Yes but he's being played out of position in a poor side.John Russell is a fair weather sailor and it proved it yesterday.
If you notice, for whatever reason we play with 2 loans strikers. DKD and Humphreys play that far apart, one down the left the other down the right miles apart. Hardly any, if any at all cohesion between the front two.
Play DKD behind a front two and watch him flourish. His numbers for Mansfield were in that role. He’s being asked to play differently at Barnsley. No idea why we signed him unless we are gonna play him in behind two strikers.
There’s flashes of quality. Think he’s a good, intelligent footballer who would do well in this league played in a position / system that would suit him. We don’t do that. Whether it’s the coaches or the recruitments fault is open to debate of course. Either way I’m still convinced there’s a very decent player there.
Many commented on him not being an out and out striker when we bid for him.yes he belongs behind a front 2 and until we do that we won't see the best of him.
I disagree. I think he’s told to play up top and it isn’t his game. He’s great at picking space in between the opposing defence and midfield but I just don’t think he has the freedom to do that because he’s up top and meant to be getting on the end of stuff. I admit he’s weak as piss. But horses for courses and all that.
He's scored 5 goals by playing out of position. Play him in his preferred position, and then judge him.
Can only judge him on his performances whether out of position or not. To see him in his so called position ( which let’s admit was league 2), would mean recruiting at least one/two strikers in January, we won’t targets should be identified and signing on January 1st but as sure as eggs are eggs when window is shutting we’ll see a loanee from Championship and by that time the season will be more or less done as we’ll be too far adrift.
Can't say I'm overly impressed but after yesterday where mdg and killip looked like raffle winners it's harsh to highlight dkd.
Russell is something of an enigma. He has a lot of skill and has excellent close control. He plays crisp passes too. He needs to get more involved on a consistent basis.
Russell is ok when we’re playing well and dominating the ball. When the chips are down like they are right now he’s nowhere to be seen. Not on his own though…..
He has played 20 games and scored 5 in the league. Thats 1 in 4 in a team that has no consistent form and one in which he is played out of position. Not even disappointing never mind a let down.