1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

This is way off the mark. Maresca gives Fernandez licence to go forward wherever he likes, and he is always crashing the box, usually to screw a shot past the post from a good position. Hilarious that you are trying to defend his finishing given the stance you take on Jackson. Have some consistency ffs 😂

three managers and two years later, not a single manager has got the best out of Fernandez or played/plays him in his "best position" to get the best out of him. Funny that. 

55 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

Fernandez can finish. I have seen it for myself. For the first one, I was in the stadium. 

Those clips are pretty much all his goals though Jim LOL

He has 6 PL goals for us.  Including 2 open goal headers from 3 yards out and 1 penalty ... so this fabulous shooting you speak of has delivered 3 league goals in 3 seasons. I guess he is the poster child for BlueCo so that's probably an appropriate level of "productivity"  🙂 

You like sh*tting all over Nico for his underperformance vs xG. Well Enzo has those 6 goals from 9.9 xG ... did I say in 3 seasons ? Yes I did. LOL

29 minutes ago, bluetrooper said:

three managers and two years later, not a single manager has got the best out of Fernandez or played/plays him in his "best position" to get the best out of him. Funny that. 

Could argue that his longest good spell for us was under Potter and Lampard

Edited February 5, 20251 yr by timetowaste

43 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Could argue that his longest good spell for us was under Potter and Lampard

I wouldn't classify him as ever having a 'good spell.'  A few good games here and there but never consistently good for any length of time.  One of many thoroughly disappointing signings in the past few years and, unfortunately for him, the most expensive disappointing one which, maybe slightly unfairly, makes him open to more criticism.

 

5 hours ago, bluetrooper said:

three managers and two years later, not a single manager has got the best out of Fernandez or played/plays him in his "best position" to get the best out of him. Funny that. 

Now now, a few told us, before he joined, Enzo would be THE signing. You know the guy, the man, the myth, the legend etc etc.

And these were not some mere mortals like myself, who, I admit, am frequently wrong about things, not just football things either. 

No these were posters that are never, ever wrong. So we just need to keep the faith, keep believing. Enzo will turn this around, and become the greatest midfielder in our clubs, nay, PL history!

So just have patience, and believe.

 

7 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Those clips are pretty much all his goals though Jim LOL

He has 6 PL goals for us.  Including 2 open goal headers from 3 yards out and 1 penalty ... so this fabulous shooting you speak of has delivered 3 league goals in 3 seasons. I guess he is the poster child for BlueCo so that's probably an appropriate level of "productivity"  🙂 

You like sh*tting all over Nico for his underperformance vs xG. Well Enzo has those 6 goals from 9.9 xG ... did I say in 3 seasons ? Yes I did. LOL

2 and a bit seasons - playing in a dysfunctional team; in flux and constant change - under multiple managers. A team that has gone through wholesale changes. Not an excuse for a lack of prolific goalscoring - but that is the context.

Dont know why you are bringing up Jackson - it is his job to score goals, so needs to be held to a higher standard when it comes to finishing. In any case - there are other ways of looking at it.

You say Enzo is 3.9 goals below his xg in 2.5 seasons. For context, Nico is around 8 goals under his xg during the last 10 games alone! 

One is a good footballer. The other is a donkey. It is not comparable.

Edited February 6, 20251 yr by nonotnowjim

15 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

I have seen him, in person, play for Argentina, where he scored a cracking effort against Mexico at the World Cup.

He can do it. We need to get him into the positions to be able to. 
 

Under Maresca, the tactic is invariably get it to Palmer.

I once saw Mateja Kezman, in person, score against Sc**thrope in the FA Cup.

Doesn't mean he was a good goal scorer.

5 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

2 and a bit seasons - playing in a dysfunctional team; in flux and constant change - under multiple managers. A team that has gone through wholesale changes. Not an excuse for a lack of prolific goalscoring - but that is the context.

Dont know why you are bringing up Jackson - it is his job to score goals, so needs to be held to a higher standard when it comes to finishing. In any case - there are other ways of looking at it.

You say Enzo is 3.9 goals below his xg in 2.5 seasons. For context, Nico is around 8 goals under his xg during the last 10 games alone! 

One is a good footballer. The other is a donkey. It is not comparable.

The excuses you use for dysfunctional team etc. all apply to Jackson too btw, you can't pick and choose when that works. 

Enzo's job is to create goals, yet Jackson has more assists than him. We have more points per match when with Jackson than Fernandez. Nico is 2.4 under his xG for the season. 

They're both pretty crap. Difference being one was signed as the next big thing in football. 

I rated his ability pretty highly, but I said a couple of months ago his lack of consistency is just not good enough.

Caicedo usually always puts in a top performance, Enzo just doesn't do enough in many games and I can't defend that. 

15 hours ago, timetowaste said:

Could argue that his longest good spell for us was under Potter and Lampard

18 months ago... 

I'd put down those bright performances as being a new player to the league and having some zest at a new club. 

Fair to say since then, teams have worked out his game and tactics and can keep him quiet. 

A shame because this side needs a talisman.

4 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

The excuses you use for dysfunctional team etc. all apply to Jackson too btw, you can't pick and choose when that works. 

Enzo's job is to create goals, yet Jackson has more assists than him. We have more points per match when with Jackson than Fernandez. Nico is 2.4 under his xG for the season. 

They're both pretty crap. Difference being one was signed as the next big thing in football. 

I can pick and choose...and I will. 

