"Team is full of toilers we need quality"

"Let's sell McCourt"

 

^^^^This^^^^

 

I agree. With the irony, not with the literal meaning.

 

Haha.

 

I suggest we seek out 32 lower league journeymen to replace him. Skill not needed ability to run around a lot miscontrolling the ball and sticking their arms in the air a must.

 

A player not noted for his fitness coming back from injury wouldn't have been my first pick I'd have used him as a sub starting with Tompole. We need players on the pitch with the ability to change the game and score goals. Unfortunately the Hillcroft experiment left these very short on the ground. We have midfield players who's efforts you can't knock but will never score or create anything meaning the opposition can attack at will as they did earlier in the season as they know you have no creative outlet. Playing Mellis on his own in this role would leave the opposition marking him in the knowledge that they could live the rest of our midfield the run of the pitch. This leaves us with Paddy or Tompole who always looks best coming on as a sub but who probably deserves a run of 10 to 12 games as a starts to prove or disprove this theory once and for all.

In terms of carrying him. He's scored more than Perkins, Dawson, Etuhu and Mellis put together.

Yesterday he was by no means the worst player on the pitch. Both full backs and 6 touches in 60 minutes Kelvin were far worse.

 

There's enough creative players at the club, they just aren't being used right (and occasionally underperforming). As always it's about balance. A midfield full of McCourts would be *****, as would one full of Perkins. Of course, one with Butterfield and Drinkwater in would be better than all of them.

 

We can't afford to carry him, you're right. But we're not. He's a great player but needs some help.

You watch how many times he picks up the ball and gets 3 men around him and our lads just stand and watch. You can't say he doesn't look to pass because he's played some of the best passes at Oakwell this season. If he had some runners or some men in the box to aim for we'd have a much better chance.

 

Our opposition are all wise to McCourt now which is why he seems to be totally ineffective, maybe from now on he ought to pass more often rather than take players on, that way when he does take them on it's not as predictable.

 

He does slow things down too much. I'd like to see him get the ball and be a little more direct but that's just not him. Seeing as others are wise to him we need a different tactic other than 'give it to Paddy and hope for the best'

 

Paddy McCourt needs some quality around him,theres far,far worse to get shut of before he starts being shown the door

 

Spot on Dys, he also needs to be getting the ball more further up field and not around the half way line. If he is being marked out of the game then others should be shining with more space to operate in.

 

He needs his teammates to cone to him when he is on the ball and find space. When Derby's creative players were on the ball there were always two others close by to pass in triangles and create space our lot just stand and watch.

 

His type of 'quality' is not what we need. I can't think of another player like him in this division because it just doesn't work. And it's questionable if he is 'quality'. He played for Celtic, in the SPL, and couldn't get a regular game there (66 games in 5 years), the remainder of his career has been at a much lower level (Rochdale, Shamrock, Derry). He has played just over 200 games and is nearly 30, not many is it? Only 13 games for Northern Ireland who aren't exactly blessed with a lot of quality. I don't doubt his natural skill but being a footballer is about so much more than that, he hasn't got it, I think his career bares that out.

 

Played their whole career at a lower level pretty much sums up our entire team it's why we are in the crap. McCourt has his faults but he wouldn't be on the first page of my clear out list. We have more pressing concerns. Two full backs for a start. A decent defensive midfielder for starters.

 

I wouldn't disagree, we need new full backs desperately, but as tomfun pointed out earlier this thread is about McCourt.

 

You look at the players who have something to offer us and given the current personnel McCourt has. Discounting those on loan we have 3 players capable of scoring or creating goals. Mellis is provably the most consistent at this. Then you have 2 players who are better coming on then starting in Paddy and Tompole. We have creative players out on loan in Jennings and RNL one looks off the pace and another needs a run in the team to settle the is he good enough argument once and for all. Do we need to ditch Paddy no. Do we need to supplement the creative side of our midfield probably especially with Mellis free to talk to other club almost certainly. You have to look at the team as a whole and prioritise improvements is Paddy's role as a mercurial ball player something we need to replace as a priority no.

The argument about Paddy not being a regular for Celtic is a bit of a red herring. They are one of the top 20 clubs in the UK who else in our team would even make their bench.