if he never has to play against an actual centre forward.

As regards 'the' Barca game, and I know this sounds like a defence of Titus Bramble, but he was very good other than that monumental f**kup which ultimately cost us the match.

Just now, PloKoon13 said:

Well yeah, it relates to the paraphrasing I mentioned a few days ago - he has the potential to be the best centre back in the world if he never has to play against an actual centre forward.

As regards 'the' Barca game, and I know this sounds like a defence of Titus Bramble, but he was very good other than that monumental f**kup which ultimately cost us the match.

Well yea he was ok up to that point, true...

IMO this is the wrong league for him, it’s too physical for him and strikers in the EPL rely on more than just movement, they’ll harass and bully you for 90 minutes if they sniff weaknesses. I just can’t see him improving either.

Thought he was at fault for both goals in tbe 1st half. 1st one, he isnt aggresive enough, and doesnt do enough to stop the ball getting squared. 2nd one was a bit like the palace one, just a complete lack of concerntration. 

Ive always been a big christiensen fan, but he has played fairly regularly now for 3 seasons, and he hasnt taken his chance. The only way you can get away with being a physically weak centre half, is by intellegent positioning. Some games he is in the zone and reads the game well, but there are far too many games where he gets physically and mentally beaten up by strikers, and his concentration goes completely out of the window. 

Not really sure what the future holds for him, Lampards post game comments, and his half time withdrawal, points to this being the straw that broke the camels back. 

2 hours ago, big blue said:

Thought he was at fault for both goals in tbe 1st half. 1st one, he isnt aggresive enough, and doesnt do enough to stop the ball getting squared. 2nd one was a bit like the palace one, just a complete lack of concerntration. 

Ive always been a big christiensen fan, but he has played fairly regularly now for 3 seasons, and he hasnt taken his chance. The only way you can get away with being a physically weak centre half, is by intellegent positioning. Some games he is in the zone and reads the game well, but there are far too many games where he gets physically and mentally beaten up by strikers, and his concentration goes completely out of the window. 

Not really sure what the future holds for him, Lampards post game comments, and his half time withdrawal, points to this being the straw that broke the camels back. 

You have to wonder if he would have been benched a few games earlier had Tomori been available.

3 hours ago, jack h said:

After 2 seasons in the bundesliga and 3 with us his time should be well and truly up. Not anywhere near good enough in any aspect of his game.

Its almost sad to see, I could have accepted his performances a couple of years ago when there was potential to improve, but this guy has literally stayed at the exact same level with no signs of improvement. Time to cash him in and send him back to the bundesliga, we'd be lucky to get 25m for him.

There are no redeeming features in playing Christensen. I keep hearing about him being good on the ball, reading the game well, being technically sound etc. He's none of that. He makes bad mistakes in almost every game he plays, so he can't possibly read the game well. He's not a good passer, he's probably more accurate with the ball at his feet than Zouma or Rudiger, but that's hardly an accomplishment, he can't spread the ball around like a true ball playing centreback, never could. On top of it he's weak both physically and mentally and is a non-threat at the attacking end even at set pieces.

Why is he still around is a mystery to me. I can understand people wondering whether Tomori's going to make it but surely after three seasons with the first team it's time to show Christensen the door. Nothing against him personally but it just reminds me of endlessly feeding tokens into a slot machine that'll never pay off. Enough is enough.

11 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

We concede an average of 1.65 goals a game when Christensen is a starter ... that's all anyone needs to know ... SELL.

 

That's preposterous. There is a lot more hidden behind the stats that one can't see. A lot worse things about him and his game. 

As before, I don’t disagree with the bulk of the comments on here, but would still give him one more season to prove himself. I just think that if you’re going to sell a young player (and 23 is still young for a CB), it has to be beyond all reasonable doubt that he’s not going to make it. Not quite there yet in my view. I’d sooner sell Rudiger.

3 hours ago, Dean said:

As before, I don’t disagree with the bulk of the comments on here, but would still give him one more season to prove himself. I just think that if you’re going to sell a young player (and 23 is still young for a CB), it has to be beyond all reasonable doubt that he’s not going to make it. Not quite there yet in my view. I’d sooner sell Rudiger.

