hassell breaks the play up well, very ugly style of play but does it effectlively, problem is he is not a natural midfielder so he does not show for the ball enough. Good to keep a clena sheet seen as though we have let goals in left right and centre recentlty. Finally Nards looks like a twig now, get him on the weights! Oh and Howard was poor yet again, but hey he has scored 6 pens so you cannot drop him!
Howard Shocking at times with poor distribution, especially first half, but at other times he was Leon-esque! I was sat in the East Stand Upper and didn't spot some of Howard's through balls. Also he made the goal with a great run and cross down the left. So, ups and downs but I'd still like to see him in the team than out of it.
RE: Howard He showed for the roll out from Muller quite a bit, which relieved pressure on him kicking. He is so aware of people around him, he can turn his way out of trouble and keep posession. Once, he did that and playe a 40+ yard pass to JCR, which was Leon-esque. Top quality championship player when on his game, doesn't show quite as much when the team isn't firing on all cylinders.
Don't talk crap, we wouldn't have scored without Howards ball in to the box. I'm sick of people getting on his back, he's far and away our best player.
lets all slag the team off shall we ...blah blah blah.....maybe some of you shoud go in the liverpoll end in the cup cos we are **** aint we!
Made a few bad passes, but also played a few decent ones too (one leading to the goal). Problem with Howard is that fans expect allot of him every game. I agree he's gone off the boil at times this season BUT we are a far better team with him in the side than not. Feel he could link up really well with Leon.
Howard Not his greatest of games last night but he is still a quality player. Put in a lot of work last night and did some quality runs and passing at times. Maybe we expect too much from him every week. Diego Leon, Anderson (hopefully), Howard, JCR - that is a quality midfield and a match for the best in this division. We were a bit rusty last night but we have some quality in the team that can do the job - Muller, Souza, Leon, Howard, JCR, Nads, Macken. Also Foster always puts in a decent shift.
he does run his socks off and works very hard, but he does seem to try too hard and get involved in everything, much to his detriment, thats where we need another good midfielder to help him out. he appears to carry the weight of responsibiblity solely on his shoulders.
I'm not doubting his work rate and at times he produces a piece of quality (like the cross for last nights goal) but he still had a bad game. I'm not talking about high standards here either but simply things like his first touch, laying off simple passes, he often trys to do too much and if any other player had played like he had recently fans would be baying for his blood. It frustrates me when people say get offf his back because I am not been harsh but just saying he is not playing well at the minute and could either need a rest or dropping for a game. No doubt the same fans who thibnk I am harsh on Howard will be straight on Mosotto back or Kayode as soon as they play. I cannot see why should Howard be absolved from criticism if he is not playing well and if the rest of the team or other players can recieve criticism. Because he is captain, because he has socred 10 goals 6 of which have been pens? Imagine if we still had Hayes who was our pen taker before he would a god this season!
Football is all about opinions after Muller, I thought Howard was our best player last night. absolutely everything we do going forward goes through him, including the assist for the goal last night, he's all over the pitch for the full 90, still closing the keeper down in injury time. got booked for diving which was a joke from yet another joke referee, so had to watch himself, but aside from maybe once or twice getting caught in possession by taking 5 yard sideways hospital balls from Diego, I cant remember him doing much wrong.
Always wanting to take the extra touch last night instead of a first time pass, ending up losing it a few times especially when we were under pressure. Maybe we would have had a penalty if he had not been diving all game. Leon showed him how to carry on, excellent ball distribution.
I think that howard was 'average' yesterday. Leon was the best player on the park for me and howard was a long way behind him but he was at least getting stuck in (and conceding fouls every 30 seconds for things that looked perfectly acceptable to everyone in the ground except the biased ref). Apart from a few moments of excellent play I didn't think he created an awful lot but I think a lot of that was down to the face that JCR might as well have been sat at home and Hassell wasplaying as an extra defender al night. Our midfield last night was a left winger and a left sided midfielder and nobody else and that is where it is going to cost us from now until may unless somebody new is brought in or Simon Davey remembers that the likes of Togwell or even Johnson are allowed on the pitch.
Not JCR's best game if Diego can learn how to track back and battle, him and Tininho could be a useful partnership down the left. the one who disappointed me most was Van Hoomet, who doesnt look solid enough at right back to me. his distribution and concentration wasnt good and I think we're a weaker side without Foster at right back. in an ideal world, I'd like to see an experienced centre half alongside Souza and Foster to right back, but failing that I'd move Hassell to right back when......etc
I don't really rate van homoet much at all, cant say i've seen much from him that say's championship player really but lets hope he improves. My preferred line up based on what we have available at the moment would be this I think muller foster - hassell - souza - tininho JCR (when he can be arsed to play) - togwell - howard - leon macken - nardiello subs: colgan, kozluk (we really need another centre back), devaney, ferenczi, coulson or something like that
Couldn't disagree more Howard continues to be one of our better players. Always positive and looking to attack. Made the goal and had at least as many good touches as Leon. By the way, Macken was man of the match by a mile.
RE: Couldn't disagree more What i will say is fans go to games with a very bias view for some players, they will stick up for them more and praise them more than other players. So no matter how they play they will look for the positives e.g. in Howards case, he trys hard, weight of expectation on him, always positive etc But at the end of the day if they are not palying well they are not playing well it is as simple as that and I personally think Howard is not playing well at the minute but I still really rate him as a player. If a player starts the season well they are less open to criticism, Howard has done this as has Nards to a point with his debut!?!
Gave the ball to their keeper way too much with wanting to hit that perfectly weighted killer ball over the top to Macken - who's not exactly blessed with pace, or Nads, who is too unfit to chase and would probably have been offside if he had. Played the occassional decent pass and put his foot in all over the park, but has to stop believing his own hype and over-elaborating when there are much better, simpler options.
