Andrew Surman

I think he’s in a similar boat as Kermorgant; we could never quite replace the job he did for the team when he got older and not quite as good. Leader on the pitch. Down to earth, model professional. Never given the respect he’s earned because of “sideways passing”. Bullsh1t.
 
Very underappreciated player. The sideways thing irtitates me. It's fine to pass sideways if it keeps possession and you aren't playing a colleague into trouble

I agree - I think the sideways moniker perhaps only came to the fore in the latter PL seasons , when the team as a whole had slowed down its passing style and we were less on the front foot - when we were in our championship pomp and the first couple of PL seasons his role was not so much in the spotlight …
But he did exactly the job Eddie asked him to do - get the ball in front of the back four and pass it wide to our full backs/wingers and let them go !
Top player , way back during his loan spell and in our recent glory years …
 
I was never his greatest fan...but grew to understand his importance to the team in linking up play and holding onto the ball comfortably and with confidence...but on the down side he just never scored enough goals given that he had a sweet left foot...also his 'tackling' was powder puff!...
 
I was never his greatest fan...but grew to understand his importance to the team in linking up play and holding onto the ball comfortably and with confidence...but on the down side he just never scored enough goals given that he had a sweet left foot...also his 'tackling' was powder puff!...


If he was a regular scorer and/or could tackle better - then the chances are he would never have come back to us as the possession and distribution part of his game was so good.
 
I recently watched a game with him featuring. When we were on the ball, he would point to an available player for them to pass to. Very calm and collective on the ball too.

Deserved VC and Clup Captain. It's just little things like that which make him one of my favourites of these past few years.
 
Surman often picked out a decent forward pass - if there was movement up front. No movement up front then pass square to retain possession. Took the pressure off central defenders by taking the ball short despite having one or two men on his back.

Count how often Kelly, cook or ccv give the ball away with a long pass or keep the ball via a safe pass along the back. Surman’s role would reduce both from happening. I appreciated Surman in the team but sadly more vocal fans didn’t
 
Drew was a great player, at times yes a bit safe like Jorginho he hardly ever gave ball away and at times could pick out a delicous forward pass, one that springs to mind was the move he started and finished against Brighton in PL when we were coasting to a 5th defeat on the bounce at the start of season, that moment changed our fortunes. Legend for being part of that title winning squad.
 
used to be more attack minded midfielder in his younger years.

certainly had technique, ability to score goals it seems. recall that screamer against Norwich in the Championship before we were promoted.

top championship player. kept the ball moving and in possession. suited the way we played. not the most exciting, but team would lose its shape when out of action.
 
A superb championship player. I’m not a fan of throwing the adjective ‘legend’ about as I believe it’s overused, but in this case I think it’s justified for what he provided the team in the title winning season.
In the Premiere league it was an almost totally different ball game, and he did struggle at times, due to both the increase in pace and to the fact we were frequently outnumbered in the middle of the park, most teams operating with a midfield three. His best spell individually came during the first season when Eddie adapted the formation to play a midfield three of Surman, Gosling and Arter. I believe this coincided with the period that saved our season, picking up successive wins against Chelsea and Man United.
From the third season on I felt a bit sorry for him tbh, his performances suffered due to the chronic lack of movement in front of him. The partnerships that had been built over time were starting to be broken up, and we no longer had a player comfortable picking up pockets of space to enable us to progress the ball up the pitch with our possession based style (Wilshere/Afobe played this role second season/although not completely natural to them they did a job.) Over time we gradually became a team that played in flat lines, persisting with playing a front two of King and Wilson. Both great players in their own right, but neither comfortable picking up pockets of space. Surman often had no choice but to pass sideways as there was often no viable forward option available. Rather than trying to bring in players who could operate between the lines, Eddie instead gradually tried to turn us into a counterattacking team. This made Surman almost completely obsolete as he is purely a possession based footballer. It also coincided with our gradual downfall in my opinion.
 
Realy enjoyable interview with Andrew Surman on BOTN and great to see Jeff back as well.

I smiled all the way through wonderful memories, wonderful player and a real gentleman. Just perhaps he might join the Solent team to suceed Dave Merrington.


Quality player, think he was bit underappreciated at times by some sections of the fanbase.

Spoke to someone years ago close to the club about Surman (back in previous championship era), and they went over how pivitol he was to us and the way we play. How he kept ball moving, 'ticking over and made it look easy/simple, but was actually having a major effect on the teams tempo. Mainly ue to his exceptional positional awareness, intelligence, composure on the ball.
 
Surman was a superb player and a huge Legend of the club - he had the typical grit and determination found in many South African sportsmen.
 

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