One other thing to note from tonight's game was Scowen's diving. Did it around three times. The first one, in the first half, was outrageous. But he won three free kicks for it, so I guess he feels justified. He's a good player, possibly our best. He doesn't need to cheat. I recall him getting the backs of the away supporters up at a game last season when he dived, but I argued his case. Being a lot closer to the pitch today makes me think I was wrong. I don't care about gamesmanship, diving is cheating, he needs to cut it out before he gets a reputation. He's too good to get tagged with something like that.
When you come across a ref like that what gives absoloutley **** all for your side, you dive and make him think, dont care if hes diving, i'm sick of seeing other teams getting away with it, why not join them
Mawson didn't play as badly as people made out, wouldn't play him there as a main position but if we get injuries he could cover there easily enough.
Yup. But we're playing a centre half in that position. ................................. Davies .................................. Holgate ........ Mawson .......... Nyatanga .......... Smith ............. Berry .......... Bailey ............ Scowen .......... ... Watkins ............................................ Wilkinson ... ................................ Winnall ................................... For me, that's a much more balanced team than what we're messing about with.
I think we're in for a Mark Robins style season of football by attrition but without the expensive loan signings. Depends who comes in between now & kick off I suppose. But - and I know LJ is infinitely more knowledgeable about football than me - but Lalkovic - when we played Johnson's Oldham team he tore their left back a new one - so much so that he was subbed - Lalkovic played wide right. Johnson becomes our manager then plays Lalkovic anywhere but wide right then bombs him out. Dunno, if we play that stupid ******* diamond formation I might get a book to read whilst I'm at games.
Lalkovic is miles off the finished article. Sometimes his ball control leaves a lot to be desired. But he's only 22, he's fast, he's fit, he gives his all and sometimes he leaves defenders for dead. To just chalk **** on him and leave him rotting in the reserves when the squad is so thin is bananas. How can it hurt to have him part of the squad until we first find a replacement and then a club to buy him? Bailey is the best passer of the ball at the club. He's gotten a lot of stick because in the first half of last season he was the only player between the opposition attack and the defence. Unsurprisingly, at times he struggled to cope, but we've now got Scowen to play along side him. We're already playing centre halves in midfield, but we've frozen Bailey out too. Again, how can it hurt to have him part of the squad until we find a replacement? We sold Berry before we got a replacement lined up and now that Hourihane is injured, we haven't got a midfield. Well, we have, but we refuse to play them or even have them train with the squad. And don't get me started on the Holgate situation. It's ******* doolally.
The impression I got is that Bailey doesn't run about enough/isn't 'mobile' enough for Johnson - and agree about lalkovic - it isn't black & white sometimes - a player written off after a few months with us - crackers. And everything else you mention hardly inspires confidence as things stand.
I'd presumed the Bailey situation was due to wages, that he is on a fair whack and getting rid of him would free up more money for a replacement. Personally I really rate him and would be sad to see him go but I could understand the rationale if that is the case. What I don't get is not involving him until such point as we receive an acceptable offer for him (should that offer even come). Leaving aside we have no players and we were completely overrun in midfield last night which was pretty impressive seen as we were only playing with one up front for 50 minutes, surely we have much more chance of receiving a bid for a player who is getting game time and performing well. It's like trying to sell your car, which you need, by keeping it locked in the garage with a for sale sign on it.
Unless the midfield consists of top quality midfielders who have all the attributes - pace, energy, skill, passing, tackling ability - it looks awful at this level. It makes us narrow and stifles creativity. But wtfdik Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Now whose that midfielder that was garbage last season and ought to be got shut of, didn't contribute much,apart from goals and assists, that is, and who it's blindingly obvious is not being missed, through injury, one iota.
I went on Saturday and for the first half hour Smith looked every inch the next "big time Charlie" who thinks he's better than he is.
My mate who's a Guiseley fan, has just told me about their Audioboom. Apparently Liam Dickinson (of former Barnsley fame and the consensus is he's a bit useless for them, and he lasted 10 seconds as second half sub before coming off injured) said that the after the game they could here Lee Johnson giving the players a right rollicking. There was a real Barnsley link last night. Rob Atkinson was on the bench for them, as was John Hendrie's son and Michael Boulding's brother. They've signed Andy Gray too (I was really excited about seeing him) but he was out injured.
Lee Johnson at the moment looks like a ******* appalling manager! Sorry 'head coach'. Whoever is making these decisions looks like they know **** all about footbal!. It's embarrassing