[Baggies]

He hasn’t quite got going yet and a month after signing he is still struggling to get game time, but I feel we really need to find a way to get him up to speed now.

Having a midfield 3, of which  none are particularly attacking or creatively minded is leaving us unbalanced. Johansson is probably now the most attacking central midfielder at the club and was pivotal for Fulham last season. I think while we have him, we need to find a way to incorporate him, probably in a five man midfield.

[TheJacko2000]

He hasn’t quite got going yet and a month after signing he is still struggling to get game time, but I feel we really need to find a way to get him up to speed now.

Having a midfield 3, of which  none are particularly attacking or creatively minded is leaving us unbalanced. Johansson is probably now the most attacking central midfielder at the club and was pivotal for Fulham last season. I think while we have him, we need to find a way to incorporate him, probably in a five man midfield.

Was he pivotal or was he functional while Cairney and Sessegnon went about winning games?

[Baggies]

Read an article at the end of last season, talking about Fulham's 2nd half of the season surge, and he was apparantly pivotal as he brought about the balance to the midfield 3 of Mcdonald and Cairney.

[TheJacko2000]

Read an article at the end of last season, talking about Fulham's 2nd half of the season surge, and he was apparantly pivotal as he brought about the balance to the midfield 3 of Mcdonald and Cairney.

Not really what we need then is it? We needed a Cairney.

[Baggies]

The window has closed, and we have no Cairney......

We have to make do with what we have. Johansson’s goal scoring and assists record was very old at Fulham, which tells that he is more than just a buffer and a puffer. He probably is our best choice in the middle to provide a link between midfield and attack. Will he be the perfect answer. No, but we haven’t got a perfect answer now Barnes has gone and without the advantage of a Dorrans or Koumas as in previous years.

Johansson is our best bet to start the attacks with Phillips/Murphy in front.

[tuamigos]

The window has closed, and we have no Cairney......

We have to make do with what we have. Johansson’s goal scoring and assists record was very old at Fulham, which tells that he is more than just a buffer and a puffer. He probably is our best choice in the middle to provide a link between midfield and attack. Will he be the perfect answer. No, but we haven’t got a perfect answer now Barnes has gone and without the advantage of a Dorrans or Koumas as in previous years.

Johansson is our best bet to start the attacks with Phillips/Murphy in front.

He hasn't shown anything in the games he's been involved with to suggest that could be the case.
Unless you count the free kick against Stoke

[Baggies]

I refer to my first post tuamigos. He has been poor for me so far, but when you look at the available options, unless we can get Mozza fit/up to speed, he is the best choice for that role.

[SmethDan]

I'm confident he'll improve with game time. I'm not entirely confident he'll get sufficient game time for him to improve to the levels he was at during Fulham's run in last season. We'll see though. Come on Stefan and COYB  .

[GREGMT]

A pointless signing.  Has achieved very little and not better than what we had already.

[TheJacko2000]

We signed the worst of Fulham's promotion winning midfield then refused to give him a run of games.

[FallOutBoy]

A pointless signing.  Has achieved very little and not better than what we had already.

Question is, is he a bad player, is he out of form, is he just not fit, or does his face not fit with the senior pros? Same question with Montero, who I've seen several times and I know to be a good footballer.

Makes you wonder.

[OldburyWBA]

Question is, is he a bad player, is he out of form, is he just not fit, or does his face not fit with the senior pros? Same question with Montero, who I've seen several times and I know to be a good footballer.

Makes you wonder.

Played in every one of Fulhams games last year 8 goals 9 assists, year before 11 goals 8 assists from 10 games less so suggests he isn't so much the issue other than lack of games. If we were not going to use the players properly beggars belief why we signed them.

Not good enough for our starting XI apparantely but good enough to captain Norway against Spain recently

[BoingFlyer]

A pointless signing.  Has achieved very little and not better than what we had already.

Rummor is Moore and Jones did not want him.

[Dexy]

Can't believe how poor he has looked , I really believed he was an upgrade on what we have .

[Dan]

Question is, is he a bad player, is he out of form, is he just not fit, or does his face not fit with the senior pros? Same question with Montero, who I've seen several times and I know to be a good footballer.

Makes you wonder.

Come off it, you can't blame senior pros here for everything.

He's been desperately poor whenever he's played. If Livermore was putting in as poor performances as that people would be going crazy. He's had a free pass so far but he's probably been our poorest central midfielder since he joined which is really saying something.

[TheJacko2000]

Come off it, you can't blame senior pros here for everything.

He's been desperately poor whenever he's played. If Livermore was putting in as poor performances as that people would be going crazy. He's had a free pass so far but he's probably been our poorest central midfielder since he joined which is really saying something.