One is clearly a rubbish player, whose job since he come to the club is to score goals, who dies a half arsed job of that, whilst being unable to do anything else. The other is a clearly good player, who has been firefighting in the middle of the park for ages, in a variety of systems, for a variety of managers, all asking different things. His job isnt simply to score goals, or exclusively to create them - but instead to be an industrious, hard worker in the middle, defend, disrupt, be creative, contribute all over the pitch etc.... it isnt as binary as saying his job is to get assists.

 

1 hour ago, nonotnowjim said:

I can pick and choose...and I will. 

One is clearly a rubbish player, whose job since he come to the club is to score goals, who dies a half arsed job of that, whilst being unable to do anything else. The other is a clearly good player, who has been firefighting in the middle of the park for ages, in a variety of systems, for a variety of managers, all asking different things. His job isnt simply to score goals, or exclusively to create them - but instead to be an industrious, hard worker in the middle, defend, disrupt, be creative, contribute all over the pitch etc.... it isnt as binary as saying his job is to get assists.

 

Firefighting in the middle of the park? Caicedo has covered his arse for the past year and a half. 

Hard worker? If you could take 10 seconds of your day to watch the following and provide comment that would be great: https://x.com/godween007/status/1886910420989919591/video/1

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Firefighting in the middle of the park? Caicedo has covered his arse for the past year and a half. 

Hard worker? If you could take 10 seconds of your day to watch the following and provide comment that would be great: https://x.com/godween007/status/1886910420989919591/video/1

Currently ogling Andrea Corr….will look tomorrow!

On 05/02/2025 at 10:55, Ukraine Bolt said:

With Santos coming in next season and wanting serious game time real questions are going to start being asked of Fernandez, especially if he blocks his game time. 

If Lavia can stay fit too he could end up 4th choice. £105m...

If Lavia is ever fully fit the ideal setup would be Caicedo-Lavia-Enzo, the only game they played together was pretty good. Besides, there's a reason why Enzo is so important performs so well in a team whose coach always plays with this kind of setup (i am talking about the Argentina national squad of course).

Edited February 6, 20251 yr by Upb78

3 hours ago, Upb78 said:

If Lavia is ever fully fit the ideal setup would be Caicedo-Lavia-Enzo, the only game they played together was pretty good. Besides, there's a reason why Enzo is so important performs so well in a team whose coach always plays with this kind of setup (i am talking about the Argentina national squad of course).

You do know Caicedo was playing as a RB inverting into CM? It just isn’t ideal and sustainable long term.

41 minutes ago, ducavis said:

You do know Caicedo was playing as a RB inverting into CM? It just isn’t ideal and sustainable long term.

Yes that's correct, and they were still playing very well, but i stand with my affirmation, which is that the coach should play Caicedo-Lavia-Enzo in the midfield.

Edited February 7, 20251 yr by Upb78

2 hours ago, Upb78 said:

Yes that's correct, and they were still playing very well, but i stand with my affirmation, which is that the coach should play Caicedo-Lavia-Enzo in the midfield.

How do you do that if Maresca insists on playing 4-2-3-1? Your options are either playing Enzo as a ‘10’ or Caicedo as a RB in this formation if you insist on playing all 3.

10 hours ago, Upb78 said:

If Lavia is ever fully fit the ideal setup would be Caicedo-Lavia-Enzo, the only game they played together was pretty good. Besides, there's a reason why Enzo is so important performs so well in a team whose coach always plays with this kind of setup (i am talking about the Argentina national squad of course).

So who are you dropping? Caicedo is either being wasted at RB or Palmer is being dropped in the 10. Its not happening. 

Can we stop pretending like the Argentina squad was successful because of Enzo as well, i've never heard such nonsense. 

4 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Can we stop pretending like the Argentina squad was successful because of Enzo as well, i've never heard such nonsense. 

Name one other generational talent that squad had in it… Di Maria aside.

I don’t think Enzo is anywhere close to as poor as some on here make out, the issue I think is the pricetag (It didn’t come out of any of our pockets and we’re PSR compliant STILL, always baffles me that with football fans) and the fact we’re all expecting some Fabregas re-gen which he just isn’t.

Actually off recent performances he’s becoming quite effective for us, granted his finishing is pony, but with Caiceido doing the dirty work Enzo’s link up is noticeably improved.

6 hours ago, Upb78 said:

Yes that's correct, and they were still playing very well, but i stand with my affirmation, which is that the coach should play Caicedo-Lavia-Enzo in the midfield.

Any formation that takes our best midfielder Caicedo away from his position is a complete waste of time, no matter how well it helps Enzo play.

11 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Name one other generational talent that squad had in it… Di Maria aside.

hmmm, this is a trap, right?

24 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Name one other generational talent that squad had in it… Di Maria aside.

Otamendi was pretty good a few years back

23 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

I don’t think Enzo is anywhere close to as poor as some on here make out, the issue I think is the pricetag (It didn’t come out of any of our pockets and we’re PSR compliant STILL, always baffles me that with football fans) and the fact we’re all expecting some Fabregas re-gen which he just isn’t.

Actually off recent performances he’s becoming quite effective for us, granted his finishing is pony, but with Caiceido doing the dirty work Enzo’s link up is noticeably improved.

My main issue is his link up play isn't any better than Lavia and Lavia's overall game is better. Can actually beat a man and is press resistant. 

Obviously this requires Lavia being fit, but if that happens what do we do with Enzo? Expensive player to bring on for the last 20 mins.