Bakinson

[pl00peh91]

What did people make of Bakinson’s first league start on Saturday?

He seems like the kind of player Pearson could develop into a box to box midfielder but from what I heard from yesterday they played through us far too easily which is a bit of a shame. I thought he might go on loan to a league one club as he struggled for form in the latter half of last season.
 

Do you think he will make any kind of impact this season or will he be bench warming for Andy King and possibly Joe Williams once he’s fully fit?

[Major Isewater]

14 minutes ago, pl00peh91 said:

What did people make of Bakinson’s first league start on Saturday?

He seems like the kind of player Pearson could develop into a box to box midfielder but from what I heard from yesterday they played through us far too easily which is a bit of a shame. I thought he might go on loan to a league one club as he struggled for form in the latter half of last season.
 

Do you think he will make any kind of impact this season or will he be bench warming for Andy King and possibly Joe Williams once he’s fully fit?

Players who haven’t played for a while are inevitably a bit rusty . TB is a very talented boy and I hope he réalisés his potential with us. 

[Simon bristol]

24 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Players who haven’t played for a while are inevitably a bit rusty . TB is a very talented boy and I hope he réalisés his potential with us. 

I think he is very talented, but has inherent limitations to his ability to get around the pitch due to his size and build, kinda like fam compared to bobby reid. Unless this can be worked on, i dont see him getting many games under pearson

[Roger Red Hat]

Hopefully TB will get fit enough under the new regime to be able to put a proper shift in, if not he's not going to play much under NP. Its ok having a languid style as long as it functions for 95 minutes. TB has rarely if ever lasted well for a whole game.

[REDOXO]

6 minutes ago, Roger Red Hat said:

Hopefully TB will get fit enough under the new regime to be able to put a proper shift in, if not he's not going to play much under NP. Its ok having a languid style as long as it functions for 95 minutes. TB has rarely if ever lasted well for a whole game.

Yes I think you nailed it there. Pearson doesn’t/didn’t like the boys languid style/attitude. That seems to have got better from what I’ve seen. But the engine is what he has to work in most. Football matches are now effectively 50 mins each way. 
 

Yesterday I thought he had one or two little chances to get a shot off and didn’t. He needs to make sure he doesn’t lose that as Pearson had already stated we don’t get enough from midfield. 

[GrahamC]

Think Pearson is pretty transparent.

If Bakinson knuckles down & works hard, he has a chance. If he doesn’t then he’ll be down the road pretty sharpish.

Although we didn’t know King was unavailable on Saturday it was still a surprise that he started over Williams (who might not be trusted to last 90 yet, I guess).

However it is obvious Pearson is a big fan of James & HNM, so with King not having come here to wind his career down either & Williams presumably going to be in contention fairly soon, there is serious competition in midfield, which is great to see.

[Fordy62]

He reminds me of Bobby Reid before his breakthrough season up front (here me out!)… good going forwards, but always a bit of a liability with the ball in midfield.

Unfortunately unlike Bobby Reid, I don’t think he has the same work rate. 

[Lordofthebling]

I thought he was great yesterday, a good compliment to James and HNM.

Would love to see the two young uns be our midfield two in a few years in the prem!

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, JonDolman said:

I thought he was good in the first half. Played a couple of very good long passes, one finding Weimann who would have been in a great position entering the opposition box with just one defender to beat but his heavy touch took it away from him and out of play.

Maybe should have come to block the long shot Bentley tipped over end of the first half just before our first goal.

2nd half as he tired he got worse. The odd sloppy pass and struggling more in his defensive duties. He did have the ball in some very good positions though in that 2nd half, the kind of positions where we want Bakinson to have the ball.

For his first game in ages it was a decent performance overall imo. Pearson was positive about Bakinson post match. Worth sticking with him as I still think there's a lot of potential there.

Not easy for Bakinson to keep his place though with Williams back, King and Massengo being a deeper option. Not a bad problem we have in that position.

Pretty much how I saw yesterday Jon.  Not a bad return to the first team, but tired….but stuck at it.

