Whilst out of the first 11, a team of experts have been hard at work doing what they could with our left back, Lee Naylor. Such was the success of this genetic tweaking that I, along with a few others, have been left in a state of some confusion after his performance today. His confidence gene has obviously been fiddled with, his first touch was pretty much flawless and I'm left thinking whether they've actually just removed his face and placed it over Andrew Taylor's. Any thoughts?
Naylor's best performance since coming to the club. Burkie didn't get a sniff. Malky has obviously worked his mind games well on Nayls. In saying that there wasn't a performance from anyone of the park which could be criticised.
I was thinking the worst. Not rocket science Burke vs Naylor = goals. But Malky has obviously taught him how to defend. In our 4-1 loss to Watford last year, Mackay watched videos of us defending before making Graham and Buckely specifically target Naylor when attacking. The result 2 penalties and four goals Mackay knows whats he doing. They turned over QPR at Loftus Road last season as well.
unbelievable.......he's been good all season (when given the chance), though....different player to last seasons version .......maybe we were all a bit harsh on the fella......can malky do the same for 'the beast'?
You wouldn't have believed it was the same guy as last year. On that performance, Naylor is a better choice at LB than Taylor. Maybe it IS all to do with the manager and the influence he brings, but whatever, that back four choice from at least 8 quality players that Malky has now got bodes very well indeed. Naylor - after all the stick you've got mate, I salute you on that performance - more please.
What a few people seem to have forgotten is that he was always a really good footballer (like our recently departed Adam Matthews) - it's just that he sometimes seems not able to defend (like our recently departed Adam Matthews) and got skinned for the whole of last winter. He's very good on the ball, his first touch has always been good. It's when the other team have the ball that he sometimes implodes. Today he did very well, and Burke hardly had a sniff.
Top performance by Nayls today, I too was worried but you have to say hats of to the fella, every time he has been called on this season he has stuck to his task well... Gritty performance again all round, good to see Gunnarson leaving the stadium looking pretty comfortable at the end of the match. The Turnernator was pretty immense again and Hudson slotted in perfectly after taking over from Gerrard...
fair play to Naylor. He's taken a load of crap (deservedly so it some cases) and I've no doubt he's seen some it too but he's stuck at it where some prima donnas would have walked (maybe nobody else wanted him ). Every time I've seen him this season so far, he's done what he's expected to do but today he stepped up a level.
To be fair to Naylor he did write somewhere that the fans were right to get on his back last season, he admitted that he had a few nightmares and played a few games when not fully fit. If I remember rightly he hoped he would start this season with a clean sheet so to speak. He might get slowed down for the rest of the season though, he's got to carry Burke in his back pocket now. I also think that Nayls could be used in mid-field, thoughts.
Do they still do Clubs? I used to like the orange ones. Looks like our back 5 is sorted with instant replacements and other cover for all positions. With Rudy fit and a slightly different option in Mason we're there or there about up front, with Earnie to come into a 442 if needed. That just leaves the midfield to sort. I wonder what magic potion MM has for Taiwo! Having seen / heard about the transformation in Naylor, let's not rule anything out. How aboutthis for WBA? Heaton Quinn Gerrard Blake Naylor Cowie Ralls McPhail Conway Rudy Earnie Doesn't look a bad side and more or less second string. Does highlight the need for TWO MORE WIDE MEN FFS! Might be a nice debut game for our new signings as cover on the wings. I know it is different bringing one or two into an established side and putting them all in at the same time is unlikely to work, but it shows the options that are available. Another player in the Gunner / Kiss mould and two wide men puts us there or there abouts for the rest of the season with two players (at least) for every position. As a luxury, a 'back to goal' front man would be nice, maybe a weeble version of Jay. As previously discussed, we're then in the game of one out, one in. The future is bright!
