I so love Marti Cefeuntis ...here talking about Armstrong “When I arrived he was offside five times every game, the last two games he got only one. So, he’s starting to learn to position himself and deal with the physicality of other teams against him. “The details show he is [moving] in the right direction. “I will not take the credit. When the player has the ambition and is humble to learn, then we try to work with him.
Willock is the only person in the team who could play on the right and put that cross in at pace to the far post with his left foot. He has to start. He is the most likely to score and his effort level is fine. He just looks a bit casual like Eze did
I don't have a problem with Willock. He's not playing at his best but he's one of those who can turn a game in a heartbeat and often attracts the attention of two opposition players, creating those little spaces for others.
Going to say something I've never said before. I thought the ref was good. Understood the game, London derby, fans and allowed players to play. Didn't blow for 50/50's, shoulders or dives resulting in players learning quickly to get on with the game. I couldn't see the handball clearly from SAR but atleast he said no instantly & the players (Colback) got on with the game. Good win for us in the end, first thirty minutes we were very nervous. When all our play is in our defensive third players start to worry about a resulting goal if they make a mistake. We seemed to relax as we moved the ball forward.
Can’t disagree with that. But if Willock is off at the end of the season I’d rather Smyth who overall seems to offer more. He needs to see it as his role and improve his game to give the team what Marti is looking for and grasp that position for himself. We can still use Willock as impact sub so he gets minutes to impress and find a club (if he hasn’t already). Nice options though.
Willock at his best would be the first name on the team sheet but sadly he's light years away from that and too often just seems disinterested.
Armstrong although he has great pace his ball control is very poor & Marti needs to work on that a lot
But he is. Over this season Armstrong has changed shape, he is leaner , and so stronger. Under Ainsworth ...he was always offside, he had no idea. That is changing. He was in the right place yesterday for his knock in goal. Again an improvement He is still beating players for speed and strength. He is essentially playing full matches now, again an improvement Yes one on one, he cannot quite make the right decision, but that will come with confidence...and maybe the goals he has scored vs Bournemouth and yesterday will help. I think we have something on our hands... I hope we can keep him...he will help us for a while, and will eventually make us some money
He's made huge improvements given he's doing it in massively challenging circumstances, I think we pretty much all agree he should have had a league 1 or 2 loan, so the fact he's learning his game in the Championship in a relegation scrap is impressive. He'll still have howlers of course, his first shot yesterday was a very inauspicious start to the day, but his strength and pace really does make things happen. Definitely think those goals will have made a big difference and I can see him getting a few more. The fact we haven't sorted his contract yet is a worry, just hope he sees us as a place he can develop and not have his head turned by other offers.
The club would be daft to offer any new contracts before we know what level we are playing at next season. Though Armstrong would probably benefit from League One. If he gets offers in the meantime good luck to him. Obviously no interest in this window as we would sell anyone at the moment.
I agree Sinclair is improving all the time this season. I can see while he was not scoring much the Club may have been better off with him on loan, but for him I'd guess he's learning more at the higher level than he would have done at a lower League Club. Now both Sinclair and us are starting to get the benefits of that.
Interesting he's given Andy Sinton a shout out, would love to know what he said to the players. As Clive says in his write-up Sinton is probably a resource we could use more, he talks a lot of sense on the comms.
