Glenn Whelan

[HanoiVillan]

I feel like I watch a different player than most people on here. He breaks up play, and that's what he does. He often passes backwards, because that's often the safe pass. 

He made a bad challenge for the free-kick that they scored, and he made an excellent forward pass in the buildup to our second. It was a decent enough performance. And yet I come on here and it's just 'woeful', 'wheelchair', 'liability', 'worst midfielder we've had in years' - that last one's a laugh! - I guess I just don't get it. 

I'd probably prefer Jedinak - we seem to have a good habit of winning when he plays - but Whelan is a pretty good DM in this division. Not without flaws, but overall pretty good. 

[meregreen]

Just not good enough. Innefective and pretty much anonymous.  A better player is required, before he costs us against the better teams in the division.

[tom_avfc]

8 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

I feel like I watch a different player than most people on here. He breaks up play, and that's what he does. He often passes backwards, because that's often the safe pass. 

He made a bad challenge for the free-kick that they scored, and he made an excellent forward pass in the buildup to our second. It was a decent enough performance. And yet I come on here and it's just 'woeful', 'wheelchair', 'liability', 'worst midfielder we've had in years' - that last one's a laugh! - I guess I just don't get it. 

I'd probably prefer Jedinak - we seem to have a good habit of winning when he plays - but Whelan is a pretty good DM in this division. Not without flaws, but overall pretty good. 

I’d agree with this. I actually thought he was one of our better players second half yesterday. He’s one of our better passers of the ball and was a large part of how solid we looked defensively.

The only issue I have with Whelan (and also Jedinak) is their lack of mobility. For me Whelan edges out jedinak as he can move slightly better and pass a lot better. Ideally I’d like a more mobile version of Whelan but I can’t think of many players like that to be honest.

[lexicon]

9 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

I feel like I watch a different player than most people on here. He breaks up play, and that's what he does. He often passes backwards, because that's often the safe pass. 

He made a bad challenge for the free-kick that they scored, and he made an excellent forward pass in the buildup to our second. It was a decent enough performance. And yet I come on here and it's just 'woeful', 'wheelchair', 'liability', 'worst midfielder we've had in years' - that last one's a laugh! - I guess I just don't get it. 

I'd probably prefer Jedinak - we seem to have a good habit of winning when he plays - but Whelan is a pretty good DM in this division. Not without flaws, but overall pretty good. 

Yup. People do love a scapegoat though, even when we're winning games. 

[S-Platt]

35 minutes ago, tom_avfc said:

Ideally I’d like a more mobile version of Whelan but I can’t think of many players like that to be honest.

I can he played the no10 role for us yesterday!  Stick Onomah in the holding role where he has played for England U21s and have Grealish when fit as the no10. 

Whealan does a lot of good things but frustrates too like his challenge that led to the Fulham goal.  

[Stratvillan]

Thought  he was really good today.  It's probably not Whelan but the position people don't like. The idea of a DM is fine if that DM is Kante etc. I think it's like playing another defender especially at home. If we play a DM I'd like it too be someone like Thor who plays in front of the midfield, pushing the game forward, and stopping the attacks from developing, especially when we are up against a team with a bannan style play maker -use the DM to man mark him. 

[Tayls]

4 minutes ago, Stratvillan said:

...a team with a bannan style play maker -use the DM to man mark him. 

I’m sorry, but - a Bannan style play maker? You want us to have a man focusing solely on marking Bannan? 

[tom_avfc]

26 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

I can he played the no10 role for us yesterday!  Stick Onomah in the holding role where he has played for England U21s and have Grealish when fit as the no10. 

Whealan does a lot of good things but frustrates too like his challenge that led to the Fulham goal.  

I think Onomah could do that role against the weaker teams but I’d worry we’d be far too open against the better teams as he’d want to get forward also. With Whelan he’s got the discipline to play that defensive midfield role and the experience to know when and where he should be. 

I’d argue that was Fulham’s issue yesterday. They pushed too far forward and had nobody protecting when we broke at them. I think Whelan’s importance to that second half yesterday is being seriously under appreciated by many. 

[bobzy]

1 hour ago, lexicon said:

Yup. People do love a scapegoat though, even when we're winning games. 

Or they just don’t rate players. Glenn Whelan is a player I don’t rate. No scapegoating, he just frequently makes **** terrible decisions.

 

(Edit: although as I said elsewhere, I was only able to watch the first half yesterday. Maybe he had a blinder in the second)

Edited October 22, 2017 by bobzy

[Dr_Pangloss]

2 hours ago, lexicon said:

Yup. People do love a scapegoat though, even when we're winning games. 

