Don't expect to see Dawson in the side. I imagine he's just getting back into training and was only in the squad as a last resort because we couldn't fill it. Davies challenge for the corner was pitiful but otherwise he didn't really do a lot wrong. He was excellent against Everton and he's the club captain. I don't know if Bruce has an injury after Thursday but he has been in immense form recently and very much deserves his place in the team on merit. Next in line has to be Maguire after his displays recently.
You could be right, maybe the weekend is too early for Dawson. Alex Bruce has surprised me, he has never let us down, and is probably the best tackler in the EPL. I never feel nervous if he is in the team now. This I think is credit to his fathers coaching, he has made him a better defender as he has with Davies and Macca. Maguire has also benefitted from his time under SB.
We have Dudgeon, Figueroa and Brady (in a pinch) to call upon. Although I suspect we'll be seeing Townsend back here before long.
Well, we need something doing about this boring, continuous 'horseshoe' football that we are playing at the moment. Up the wing, come to a dead end, pass the ball back, across the field to the other wing, up the wing, come to a dead end, pass the ball back etc., etc., etc. We are missing Dawson and his presence in the team but we have Chester and Davies with Maguire, Bruce and McShane for the other spot. Maguire and Ince took the ball forward (terribly unlucky with his late effort on goal) which is what we have lacked in recent games but we still have nothing up front. The Hudd was 'dead in the water' today but Maguire and Ince could change our game and free up Jelly and Hernandez enough to give them some shots on goal. Sorry to go on but Aluko and Sagbo are way off this level. Brady too. He puts in a shift but is just that bit too short of ability for this league. McShane played like he had something to prove and I don't think we should get rid of him just yet. No movement (that I know of) in the January window regarding off-loading and bringing in, but we need a couple of players more capable than we have now.
I expect McShane and Sagbo to be gone this window, our injury situation will probably see Figgy remain for now and Aluko would probably be gone if we got a half decent offer.
Most of our cb's are decent, i expect mcshane to stay unless we find a RBi in the window, strike wise and midfield to go, would be.... Aluko,Sagbo,Huddlestone, I say huddlestone because we might get good money for him and the way he's playing could be the result of our own downfall,because bruce will keep playing him. Even though he was worse than Ben Arfa last night!
I would accept a set of steak knives as a very decent offer for Aluko. I think McShanes shift yesterday would put him in front of Figgy. How many more times are posters on these boards going to tell me that Sagbo will "come good", "needs more first team starts" and we should "be patient with him" because even the most die-hard of his supporters must realize that he is of the same calibre as Altidore, Graham, Simpson and Proschwitz. He fires blanks! We will get nothing for him in the transfer market (which is about his value but I reckon we would have to throw a few bob in). I am still on the fence with Abel. He has to have the ball laid-on to his left foot and has shown little or no ball control at all. Any decent defender will simply keep him on his right and blot him out of the game. The Hudd was 'dead-in-the-water' yesterday. When we get Robertson back I am sure that he will 'team-up' with Ince and that Maguire would also 'team-up- with Diame eventually.
You can't compare Sagbo to the likes of Altidore, Graham, Simpson because at least they put a shift in, whereas Sagbo does f**k all, he never once chased down their back 4, no wonder Kenny Jacket at Wolves didn't play him. He was sluggish, struggling to hold off their players and keep a hold on the ball, which he normally does with ease. Sagbo out, Karim Rossi in!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you're confusing the fact that several of us thought that he should have been involved in games like Newcastle, where we had no other recognised striker and people who actually think he's a Premier League striker, which I'd suggest is pretty much no-one. Last night was by far his worst performance for us, I think he's toast and he knows it and the sooner he goes now, the better. Herndandez is never a £10m player either, but at least he can cause people a few problems.
Sagbo is a good player, he was suffering a complete lack of sharpness last night as he just hasn't played, we just need to be patient with him and he will come good with a few more first team starts. He's not a focal point to an attack, but play him to his strengths and use him as the target to link play whilst someone like Hernandez makes the runs and finds the gaps, then he can do that to great effect as we've seen in the past.
I've been behind Sagbo until his performance yesterday, I'm sure Rossi would of put a shift in and would of done much better than him, as a youngish kid playing at the Emirates on your début would of been a dream for the him, he'd of ran until his legs fell off just to impress Bruce and all the city fans. I don't see why we didn't blood any youngsters into the team, considering our injuries. You look at the likes of Swansea, they started 2/3 youngsters in their cup game, Arsenal played a few against us. I'm sure there would of been many other Premier League teams who did as well. If these young players aren't good enough to even push for a place on the bench when we have 8 senior players out injured, are they worth keeping? It's worth noting, if a half-fit Michael Dawson was only on the bench to "make up the numbers" as some people have suggested, then why the hell aren't any of our youngsters who would be fully fit not on the bench? I've probably gone off-topic here but we need to give our youth a chance...
I'd agree with you in principal, but Arsenal didn't really blood any kids last night, Chuba Akpom didn't come on until 84 minutes when they were 2-0 up and cruising(and he played in a Premier League game last week) and he only brought Maitland-Niles on in time to hear the whistle.
