Zero to Hero
Has our ‘warrior skipper’ El-Abd made the biggest leap in terrace popularity ever, from negative nick name to mom week in week out?
I remember Beano was a comedy turn on that concrete pitch when he first arrived only to become a treasure but is Adam’s trajectory even greater?
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Steve Brown had an even greater trajectory, I'd say.
Easter was rubbish for half a season when he joined and then bagged a hatrick early the following year and all of a sudden became unstoppable. Or at least that’s roughly how I remember it.
Easter possibly zero to hero, then back again to zero when he left.
I would certainly say Brownie wins this award, but Stuart Beavon is also a minor candidate - I don't think he ever got slagged off that hard given that he always looked like he was toiling away, but the popularity certainly increased once he actually started scoring.
I think we had been spoilt with defenders and he looked small(!) and slow to begin with.
Luckily football fans are patient people who look at potential and the season as a whole before making their judgements...
El Abd certainly started very slowly.
He didn't seem to be able to win a header, did tonnes of grappling with attackers and seemed to be a total liability.
Glad he's come through so well, even with not having a stable partnership for long periods of the season.
Put a tall athletic powerhouse of Stewart (or Pierre!) levels next to him and it could be cracking.
If memory served me correct, El-Abd had the turning circle of an oil tanker when he first arrived. Took about a third of the season before he sussed that the ball was going long most of the time and over his head. Once he got that, started from a little deeper, he became the "zero to hero".
A case of successful Wycombisation?
He changed his approach in the air too, as he seemed to barely win a header in the early times, and looked a foul giving away machine.
You can usually tell how players are rated on here by how they are referred to.
If we had a player arrive called Jack Smith he would start off as Jack, then after a few good performances, Jackie and later, after performing badly, just Smith...or worse. Sometimes the process is reversed when a player arrives of whom a great deal is expected and it doesn't work out.
Adam El Abd is a class operator and were very lucky to have him.
I’ll just leave these thoughts here....
“Lets rotate El Abd out the exit door asap then
in Eze Comment by rmjlondon September 2017”
“We lost goals last night because El Abd cant win a header not because of Eze, he won us the game basically with his passing.
in Match day thread: Crewe Comment by rmjlondon September 2017”
Much better all round player than Pierre and too professional to head but anyone as well
butt
Probably right on the pitch @James but as for his reaction to abuse outside Tesco I think we'll never really know.
@arnos_grove the greatest mind in football is allowed to change his view in order to irritate people. And if @rmjlondon is saying something positive about a player for the team he 'supports' we should celebrate.
You need to remember Richie was seriously overdosing on his Haribos early on in this season so his reasoning was suspect to say the lesst. They contain 96 grams of sugar per packet.
Since he's had counselling for this addiction, his consumption has drastically reduced enabling his brain to operate more efficiently.
you really cant help yourself can you? someone slags team off ..you moan your tits off...someone compliments the team/player you moan your tits off...you need to get a life fella
Eh? When have I moaned about someone complimenting a player? And anyway, I thought you were either too busy with your jet set lifestyle and not ever coming to Adams Park again to sully yourself with the gasroom.
Forget Richie - you’re hands down the undisputed tool on here.
grow up you imbecile. you are hands down the biggest prick
El Abd was great at the end of this season, but I’d still far rather have Pierre. It’s not even close.
anyway had enough with all this bitching. my final thoughtson season...GA brilliant job, team togetherness was immence. congrats to the whole club on a truly memorable season
@james, hopefully your pal doesn't get boozed up and abuse El Abd for us to find out eh?
@james, hopefully your pal doesn't get boozed up and abuse El Abd for us to find out eh?
@moneyman, I'm convinced more than one person are behind that account, so it explains why there's such massive swings of opinion.
I was all over El abd at the start of the season i thought he was terrible and wtf was he made captain etc....... he's become one of my favourite players i love his style, his ability for his height and his passion! Top notch bloke aswell
I'm with @Wwfc2015_ poor old richie. If you cannot be a complete hypocrite without being called a complete hypocrite by rose-tinted idiots who are substantially poorer than you what sort of fan-owned club is this? He won't keep us up you know.
You beeeeetches!
I'd rather have both. El-Abd excellent captain and organiser and Pierre pace and physical presence. Would make superb partnership.
Both predominantly left sided.