If he hasn’t got his head around what Nige expects from 2 months on the bench / out if the 18, he never will.  If the penny has dropped then he has a lot of talent….he is the best forward passer at the club.

No surprise to hear Nige say he wants to play 2 up top.  I’m not convinced 352 (3412) is right for us, not least with Tyreeq in the team, but if Nige can find a way to get us solid with Bakinson in the side then great.  I still think there are merits in a hybrid 442 where the midfield 4 contain mainly players considered central midfielders.  Joe Williams is more than capable of playing the “Josh Brownhill” RM role.

Tyreeq did what was required yesterday and showed Nige he’s worthy of selection.

 

[LondonBristolian]

He has a great first half. Something of note to is that, whilst he did fade in the second half, he got an injury shortly after our third sub and - from the way he was stretching during stoppages in play - I am guessing it was the sort of thing where he wasn’t comfortable as to whether he could carry on. 

But he kept going and working. And his fitness did look better than last season. For me, he did enough to warrant more chances for sure.

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, LondonBristolian said:

He has a great first half. Something of note to is that, whilst he did fade in the second half, he got an injury shortly after our third sub and - from the way he was stretching during stoppages in play - I am guessing it was the sort of thing where he wasn’t comfortable as to whether he could carry on. 

But he kept going and working. And his fitness did look better than last season. For me, he did enough to warrant more chances for sure.

Cramp.

[Lanterne Rouge]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Cramp.

No, he really did have an injury...................................................

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

No, he really did have an injury...................................................

Did he?  Didn’t hear that….

[Lanterne Rouge]

Just now, Davefevs said:

Did he?  Didn’t hear that….

Whoosh!

[Sandhurst Red]

The word that first sprung to mind was.... frustrating.

As harsh as it may sound, I felt we carried him at times during the game. He didn't track back enough, and looked hesitant and unsure on at least 3 occasions with the ball at his feet on the edge of their box. He lost possession cheaply too (mind you, that could be applied to many yesterday).

There is clearly a very good player in there, and I can see similarities with H-N-M, that if provided with the the right training and some consistent minutes we'll see the best of him. The same could be said for Semenyo, who really did make a difference from the bench, using his pace to win free-kicks and pull their defence out of shape.

The above may sound harsh on Bakinson, but it was being openly discussed by many during the second half at Loftus Road. As fabulous a result yesterday was, don't lose focus that we are still in need of developing players to understand the NP system, and to use not only their footballing ability, but also a footballers brain in making better decisions. 

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, JonDolman said:

Yeah I'm not so sure Pearson will stick with 3412. We changed shape to more of a 451 with about 20 to go.

I don't think we've been the better team since Cardiff so there doesn't seem an obvious answer as to what works but every opponent bring different challenges.

Hard to guess what he will have planned next week. Maybe this was a one off change of system.

Even went back to 442 for 5 or so minutes too, as Dasilva went back into LB, and Pring LM.

Back to Bakinson.

Pretty decent effort.

Something I didn’t really pick up during the game was Matty James’s passing:

one misplaced pass all game.  Think the one might’ve been a ball clipped into Weimann that bounced funny and Barbet recovered.  Very neat and tidy.  Just 6 back passes in that too.

[Sandhurst Red]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Even went back to 442 for 5 or so minutes too, as Dasilva went back into LB, and Pring LM.

Back to Bakinson.

Pretty decent effort.

Something I didn’t really pick up during the game was Matty James’s passing:

one misplaced pass all game.  Think the one might’ve been a ball clipped into Weimann that bounced funny and Barbet recovered.  Very neat and tidy.  Just 6 back passes in that too.

Agreed on Matty James - the guy just oozes class and confidence with the ball at his feet. As you say, what makes the above even more impressive is that most passes were forward in nature and not always taking the easy option.

Back to Bakinson - although it only shows only 20% of his passes were inaccurate, it was other aspects of his game that for me, were lacking in part yesterday - and are not visible based on the imagery displayed in your post.

