Evan Ferguson F Roma (loan from Brighton) b.2004

[Nesta99]

Yeah its all to rational and civil, Sooo one goal a goalscoer doesnt make, useless!

[Eirambler]

Taken off at half time at home to Napoli after a poor first half. He looks very one dimensional as a striker these days to be honest. When teams sit deep as Napoli did in the first half he seems to just succumb to it, he did more or less nothing other than run in a straight line from half way to the Napoli box and back all half. Not much effort to drop wide to get on the ball more or anything like that. Now, he could be being told to play that way, but it's been a feature of his game over the last year or so playing for Brighton, West Ham and Roma. At this point I'd like to see him drop down to a lower level where he can be more effective and then hopefully build himself back up over time, as Parrott is doing. Whether his contract/wage allows that to happen is questionable though.

[Razors left peg]

Taken off at half time at home to Napoli after a poor first half. He looks very one dimensional as a striker these days to be honest. When teams sit deep as Napoli did in the first half he seems to just succumb to it, he did more or less nothing other than run in a straight line from half way to the Napoli box and back all half. Not much effort to drop wide to get on the ball more or anything like that. Now, he could be being told to play that way, but it's been a feature of his game over the last year or so playing for Brighton, West Ham and Roma. At this point I'd like to see him drop down to a lower level where he can be more effective and then hopefully build himself back up over time, as Parrott is doing. Whether his contract/wage allows that to happen is questionable though.

He was very poor yesterday. I wonder how much of it is the constant stop start. Hes hasnt got a run of games together in what seems like 2 years and that has to have hindered him. Everything I always thought he was brilliant at seemed to be missing yesterday. He seemed to react rather than anticipate to balls coming forward, his movement in the box was non existent and his touch was poor when he did receive it. He looks nothing like the player he was.

Not willing to write him off by any means, I just hope he stays injury free for the rest of the season now and lets see what that brings

[rebelmusic]

I'm convinced at this point he needs to follow Parrots example and go play in a smaller league with less expectation on his shoulders. He looks almost afraid of the ball these days unless he's playing for Ireland. The performance drift between club and international with him reeks of confidence issues and possibly being over trained psychologically. He needs to get back to basics

[Fixer82]

I was at the Armenia game and found Ferguson's drifting back into midfield quite frustrating. He just wanted the ball but when the ball broke, he wasn't up the field where he needed to be.

Maybe a smaller league would suit him where he can just concentrate on being a striker who scores when he gets the opportunity.