BFTG - Swansea

[Snowflake Royal]

Personally I think our Academy is worth every penny and our youngsters have done well

Rinomhota. Great attitude, hard working, shows pace at times and a decent passer.

Loader Too much is expected from him. He is only 18 but has showed maturity. Often forced to drop deep to get involved but has linked up play well and now has an assist to his name.

Osho Only one start but looked composed and positive. Impressive.

McIntyre Not seen him play but apparently played very well

Richards. He has skill and is a positive player but regardless of the lack of help from Barrow is defensively naive. Why not play him on the wing? He cannot be worse than our current wingers,

Yeah, to be fair, the only criticism of Loader should be that he isn't quite as ready to step up into this shower of shit as we'd hoped and needed a bit more U23s / loan time first.

[Hound]

Great assist on nyd. Has the talent...

[3points]

His first touch is very good too. Just needs to sharpen up his thinking / decision making which will come with game time

[Old Man Andrews]

Great assist on nyd. Has the talent...

One assist in 5 first team games, not exactly setting the world on fire is it. What's he done when it mattered? He's been completely anonymous and clearly isn't ready for Championship football.

The talent is far from clear.

[Snowflake Royal]

Great assist on nyd. Has the talent...

You seem to rate that goal a hell of a lot more than I do.

There's a couple of neat passes but nothing special, with the final ball into Harriott very awkward to control, leaving him falling over and lucky to get a shot off let alone score.

[Hound]

Great assist on nyd. Has the talent...

You seem to rate that goal a hell of a lot more than I do.

There's a couple of neat passes but nothing special, with the final ball into Harriott very awkward to control, leaving him falling over and lucky to get a shot off let alone score.

Yeah I do rate it. Thought it was a very good goal. Had to lift the ball to get it passed the defender

‘Couple of neat passes but nothing special’ is my quick movement and incisive passing. All opinions though of course

[Hound]

Someone said yesterday that Illori "prances around like Sergio Ramos". I wish he would start getting in people's faces and cracking a few opposition shoulders.

I really don’t want to see him in the side again. The number of mistakes he has made this season is ridiculous. Bring in a Morrison type centre half who will be no nonsense and dominate in the air and also pose a threat at set pieces. This is what the Championship is about.

Yep, agreed, been saying it for years. In fact, having a Morrison-type alongside him is the only viable way of Ilori being in the Champ, for me. Otherwise, over a 46 game season thru a Winter, , the +/- percentages on Off/Def aren’t there for him, or his team, imo. Add Yiadom and Richards at FB, and it’s too small a back line. Who marks/beats the oppo’s tree trunks, in either box? It’s perenially a match up nightmare each week, that you have to game plan for, and where nobody can sleep (including me).

Ilori at D-mid keeps cropping up (an admission he doesn’t really cut it at CB). Was a bit surprised he wasn’t better at FB, and when he wasn’t, he slipped further in my estimations. When I played and coached, felt you need players playing in positions that suited them and their skills/abilities/physical tools, at the level/league they were playing at, and then go to work and in to battle from there. Could be that Gomes is last chance saloon for Ilori, which could at least emphasize his passing skills. (Again, only if ‘Morrison’ is along side).

Without keep banging on about this - there is some very interesting* analysis at this place on Twitter:

@Blades_analytic

To cut along story short - both Moore and Ilori win a low percentage of aerial duels (TL 54% and LM 52%)

TL however has 18 successful forward passes a game (3rd highest in div), whilst Moore has only 12 (bang average)

Anecdotally id also say TL passes are more incisive

To Sum it up, would argue TL isn’t the problem. It’s who he is being partnered with

[Maneki Neko]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

[Hound]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

[Hoop Blah]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

I do think Moore is over rated by Reading fans, although he's a decent enough Championship defender, and he's by no means the biggest. This division favours big, strong and commanding centre backs and none of ours really fit that mould.

Who the **** is TL though?

[Victor Meldrew]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

I do think Moore is over rated by Reading fans, although he's a decent enough Championship defender, and he's by no means the biggest. This division favours big, strong and commanding centre backs and none of ours really fit that mould.

