He just needs a good partner at the back. He isnt matchday captain material though hes a good ambassador for the club in the same way Bobby was when he was 'club captain'. Which leads to the problem of who the hell is our natural leader? People wanted Davies but I dont think hes vocal enough. Hammill is also a good club custodian but hes not a regular starter now. We need an experienced older player in midfield or better yet, partnering Angus.
I agree about MacDonald being a good player. He's young and relatively inexperienced at this level but I have no doubt that he is championship standard. You're right that he needs an older head alongside him to help and hopefully the club will do something over the next week or so to address this. In regards of the captaincy, in the absence of another obvious candidate I think he's the best option.
Of course MacDonald is a good player. So is Jackson. Give them time. We sound as bad as Norwich fans writing Marley Watkins off. Or Villa fans writing Hourihane and Bree off.. Or Wednesday fans writing Wi..... never mind that last one. I hate seeing other clubs slag our best ex players off, so i'm gonna make a conscious effort to give these lads a chance. Imaging moving from Forrest Green to barnsley and being wrote off after a friendly match? It's a huge step up, but patience is key. The bonds will form. that being said, Kevin Long would be good. Seems like he's content being 'kevin long' though. I saw him tweet a week or so ago about a player signing a new contract at a club he's been at for 5 years but only played 10 games for. His comment was "sounds like a young Kevin Long". joke or not, he's put himself in this scenario and you have to wonder about his work ethic dont you?
Hasn't Kevin Long just signed a new contract and been on Burnley's bench? Edit - signed a new 3 year contract in July.
He had some serious injuries along the way, broke into the Burnley and Irish set up last year and Sean Dyche is not one to suffer fools. Kevin Long is the epitome of don't sulk, graft your knackers off, and take your chance when he comes. He's not been allowed to leave Burnley because he is rated incredibly highly. Unfortunately they had Keane and Ben Mee there last year in the form of their lives so Long was 3rd choice.
I seem to remember after Pat Howard left us in 1971, there were plenty of the older fans near us who were saying Pat had carried Eric Winstanley for years and that was why Winnie was performing so poorly. It was utter ******** then, just as it's utter ******** now with people claiming Roberts carried MacDonald. It takes time to build up a defensive partnership and it rarely happens overnight. With regards to Pinnock receiving criticism after one game, one of our best ever central defenders had an absolute shocker on his debut for us, Paul Futcher. plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
I sincerely hope Angus matures into a player as good as Robbo. However, I just don't see him as a leader and captain. He came to us with a very poor disciplinary record and on Sat I thought he was getting too involved in attempting to wind up the opposition, as well taking his frustration out on the advertising hoarding.
I remember people loving Hourihane's wind up games.. Maybe he's trying his hand? Was the advertising hoarding after the game ended? Must have missed that, but if so, not a great show for a captain.
For me, Angus was reacting (whether rightly or wrongly) to the antics of the biggest wind up merchant in the modern game, Joe Garner.
He was, he should have known better, but I'd have had difficulty not thumping Garner fortunately the ref didnt take it out on our Angus - some refs might have had the red cards out