Just got in. Best performance of the season for me. Against an admittedly very half arsed Palace. Who'd have thought playing Downes and Lesley together would be a good idea? Both were excellent and Downes in particular probably had his best game of the season. Thought the CB's all had decent games too. Bednarek's booking is genuinely one of my favourite moments of the season. What an absolute class act Matty Fernandes is. Wonderful footballer and will be gutted when he goes. All in all after all the stick they've deservedly had this season you can't fault the lads tonight. Gave everything and left nothing on the pitch bar a couple of exceptions (hello Tyler). We know we're not good enough but if we had shown that sort of grit and application all season it wouldn't have felt quite so terrible. Already said it but I'll never understand that Sugawara for Downes sub for as long as I live, especially as Lesley had already gone off. If we fail to reach 12 points I'm going to do the irrational football fan thing and blame it entirely on that. As much as the equaliser was hard to take it's good to end the run of home defeats. UTFS
That performance backs up what I've felt all season. The players are good enough. Maybe not for survival, but certainly for getting 25+ points. Put them in their right positions, and let them play football.
I checked my phone at 85 minutes and couldn’t believe my eyes. It was inevitable that I should check it again at 92 minutes…
agree with the last part, still not sold on the first bit. I heard the commentators say that TP has 4 goals from 9 starts. That’s pushing 20 goals a season. Who knew putting crosses in for a 6’7” striker would result in goals
I know this thread has taken a turn for the positive (sorry to piss all over everyone's chips) but THB reckons he deserves to be a PL player? Behave! He totally ****ed 2 clearances to give them the goal. If we can recoup our money I'll drive him to whatever club wants him. Dibling couldn't give a **** when he came on. If he's worth £100m I'm worth £15m. I was most impressed with the coked up bloke in the Chapel who managed to give the stewards the slip twice. Moved faster than most of our midfield this season.
Unnecessarily harsh on THB. Initial header was fine, second was sloppy, but hardly 'giving them a goal'. The defence played the best they have all season. Main reason they've been sh*t this season is because they've had sh*t managers, and out-of-position players alongside them. But 3 CBs, doing what CBs are supposed to do; they looked alright. Harsh on Dibling too. Guess he's the new scapegoat. An 18 year old lad. Nice one
He could have headed it out for a corner. He could have headed it out for a throw in. He could have done either option twice. He's been ****e this season regardless of the manager. Of course Dibling isn't being scapegoated. Have you seen his lack of effort since Jan? Did you see the social media post he "liked?" Clearly thinks he's too good for us so yeah, I'm going to criticise half arsed performances from grown adults or child "superstars"
It has become apparent over the second half of this season that Onuachu is the only capable striker in this squad. We really should work hard to keep him around for next season.
Dibling has played well in some games, and not so well in other games. Inconsistent because he's a teenager, in his first season, playing in a sh*t team with awful managers. You need to lower your expectations of him. That's the reality. THB has been poor this season, I agree. But it must be hard playing in a team as bad as we are. I'll give him benefit of the doubt. He'll improve.
I didn't watch the game. But the comments seem to be more about his effort, or lack thereof. I think most people will accept a poor performance if it just doesn't come off in any given match. But the bare minimum you expect, particularly from a late substitute is effort and running, and it doesn't sound like he did enough of that. How many times have we been winning going into the final 10 minutes of a game? You'd think the motivation would be there to run yourself into the ground for 10/15 minutes. I'm sure it's a multitude of reasons, some of which justified, but his effort levels have dropped way off since Martin was fired and that rightfully pisses fans off, regardless of his age. And when you are not signing a new contract and clearly want to jump ship at the very first opportunity then fans are always going to give you less leeway too.
I just don't see this apparent lack of effort personally. Second half against Wolves he has chasing back and putting tackles in. Some players can just have that look about them. Aribo, Onuachu, Archer, Sulemana, Smallbone; plenty of players who at times look like they're not exactly busting a gut. Each to their own, but I think the criticism of Dibling is bollocks.
I'm sure some of the criticism is exacerbated by the fact that he was pretty much our only attacking threat in the first half of the season, and much, much less so in recent months, and the whole contract/head turned/wants out thing. But for me at least. He has spent a lot of time in games since Martin left, just skulking around in areas of the pitch where he's not even an option to receive the ball. I agree that he's just one of those players with that body language, and then he'll suddenly burst into life, just for me there has been a lot more hiding away and a lot less looking for space to burst into life this year. Far too much pressure has been put on his shoulders to be our attacking threat, and that's on the clubs awful recruitment. I think it would have been in everyone's best interests if he had just signed a new contract here, even if he and the club agreed he could go in the summer if we get the right price (obviously not £100m). He wouldn't have the same distraction, or media attention, and would be getting much more leeway from the more critical fans imo. I'm not personally coming for Dibling. Like I said before, there are many reasons for his drop off and some of which are definitely justified (his age, **** managers with **** tactics, and poor quality around him, other teams doubling up/knowing his game now etc.), but he hasn't helped himself either and if you are coming on with 10 minutes to go in a rare game that we are 1-0 up in, you best be closing players down when we don't have the ball and looking for space and making runs when we have it or fans will throw criticism your way.
Good post, and nicely explained. Pretty much agree with all He's only actually started half a dozen games since RM left. Been decent in some (Utd away stands out), fairly anonymous in others. But his drop in form was totally to be expected imo. He's gone from playing in the u21s to the Premier League. Didn't even get any playing time in the Champ. It's the norm for young players to play brilliantly in their first half season, only to drop off. Broja, Lavia, Alcaraz all did this, off the top of my head. For Dibling I'd say its fatigue and opposition managers targeting him. And fans expecting too much. But lack of effort I'm struggling with, and head being turned I think is just pure fiction because the fan base is (understandably) bitter.
I think he has all the talent in the world, but I do think there's a lack of effort, and that was very evident last night. Not buying the 'fatigue' line, sorry - as you say, he's only started half a dozen games since RM left. He seems to understand he's very talented, and as a result hasn't also worked out that he needs to come on and bust a gut for the team, talented or not. The flip side of making him a scapegoat (which I hate) is also forgiving him all sins because he's young and talented. I think there's a bit of both going on.
I would give them the benefit of the doubt if they weren't clearly trying to engineer moves in the summer. If Dibling really has downed tools then I hope the club say **** you, we're not selling you until a club meets our asking price. THB has changed agent which is a clear sign of what he wants. Again, if he's got an eye on the summer then play hard ball.
Fatigue doesn’t just come from starting games though. Training with the senior squad every day is going to be much harder work than with the youth squad. Think of all the young players we've seen get lengthy injuries after stepping up. Ballard, Tino, Smallbone, Lavia, Broja... So it's impressive Dibling has gone the whole season staying fit, let alone trying to carry our absolutely toothless attack and clueless managers.
