Steven Caulker

[OurManFlint II]

Mistake prone, often caught out of position.

If we'd bought him from say Leyton Orient he'd have been absolutely slaughtered for those mistakes.

Caulker looked good alongside Williams at Swansea. Every other club he's basically been crap. Liverpool bizarrely loaned him and he played more up front than at the back! Based upon that I'd say Wiliams made him look better than he really is.

Like i said one of our better performers that season. 3rd top goal scorer that year.

[Rjk]

If we'd signed Curtis Davies and Hull signed Caulker, the same would have happened. We went down because we were dreadfully disorganised from January onwards, not because of the quality of first teamer we had.

We were poor throughout the season, not just after january.
From an Xg point of view we looked doomed from early days, just a few surprising results kept us above the waterline, but that was never sustainable.

Caulker was a bit of a gamble, if he had fulfilled his potential and became a mainstay for England he would have been worth many times what we paid for him. He didn't and with hindsight we would have been better off signing some hardened veteran defender who might only have a couple of seasons left in him, but would have been a guaranteed performer.

Exactly the same gamble we made with Cornelius. Neither came off.

As it happens I dont mind that particular kind of gamble, if we went up again.

[ccfc_is_my_life]

Like i said one of our better performers that season. 3rd top goal scorer that year.

3rd top goal scorer for us that year isn't exactly an achievement.

Immune from any criticism as people bought into the Echo "Premiership star" hype.

[Croesy Blue]

Is Kane? What’s he done, he hasn’t even won a trophy yet? Leagues, nothing at all in Europe and let’s not talk about England hey....this summer we might see how good he is in Russia. Don’t get me wrong I think he is a class act but not world class yet

Do you have to win something to be world class? He’s scored 20 goals plus in all his full top flight seasons and Real Madrid want to sign him.

By your measure if Messi was playing for Aston Villa he wouldn’t be world class any more but Park Ji Sung who won it all with man united would be.

[Croesy Blue]

For mental health issues read pisshead and a gambler.

And before anyone jumps on my case I’ve suffered depression, ironically because I was gambling and drinking too much, so I know it’s just a self pitying cop out to blame the mental health for the gambling and drinking.

Didn’t realise you were a medical professional

[J R Hartley]

Didn’t realise you were a medical professional

You don’t realise a lot of things Snowflake

[J R Hartley]

If we'd signed Curtis Davies and Hull signed Caulker, the same would have happened. We went down because we were dreadfully disorganised from January onwards, not because of the quality of first teamer we had.

We went down because the team that got promoted were not good enough and the players we added were not up to the task either.

We spent 35m that summer, probably the equivalent of 70-80m now, and spent it poorly, whilst Hull spent a third of that but bought Premiership experience.

And it’s not hindsight I said it at the time.

The fact we got our money back for Caulker and Mendel is scant consolation after being relegated.

[Blooburd]

Exactly.

Thought he was one of our better performers that year. Went on to play another 25 plus games the following season in the premier league, albeit in another relegation side.

Don't understand some of these comments.

OMG THIS POST JUST MADE ME SPIT MY TEA ALL OVER MYSELF LOL

what a ****ing joke!!!!

[the other bob wilson]

3rd top goal scorer for us that year isn't exactly an achievement.

Immune from any criticism as people bought into the Echo "Premiership star" hype.

Or they actually watched the games and judged him on what he was doing rather than indulge in a warped version of hindsight years later. Caulker acknowledged himself that he had an opportunity he didn't take at Cardiff, so he shares some of the blame for our failure - of course he does. However, if we'd had ten more who played to the standard Caulker did throughout 13/14 I believe we would have stayed up - it's old territory that has been gone over many times before, but, for me, the appointment of Ole was the single thing which did for us, rather than signings like Caulker and Medel (I accept Cornelius was a terrible buy at that price).

What cannot be proved is whether we would have stayed up under Mackay or not, but what is fact is that, with seventeen points from eighteen matches at the time he was dismissed, we would have stayed up if we had managed to double that figure in the twenty matches which remained - about a third of which were at home to sides who were in relegation trouble themselves at the time Mackay was sacked. What is also fact is that we had beaten the only two sides in relegation trouble we had faced at home up to then with the winning goal coming from Caulker in the win over the jacks - on paper, we had an easier fixture list to come under Ole than we went through under Mackay.

Anyway, back to Caulker. The facts are for all those who want to slag him off that he played for three more Premier League clubs after he left us, so there were still plenty of clubs out there who thought he was a chance worth taking despite the issues he had which were becoming more apparent by the season - I'm not going to kick someone when they're down, in fact I wish him all the best at Dundee.

