Chris Mepham

Lucky boy or right decision from the ref?

If it was against us we'd have been screaming for a red but whilst the players names escape me, I'm sure we've seen a couple of similar incidents this season where opposition players did something similar and only got yellows.

Good to have a bit of fire in his belly but he needs to cut that out as that could have cost us if the ref had decided to be a git.

Obviously last week was a bit chastening but it feels like he's a PL player in the making.
 
kirsikka said:
Lucky boy or right decision from the ref?

If it was against us we'd have been screaming for a red but whilst the players names escape me, I'm sure we've seen a couple of similar incidents this season where opposition players did something similar and only got yellows.

Good to have a bit of fire in his belly but he needs to cut that out as that could have cost us if the ref had decided to be a git.

Obviously last week was a bit chastening but it feels like he's a PL player in the making.
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Thought the ref might cave in to the baying of the home fans for a moment ( which would have been harsh ), so credit to him for being sensible and just showing a yellow. There was nothing in it, the guy put on a big show about it and we’ve seen reds given. But there was no real violence in it so a yellow for being unsportsmanlike seemed like the right decision to me.

Mepham is already brilliant more often than he’s bad, so I think he can become an awesome player for us in the seasons to come ( with Cookie and Ake ideally ).
 
From the replay, he never moves his head forward to do the headbutt, so I think yellow card was right as his head shouldn't have been there.
I think it's one of those that one set of supporters will say red and the other yellow.
 
In today’s game that’s a red every day of the week. Got away with one there and got the extra slice of luck that the ref gave him a yellow meaning it can’t be reviewed. Hopefully he’ll learn from that!
 
With my cherry tints on I'd say that he lowered hid head to protect himself expecting a butt from Andone, but really yes, it is often a red these days, which is a shame, as it's not really aggressive. Loved Cookie in that incident though, holds Andone up as he started to crumple. Stops him going down and probably keeps Mepham on the pitch. Though Andone shouldn't have shoved Meps a second beforehand
 
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They know the rules, even nudging your head into the other player is a red. The reaction is absolutely pathetic but lets be honest, ours would also be on the floor.

He's a lucky boy, not that it would have changed the outcome at all.
 
If you wanted Richarlison sent off against us earlier in the season then you should accept it was a red for Mepham too.
 
Been a while since I posted but...

Watched the Villa and Sheffiled United games and have missed the rest so correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm afraid Mepham, despite his potential, should be on the bench. The best defence is Ake and Cook in the middle, not Ake at LB and Mepham/Simpson with Cook. People say he played there at Watford and got Young Player of the Year but let's be fair there was not a lot of competition. And also consider that was nearly four years ago... his primary position is CB. The chemistry between Cook and Ake has been existent for a few years now, they don't need to tell each other where they are. They already know it. Hence why the defence, from what I have read on here, is a shambles.

Ake out of position, Mepham (with his lack of experience in the PL and, consequently, his nervousness) and Cook hardly playing games together means that there is a lack of communication, and this contributed to the loss at Leicester, amongst other factors of course.

For Everton, Cook and Ake need to be back in the centre if we have any chance of winning without conceding a bucket load. Everton's attack is dangerous, and with Smith potentially missing the game, I would rather have Ake at CB than LB, and Mepham on the bench. Stacey at RB and Rico at LB; that's if every injured defender misses this game.
 
I think Mepham will turn out to be a very good player, he initially played well when he joined us. But he is not helped by being thrown in when we have a formation change or a shift in personnel, remember him being hauled off at scummers when EH changed his disastrous starting formation after 25 minutes or so. Probably wrecked his confidence.
I remember many people doubting Steve Cooks ability to play in the PL. Mepham will come good but he is not helped by the shift in tactics.
As for Ake at left back - a complete waste of our best defender. If we persist he will leave.
 
I think Mepham is ready to play against certain teams where the battle is more aerial and physical or where the forwards don’t have searing pace. He was good against Sheff U and Forest Green.

When people get behind him he doesn’t have the five to ten yard burst you need. He does have it over long range. This has been seen in a number of fixtures last season before he was dropped but notably against City in the last game.

That was the worry. Leicester’s analysts would have been all over this knowing Vardy plays against the right sides centre half. To expose Mepham to this was madness (not hindsight I wrote it before the game) and the Vardy in behind to score was nailed on unless he forgot his shooting boots which unfortunately he hadn’t.

Vardy has never got in behind to score before against us we have always played him well. Penalty and header if my memory serves me correctly.

It should have been Ake and Cook with Rico or Stacey in at full back.
 
I agree that our starting CB pairing should be Ake and Cook. However, I thought that Mepham had a better game overall than Cook on Saturday. Cook is looking very lethargic atm, probably due to the injury he's been playing through.

Certainly don't want to see Ake playing LB ever again; it's not his fault that he doesn't play well there, its not a position he plays anymore. Play Rico there or sell him, no point messing him about if he doesn't rate him anymore.
 
Neil Dawson said:
I think Mepham is ready to play against certain teams where the battle is more aerial and physical or where the forwards don’t have searing pace. He was good against Sheff U and Forest Green.

When people get behind him he doesn’t have the five to ten yard burst you need. He does have it over long range. This has been seen in a number of fixtures last season before he was dropped but notably against City in the last game.

That was the worry. Leicester’s analysts would have been all over this knowing Vardy plays against the right sides centre half. To expose Mepham to this was madness (not hindsight I wrote it before the game) and the Vardy in behind to score was nailed on unless he forgot his shooting boots which unfortunately he hadn’t.

Vardy has never got in behind to score before against us we have always played him well. Penalty and header if my memory serves me correctly.

It should have been Ake and Cook with Rico or Stacey in at full back.
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Fair points; it certainly would have been better to have Ake in a more central role to combat Vardy as well. Hopefully Cook will be well rested over the break, because he's looking a bit ragged atm.
 
I think he will return to Cook and Ake at centre backs this weekend. Mepham played well enough against league 2 opposition last Wednesday but he's got a lot to learn at premier league level.
 
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