Not enough players playing to their full potential... Why??

[LondonWhite88]

So as it stands, I'd say that although on paper, our first XI is good enough to compete in this league, it just doesn't appear that enough of them are staking a claim to be a key player.

I'd say only Loners, White, Clayton, Becchio & McCormack are playing as well as we'd want.
Howson, Snods, Kissa, Connolly, Brown, Nunez - all of them are better than what they've shown thus far this season.
O'Dea, Bromby & Keogh are doing the best they can, but they're decent back-up, not first teamers.

I've seen calls for "drop them... give them a kick up the arse..." but who for? Lees has potential but isn't ready for this league, Bruce is a forgotten man, Mika is unproven and Sam is still injured.

Who do we hold to account for the fact we're underachieving? Should we have better players then we do, therefore pointing the finger at Bates? Is SG not doing a good enough job at man management? Is it completely on the players' shoulders? Or is it another factor? I have heard strong rumours that all is not well personally with the players.

Personally, I'm putting it on Bates. SG may not be the best manager in the world, but it's hard to prove yourself when you can't compete with half the teams in the league financially. We're a bigger club than West Ham etc, but why aren't we getting Bentley's, Faye's, Lansbury's and Carew's? I know parachute payments help, but one of those players would make all the difference, not asking for all of them!
I also think that the players are exacerbated with the clubs set-up and feel they can't achieve everything they want - complete lack of ambition here.

Would be good to hear your thoughts on where you think we're going wrong.

Still, there are some positives and hopefully 'pool will take Brighton to extra time and we'll ruin them on Friday. MOT!

 

[The-Don]

Cowell

I seriously feel we have few players with great potential and a lot of players who are playing at their potential but really that potential is not very high!!!

 

[Best Fans]

I'd say only Loners, White, Clayton, Becchio & McCormack are playing as well as we'd want.
Howson, Snods, Kissa, Connolly, Brown, Nunez - all of them are better than what they've shown thus far this season.
O'Dea, Bromby & Keogh are doing the best they can, but they're decent back-up, not first teamers.

Howson is playing out of position so I think that explains his under par performances. He'd be able to play CM, if he was alongside a defensive midfielder. Alongside Clayton though, one of them has to sit, and watching the games, it's Howson doing this. He's rarely going forward and is just playing simple passes. This is down to a lack of an adequate DM.

Snodgrass looks unfit and uninterested to me. I do think playing infront of Tom Lees, who never goes forward has also been a factor because he's being doubled up on. Connolly needs to be reintroduced.

Kisnorbo and Brown are past it. Too slow, so it's easy for people to go past them.

Nunez is again playing out of position. I don't think he's as good as people thought, but playing left wing hasn't helped.


I don't think we're underachieving either. I think we're doing as well as could be expected with the poor squad. Obviously that's down to Bates, although SG is to blame for some poor signings and underusing his whole squad, but we need more and better players in.

 

[Josh-LUFC]

Howson is playing out of position so I think that explains his under par performances. He'd be able to play CM, if he was alongside a defensive midfielder. Alongside Clayton though, one of them has to sit, and watching the games, it's Howson doing this. He's rarely going forward and is just playing simple passes. This is down to a lack of an adequate DM.

Snodgrass looks unfit and uninterested to me. I do think playing infront of Tom Lees, who never goes forward has also been a factor because he's being doubled up on. Connolly needs to be reintroduced.

Kisnorbo and Brown are past it. Too slow, so it's easy for people to go past them.

Nunez is again playing out of position. I don't think he's as good as people thought, but playing left wing hasn't helped.


I don't think we're underachieving either. I think we're doing as well as could be expected with the poor squad. Obviously that's down to Bates, although SG is to blame for some poor signings and underusing his whole squad, but we need more and better players in.

I dont think we need more players, we have a big squad just alot of them are not up to standard. Mainly the amount of CBs we have in particular. I wouldnt say kissa is past it either, i think its hard to say as he hasnt played for so long and his confidence would be down with the amount we are conceding.

Also i dont think snoddy looks uninterested, he just looks off-form. I think he is much more suited to last season's formation.

Hopefully we can pick it up against brighton and come back with a win. That should put us in the play-offs as well if i remember correctly

 

[JonnyLosAngeles]

Nunez is again playing out of position. I don't think he's as good as people thought, but playing left wing hasn't helped.

Based on what we have seen so far - AGREED.

Scored some cracking goals but first touch seems to let him down a lot and also seems to play in a hurry (nervousness, inexperience or both) a lot.

May have potential but not quite there yet.