Report Cards: Defenders & Midfielders
Chris and Pete grade the performances of Albion's defenders and central midfielders...
In case you weren’t aware, Chris’s day job is teaching football journalism at the University of Derby, so the guy literally hands out grades for a living.
We thought we’d take advantage of that, get Pete involved too and have both of our wonderful presenters grade each Albion player’s season from A+ to F.
The only qualifying criteria was that the player had to have played a minimum of ten x 90 minutes (which saw Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Caleb Taylor, Daryl Dike, Callum Marshall, Josh Maja, Pipa, Yann M’Vila, Andi Weimann, Adam Reach and Jeremy Sarmiento discounted.
Still, that left us with 18 players to rate so we split it into defensive players and attackers.
Here are the defensive players (including central midfielders):
Alex Palmer
Chris: B
Some might see it as harsh to only give the division’s golden glove winner a B but, while I think Alex Palmer has had a strong season, I do think his clean sheets record has as much to do with those in front of him as his own displays.
He has performed exactly as the data suggests he should – he’s only conceded 0.1 more goal than his post shot expected goals faced for the season.
For me he’s had brilliant moments and showed deficiencies in his game at times. That said, he’s still only in his first full season as a Championship goalkeeper so I back him to improve where he needs to next season and have an even stronger campaign next term.
Pete: B+
Golden glove winner, but based on the quality of shots he faced, Palmer conceded the same amount you’d expect the average shot-stopper to. Fairly safe in possession in high risk situations, also swept well.
Darnell Furlong
Chris: A
Easily his best season for the club for me and was very close to being my vote for player of the season.
He’s basically improved every area of his game this season. He’s been a better defender; he’s shown versatility and tactical intelligence to play multiple roles for Corberan, and he’s added goals (5 goals is a great return for a right-back).
Lastly, he’s a huge threat from set pieces – he seems one of our key targets from corners and his long throw cannot be taken for granted.
Pete: A-
Adapted to his inverted role extremely well and looked comfortable. Crucial to Albion’s set-pieces – best long throw in the division, very good aerially in both boxes. 8 goal contributions is twice that of his next best season. Always available.
Conor Townsend
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