As a Box-to-Box Midfielder - he needed to be that bit more composed (the final 3rd in particular) and there were a few occasions where he spent far too much time in possession, allowing QPR to press with a second man, and easily steal the bally away. 

What is also not shown was his positional play, where he tracked back (almost as a spectator, with the game passing him by) and both Willock and Chair were never threatened in having the ball taken by him.

There is definitely a good player in there, and I really hope we see more of him, but yesterday was ok, and sadly nothing more. For such a pivotal role in our team, if he wants to keep his starting place, then he must show more - and hopefully that will come with more regular minutes.

[Bodiesaffer]

TB, is a talented footballer however, is he a natural athlete?  Players that succeed at this level and above are what I call natural athletes.  

[Kodjias Wrist]

His ball to massengo for this first goal was pretty impressive from where I was stood. Looked perfectly weighted into him. Against a decent side I dont think he looked out of place at all really. 

[JoeAman08]

Quite impressed with him considering he has only played once this season in the cup. Some odd comments imo about Pearson trusting him. Was a pretty big call to start him yesterday. Seems there was some faith there that I think was repaid.
 

So nice to see someone get their head up and pick out a pass. He made several what I’d call key passes. Some were bundled by his teammates and others sprung us free. Tired in the end which is understandable. Made some poor choices after he tired but very promising.

I’d like to see more of him in home games where we tend to have the ball a bit more. Same with Semenyo. It was nice to see a lot of the team with natural footballing ability on the pitch yesterday. A lot of athleticism too. Tanner, Bakinson, Wells, Semenyo, Kalas, Atkinson and Massengo ended that game and it felt more like a team that could compete physically at this level a lot better than we have seen. 

[ralphindevon]

With Williams looking close to fitness again we’ve got quite a bit of competition in the midfield.

And even if we’re over the injury nightmares of the past we will still need them all.

Im hoping Han-Noah will be fit for Fulham but he was struggling at the end

[johnheadbcfc]

15 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

Quite impressed with him considering he has only played once this season in the cup. Some odd comments imo about Pearson trusting him. Was a pretty big call to start him yesterday. Seems there was some faith there that I think was repaid.
 

So nice to see someone get their head up and pick out a pass. He made several what I’d call key passes. Some were bundled by his teammates and others sprung us free. Tired in the end which is understandable. Made some poor choices after he tired but very promising.

I’d like to see more of him in home games where we tend to have the ball a bit more. Same with Semenyo. It was nice to see a lot of the team with natural footballing ability on the pitch yesterday. A lot of athleticism too. Tanner, Bakinson, Wells, Semenyo, Kalas, Atkinson and Massengo ended that game and it felt more like a team that could compete physically at this level a lot better than we have seen. 

The (soft) yellow card also didn't help, nice to see a player that looks for an attacking pass rather than choosing the easy option 

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, Sandhurst Red said:

Agreed on Matty James - the guy just oozes class and confidence with the ball at his feet. As you say, what makes the above even more impressive is that most passes were forward in nature and not always taking the easy option.

Back to Bakinson - although it only shows only 20% of his passes were inaccurate, it was other aspects of his game that for me, were lacking in part yesterday - and are not visible based on the imagery displayed in your post.

As a Box-to-Box Midfielder - he needed to be that bit more composed (the final 3rd in particular) and there were a few occasions where he spent far too much time in possession, allowing QPR to press with a second man, and easily steal the bally away. 

What is also not shown was his positional play, where he tracked back (almost as a spectator, with the game passing him by) and both Willock and Chair were never threatened in having the ball taken by him.

There is definitely a good player in there, and I really hope we see more of him, but yesterday was ok, and sadly nothing more. For such a pivotal role in our team, if he wants to keep his starting place, then he must show more - and hopefully that will come with more regular minutes.

I’m not sure I’d call TB a box-to-box midfielder, he generally likes to be at the base of the attack, looking to pass balls into clever areas, rather than make runs beyond.

