A strong defensive mid behind him and I think it would give him the confidence to drive into the box more. Crazy he’s looked on as one of our more experienced midfielders and he’s only 21. Lot more to come from him
Aye. Can’t be argued that he’s looking after the ball and looking after his space better. Runs are timed better. He looks every bit first 11 now.
Didn't realise how good Dack's little touch was for Jobe's winner. The lad should've had 4 mind. Really looking forward to seeing us develope over the season. Wait and see who we bring in, we always seem to strike late in the transfer market. I think we're literally 2 quality players away from serious top 2 contenders. The next few weeks will be hard but hopefully the lads step upto the mark.
Bellingham only looked good when he went and played upfront. He was lost when he played CM. Neil won tackle after tackle, continued to play forward passes, blocked passing lanes and he covered so much ground Neil is 1 of the 1st names on the team sheet, him n ekwah play the deeper role n can rotate between each other for who pushes forward n who sits
I'd say he's best as an 8 - not screening, nor playing off a striker. He's best at handling the ball, sometimes breaking forward but generally looking after the ball properly and giving it to players that can run at the opposition.
So who do we drop because one of them needs to go we can’t play the 3 of them all season it’s painful to watch..? Bellingham is only 17 and already he looks so mature and without him we don’t win today, but I agree Neil looked good at recovering the ball.. but isn’t that what he’s there for? If we argue the case for the pair of them then Ekwah is the one to be dropped and Neil as the 6?
It was Neil’s runs in behind that changed it for us for me. Obviously the assist for the equaliser but second half especially give Clarke an option and pulled defenders away down the left. Think moving jobe up front let dack drop back when Neil made those runs and we weren’t as exposed. Could see the confidence in the team after the second, was like the shackles were took off. Really mature last 20 mins too to see it out
It has made him struggle in games as well, imo, but today he made a great tackle second half and this seemed to spur him on and he then made more forward rununs/overlaps than he had done in the previous 2.5 games.
He was walking fine after being subbed and Mowbray said the physios sent him home without the need for anything to be treated/iced. Hopefully that's a good sign
If its for CM then its easy its ekwah n neil. Yes jobe scored the 2 goals but he was playing as a CF most of the game today not CM. Our 2 best CMs are Neil n Ekwah Its a squad game though so we will need everyone to play their part I also still think we need a CDM to add depth n competition in that position
Yeah, I said to my son walking out that we really saw the game out in a calm way, not inviting pressure/balls into the box like we normally do.
Yeah, they had a lack of quality but we never sat back. Where Pritchard is such a good sub to have, lot of class on the ball
We definitely need a quality CDM in there. Im surprised nobody else is concerned with Dack having to drop so far back he was basically a CDM and Bellingham moving so far up the pitch. Your 9 only has to drop that far back when your midfield is poor. Worked today because we’re playing one of the worst teams in the league but we can’t be doing that every game. Personally I’m not sure we need both Neil and Ekwah, it’s such a boring midfield duo and there’s no positivity, it’s just sideways passing between the pair - at least Bellingham gives us that and wants to get forward. Almost looked like someone was trying to prove a point at times with how we were playing! And as much as I think O’nien is crap I was a bit embarrassed when our stand starting chanting for Danny Bathh after Rotherham’s goal. Just not helping the situation at all it was cringeworthy.
I didn't know Jobe could play upfront but he looked at home there. Him and Hemir could be an interesting option together, two big lads who can play football. Agree about Neil. He's the kind of player you miss when he doesn't play. Gets a lot of tackles in, makes good decisions (usually), drives the ball forward. I'd like to see him and Ekwah given time to build a real partnership.
By all accounts (apart from yours) O'Nien had a very good game. Same as he did almost every game last season.