[BLUETIT]

Or they actually watched the games and judged him on what he was doing rather than indulge in a warped version of hindsight years later. Caulker acknowledged himself that he had an opportunity he didn't take at Cardiff, so he shares some of the blame for our failure - of course he does. However, if we'd had ten more who played to the standard Caulker did throughout 13/14 I believe we would have stayed up - it's old territory that has been gone over many times before, but, for me, the appointment of Ole was the single thing which did for us, rather than signings like Caulker and Medel (I accept Cornelius was a terrible buy at that price).

What cannot be proved is whether we would have stayed up under Mackay or not, but what is fact is that, with seventeen points from eighteen matches at the time he was dismissed, we would have stayed up if we had managed to double that figure in the twenty matches which remained - about a third of which were at home to sides who were in relegation trouble themselves at the time Mackay was sacked. What is also fact is that we had beaten the only two sides in relegation trouble we had faced at home up to then with the winning goal coming from Caulker in the win over the jacks - on paper, we had an easier fixture list to come under Ole than we went through under Mackay.

Anyway, back to Caulker. The facts are for all those who want to slag him off that he PLAYED for three more Premier League clubs after he left us, so there were still plenty of clubs out there who thought he was a chance worth taking despite the issues he had which were becoming more apparent by the season - I'm not going to kick someone when they're down, in fact I wish him all the best at Dundee.

Cumon now, even for a level headed person like yourself, played is stretching the truth a little bit.

Yes he played 50 games in QPR's relegation, but to then say he played for Southamton and Liverpool, 6 games in total, is as I say, stretching it a bit.

[Croesy Blue]

You don’t realise a lot of things Snowflake

Exactly and I know it, hence why I don’t make sweeping generalisations and assume I’m correct. Maybe if you could do the same you wouldn’t come across so ignorant and bitter.

[lardy]

We were poor throughout the season, not just after january.
From an Xg point of view we looked doomed from early days, just a few surprising results kept us above the waterline, but that was never sustainable.

Caulker was a bit of a gamble, if he had fulfilled his potential and became a mainstay for England he would have been worth many times what we paid for him. He didn't and with hindsight we would have been better off signing some hardened veteran defender who might only have a couple of seasons left in him, but would have been a guaranteed performer.

Exactly the same gamble we made with Cornelius. Neither came off.

As it happens I dont mind that particular kind of gamble, if we went up again.

For the first half of the season, we were just about as bad as the other half dozen worst teams. For the second half, we were clearly the worst team.

Would be interested to see these xG stats and compare to the other crap clubs in the opening months.

[J R Hartley]

Exactly and I know it, hence why I don’t make sweeping generalisations and assume I’m correct. Maybe if you could do the same you wouldn’t come across so ignorant and bitter.

I think youll find you do it all the time. State your opinion as fact.

Anyway, go and find Croesy if you want a spat, not here to be a substitue for him.

Lets keep the thread on point theres a good lad.

[J R Hartley]

For the first half of the season, we were just about as bad as the other half dozen worst teams. For the second half, we were clearly the worst team.

Would be interested to see these xG stats and compare to the other crap clubs in the opening months.

We were dropping down the table at an alarming rate with our most difficult month of fixtures to come. We barely mustered any goals, or points, in our away games against the struggling teams first half of the season, so just because we come out on top in 2 scrappy 50-50 low on quality home games that could have gone either way is no indication that we all these so called easier home fixtures 2nd half of the season were a gimme.

[J R Hartley]

Or they actually watched the games and judged him on what he was doing rather than indulge in a warped version of hindsight years later. Caulker acknowledged himself that he had an opportunity he didn't take at Cardiff, so he shares some of the blame for our failure - of course he does. However, if we'd had ten more who played to the standard Caulker did throughout 13/14 I believe we would have stayed up - it's old territory that has been gone over many times before, but, for me, the appointment of Ole was the single thing which did for us, rather than signings like Caulker and Medel (I accept Cornelius was a terrible buy at that price).

What cannot be proved is whether we would have stayed up under Mackay or not, but what is fact is that, with seventeen points from eighteen matches at the time he was dismissed, we would have stayed up if we had managed to double that figure in the twenty matches which remained - about a third of which were at home to sides who were in relegation trouble themselves at the time Mackay was sacked. What is also fact is that we had beaten the only two sides in relegation trouble we had faced at home up to then with the winning goal coming from Caulker in the win over the jacks - on paper, we had an easier fixture list to come under Ole than we went through under Mackay.