He is and does and it's baffling why they're not.

[Adamstv]

Can't believe how poor he has looked , I really believed he was an upgrade on what we have .

Fulham STH I know says he was brilliant in their promotion year - says he is really a good player and can’t understand what’s gone wrong- I said joining us!!!

[paulosull]

Last window only Holgate has been a regular in the side other three signings have been poor. Said all a long that we should have been using our youngsters

[Standaman]

For the most part he has looked a shadow of the player that played well for Fulham last year. It is quite possible that last year was the exception, a purple patch in an otherwise moderate career. Or it could be that it is another career floundering in the graveyard that is the West Bromwich Albion midfield that hasn't functioned properly since before Pulis arrived and stopped playing through it altogether.

Whatever the reason he has failed to impress and I wouldn't be in any rush to keep him next season.

[seteefeet]

Come off it, you can't blame senior pros here for everything.

He's been desperately poor whenever he's played. If Livermore was putting in as poor performances as that people would be going crazy. He's had a free pass so far but he's probably been our poorest central midfielder since he joined which is really saying something.

He does week in, week out.
I watched in the pub Sat and said to a few lads there to watch how much time Livermore spends pointing, they were laughing their tits off! He spends the whole game telling other players where to go but not once does he put his hand up and WANT the ball himself. That's why, whoever plays next to him they are run ragged. Throw the petulant Brunt into the mix, constantly moaning and kicking the turf and there is no cohesion whatsoever. Johansen's lack of mobility is just the icing on the cake.
Our central midfield has been a joke all season (and before), only masked by the brilliance of Harvey Barnes and occasionally Rekheem Harper.

[OldburyWBA]

Fulham STH I know says he was brilliant in their promotion year - says he is really a good player and can’t understand what’s gone wrong- I said joining us!!!

Hardly figured at all for Fulham before he came, I think its something like 2 starts and 4 sub appearances, we sign him knowing he's nowhere near ready to go straight in the team and then instead of giving him a decent run we just put him in for a game, leave him out etc etc and then wonder why he's not showing anything.

[boinging_along]

He does week in, week out.
I watched in the pub Sat and said to a few lads there to watch how much time Livermore spends pointing, they were laughing their tits off! He spends the whole game telling other players where to go but not once does he put his hand up and WANT the ball himself. That's why, whoever plays next to him they are run ragged. Throw the petulant Brunt into the mix, constantly moaning and kicking the turf and there is no cohesion whatsoever. Johansen's lack of mobility is just the icing on the cake.
Our central midfield has been a joke all season (and before), only masked by the brilliance of Harvey Barnes and occasionally Rekheem Harper.

Whose job do you think it is to organise midfield then and what should they do?  In Saturdays game...

Livermore - 5.1% possession of the ball, 42 passes, 93% success rate,
Brunt - 7.3% possession of the ball, 49 passes, 76% success rate,
Johansen - 4.6% possession of the ball, 37 passes, 65% success rate

Looking at that, and the heat maps, Livermore had the ball in more advanced positions than the other two midfielders.  His pass success rate was the highest on the pitch (including Millwall).  Brunt had a lot of the ball but only made 7 passes more than Livermore, and those he did make he misplaced nearly a quarter of them. 

Livermore still didn't have a great game but he was the best out of 3.

Just to add, over the season, Harper has our best pass completion rate, 86.8%, then Livermore with 84.1%.  Brunt has 78%

[FallOutBoy]

Talking about pass completion rate is the very definition of information without knowledge.

Livermore might have a good pass completion rate, but do any of his passes go forward and open the opposition up, or do they all go sideways and backwards?

Brunt's is lower because he's always looking for the pass to make something happen, to set up a chance. If you play more high risk balls, you're going to have a lower completion rate by default.

[SmethDan]

Adding to the above from memory Johansen had our only shot on target and provided the through ball to Gayle which led to the penalty. Swings and roundabouts, jumpers for goalposts..........

[boinging_along]

Talking about pass completion rate is the very definition of information without knowledge.

Livermore might have a good pass completion rate, but do any of his passes go forward and open the opposition up, or do they all go sideways and backwards?

Brunt's is lower because he's always looking for the pass to make something happen, to set up a chance. If you play more high risk balls, you're going to have a lower completion rate by default.

Yeah, I agree, but I see enough people slate Livermore because his passes are inaccurate.  The stats shows that's wrong.  They do find their man even if you would consider them a bit unimaginative and sometimes teams have that midfielder in there whose job is to keep it simple and keep the ball moving, not just give it away cheaply.