I think you misunderstood my post.  The graphic wasn’t meant to be a summary of his game / contribution, just a view of his passes…and then comparison with James.  I’d already commented in earlier posts about his w/o the ball stuff and gave my overall view, but key is factoring in he’d only had 52 minutes of competitive football until Saturday (in a partially second string line-up v FGR).  Against a really decent QPR team he did ok - I’m quite happy with “ok” based on the circumstances.

The system left us very open to be played through.  I don’t think that was his fault per se (James had similar difficulties playing in a 2 with little on their outside as per the 442 we have been playing), although it is an area he needs to improve on from watching him last season.

One might argue a couple of times he lost the ball in their third was through lack of passing options.

[The Journalist]

I think he could be an absolute star - but it’s up to him to get himself into the shape of his life over the next 12 months or so now.

The fitter he gets the more good decisions he’ll make in and out of possession and, when that happens, there’s a potential Premier League player in there.

[The Journalist]

6 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I’m not sure I’d call TB a box-to-box midfielder, he generally likes to be at the base of the attack, looking to pass balls into clever areas, rather than make runs beyond.

I think you misunderstood my post.  The graphic wasn’t meant to be a summary of his game / contribution, just a view of his passes…and then comparison with James.  I’d already commented in earlier posts about his w/o the ball stuff and gave my overall view, but key is factoring in he’d only had 52 minutes of competitive football until Saturday (in a partially second string line-up v FGR).  Against a really decent QPR team he did ok - I’m quite happy with “ok” based on the circumstances.

The system left us very open to be played through.  I don’t think that was his fault per se (James had similar difficulties playing in a 2 with little on their outside as per the 442 we have been playing), although it is an area he needs to improve on from watching him last season.

One might argue a couple of times he lost the ball in their third was through lack of passing options.

The thing about his role is interesting.

I agree he’s not necessarily a box-to-box midfielder in the sense that he’ll run beyond people in either direction - I see of him as more of a D-to-D midfielder in that he’s an absolute all-rounder but his passing ability and vision is such that you want the game in front of him.

I think he’d be wasted as a holding midfielder though - I want him in positions where he can play people in, not just start the play off.

Does that make sense?!

[GrahamC]

What I did think was interesting was his reaction to both our goals, he can be seen in the middle of the pitch punching the air when the first goes in & like Semenyo, going totally berserk after Wells’ winner.

He is too languid but clearly does want to play, as others have said, his fitness & work rate in training will be key now.

[Jeez]

9 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

With Williams looking close to fitness again we’ve got quite a bit of competition in the midfield.

And even if we’re over the injury nightmares of the past we will still need them all.

Im hoping Han-Noah will be fit for Fulham but he was struggling at the end

Without wishing to take topic off tangent, I worry about Williams coming back into the squad too soon.

Such a long injury period and was so far off the pace when he came into team last season.

Great lad & looked decent in pre-season but how do you integrate long term injury into the intensity of championship season to gain match fitness.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, The Journalist said:

The thing about his role is interesting.

I agree he’s not necessarily a box-to-box midfielder in the sense that he’ll run beyond people in either direction - I see of him as more of a D-to-D midfielder in that he’s an absolute all-rounder but his passing ability and vision is such that you want the game in front of him.

I think he’d be wasted as a holding midfielder though - I want him in positions where he can play people in, not just start the play off.

Does that make sense?!

I think we are all guilty of labelling and pigeonholing players into “football manager” type descriptions. When you have players like Kante and Pirlo playing the same position it can be a bit irrelevant. I still like the terms midfielder and forward!!!

[Clutton Caveman]

18 hours ago, Simon bristol said:

I think he is very talented, but has inherent limitations to his ability to get around the pitch due to his size and build, kinda like fam compared to bobby reid. Unless this can be worked on, i dont see him getting many games under pearson

Viera didn't seem to have mobility issues as a big man. I think the problem is more with mentality and attitude. So many players today don't seem that upset if they are not playing

[Selred]

5 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

Viera didn't seem to have mobility issues as a big man. I think the problem is more with mentality and attitude. So many players today don't seem that upset if they are not playing

What are you basing that on?