That poor Grayson Out! is getting all sorts of abuse on another forum for saying he's not really a left back but a big, lumbering centre half, and it's typical of Grayson to play a centre half at full back. Wherever he plays it means Tom Lees and Aidy White aren't getting a look in again. [Mod's note upon moving the post: Clivetime is here referring to Darren O'Dea]
Connolly - attacking full-back McCartney - attacking full-back Parker - attacking full-back Crowe - attacking full-back Less used are Bessone and White who've also played there. Don't talk rubbish. Who are these centre-backs he's played there so often?
McCartney and Connolly are the only ones who have played regularly and Connolly plays like a centre half. Bromby has played a lot of games at full back, Dickinson never crossed the half way line and he even played Bruce at right back once. Hughesy also had a lot of games at full back. I don't know what you'd call him but certainly not an attacking full back. Are you just playing devil's advocate here, or do you honestly believe what you say?
Connolly doesn't play like a centre-back at all; he's solid and doesn't get caught out of position very often, but makes several forays forward every game to support Snodgrass on the right flank. His appearances, plus those of the attacking Bessone, McCartney, Parker, Crowe and White in those positions under Grayson far outnumber those by Hughes, Bromby and Bruce. Grayson's a huge fan of the attacking full-back thing, I'd have thought someone as perceptive as you would have noticed that. It's part of the reason why we scored and conceded so many last season, that dynamic wing-back. Then again, your vision is ever obscured by any inkling that Simon Grayson could have horrendously cocked everything up.
I've seen some rubbish on the forums but that's the most ridiculous view I've ever seen, and from a moderator too! Are you living in some kind of fantasy land?
Argue against it with evidenced points if you disagree with it. No. Whether it's your connivance or not, the constant Grayson mentions derail threads and I'd rather Grayson in/out arguments were kept to... well... the Grayson in/out thread. I've explained my reasoning for this several times before.
I mention Grayson because he's the manager! O'Dea is a typical Grayson signing. It's totally relelvant to the thread. If people start throwing abuse at me for telling the truth, then perhaps you should move their posts or ban them. Hughes and Bromby have played far more games at full back than any of the players you've mentioned. That's not a disagreement, it's fact. Grayson has hardly played White, said he was a winger and sent him out on loan. Bessone was dropped after 7 games and sent out on loan. Parker is always injured. Crowe was dropped. Only Connolly and McCartney played regularly and they're hardly Cafu and Roberto Carlos. Also, one of the first things Grayson did when he took over was drop the attacking Alan Sheehan, who has a decent free-kick and can score spectacular goals, and replace him with Carl Dickinson who's the most defensive full back I've ever seen. Grayson is one of the most negative managers I've known. I have no idea why you're perpetuating the myth that he likes attacking football.
And in my comments about O'Dea, I wasn't calling for Grayson to go because he's signed O'Dea and loves playing centre halves at full back, it was just an observation. So it clearly belongs in a thread about Darren O'Dea not one about Grayson's position.
And every thread comment on turns into one about the manager. You know, the manager isn't the be all and the end all of Leeds United? There's other things to discuss too, though for some odd reason you never do it. Every other poster manages to talk about a variety of topics except you, oddly. It can be discussed here with a Grayson perspective. It can be discussed on a Bates thread if it acquires a Bates perspective and starts derailing that thread. If you wish to offer insight into Darren O'Dea's playing traits on that thread, I openly invite you to do so. My point stands. When you agglomerate their appearances, those of the attacking full-backs outnumber those of the "centre half" types you referred to. Did it occur to you that Sheehan was a weak link defensively and that in League One, the gung-ho approach doesn't necessarily work? Unsubstantiated. I know you'll claim that it's against his orders that the team plays passing football every week and last season managed to be top scorers for the majority of the season, but that is (as the continuing theme keeps demonstrating) unprovable.
Grayson is doing a good job, I don't see how anyone could say he's not. He got us promoted to the Championship in his first full season. I think most fans would've accepted 7th at the start of last season - probably even more after the opening day defeat home to Derby. Now if we regress this season, the haters may have some grounds for complaint but right now they sound like kids complaining to their dads that their new car isn't a Ferrari. I think Grayson deserves 2 seasons to get us into the EPL and unless we're staring at relegation come early Spring, I think he'll get it.
Your point stands as the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen on a forum. Did it occur to you that losing the attacking threat that Sheehan gave us could have cost us promotion? Do you remember what Grayson said after the Preston game that not only showed he's a negative manager, but showed he was to blame for the result? The manager is the be all and end all of the footballing side and that's the most important aspect.
I can say exactly the same thing about his failure to defend and neither of us will be any the wiser. Yet again, it's a bullshit hypothetical that you're relying on. No, because he talks utter horse **** so there's no point listening to him. It was the lack of on-pitch leadership and presence of **** defenders that cost us the game. I blame the lack of funds available for us to buy leaders and winners at the back and in midfield for results like Preston and Barnsley. When you're operating on a shoestring, those players can't be bought. No he isn't, even the players from the 60s and 70s have downplayed Don Revie's role to some extent and said they deserve equal recognition. A manager isn't everything about the footballing side and the fact he's all you comment on either suggests you've got a serious priority disorder or are on a constant wind-up. Neither would surprise me.
If we were crucially weak in any area it certainly wasn't attack, it was defence. The result of any one game last season means nothing, managers like players make mistakes. Grayson has done a good job so far - no complaints from me.
You must be the one on the wind-up, falling over yourself to defend a manager who you think talks utter horseshit. If you think that about Revie, then surely you must agree with me that any success we've had is more down to the players than Grayson. The most important thing is to have quality players, but those quality players must be managed correctly and not supplemented with poor ones. You bring everything round to a lack of transfer funds from Bates. Your Bates obsession is just as strong as my Grayson one. Transfer funds have nothing to do with tactics and team selections, and we already have players with a few million each anyway.
I care about the results he gets, not whether he's all nicey nicey Mr Intelligent with the press. Yes. And I think both the players and Grayson have done well with what they've been given which is a serious lack of funding relative to the competition around us. Which brings us neatly on to your next point... I've criticized Grayson's lack of squad rotation as a major reason why we didn't do well last season, and repeatedly so. I don't think our seventh-placed finish was entirely down to Bates, though I do think (and hope) than Grayson has in his evaluation of last season's performance identified that as something to improve on and will go on to rectify it, thus ensuring we're fully fit and competitive at the back end of the season. As for tactics, yeah he'd dropped the odd clanger like Swansea away but then again, he's done much more good than bad in that regard.
