8 hours ago, Mod said:

Sometimes, when reading the Enzo thread after a game, it paints a completely different picture of how he actually played!

He has literally won us games, but the thread will tell you he had a shocker!

I still think some are offended by the Argie Bus sing-song, and that's fine, but there is no point in changing the reality of the games he plays well in over it.

I still haven't seen a game where the positives have outweighed tge negatives from him. He may score a goal and have a part to play in attack, but his failings as an actual midfielder causes us so many problems. The gaps in the middle are ridiculous as his positional discipline is so bad, teams obviously target the spaces he should be in. Its only recovered by the best DM in the game being his "partner".

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

Well said. Consistently does the hard yards. Often more ground covered than any of the other players.

£105m star signing getting plaudits just for running FFS

He’s basically a less aesthetic version of what Utd had with Pogba.

29 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

£105m star signing getting plaudits just for running FFS

More than Wirtz does, more than Isak does. The price that idiot directors are willing to pay for players nowadays bears no correlation to what the players offer as individuals in a team environment. By that principle I only wish Gittens was half as good, cos we paid half as much, right?

He’s the weak link in midfield. He pops up with the goals/assists here and there but overall, he’s a weak midfielder easy to bypass. A sturdier version of Jorgi, really.

5 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

More than Wirtz does, more than Isak does. The price that idiot directors are willing to pay for players nowadays bears no correlation to what the players offer as individuals in a team environment. By that principle I only wish Gittens was half as good, cos we paid half as much, right?

Why are we even celebrating miles covered? It’s the bare minimum required of a footballer. I’d rather see him control a game than run 15km.

Big opportunity for Santos. He'll likely start all of the next 3 games.

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Big opportunity for Santos. He'll likely start all of the next 3 games.

I'm looking at it as a win/win ... more starts for Andrey and a welcome rest for Moises

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

I'm looking at it as a win/win ... more starts for Andrey and a welcome rest for Moises

And Essugo is back on grass. Just hoping the injury hasn't negatively impacted his potential.

Say his name and he should soon appear in our 11, I believe in Andrey Santos!

Andrey best position is Caicedos so Moi getting a well needed break and having a top class replacementis not a bad thing for these next 3 matches.

On 30/11/2025 at 09:23, dkw said:

I still haven't seen a game where the positives have outweighed tge negatives from him. He may score a goal and have a part to play in attack, but his failings as an actual midfielder causes us so many problems. The gaps in the middle are ridiculous as his positional discipline is so bad, teams obviously target the spaces he should be in. Its only recovered by the best DM in the game being his "partner".

This is a wild take to me!

How about the game just gone. He and Reece did an immense job in midfield defensively and going forward. It felt like he was everywhere and getting stuck in to challenges, winning the ball back, playing people in and making good runs himself. I don't know how you could view his performance yesterday as overridingly negative.

All of this when he was missing the best DM in the game for most of the match, playing with 10 men.

6 minutes ago, Shweaves said:

This is a wild take to me!

How about the game just gone. He and Reece did an immense job in midfield defensively and going forward. It felt like he was everywhere and getting stuck in to challenges, winning the ball back, playing people in and making good runs himself. I don't know how you could view his performance yesterday as overridingly negative.

All of this when he was missing the best DM in the game for most of the match, playing with 10 men.

Reece did an immense job yesterday.

Enzo did a lot of shouting and slowing the game down, not much else.

0.08xG and 0.05xA.

77% pass accuracy with only 22 passes all game.

1 shot.

5 dribbles attempted and 1 successful.

lost possession 12 times.

4 tackles attempted and won 1.

0 interceptions.

0 clearances.

0 blocked shots.

13 ground duels, won less than half.

3 aerial duels and won 1.

Enzo Fernandez fans live in a make believe world. Our RB showed yesterday what we should expect from the clubs Argentinian poster boy.

19 minutes ago, Shweaves said:

This is a wild take to me!

How about the game just gone. He and Reece did an immense job in midfield defensively and going forward. It felt like he was everywhere and getting stuck in to challenges, winning the ball back, playing people in and making good runs himself. I don't know how you could view his performance yesterday as overridingly negative.

All of this when he was missing the best DM in the game for most of the match, playing with 10 men.

He was invisible during the first part of the game before the ending off, had zero impact on the game. He then did ok after the red, but thats the best I can give him, he didnt really do anything to impact on the game at all.

Look i like him, i like his attitude, he doesnt shirk work and obviously is passionate about the team/club, I just dont think he brings much value to the team, or at least often enough to warrant being seemingly the 1st name on the team sheet every week

On 30/11/2025 at 09:34, GarnachoCheese said:

He’s basically a less aesthetic version of what Utd had with Pogba.

You sure you're not mistaking Pogba for Ander Herrera?

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

You sure you're not mistaking Pogba for Ander Herrera?

Ander Herrera had his uses.

He can’t shoot a ball.

Even when you look at his league cup goal, it’s poor technique, his Strasbourg goals are mostly headers or inside the box, and again, technique isn’t there. He simply cannot shoot, and it’s a problem in a side lacking goals, you want your central mids to have a bit of a shot on them really, or at ‘least’ be capable, 7 shots so far this season, all so poorly hit.

