Nah, you still are, it just means you both are!! As i've said he's a very assured passer, it's just a shame there's nothing penetrative about his passing, he can't head, can't tackle and has no position al sense, apart from that he's great. Oh and for the record King was the best of a very mediocre bunch tonight.
I agree with the rest of your post but this is too harsh on King for me. He forced two fine saves from their keeper and another one hit the woodwork - I think he'll turn out to be a pretty handy player in the future. Having said that, before tonight's game I would have pretty much said exactly the same as you just have, word for word.
Maybe if one of the attackers made a remotely threatening run then he would be able to play a penetrative pass. The only reason he holds onto the ball for so long is because no one looks like they want the ball so he has no choice but to pass it sideways or backwards and slow the game down
He hit the cross bar, he hit the post, and made the keeper make a save all first time volleys from a cross...... now that is some unbelievable tekkers. He beat his man numerous times and got 2/3 good crosses in.
Fryatts movement is very good and King was in loads of space for most of the second half but Cairney seems more concerned with pass completion than doing anything useful.
To be honest, I thought that tonight was King's best game for us! He was superb considering Rosie had one NIGHTMARE of a game tonight. Was the real bright spark in our team other than when he was shattered at the end. Quite a few had an off match tonight; Rosenior, Dawson IMO, McKenna, Brady, Koren... but it's harsh to say Cairney was one of them. I thought he was the best out of Evans, Mckenna and himself; McKenna's worst game in a LONG while tonight. Think I might be taking a sign with me on Saturday: Where's Jay Simpson?
Fabregas can't tackle or head - I'm not seriously comparing the two, of course, but you get the point. I don't see why he needs to be able to tackle or head when his potential partner (Evans/McKenna) can do that part. Central midfield pairings IMO should include a ball winner (help out defence, tackle, head, clear) and a playmaker (creative, lofted through balls over the top, fancy flicks and dummies, ability to score the occasional goal) so that shouldn't be a problem. As for the positional play, I see nothing wrong with his.
I thought King was outstanding in the first half, ran with the ball, crossed the ball and 2 excellent shots. I'm not a big Cairney fan but he had a good game tonight, the most frustrating part of his game is he has no right foot and refuses to try to use it, this means he has to turn into a position to use his left usually going backwards but if and when he gets it on his left he's one of the best passers of the ball
Spot on. Check the surrounding players before getting on individuals backs. A quality keeper with a poor defense makes him look poor. A quality striker with no support, hence no real chances, makes him look poor. You get the idea. Edit - I've just realised that makes it sound like I think Cairney is carrying the team - I didn't mean that, just that players need to stop standing like snowman, expecting the space and chances to fall.
You just need to show our attackers the video of tonights game and tell them to watch the southampton attackers and how they approached every attack. They looked like they could create a goal everytime they went forward because they had intelligent movement and made threatening passes. Compare that to when we went forward and it will show you why we are going to finish mid table and not at the top of the league.
Cairney actually played well tonight and I'm not a fan of his , not sure where he fits in the team though , without McKenna and Evans in midfield we look much more likely to concede goals
If Cairney scored half the goals or created half the chances Fabregas does your point would be valid but other than slowly shuffling the ball from side to side he offers nothing to the team, that's where I see the issue with the other aspects of his game I mentioned being relevant. His position al sense is awful, we look a far better unit with McKenna and Evans in there.
Agree with this. The crowd get all uppity about us keeping possession. Then when we try an adventurous pass they moan when it doesn't come off. Considering this is the thing we do best you have to wonder what they want. If we couldn't keep the ball like we do we'd have little else and would probably be a pretty **** side. Can't agree with this, King was quality tonight. No end product? He could have had 3 goals tonight with a bit more luck! The way he was striking the ball was almost like a real striker. Agree with this. Our crosses have been like this for years, absolutely bloody useless putting it in front of a 6'5" defender to head away, it needs to be behind them. Totally agree with this though. I said before the game they won't come and outplay us, they'll take their chances and we'll need to do the same. Everything is so predictable. Agreed, but someone also needs to show Barmby their attackers and point out that it's possible to have a big striker without being a hoofball team. Lambert is ****ing huge and wins every header that comes near him, if he was in our team we'd be looking at the automatic places. Our tactic as a team is to timidly pass the ball around, I don't see why everyone thinks it's Cairney's fault. I agree with J-D that he was quality tonight, after King he was probably my MotM. His quality on the ball is a cut above anyone else and he really should be in the team more often. Loading the team with defensive midfielders isn't going to score us a goal.
Josh King is just getting into his stride , have you noticed his improvement , he will only get better , unlucky not to score today Mclean is a league 1 player
If you consider slowly shuffling the ball from side to side quality then he was amazing, if however your like me and expect a player with his undoubted passing ability to ask more questions of an opposition defence then he was poor, add that to the more glaring deficiencies in his game and I really fail to see what he offers.
