I think he’s not had as many as last season. Both of them struggle without Seri there regardless which shows the level of the 3
I'm pretty sure Willock was playing on the left in the game I watched yesterday? He is good, if a bit whiny, and I thought Slater and Omur double teamed him well.
I think that’s underselling the Belgian league just a bit. It’s not a top 10 league in the world but it isn’t as bad as you make out. It’s on par with the Turkish league in terms of quality but with fitness levels and intensity closer to the Eredivisie. The Belgian league also contains a lot more young talent that go to top 5 leagues in Europe with big money compared to the Turkish or Scottish top flights.
That was Chair, another really good championship player. Slater has really helped us going forward in that right back role linking up with Omur. Does show Coyle’s limitations going forward because Slater just makes us so much better
Willock is decent and was their best player on Saturday. We were interested in him in January before Zaroury was made available for loan and we probably will go in for him in the summer whether Philogene is still here or not. QPR have recently transitioned to more possession football and playing out from the back since Cifuentes became manager but you can see they just don’t have the personnel for it. Other than Clarke-Salter, none of their back line or keeper looks comfortable playing out from the back. They’re like us if we still had Smallwood and Honeyman instead of Seri and Tufan.
Their stats in terms of possession and passing are nearly identical, with Slater pipping Morton in terms of successful passes in the opposition half. Morton has more goals and assists (3 goals and 5 assists), but then Slater (2 goals, 1 assist) has been asked to play a variety of different positions this season, with some not giving him the opportunities to get forward like Morton can. Slater has more successful dribbles and tends to win the ball slightly more in midfield, a lot more when it's aerial. I just think Slater is further on in his development than Morton is, which isn't surprising given his age. Morton will be a great midfielder, from two seasons in the Championship you can see why he's rated so highly. He might be worth £15m - £20m in a couple of years, but for now I reckon £5m - £8m is a better reflection, because that's what I'd expect Slater to go for now.
Personally prefer Morton over Slater as I think he's more dynamic in the final third and more mobile (Slater is pretty slow on the turn). But any talk of Slater being worth £5-8m just shows how good LR is at developing players.
This talk comparing Morton to Adam Wharton's fee seems to ignore that it always costs more to get a star player from a smaller club to move up than it does to get a minor player off the books of a big club. Morton wouldn't cost what Wharton did for that reason.
So players have been unhappy and had talks with TK and Rosenior? Leading to a noticeable change in approach these last couple of games?
Morton has more tackles, interceptions, chances created, progressive passes, goals assists. I think Slater is a solid player but Morton is on another level really in central midfield. Slater is a facilitator player, Morton runs the show. You need both and that’s fine but Morton is ahead realistically speaking
What I (and a couple of others on here) was told: There were a couple of disgruntled voices in the dressing room a few weeks ago when we were playing poorly, mainly due to the fact that the system wasn't fluid enough and LR was over egging the pudding in terms of micromanaging during games and training. Morton wasn't happy that he was randomly dropped, despite not losing form and Carvalho wasn't happy with not being allowed to adapt mid game to a defensive tactical switch because it all had to go through LR and ensure the system remained in place. A few of the players went to Tan, who then spoke to the collective group, LR and Justin Walker included. Air was cleared, LR agreed to be more flexible and to let the lads play their game, TK was complimentary of LR and said that his attention to detail was a positive trait but that part of being a good leader is listening to feedback from the team you lead. Which is why we have suddenly seen an upturn in form. Interesting if true. I think our recent upturn in performance stems from the fact that the playoffs are pretty much unrealistic, so we've been able to play with a lot less pressure and expectation on our shoulders. Suppose both could be the case.
Sometimes all you need to do is let talented people do what they do and make sure you're there to guide them when needed. Micro management and over coaching almost never works in any working environment. Well done to all involved for how this has been handled and the the effect ( it looks like ) it's had.