Who the **** is TL though?

I said this back in the Summer when Brighton were (supposedly) offering somewhere in excess of £8 million for him.

At his best with us he is a keen , energetic and brave defender but he lacks the physical presence needed in English football-he is too small and presumably that's really why Leicester (and Man Utd) were prepared to let him go with previously having Huth, Morgan and latterly Maguire as big strong centre-backs.
He is reasonably quick for a centre-back but his ball control is not that special and IMHO these are two commodities (pace and control) that a smaller centre-back needs to succeed-off the top of my head I can only think of Nathan Ake who also has a hell of a spring..

Unfortunately because of having his head turned, a bigger contract and/or his injury he is not the same player this season.

[Hound]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

I do think Moore is over rated by Reading fans, although he's a decent enough Championship defender, and he's by no means the biggest. This division favours big, strong and commanding centre backs and none of ours really fit that mould.

Who the **** is TL though?

ha good point. TI of course. Just proving I can be as error prone as our defence

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

Maybe playing Blackett at LB with Richards in front of him would be a good option on the left...

wouldn't object to that really. Obita could play that role too if he ever comes back from injury

Was just about to start typing this - Obita always struck me as being better offensively than defensively.

Richards too falls into that description for me also.

[Maneki Neko]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

agree on moore being poor in the air
agree that defence is all about the partnerships.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

his passes aren't the issue though.
you could make a million forward passes per game, but if you gift the other team a goal per game, then youre a shit defender

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

agree on moore being poor in the air
agree that defence is all about the partnerships.

The whole game is about partnerships. We have such an unstable team that no one knows our strongest starting line up. No one has been given time to forge partnerships, its been chopped and changed and formation changed every few games.

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

yeah obvs the analysis is limited. And he needs to cut the mistakes. Was more interested in how poorly Moore rated on it tbh

no real surprise we are struggling when our first choice CB pairing are losing about half their aerial battles though

agree on moore being poor in the air
agree that defence is all about the partnerships.

The whole game is about partnerships. We have such an unstable team that no one knows our strongest starting line up. No one has been given time to forge partnerships, its been chopped and changed and formation changed every few games.

We've been missing a strong spine for a while now. Take away Al Habsi, Williams & Kermy (not saying they were great but you catch my drift) and you'll struggle.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think the idea that Ilori and Moore don't compliment each other's game and are too similar to be effective together has a lot of merit. Nothing wrong with not being a physical beast (Ingimarsson anyone?) But we do miss a bruiser.

I think Ilori in particular needs someone experienced and solid next to him as his worst games tended to be when paired with Blackett, who I think Moore would do better with.

Pearce, for all his faults, would be perfect alongside Moore or Ilori.

[Hound]

again makes me ask the question of the point of O Shea.

If he isn't a big bruiser to combine with the likes of Ilori, then what is the point?

Know Ilori got a lot of (deserved) abuse after Swansea, but I was more disappointed with the complete lack of visibility of O Shea in the game. Just don't know what he did.

[Snowflake Royal]

again makes me ask the question of the point of O Shea.

If he isn't a big bruiser to combine with the likes of Ilori, then what is the point?

Know Ilori got a lot of (deserved) abuse after Swansea, but I was more disappointed with the complete lack of visibility of O Shea in the game. Just don't know what he did.

Nothing, because he has the mobility of a concrete tower block. Awful signing. Said so at the time.

[John Smith]

again makes me ask the question of the point of O Shea.

If he isn't a big bruiser to combine with the likes of Ilori, then what is the point?

Know Ilori got a lot of (deserved) abuse after Swansea, but I was more disappointed with the complete lack of visibility of O Shea in the game. Just don't know what he did.

Nothing, because he has the mobility of a concrete tower block. Awful signing. Said so at the time.

The worrying thing for me was that a lot of people on here were happy with signing O'Shea. When was it ever going to work out for him at 37 and having just been relegated? Mindless signing.