Shepherd watch..

....well he's seems to have started letting the whole flock out recently.

He started the season with me griping as to why he wasn't automatically in the first team.

But after a couple of weeks he and MDG met on escalators going in different trajectories, and after tonight it's patently obvious as to why.

I hope it's just a confidence matter.

But it will certainly be hard to for him to get back on the first team team starter sheet after tonight.

 

He looked fine when he came on against Derby, made a couple of good tackles. His overall performance against Horsham was alright too, he was very good positionally actually, but those short passes he f'ed up really put us in trouble, which is why i dont think hed work in the middle. Definitely a good player in there. Shame there's no mads or kitchen to guide him though, we definitely need a long hard look at our back line

 

The trouble is that people often see only what they want to see and very few, particularly on here, fairly critique players, especially those for who one of the BBS' 'bandwagons' has been started either over-positively or over-negatively.

I had my doubts about Shepherd from day one when he was booked a minute or two after coming on, getting drawn out of position and having to foul the opposing striker because Shepherd had the turning speed of the QE2. He was okay but ultimately schooled by Tranmere's overweight but wily forwards in the next game. The last time I think he started in the league him and Lopata were absolutely torn apart in the first half at lowly Cheltenham who up to that point hadn't scored a goal in the league. Fortunately Roberts was on typical top form and kept us in the game.

But and this is a big BUT Shepherd is our 6th choice centre back - he was signed (along with James) as an U21 development player and by rights shouldn't really have to be anywhere near the first team. He needs to bulk up, particularly his weak upper body and work a heck of a lot on his positioning and distribution but for me it's where he is in the second half of next season that is the thing - he's hardly costing us much in the meantime.

The much bigger issue is that there are five other centre backs on full first team wages in McCart, De Givigney, McCarthy, Lopata and the lesser-spotted Cundy and quite frankly if I was a striker at any other club in League 1 I'd be absolutely licking my lips at the prospect of playing against any of them.

 

Given how long we’ve now been operating the system of bringing in young raw talent, developing them and then selling them on, it never ceases to amaze me that there is still an expectation that they should come in and perform like seasoned pros from the off. From Marc Roberts and Alfie Mawson through to Mads and Kitching they have all had a shaky start to life at Oakwell. The one exception to this was Ethan Pinnock, just a pity that Hecky never appreciated how good Ethan was.

 

Agree with this, maybe try to sign an experienced Sollbauer type player in January to help the younger lads and sell or loan out McCarthy and Cundy if possible.

 

Is McCart not that player? He's only played about 60 games less than what Sollbauer had when he signed for us.

I can see McCarthy going out, but I think Cundy will be here until the summer then released at the end of his contract.

 

Shepherd deserved his start last night and hopefully will learn from his and the team's 'performance'.

I liked the look of young James early doors; not sure why he isn't in the picture lately, maybe I've missed injury news.

 

Defence is a big issue this season, not helped by the tactic of those in front of them being instructed to play sideways nonsense thus constantly being under pressure when we invariably lose it.

 

McCart is bobbins can see why he wasn’t featuring at Rovrum and why Orient fans called him McCarthorse, not good enough

 

It’s interesting how no one owns up to been wrong. I didn’t want Shepherd dropping at the time but it’s obvious after seeing his last couple of performances that he’s nowhere near ready & that the manager was right to play McCart over him.

People were saying McCarthy should play & Williams should go back to wing back. McCarthy plays & looks terrible.

People were (bizarrely) slating Herbie Kane. He’s suspended at Derby & we put in the worst league performance of the season without him. It’s almost like the professionals know more than the fans.

 

To bring young players through successfully you need.. bigger better players alongside.. something we just don't have. They're all much of a muchness.. hence the chopping and changing and Williams at CB..
Again poor recruitment..

 

I've not seen much of this season, so the only assessment I can make is based on the players on paper. But Sollbauer was the club captain of his previous club, played Europa League, and was hand picked by our head coach at the time. McCart appears to have been on the fringes at his former club and struggled for a game at his loan club as well. Seems fanciful to suggest he would have the same impact as Sollbauer.

 

But we're a league 1 club, with a tight budget. We aren't able to go out and sign the club captain of a club playing at the top level in their country, or in a Europa league side with the position we're in.

McCart is experienced though, regardless of how he's performed. He's also played in Europe (albeit only twice) and in the SPL. On the budget we're working with, you honestly can't expect us to go out and sign someone who's played 300 plus games and regularly plays in the Championship or above. It's probably why McCart is only here on loan, because we can't afford someone with his experience on a permanent basis.

 

Not the point of my post.

 

We also only got McCart in last minute. There’s probably not that many left footed centre backs who can be signed immediately at the end of the transfer window that we have much knowledge of.

 

Nothing against McCart but doesn't feel to me like he's had the impact of a leader.

 

While shepherd's washed their socks at night
All seated round the tub
A bar of soap came floating down
And they began to scrub

 

Recently we seem to be dropping deeper which gives plenty of numbers near our own goal but causes confusion because nobody knows who's picking who up and when we have the ball there's no link between defence and attack. We look a much better team when we push players up the pitch.

 

Don’t give up the day job