02-02-2021, 10:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-02-2021, 10:53 PM by Cheshire East Baggie.)
Well there isn't one. No case, no defence. How did it come to this and why didn't we notice?
Bartley was the clown two seasons ago when Big Dave and Jonesy were trying out their football philosophy. We had Dawson ("stunk the place out with his attitude for 45 games"), Hegazi ("injury prone, only played 38), Tosin ("carp, he'll never make it"), Holgate ("lightweight"), Gibbs (he could still play back then, sort of). All of these looked better than Kyle.
Fast forward to today. Bartley is the reliable one. Marks, covers, heads the ball, shouts to his team mates. Still slow on the turn and error-prone, but he's the lynchpin now. How did that happen?
O'Shea, learning the game, unsure whether this nightmare will help or hinder his career. Furlong, can't defend, puts himself about but has no idea of where to be. Townsend, I'll cut him some slack for today because he's been out, but he's adequate at best, I'd say. Gibbs, gone, in his head and his legs. Ivanovic, hasn't got any legs left at all, great signing Slav. Which brings me on to Semi Ajayi. There is a reason he played centre midfield for Rotherham. He doesn't have any of the discipline required to play as a centre back. There have been rare examples of players whose skills and pace make up for their poor positioning and lack of discipline. Rio Ferdinand. Gordon McQueen. Semi isn't on that page, or even in that volume, not even in the same room in the library of football. Semi is big, athletic, quick, mobile and smart. But he won't learn how to do the boring things like being in the right place, watching the man not the ball, looking along the line etc etc. Like Sawyers, he has attitude that far outweighs his ability. Bilic surrounded himself with these larger-than-life characters. They're both too old to change their ways.
So I'd be hoping to see Okay at CB and AMN in centre midfield with Livermore, Snods or Gallagher. We'll never stop conceding goals with Ajayi in the back four.
Bartley was the clown two seasons ago when Big Dave and Jonesy were trying out their football philosophy. We had Dawson ("stunk the place out with his attitude for 45 games"), Hegazi ("injury prone, only played 38), Tosin ("carp, he'll never make it"), Holgate ("lightweight"), Gibbs (he could still play back then, sort of). All of these looked better than Kyle.
Fast forward to today. Bartley is the reliable one. Marks, covers, heads the ball, shouts to his team mates. Still slow on the turn and error-prone, but he's the lynchpin now. How did that happen?
O'Shea, learning the game, unsure whether this nightmare will help or hinder his career. Furlong, can't defend, puts himself about but has no idea of where to be. Townsend, I'll cut him some slack for today because he's been out, but he's adequate at best, I'd say. Gibbs, gone, in his head and his legs. Ivanovic, hasn't got any legs left at all, great signing Slav. Which brings me on to Semi Ajayi. There is a reason he played centre midfield for Rotherham. He doesn't have any of the discipline required to play as a centre back. There have been rare examples of players whose skills and pace make up for their poor positioning and lack of discipline. Rio Ferdinand. Gordon McQueen. Semi isn't on that page, or even in that volume, not even in the same room in the library of football. Semi is big, athletic, quick, mobile and smart. But he won't learn how to do the boring things like being in the right place, watching the man not the ball, looking along the line etc etc. Like Sawyers, he has attitude that far outweighs his ability. Bilic surrounded himself with these larger-than-life characters. They're both too old to change their ways.
So I'd be hoping to see Okay at CB and AMN in centre midfield with Livermore, Snods or Gallagher. We'll never stop conceding goals with Ajayi in the back four.