58 shots for Strasbourg = 2 goals (that weren’t headers or tap-ins) and he was in a more advanced position there.

Maybe I just want another Essien, but it’s not ideal.

1 hour ago, Term_X said:

He can’t shoot a ball.

Even when you look at his league cup goal, it’s poor technique, his Strasbourg goals are mostly headers or inside the box, and again, technique isn’t there. He simply cannot shoot, and it’s a problem in a side lacking goals, you want your central mids to have a bit of a shot on them really, or at ‘least’ be capable, 7 shots so far this season, all so poorly hit.

58 shots for Strasbourg = 2 goals (that weren’t headers or tap-ins) and he was in a more advanced position there.

Maybe I just want another Essien, but it’s not ideal.

He's 18

No midfielder is good at shooting at 18. If they were good at shooting, they would have come from an academy as a forward. He's also had at least two goals from outside the box spuriously disallowed.

Essien scored some spectacular goals in his prime, but he also had a penchant for Row Z.

Also, he actually gets involved in our build-up. He doesn't get to solely crash the box like Enzo Fernandez insists on doing, even though that is/was Santos was being renowned for.

Edited December 18, 2025Dec 18 by SydneyChelsea

1 hour ago, Term_X said:

He can’t shoot a ball.

Even when you look at his league cup goal, it’s poor technique, his Strasbourg goals are mostly headers or inside the box, and again, technique isn’t there. He simply cannot shoot, and it’s a problem in a side lacking goals, you want your central mids to have a bit of a shot on them really, or at ‘least’ be capable, 7 shots so far this season, all so poorly hit.

58 shots for Strasbourg = 2 goals (that weren’t headers or tap-ins) and he was in a more advanced position there.

Maybe I just want another Essien, but it’s not ideal.

He's 18

No midfielder is good at shooting at 18. If they were good at shooting, they would have come from an academy as a forward.

Essien scored some spectacular goals in his prime, but he also had a penchant for Row Z

49 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

He's 18

No midfielder is good at shooting at 18. If they were good at shooting, they would have come from an academy as a forward.

Essien scored some spectacular goals in his prime, but he also had a penchant for Row Z

Andrey is actually 21, but I agree with you. Shooting esp from afar has a lot to do with body mass for power and balance, so it takes time.

Still think folks here expect too much from him atm.

6 hours ago, Term_X said:

He can’t shoot a ball.

Even when you look at his league cup goal, it’s poor technique, his Strasbourg goals are mostly headers or inside the box, and again, technique isn’t there. He simply cannot shoot, and it’s a problem in a side lacking goals, you want your central mids to have a bit of a shot on them really, or at ‘least’ be capable, 7 shots so far this season, all so poorly hit.

58 shots for Strasbourg = 2 goals (that weren’t headers or tap-ins) and he was in a more advanced position there.

Maybe I just want another Essien, but it’s not ideal.

7

He was not in a more advanced position for Strasbourg, please watch their games.

2 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

7

He was not in a more advanced position for Strasbourg, please watch their games.

No thanks. I’ll leave that to basement dwellers like yourself, Garnacho boy.

Let’s say he was able to get into the area more then/crash the box as Sydney put it, sure. Either way, even for a youngster, I’d expect a little better here, especially if he’s going to make attempts in the first place, as he does.

7 hours ago, acaeus said:

Andrey is actually 21, but I agree with you. Shooting esp from afar has a lot to do with body mass for power and balance, so it takes time.

Still think folks here expect too much from him atm.

22 in May.

9 hours ago, Term_X said:

He can’t shoot a ball.

Even when you look at his league cup goal, it’s poor technique, his Strasbourg goals are mostly headers or inside the box, and again, technique isn’t there. He simply cannot shoot, and it’s a problem in a side lacking goals, you want your central mids to have a bit of a shot on them really, or at ‘least’ be capable, 7 shots so far this season, all so poorly hit.

58 shots for Strasbourg = 2 goals (that weren’t headers or tap-ins) and he was in a more advanced position there.

Maybe I just want another Essien, but it’s not ideal.

Same critique for Fernandez please.

LOL

3 hours ago, Term_X said:

No thanks. I’ll leave that to basement dwellers like yourself, Garnacho boy.

Let’s say he was able to get into the area more then/crash the box as Sydney put it, sure. Either way, even for a youngster, I’d expect a little better here, especially if he’s going to make attempts in the first place, as he does.

So don't confidently state something untrue if you aren't going to back it up with experience.

We watch Enzo Fernandez week in week out spend the entire game with no defensive responsibility box crashing only for 90 mins and never have a goal scoring season as deep lying Santos LOL

3 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

So don't confidently state something untrue if you aren't going to back it up with experience.

We watch Enzo Fernandez week in week out spend the entire game with no defensive responsibility box crashing only for 90 mins and never have a goal scoring season as deep lying Santos LOL

That does not matter does it?
Santos has to do a lot more than Enzo to break the hierarchy and take his spot in the team; that's how it works to my knowledge. Enzo is higher up in the pecking order -- you may not agree, but I think he has done more in football and earned that despite still being 24 himself.

I do think Santos will improve and may become an excellent mid in the future, but IMO he's not this wonderkid who will immediately improve the team if played.