Dumb tackle, but I kind of feel sorry for him, he's asked to be the Will Hughes of this season when he should be more Carlos Sanchez
To be fair, if it was given before the foul, its still wrong as it should have been Bachmann up to that point. Joao Pedro was our best player on the day, all told.
Really good performance against tough opposition, especially after the poor run of form he's been on. Was clearly dead after 75/80 minutes, strange decision to keep him on.
I thought he gave Cathcart good cover, unlike whatever was supposed to be going on with Cuddly and Masina. He clearly hasn't the legs for 90 minutes but he's good in the air,has a good shot and does seem to care. Agree about JP. I would hope CR finds a space for him.
He's gonna have to play every game while Louza's away, isn't he? I thought he was fantastic against Norwich earlier in the season despite the fact that he was blowing out of his arse from early in the first half, but clearly he won't get away with it against better teams than them!
I'd like to think perhaps we'd have a rethink while Louza (and Sarr, either through injury or AFCON) are unavailable, if not a 4-4-2 type formation perhaps a 3 at the back one (preferably with new defenders!), with Kucka not starting, but I suspect nothing will change
Might not be a popular opinion on here, but I think this guy could have been a decent signing if he'd been used appropriately for someone of his age. Had he been brought to the club to play in maybe 20ish games over the season, with those games being limited to an hour or brought on for the last half hour, then I think there could have been a chance we'd have seen performances closer to the one he made on his debut instead of the tired, error-strewn ones we get now. But of course he's been/being primarily used as a first choice player due to the club once again taking the cheap option on their recruiting. Another example where the head coach has been let down by those providing the tools.
I think he'd be a decent option to use for the last 20 minutes of a game if he were used further up the pitch. He showed yesterday that he can pop up in the box, he just doesn't have the legs to get up and down the pitch anymore. Why Ranieri used him like that I have no idea, probably because the alternatives are Tufan and Gosling.
Again a fairly solid performance but does he have a clause in his contract that says he can't be subbed??
For every good thing he does he balances it out with something stupid. He is the football equivalent of Newton's 3rd Law.
Inexplicably gives the ball away 5 times a game without fail. 4 of which are usually after 70 minutes. Let the old man rest!
I thought he was very good first half, actually showed a bit of pace and good feet. Second half he didn't do much but he is ancient now. I have a feeling we'll see him there a few more times with Sarr being used through the middle.
Today confirmed my belief that I don't think he is as bad as many make out - certainly he hadn't been bad all the time between the opening game and today's one. Got in some threatening positions, won the ball well on a number of occasions and could be a good set-piece taker (at least better than Cleverley and Kiko were tonight). But yeah, at times he's been a liability but only really one late in games as far as I recall (notably Brentford away and Spurs and Norwich at home, although that was when he came on as a sub!). And I was surprised Kayembe was taken off for Cleverley and not him.
Maybe just showing he is 34 or whatever. Has the ability but not the pace or sharpness you need in this league at times.
A shameless bump of my own post, apologies for that, but I think his performance tonight/last night (and at Burnley) shows he's a useful player if we had the squad to be able to use him properly. 60 mins as a starter or last 30 as a sub and not used every game. Playing him for the 90 just exposes the fact he doesn't have the legs, yet both Roy and Claudio have done it due to how thin the squad is with quality. When you combine it with Cleverley also playing virtually the whole game it's no surprise that West Ham eventually made the break through in the latter stages (albeit with a slice of luck).
I believe I wrote something along those lines. Squad player yes. 90+ minutes absolutely not. The Brentford and Spurs matches are prime examples of this.
I think people are a bit hard on him at times. However I do agree that his best position these days is as a squad member either coming off the bench or stepping in as cover when we have injuries. He is obviously in the twilight of his career and is probably just a 60min man at best these days, having said that he still has a fair bit of class in him and can still turn it on though not all the time..
Kucka is the equivalent of signing a 34 year old from one of last seasons relegated sides, except he was actually relegated from a side from an inferior league instead. It’s not exactly a surprise he’s turned out to be as crap and as constantly knackered as he has been is it?
I don't disagree with any of that. My concern was with getting him in, in the first place, especially when we were supposedly after a player of the quality of Thorsby who is exactly the type of player we needed during the Summer. But we have Kucka for now and need to use him wisely. He's not as bad as some makeout but he can't last the 90+.
When this guy is good, he's very good. Great performance, and actually looked like he could still breathe after 60 minutes
He’s better than hapless Cleverley. The fools in charge have seen to it that both are paid by us next season so I will take Kucka every time personally.
Kucka definitely has a higher ceiling in terms of what he can do compared to Cleverley, it’s just relatively rare that we get to see it.
I'd say most his issues aren't age related, more that he's had issues adapting to the speed of the league compared to Italy. He's the unsafe option that Roy has to go with now as we're running out of games. Cleverley hides far too much by comparison
