Connell and McCart Missed or not?

I'll sum up Russell's performance by saying it took him 10 minutes to saunter back to the bench after being subbed.

And it was the quickest he'd moved all afternoon

 

agreed. He’s appalling. He was solely responsible for the last minute goal at Wembley last season too - he didn’t track his runner.

 

I can’t get my head around this. Amazing how opinions differ. One of the worst players I’ve ever seen for us.

so many misplaced passes and never tracks runners

 

To answer the original question....YES, we missed both, especially Connell.

 

I think if you loved the big Val season then you won't like Russell or If you prefer to watch a team try to play football then Russell may get some support.

 

Pass Accuracy

Russell 71%
Phillips 48%
Kane 64%
Styles 60%
O'Keefe 60%

 

Stop it with facts.

 

Dispossessed

Russell - 1
Kane - 2
Phillips - 3

 

Depends on the level he is loaned to. Remember Ady Marsh earlier in the season?

 

He definitely keeps the ball but he’s such a limited passer in that everything he plays is short. Connell or Kane get it & they’ll look to see if there’s an opening or a runner they can pass to. All Russell seems interested in doing is playing the simplest ball to the nearest player even if it comes at the teams detriment because he’s missed a runner.

 

O'Keefe misplaced a lot of passes but they were mostly in the final 3rd. Ditto Phillips but he was always trying to make things happen. Got the two that mattered absolutely spot on. Russell often seems to run into trouble or misplace an important pass - either when something better would lead to a goalscoring opportunity, or in an area that immediately puts us in danger. I don't think he's as bad as some people do and he's had some decent games for us this season. But yesterday he has pretty poor, and completing 71% of his 3 yard passes successfully isn't going to mask that. Plus he runs like he's wearing clown shoes.

 

but he can’t play football - I’ve never seen a player misplace so many passes as he does

plus - watch Windass goal at Wembley and watch Russell.

 

A serious question - where is Matty Wolfe in his rehab? Last I hear he was back training on grass. He would be an ideal holding midfielder at this level for sure instead of Russell.

 

If you shy away from the ball and are only willing to make yourself available for it to make an easy 2 yard pass backwards to a defender in acres of space (or indeed directly back to the player who just passed it you)then of course your completion rate will be higher.

A midfielders pass completion rate shouldn't be that high to be honest because they should be passing the ball forwards

 

100 % he does a lot of dirty work .
He definitely needs game time.
And more confidence.

 

We won, so I guess not.

 

That's all well and good, but it's not the point the OP was making.

 

Was he playing CM or DM? Presumably DM behind Kane and Phillips?

Edit: to be fair I should have noted that you'd expect wingers and wing backs to have a lower % of passes complete as they're stuck out on the wing and they can only go back inside, which narrows their options.

 

Yes, DM. He's definitely a nuisance and good at breaking up play, which is I'm sure why Collins picked him. But with the ball he did a lot of basic things very badly.

 

Russell was very poor. No replacement for Luca. Should have been subbed a lot earlier