OK mate, in still not seeing it tbh. As I've said I know he runs, grafts, intercepts, shoots and passes. But, to me, the passes are safe, the crosses poor, the shots dreadful, the mistakes really dangerous and too often unnecessary. I don't believe a single Coventry fan, or their manager, would be thinking 'I wish we had Dan Neil'. I'm willing to be convinced though, I really am.
This is what I said about Clarke the other day though.. exempt from criticism when he has a bad game yet the same people slate kids who get 10 minutes off the bench forgetting Clarke was awful on loan everywhere he’s been before he dropped down to L1 and had a run of games. What I find daft about the whole Neil situation is that whether you like him or not the club rate him highly and he’s one of the first names on the team sheet. So why the f**k go and sign more midfielders who are similar and don’t offer anything different? Cater your midfield to him. Admittedly I do watch Neil a lot and think he’s underwhelming for how much people rave about him but at the same time I think he what is he meant to do to stand out because all of the midfielders are doing the same thing which is put themselves about and play simple safe passes. There’s not really one of them who can play that killer ball, pull the strings from midfield etc.
And thats your opinion mate You dont see what i see and i clearly aint seeing what you see He is 1 of the 1st names on the teamsheet for me, we would struggle if he misses games. Need players like him who cover every blade of grass n win tackle after tackle in the middle. His 1st thought is to pass forward, so important for a CM, they might be safe at times but most CMs will play safe most of the time but good 1s will also look to pass forward, he does that - he just doesnt force them His mistakes are nowhere near as often as folk make out. Ekwah has made more mistakes this season than neil, yet folk continue to sing his praises.
Opinions mate. Can never be right or wrong. If Neil played for Rotherham he maybe would be on the bench. No offence to them but they want to play differently to us. The point is I think in that style he would be missed out. In our system he is the lad who is asked to join defenders with attackers. I think he does that so well 95% of the time. I am not sure people are defending him either. The way I see it is as soon as he makes a mistake people jump on it. That provokes a response. Patto came for a cross and missed, Pritch put balls into their keepers hands, no comments on the thread. As it should be. Neil loses possession and pounce. Hemir can have all the patience in the world from me. He is an u21 player. I tend to think he will be top drawer for us. Neil though is a 100 game player, under 3 managers, and is miles better than u21s. The thought of him going back there isnt for me. He is not our best player, by any means, but is arguably playing in the most important position this style of football has. I think he is the best we have in terms of taking up positions that stop the opposition from passing where they want to. I think he is the best, by a mile, at taking the ball off the defenders and moving us forward. I think his ability to get back and slow down the oppisition counter attacks is really good. I think he sense danger on the counter that no other midfielder does. I think he passes really well, making the recievers job easy. Probably more positives but I am on the malt. He isnt the finished article. I think his decision making in the final 3rd is flawed. I think he needs to learn how to stop his man at corners. I think he needs to time runs into the box late better. All in all though I am a big fan, as you know. Maybe others can be more balanced. I think he has a hell of a lot going for him. He is our Rodri in my opinion, and I love that style of player. I have said this on here before I think but I know Man City coaches and he is the player in our squad they ask me about. All this said I am always motivated by lads from our academy than lads bought. Maybe better to get opinions better than mine, I am probably biased. And full disclosure I am getting a signed shirt of this week!
Rodri is a DM though mate, if he was our Rodri we wouldn’t be having this conversation because our midfield would work.
I think Neil being an established championship level player at the age of 21 says a lot about how good he'll be by the age of 30 say. There's room for improvement (obviously) but he already does a lot of important stuff very well and has quality. Tend to agree that his mistakes are highlighted more than they are for other players. They also usually happen because he's being ambitious with the ball and not playing safe but pointless sideways passes.
I totally get where @Smug in Boots is coming from re Neil, and often think similar. But I also know @Scout73 is a far better judge than me so I will choose to believe he's worth the annoying gaffs
Its hardly like our midfield doesnt work though, our midfield can be naive at times with tracking runners etc but its certainly been decent this season n i think will only get better Think what a lot of us have said its about having different options for different games n thats why we would like an experienced cdm to be signed. Neil was a cdm from January onwards last season n played some of his best stuff so he can play there. I get im a bit baised with neil as i think hes a very good player but i do think he gets digged out more than others when he makes a mistake
Haha thanks for the compliment mate but my judgement is no better or worse than anyone elses on here. Its all about opinions, said it many times before it would be boring if we all had the same opinion We all have our own opinions on how we want certain players or positions to play, thats the great thing about football - i love hearing others opinions on players, systems, tactics etc as it def makes me a better scout for it
Not by me mate, I've made a point of being totally objective with Neil, I desperately want him to the next Henderson. But I've yet to see a convincing argument tbh. The explanations always include excuses for his terrible shots, poor crosses, mistakes under no pressure, etc ... ... I'm starting to wonder if he's defended more than others because they want him to be the player they hope he is.
Probably just because of how highly he’s rated and spoken about. If Gooch is ****e I just expect it because he’s generally ****e but when you have a lad who’s had serious PL interest, England youth etc those are the players you expect to stand out and get us over the line. I think that’s just natural in all teams certain players will take more flak than others and on the other side of the argument when it’s a local lad most fans will leap to their defence when a non local wouldn’t get the same treatment. Playing Neil and Ekwah together reminds me of Fred and McTominay for United, it just doesn’t work. It’s 2 midfielders who graft and do a little bit of everything but don’t really specialise going forward or sitting in front of the back 4 dictating the game. Obviously I’m not comparing us directly to Man Utd because their midfielders are on a different level to ours but if you look at the system in general now they have Casemiro as the DM, Bruno Fernandes as the 10 then you slot the B2B/Mezzala (Neils best role imo) in to make up the trio. Generally the best midfields in world football that play a 3 have all as a given have a proper DM and then normally a creative midfielder buzzing around linking midfield to attack. You just can’t get away with having nobody who specialises in either, which is probably why Pritchard looks so good when he comes on without even doing anything special. Arsenal - Rice as DM, Odegaard Mezzala and Havertz buzzing around between midfield shadow striker. Bayern - Kimmich DM, Muller 10 and Goretzka B2B. Madrid last season - Kroos DM, Valverde 10/SS, Modric B2B. That DM role is so important, Rodri was probably the best player in the world last season for me but he’ll never get the plaudits over Haaland. Hate to bring the ****s up but Newcastle signed Bruno Guimareas and he totally changed the team sitting in that role because they went from having a midfield of “runners” to someone with a proper footballing brain sat in there dictating the game and creating space all over the pitch. I hope they prove me wrong and make it work because I do see so much potential in the 3 lads they’re starting but it just feels to me like we should’ve signed players we need to fit in the team which would, in my own uneducated footballing opinion, make the likes of Neil better.
Could say that about lost of our players these days, we have come a long way in a short space of time where we all.want players to do well
For all the good he does the most noticeable impact, ie. creating a goal for us or getting us in trouble, is often a gaff. I expect I'm probably being unfair though.
I think with some of our Fan base there is a certain amount of raving about players that are rumoured to be leaving and criticising the ones we know are staying. Maybe different people saying different things at different times though. However Gooch for example - got slated by quite a few previously, now he could be on his way, nothing but praise. With Pritchard now there is nothing but praise and people forget he can't last 90 mins and his set pieces are rubbish. As soon as someone comes in with a bid for Neil, he'll be seen as world class.
Pritchard's a good player but we've just had a full season of him playing and starting regularly and not being effective. He's had a few cameos this season and done well but it doesn't mean he should be starting.
