I second that! Where we are at the end of February is usually a good indicator, once we get the heavy grounds out of the way.
Just saw dan neils stats from yesterdays game on wyscout: Completed 95 out of 98 passes with the majority of these being forward passes. Won 64% of his duels, anything above 55% is really good for CMs Won 60% of aerial duels Had 5 ball recoveries n 2 interceptions, both down on his averages for the season but expected when dominating the ball Seems to really be maturing into a top CM for us Pritchard stats looked good as well, completed 85% of his passes which is class for a AM as theres a high degree of difficulty in his passes Be interesting what changes TM makes on Wed night
Where we are end of may is usually the best Joking aside, by end of October we'll have played the 2 favourites, squad will be bedding in properly, played 2 games a week so a good idea about how our young squad will cope, so we'll be able to get a decent idea of how things are going/likely to go. After the Christmas period and Jan window the top runners will be pulling away and hopefully we'll be part of those
Neil is developing into a very good player and is nailed on to start. However, and I hope you agree, on the downside two things stood out. Firstly, for their goal, his first headed challenge was poor then he didn't really try to block the scorer. Secondly, as is sadly too usual, he blasted an unchallenged shot mile's over the bar ... ... I've no idea why he can't get shots on target, it was one of his strengths when he first broke through.
He def could have pressed quicker, he did make himself big when he pressed and was a little unfortunate that it went through his legs His shooting is poor, he seems to hit the target with the harder chances but when he gets time he leans back to much when shooting. Def an area he needs to improve on. His understanding of the game is so much better now, seems to know when to keep it simple n when to pass through the lines quicker. Positionally he has come on so much in the last yr, love how he pulls teammates into positions now - he would never of done that last season
Can never understand why some slate him. It's only his 2nd full season I think and still very young. Going to be a class act. Hopefully with us.
I thought he said he was of back to Kenya and was on doing a new house because his lass couldn’t settle here.
Same folk who used to give Henderson & Honeyman a hard time. For some reason lot of the local lads get more abuse from certain sections of our fanbase. I can only assume there is some jealousy there....
Can I just redress the balance a bit. I'm not slating him or giving him stick, I backed him as much as anyone yesterday. I have to say people happily criticise Pritchard, etc, but take offense if Neil is criticised ... ... perhaps because he's a local lad. All I'm saying is that his challenge for their goal was hesitant and his shooting, when he's under no pressure, seems way off target. Yes, it's only his second full season, but Ekwah has only played a dozen mens games and is overtaking Neil in his shooting ... ... I'd just feel happier with a second shooter on the grassy knoll
Some might give him the benefit of doubt because hes a local lad, others will get on his back quickly. For me neil is arguable our most important player, yes his shooting isnt great but he does the dirty stuff in the middle of the park which allows the likes of pritchard roberts n clarke go do their thing, no1 else does that. He covers so much ground and is 100% the type of player that you only realise how good he is when he is taken out the team. I love the combo of ekwah n neil as they compliment each other so well. Ekwah needs to improve positionally and be more aggressive to help break up play, neil needs to improve his shooting n his final ball. Genuinely think that by the end of the season theyll be in the top 3 CM partnerships in the league
Even more so now due to rip off Britain under Tory twáts . But peace of mind mate. It's an old roof and it will probably beat having regular repairs over the next few years of whatever life I have left
He really has a part to play and would be good influence on the younger player as does Dack ... ... we need to ask the league permission to field 16 players every game