Sorry but for someone called 'lexicon' you seem to fail, time and time again, to understand the definition of 'scapegoat'. 

[tonyh29]

Watched him closely yesterday you can literally see him grimacing and straining as he tries to chase anyone running with the ball ... and very rarely did he actually get near the ball... he looks shot And we may as well have played with 10 men to be honest

only thing I will say is you could see him telling players who to pickup and generally talking to them throughout the game so maybe his influence is better than his ability 

Edited October 22, 2017 by tonyh29

[Reivax_Villa]

He is prone to mistakes because he is an aggressive player that lacks mobility.

He is frustrating because he does many good things that go unnoticed but then he would make an error that everyone will remember. 

Whelan is currently a marmite player.

What i appreciate about him is that he is disciplined in his position, closes down players, gets in the way of shots and can play a short simple pass. 

I do think that he needs a rests and against weaker opposition in the coming weeks it would be good to start another player i.e Jedinak or Lansbury. 

But for a scrappy game like we have against Blues he is going to be important.

[rodders0223]

39 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Watched him closely yesterday you can literally see him grimacing and straining as he tries to chase anyone running with the ball ... and very rarely did he actually get near the ball... he looks shot And we may as well have played with 10 men to be honest

only thing I will say is you could see him telling players who to pickup and generally talking to them throughout the game so maybe his influence is better than his ability 

I am actually a fan of Whelan, he does the dirty work and plays his role (for me) but then there are times when the game gets streched, or we commit men forward... if we lose the ball and he is chasing back we are in serious trouble. He just cannot run anymore, like at all. It is hard to watch at times.

 

[Stratvillan]

3 hours ago, Tayls said:

I’m sorry, but - a Bannan style play maker? You want us to have a man focusing solely on marking Bannan? 

Yes. I see a lot of teams whose style of play is centred around 1 player collecting the ball and distributing the ball. If you stop this, you stop them playing. Having a DM having to deal with the threat 30 yards closer to your own goal when the attackers have momentum,is IMO outdated. if you look at yesterday's game we set up with a play to disrupt their style of play. 

[TRO]

7 hours ago, tom_avfc said:

I’d agree with this. I actually thought he was one of our better players second half yesterday. He’s one of our better passers of the ball and was a large part of how solid we looked defensively.

The only issue I have with Whelan (and also Jedinak) is their lack of mobility. For me Whelan edges out jedinak as he can move slightly better and pass a lot better. Ideally I’d like a more mobile version of Whelan but I can’t think of many players like that to be honest.

Busquets.....sorry

different planet.

[tom_avfc]

Just now, TRO said:

Busquets.....sorry

different planet.

Yeah I think this was kind of my point! If Whelan was more mobile, he wouldn’t be playing in the Championship! 

[VillanousOne]

I think he breaks up play well, he reads the game well and he can pass fairly well. But his lack of pace and mobility means sometimes he makes poor tackles and decisions.

I don't think the defensive midfield role is usually played by players at the end of their life spans, just an opinion, i could be wrong, but I just feel that we have enough experience in defence now to not need a dedicated defensive midfielder. I would really like to see a midfield that went on the offensive with Grealish, Lansbury, Doyle Hayes, or O'Hare starting in Whelan's place and if it doesn't work or we have a lead that needs protecting then bring on Jed or Whelan.

 

[Eastie]

11 hours ago, VillanousOne said:

I think he breaks up play well, he reads the game well and he can pass fairly well. But his lack of pace and mobility means sometimes he makes poor tackles and decisions.

I don't think the defensive midfield role is usually played by players at the end of their life spans, just an opinion, i could be wrong, but I just feel that we have enough experience in defence now to not need a dedicated defensive midfielder. I would really like to see a midfield that went on the offensive with Grealish, Lansbury, Doyle Hayes, or O'Hare starting in Whelan's place and if it doesn't work or we have a lead that needs protecting then bring on Jed or Whelan.

 

Should be back up option for Jedi but with Jedi always injured whelan has played a lot of games and his legs look gone as the game goes on - silly free kicks given away by him must stop - not an awful player and he plays his part but doesn’t have the legs to do it consistently at this level anymore . 

Hopefully Jedi will lose his sicknote tag soon 

 

[hippo]

I thought he did well on Saturday. Was very brave with his challenges broke up play well - and good pass for 2nd goal. 

Edited October 23, 2017 by hippo

[dukes]

He doesn’t do anything spectacular, which is why I think some people view him as not being good. I see a player that does the simple things really well, a player that enables Hourihane to push further forward without exposing us. I see a player who makes 15 yard passes rather than 30 yard passes, and who breaks up opposition play really well. 

I think if he wasn’t in the team we’d miss him.