He's at the same level he was 3 years ago and not made improvements to his game. He is still young, but if you haven't improved much in these key years, I can't see how he's going to get much better.

I would sell Rudiger in a heart beat, but he seems to be playing a fairly important role in bringing Werner and possibly Havertz in as well. So I would keep him just for that, but certainly not play him

Edited July 12, 20206 yr by driller97

35 minutes ago, driller97 said:

He's at the same level he was 3 years ago and not made improvements to his game. He is still young, but if you haven't improved much in these key years, I can't see how he's going to get much better.

I would sell Rudiger in a heart beat, but he seems to be playing a fairly important role in bringing Werner and possibly Havertz in as well. So I would keep him just for that, but certainly not play him

I think he has made some improvements, so that’s where I differ from the consensus on here though not by much. Bear in mind that the learning / improvement process, in all walks of life, not just football, can be non-linear. In other words, it looks like nothing much is changing, then there can be a lightbulb moment where things fall into place almost instantaneously. We’ve probably all experienced this on some level in some field or other. I also think his deficiencies (which please note I fully agree with) are blinding people to his qualities / leading them to write them and him off completely in disgust. It’s the inverse halo effect. So now everyone is saying he’s no good with the ball either. But this isn’t true. He‘s better on the ball and more technically gifted than people are giving him credit for. For example, at one point yesterday he plucked the ball out of the air in a manner worthy of Willian, with finesse that not many CBs have and I haven’t seen from him before, suggesting that there may be some improvement to his game that is flying under the radar in the climate of loathing. I just don’t think the case is closed ... yet.

17 minutes ago, Dean said:

I think he has made some improvements, so that’s where I differ from the consensus on here though not by much. Bear in mind that the learning / improvement process, in all walks of life, not just football, can be non-linear. In other words, it looks like nothing much is changing, then there can be a lightbulb moment where things fall into place almost instantaneously. We’ve probably all experienced this on some level in some field or other. I also think his deficiencies (which please note I fully agree with) are blinding people to his qualities / leading them to write them and him off completely in disgust. It’s the inverse halo effect. So now everyone is saying he’s no good with the ball either. But this isn’t true. He‘s better on the ball and more technically gifted than people are giving him credit for. For example, at one point yesterday he plucked the ball out of the air in a manner worthy of Willian, with finesse that not many CBs have and I haven’t seen from him before, suggesting that there may be some improvement to his game that is flying under the radar in the climate of loathing. I just don’t think the case is closed ... yet.

I see what you're saying, but I don't think he should be a starter. I wouldn't mind keeping him as a backup option, but as a starter I just don't trust him to be playing week in week out.

27 minutes ago, driller97 said:

I see what you're saying, but I don't think he should be a starter. I wouldn't mind keeping him as a backup option, but as a starter I just don't trust him to be playing week in week out.

Yeah I don’t disagree with that though with Tomori injured is Rudiger necessarily a better option?One thing I think we can all agree on is the defence is definitely the priority when it comes to investment. That has become increasingly clear since the restart.

3 hours ago, Dean said:

I think he has made some improvements, so that’s where I differ from the consensus on here though not by much. Bear in mind that the learning / improvement process, in all walks of life, not just football, can be non-linear. In other words, it looks like nothing much is changing, then there can be a lightbulb moment where things fall into place almost instantaneously. We’ve probably all experienced this on some level in some field or other. I also think his deficiencies (which please note I fully agree with) are blinding people to his qualities / leading them to write them and him off completely in disgust. It’s the inverse halo effect. So now everyone is saying he’s no good with the ball either. But this isn’t true. He‘s better on the ball and more technically gifted than people are giving him credit for. For example, at one point yesterday he plucked the ball out of the air in a manner worthy of Willian, with finesse that not many CBs have and I haven’t seen from him before, suggesting that there may be some improvement to his game that is flying under the radar in the climate of loathing. I just don’t think the case is closed ... yet.

He's still only 23-24 so there is still room for improvement. His best qualities for me is when the balls at his feet. What he really lacks is strength and aggression. Strength can be worked on and i think its really hurting his game teams are starting to target him. 

What he really needs is a leader and someone to organise beside him. No of the current centre backs we have can do that.