I think I remember 2 seasons ago (I may be wrong) Dan Neil and Patterson doing weights before pre-season to build up their strength and general body size
Always looks such a happy chilled out guy from off the pitch clips. Need to turn him full Jekyll and Hyde when he walks on the pitch.
Ekwah is always more effective in the last third of the pitch and it is where he is most efficient especially when we play quick decisive football, unfortunately this season we have adopted a more defensive and measured approach which does not suit his style of play and we have used him in a more defensive role which does not suit his style of play either. Their is definitely a very good player there we just need to play the right style of football, this could be true for a lot of our new signings and younger players and I hope a new HC will be able to identify that.
Agree with this BUT like Roberts he can be guilty of surrendering the ball cheaply up at that end and causing us problems while he strolls back. In short he can be a liability, even when up the top end of the field. That’s a character issue to me like. He needs someone assertive giving him some clarity and also needs dropping of his standards drop which also means we need options.
It was the Defensive midfielder which was causing the issues, O'Nien should have been tried, and before anyone twists and moans, it couldnt have made the season any worse, also Rigg should have got a lot more minutes, instead of Ekwah, and dare I even say golden boy Jobe
The lack of an Evans type was a massive blow but waving your leg half heartedly when someone is about to steal a break on our goal needs removing from his game.
Less guilty of it than most in the squad. He's dispossessed 0.86 times per 90, less than every other midfielder in the squad. Agree on the strolling back and needing standards though but that comes from us quite literally having nobody else to play there, which is shocking squad management.
Undoubtedly their is an element of favouritism with some of the decisions made and the set up of the teams selected , everyone blames not having a centre forward but our very slow build up play does not help anyone playing up front as they are starved of service .
I think people are far too quick to write players off. Clarke salter is now being valued at 7m but isn't remembered fondly here. There was a lot of harsh criticism on Doyle too and look at him now. He's a premier league player in making. So before people start saying mayenda, hemir or triantis are **** they should give them a chance.
Clarke-Salter is a good example really, he really wasn't good enough when he was here, but that's cos he was 17/18 years old now he's had experience he's a solid CB at this level. Not every kid we bring into the team is going to be a Jobe or a Rigg that just hit the ground running and can contribute. Bennette, Ba, Mayenda, Hemir etc. all need to develop at their own pace and shouldn't be written off. We just need more Championship experienced players to come in alongside them in the short-medium term. I wouldn't get rid of any of the young lads but this summer has be about primarily recruiting Championship ready players to make us more ready for the present day rather than always looking long term.
Another striker we should be keeping on an eye on is Daniel Fila - young Czech Republic striker Powerful striker that has the physicality youd need in a championship forward, puts himself about and is a right handful Not a profilic goalscorer just yet but still had 50 goal contributions (37 goals n 13 assists) in 140 senior games. I think he could be a class championship striker n could be worth the risk
Not think he's just another similar player to what we already have? Both Boro and Leeds don't seem to know what his best position is, if he's a 10 we already have a few of them, if he's a wide player for me he's not quick enough and we have I think 6 wide players already, is he a striker? Not for me. Think we can do better personally.
Think there's many in the club who would like him back. Just saw O'Brien also not being approached by Boro, would he be a good centre midfield signing?
