[Bierzo Baggie]

Really good article on Jason Koumas, worth a read. The most naturally talented midfielder to don an Albion shirt in recent years? Discuss...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/in-...l-tranmere

[BaggieMan]

Nah!
He was good but not that good.

[silverbaggie]

A good player who never really reached his full potential.

[BaggieSteve]

Thanks for posting the article, Bierzo Baggie, I think it really captures Jason Koumas as many of us remember him. Unlike Baggieman, I do think he was one of the best midfielders I've seen at the Hawthorns in the last ten years; very skilled with the ball, could glide past players, great passer and had an excellent shot. I'm struggling to think of another midfielder we've had in that period who could deliver all that. Sure, we have had effective players who did some of it but none, I think, who had his all round ability. However, as the article perfectly describes, the impact of all of those attributes are diluted without application. I'm thinking less about his willingness to track back & defend, and more about his tendency to drift completely out of a game. Gutted when he left after the Wembley defeat by Derby but, in hindsight, it worked out well for the Baggies, if not for Jason.

[aries22]

Thanks for posting the article, Bierzo Baggie, I think it really captures Jason Koumas as many of us remember him. Unlike Baggieman, I do think he was one of the best midfielders I've seen at the Hawthorns in the last ten years; very skilled with the ball, could glide past players, great passer and had an excellent shot. I'm struggling to think of another midfielder we've had in that period who could deliver all that. Sure, we have had effective players who did some of it but none, I think, who had his all round ability. However, as the article perfectly describes, the impact of all of those attributes are diluted without application. I'm thinking less about his willingness to track back & defend, and more about his tendency to drift completely out of a game. Gutted when he left after the Wembley defeat by Derby but, in hindsight, it worked out well for the Baggies, if not for Jason.

Zoltan Gera, who was also a great header of the ball, was as good as Jason Koumas. We've had a few good MFs, and maybe Koumas had unfinished business when he left us. He never really shone at Wigan.

[BaggieSteve]

Thanks for posting the article, Bierzo Baggie, I think it really captures Jason Koumas as many of us remember him. Unlike Baggieman, I do think he was one of the best midfielders I've seen at the Hawthorns in the last ten years; very skilled with the ball, could glide past players, great passer and had an excellent shot. I'm struggling to think of another midfielder we've had in that period who could deliver all that. Sure, we have had effective players who did some of it but none, I think, who had his all round ability. However, as the article perfectly describes, the impact of all of those attributes are diluted without application. I'm thinking less about his willingness to track back & defend, and more about his tendency to drift completely out of a game. Gutted when he left after the Wembley defeat by Derby but, in hindsight, it worked out well for the Baggies, if not for Jason.

Zoltan Gera, who was also a great header of the ball, was as good as Jason Koumas. We've had a few good MFs, and maybe Koumas had unfinished business when he left us. He never really shone at Wigan.

I love Gera and, as importantLy, he loved the Albion, but I don't think he was as gifted a footballer as Koumas. However, I'd be the first to say that he made much more contribution to the Albion than Koumas and will certainly be much better remembered.....and rightly so.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Koumas could glide past people like Gazza used to ....Maresca was another tremendously gifted midfielder, imagine a midfield of Koumas, Gera and Maresca I'd say they were the three most naturally gifted Albion midfielders of recent years irrespective of what each one actually achieved.