Can't be shut down! Antonee Robinson at Fulham Robinson starts! and again as Captain, Fulham (8th) visiting Aston Villa (7th).
Fulham play okay, weak first half, concede a goal, better second half, but after using all subs Harrison Reid (sub) pulls his calf and Fulham play the last 15 minutes + 8 minutes of stoppage time down to ten. Decent but not amazing from Robinson. Hard fought game. Such a Fulham away result.
FFC has nothing left to play for - and today actually revealed that they don’t even have pride. I suspect they are preparing to move on from Jedi, and so will have Sess at LB and preserve Jedi for a big money transfer this summer. It’s now or never for him (I’d be happy with never) at his age.
Jedi started in a 3-2 win over Brentford with a MOTM candidate performance, though I imagine there were a few choices. 89 minutes, 12/15 on duels, 4/5 on tackles, with a chance created. The win keeps Fulham alive for a chance at the eighth spot, which bizarrely could maybe get a spot in Europe if everything breaks right.
Robinson starts! Fulham (10th) hosting Manchester City (T-3rd). Fulham mildly motivated, City very motivated - it's crowded near the top.
Jedi played the whole match in a meek 2-0 loss to Man City. Fulham finish 11th; not clear if there's a plan to do much better, or if that plan includes Robinson of a bag of cash from selling him.
Alright, once again, let’s play our game. Against our old adversaries, the American Naysayers. Your fathers and older brothers played this game and played it well. But now the game is different. We have the advantage. We’ll slip through their zonal marking nets, and lie off their largest stadiums, and listen to their rock and roll. The sky is cloudy … and so is the… comradeship. Who is a bigger club that needs a left back in the Premier League? Liverpool - typically would sign younger but it’s a need. Fingers crossed. Homecoming too. Arsenal - have options but could use an upgrade. Manchester City - probably not the right profile, but they are looking. Gvardiol played there alot this season. Others are rumored. Chelsea - No, they have Marc Cucurella. Newcastle - AR is a clear upgrade on Burn/Hall/Trippier, although Hall looks good. CL ball. Aston Villa - No, Digne is starter, Maatsen back up. No CL. Tottenham - CL ball, somehow. Destiny Udogie is starter and Sergio Reguilón backup, but I don’t see Daniel Levy doing it, given AR’s age. Manchester United - Yes, this dumpster fire has a need, but jeez. Plus they just signed Dorgu. Spin the wheel of destiny Antonee! Soyúz nerushímyy respúblik svobódnykh Splotíla navéki velíkaya Rus. Da zdrávstvuyet sózdannyy vóley naródov Yedínyy, mogúchiy Sovétskiy Soyúz!
Trippier and Livramento are more right backs I think but I doubt that position is their priority unless Hall is injured. Digne is past his prime but Maatsen isn’t and may be ready for the next step. I don’t see him having enough goal threat for Liverpool but who knows. Arsenal is interesting since they are losing at least two of their army of outside backs but Calafiori and Lewis Skelly still will make it challenging and unlikely they will spend there.
Calafiori is perma-injured and Lewis-Skelly’s future is in midfield, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arsenal go in for a left-back. I just don’t think it’ll be Robinson - he doesn’t really fit the profile of what Arsenal has looked for in their recent fullback signings. They tend to go for guys with positional flexibility, and I’m not sure that Robinson has ever played anywhere but left-back.
He's played centrally for poch as part of the defensive midfield pair, as well as way up on the left forward line, and he did pretty well I thought. But doing that vs jamaica is a bit different than doing it vs City.
One might argue that approach hasn’t been a slam dunk since their roster of players have been somewhat mediocre and incredibly injury prone. But it seems Arteta at times also values offensively adept players even at the expense of some defensive ability and I’m just not sure how well Jedi works in ball dominant sides. Alphonso Davies replacement?
I don't think I'd agree with "mediocre" as a descriptor there - if 3 consecutive runner-up finishes in the Premier League with a Champions League semifinal appearance is what a mediocre collection of players does, then I think the scope of expectations is way off. But what I will say is that, whether the approach is a slam dunk or not, Arteta and the technical side of the club are really ********ing stubborn, so they're likely to persist with it regardless. I completely disagree with this - it's exactly backwards. Arsenal values defensively-adept players at the expense of some attacking ability. That's why they love the flexible CB-FB (Timber, White, Calafiori, Tomiyasu). They can't necessarily attack in the way that an Alexander-Arnold or Robinson can, but they're really solid defensively. It's also why a player like Zinchenko has found himself exiled from the first-team. Might be a better attacker than most defenders, but he can't defend to save his life. Arsenal has had the best defense in the league by a pretty significant margin two seasons in a row, and that's a big part of the reason.
Fulham kind of fell apart starting at the end of Feb, but still managed to accumulate their highest EPL point total ever. An interesting stat: they finished with 54 points, 54 goals scored, and 54 goals given up.
Sorry - I was specifically thinking about left back where I thought he stuck with Zinc too long (and brought him in) even despite his defensive shortcomings and I think of Calafiori as more dynamic offensively than Jedi but I haven’t watched him enough. He also played MLS a fair bit (over Kiwior?) although that may have been driven by injury as much as anything. Agree about best defense but I’m not sure if I’d attribute that to the excellence of outside backs. It seems to me it owes more to ball dominance and excellent center backs. I was having some Southgate for England thoughts as Arteta was bringing in defenders instead of Nwaneri in the CL. Super frustrating performance by the coach I thought.
So, to keep a running total of his achievements (please add or correct) Fulham POY Fastest guy in the league (Didn't see the source, but it was on Twitter so it must be right) EPL XI WhoScored EPL XI Football365 Opta not EPL XI (Gvardiol) EPL XI (ESPN) Keep 'em coming, please.
Fulham announce #USMNT fullback Antonee Robinson has undergone successful knee surgery that was “minor” and will be ready to start next season.
Jedi destroyed Liverpool in both matches. I could see that move - they could take him to play for 2 or 3 years while searching for a young replacement.