Anyway, back to Caulker. The facts are for all those who want to slag him off that he played for three more Premier League clubs after he left us, so there were still plenty of clubs out there who thought he was a chance worth taking despite the issues he had which were becoming more apparent by the season - I'm not going to kick someone when they're down, in fact I wish him all the best at Dundee.

That is not a fact. West Brom had 36 points. If we double 17 thats 34, and even calculating Malkys points per game rate after 18 games over the course of 38 games doesnt get you to 36 points.

Besides, other games not involving us could have played out differently had we managed to get closer to safety so its specualtion not fact.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

We were dropping down the table at an alarming rate with our most difficult month of fixtures to come. We barely mustered any goals, or points, in our away games against the struggling teams first half of the season, so just because we come out on top in 2 scrappy 50-50 low on quality home games that could have gone either way is no indication that we all these so called easier home fixtures 2nd half of the season were a gimme.

Apart from the Derby team that amassed 11 points a few years previously, we were the worst equipped side to play in the Premiership. Arguably the Premiership squad was worse that the Championship squad. Soskjaer has admitted the players told him 'we just aren't good enough'. When the players admit that, your dammed...

[J R Hartley]

For the first half of the season, we were just about as bad as the other half dozen worst teams. For the second half, we were clearly the worst team.

Would be interested to see these xG stats and compare to the other crap clubs in the opening months.

For the 2nd half of the season we had to go away to most of the top half of the table. And our home games were mainly against teams also scrapping for their lives so theres an argument to make that 2nd half of the season was a more difficult set of fixtures.

Either way the squad wasnt good enough, not considering what Malky had at his disposal in the summer, and what OGS added wasnt good enough either, albeit he didnt have a fraction of what Malky had to spend. Two very poor transfer windows.

[J R Hartley]

Apart from the Derby team that amassed 11 points a few years previously, we were the worst equipped side to play in the Premiership. Arguably the Premiership squad was worse that the Championship squad. Soskjaer has admitted the players told him 'we just aren't good enough'. When the players admit that, your dammed...

Hull and Palace squads were no better equipped at the end of the Championshop season before but they used their (much lower) budgets far wiser than we did.

[lardy]

We were dropping down the table at an alarming rate with our most difficult month of fixtures to come. We barely mustered any goals, or points, in our away games against the struggling teams first half of the season, so just because we come out on top in 2 scrappy 50-50 low on quality home games that could have gone either way is no indication that we all these so called easier home fixtures 2nd half of the season were a gimme.

Thanks for repeating your point again but thats not what the post you quoted addressed.

[Rjk]

For the first half of the season, we were just about as bad as the other half dozen worst teams. For the second half, we were clearly the worst team.

Would be interested to see these xG stats and compare to the other crap clubs in the opening months.

Ourselves and Fulham had the worst xG throughout the season , and unsurprisingly we ended up in the bottom 2 positions.
Not sure if I still have the data but I'll look.

[Badly Ironed Shirt]

At the time Caulker signed, I remember it being lauded as a great signing on here. Hindsight vision is 20-20.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

Apart from the Derby team that amassed 11 points a few years previously, we were the worst equipped side to play in the Premiership. Arguably the Premiership squad was worse that the Championship squad. Soskjaer has admitted the players told him 'we just aren't good enough'. When the players admit that, your dammed...

Plenty worse teams on paper have stayed up. You need the manager to motivate you and turn it around. We spent extremely poorly though, little or no Premier League experience, expensive gambles and zero pace. Caulker had his demons and people in football knew about it, so we shouldn't have taken the risk.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

At the time Caulker signed, I remember it being lauded as a great signing on here. Hindsight vision is 20-20.

We didn't know he was a gambling, alcoholic but people in football did. We did know he was banned from clubs and pubs in Swansea though, and if we knew that clubs would know more.

[J R Hartley]

We didn't know he was a gambling, alcoholic but people in football did. We did know he was banned from clubs and pubs in Swansea though, and if we knew that clubs would know more.

Malkys dossiers should have picked this up

[J R Hartley]

Thanks for repeating your point again but thats not what the post you quoted addressed.

I dont think that point was repeated was it? Not on this thread anyway?

Just offering a reason (besides the obvious - OGS) why we were worse in the 2nd half of the season, and agreeing with the post you replied to that we were poor throughout the season not just after January.