Nycfc In Talks Kv Oostende For Defender Frédéric Brillant.

[JayH]

I haven't watched a lot of his career, but I always thought a major criticism of Crouch is that he wasn't great in the air?

He's pretty much done over there now. He can still play, but he's a forgotten man.

Yeah, he's def well on the decline! But having watched him play quite a bit in the EPL, I was always impressed with how good he was in the air. He could never jump very high and didn't need to, but always seemed to get his head or his long legs on the cross. Here are his goals for Liverpool for gits and shiggles.

 

[Seth]

That's all fine but could you at least have found a photo that was a little longer? Feel like I had to scroll down for like an hour.

 

[The Toe]

 

[Viewfrom226]

If you really want a laugh, search for Peter Crouch's answer to the question "What would you be if you weren't a footballer?" Single best single word answer ever.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

Make a Peter crouch thread

 

[Kjbert]

Make a Peter Crouch's wife thread

 

[gbservis]

Poor Brillant this singing feels like such a let down after loosing out on terxeria his thread got turned into a Peter Crouch thread.

 

[LIblue]

https://twitter.com/x/status/692408669485580288

 

[gbservis]

https://twitter.com/x/status/692408669485580288

Great news, some much needed help for the back line. Hopefully they can get him into training camp quickly.

 

[JayH]

Poor Brillant this singing feels like such a let down after loosing out on terxeria his thread got turned into a Peter Crouch thread.

You need to recalibrate your emotions so that the excitement about getting a player you know nothing about exceeds the disappointment of not getting a player you know nothing about. In the textbooks, it's often referred to as the MTP or the Mena/Tefu Phenomenon.

 

[Ulrich]

Oh how Ian Joy is going to love saying, "Brillant with another brilliant tackle! The lad's just playing mind-games with the forwards...."

 

[Schwallacus]

Great news, some much needed help for the back line. Hopefully they can get him into training camp quickly.

Shouldn't have to wait too long barring injury, even with a holiday break he should be in decent form/ fitness coming from a team already halfway through their season.

 

[Viewfrom226]

Given how much we collectively ragged on the team last year for personnel decisions, assuming Brillant comes on board, I am really impressed by how they managed the offseason this year. I have no idea if the guys they brought in are the right guys, but they seemed to have nailed it in terms of areas of need:

- Starting LB plus fullback depth
- Defensive presence in the CM, but probably a squad guy given the overall number of CMs we have.
- Starting caliber CB
- Genuine winger

Sure, inevitably, one or more of these won't pan out, and perhaps the needs were so glaringly obvious that it would been impossible to miss them, but they've pretty much hit my checklist.

 

[DanC]

Any update on Brillant? Supposedly had his medical on Monday...

 

[Taurus]

Anyone have any insight why he has not played in the French league, which is arguably a step above the Belgian league?

 

[SayWhat44]

Given how much we collectively ragged on the team last year for personnel decisions, assuming Brillant comes on board, I am really impressed by how they managed the offseason this year. I have no idea if the guys they brought in are the right guys, but they seemed to have nailed it in terms of areas of need:

- Starting LB plus fullback depth
- Defensive presence in the CM, but probably a squad guy given the overall number of CMs we have.
- Starting caliber CB
- Genuine winger

Sure, inevitably, one or more of these won't pan out, and perhaps the needs were so glaringly obvious that it would been impossible to miss them, but they've pretty much hit my checklist.

Yeah I couldn't agree more. They've done a nice job and also got younger as well. Hopefully these guys do pan out.

 

[DanC]

http://nycfcwatch.sportsblog.com/po...nde-agree-to-terms-for-frederic-brillant.html

 

[sbrylski]

Anyone have any insight why he has not played in the French league, which is arguably a step above the Belgian league?

Unfortunately, I think it's because he's closer in talent to Mashamaite than he is to Teixeira. I'm not viewing him as a savior, just a stop gap.

 

[gbservis]

Shouldn't have to wait too long barring injury, even with a holiday break he should be in decent form/ fitness coming from a team already halfway through their season.

Now he just needs a visa.

 

[Falastur]

Anyone have any insight why he has not played in the French league, which is arguably a step above the Belgian league?

Just because Ligue 1 is a step above the Pro League is irrelevant. You take whatever club is interested in you and will give you the best deal. He was born right on the French-Belgian border and his first club was an amateur club on the opposite side. At that level, you can't afford to be picky. From that point on he proved his worth to clubs further up the chain. Maybe he'd prefer to be playing in France, maybe he wouldn't, but the Belgian clubs were the ones who gave him the game time. It may well be a simple case that no club that ever needed a player of his position had scouted his league in a game he was playing in.

I doubt he would ever have been on PSG's radar, or even Olympique Marseille's, so the kinds of clubs he might have been able to play for are the types who can't really afford to keep comprehensive scouting databases on all the players in the leagues of neighbouring countries.