We have a lot of Youtube content, and loads of them piling into him. It was a terrible challenge, but in my opinion, we lost the game in the first half, being too passive. My worry from this game was we didnt seem to be able to deal with their physicality, Derby look a big side so lets see what happens
With O’Nien and, particularly, Bellingham playing well our online fanbase needed a boo boy. Looks like they’ve found their man.
No,don't agree with that. We got done in the first half mainly because they loaded up their front line,and were able to play through us to a free player,mostly on their right. I don't think their physicality was a particular problem yesterday.
RLB appears to be giving his players the basic tools then allowing them the responsibility to choose how to use them. As with Boro, etc, you can virtually see the players responding to the opposition tactics and working out how to beat them. The Boro players, as with Sheff Wed, were given a rigid game plan that they stuck to despite it clearly not working. At Watford we gradually got back into the game, equalised and then dominated the opposition. I'm not attacking Dan Neil, just commenting and giving my opinion ... ... which is that in a seventh of the season he's jeopardised more points than he's gained. I said a while back that there are currently players who are better than Neil in each of the midfield places imo. When younger players like Jobe and Rigg are more effective, as either defensive or attacking players, you know Neil needs to up his game. In my opinion he's currently a risk defensively and too passive in attack ... ... he worries me losing balls that put us in danger but never seems to be a goal threat. He doesn't take free kicks or corners and seems to have lost his ability to have a clean strike at goal. He lacks the pace to recover is he loses the ball, in critical areas, such as his wild kick against Boro. That Burnley didn't take advantage, of his needless red card, was good fortune. It's worrying that he's fallen behind young players, like Mundle, Jobe and Rigg, in various aspects of his game. But it's his lack of 'captaincy that's the bigger issue for me. Whether it's pre-match, on the pitch or after the game he appears withdrawn and quiet to me. I'm all for giving players time and leeway but football is tough and we can't afford to let points slip away needlessly. If Neil needs time, patience and a 'reset' I'd rather that was in training not on match days tbh. He doesn't seem to be engaging or leading as a captain should imo ... ... Rigg is seventeen and much more vocal, that's not right in my eyes.
He cost us and BB he hasn't played that well this season but some of the vitriol that is spouted at him is ott
I'm not going to start slating one of our players due simply to poor form, but for me he's behind Browne, Rigg and Bellingham and possibly even Samed for a starting place.
dan neil was not the only one to make a mistake, unfortunately his mistake cost a goal so he is getting a lot of social media. i said to my son it was starting to resemble a third division game from them, lots of following in after the ball went, nowt horrible just a sly little kick at the heels or a push, things that were not needed at all but used to annoy/anger players...it did not work in that respect but the lads will be thinking what might be coming the next time and it will affect their game, so not so much 'physicality' but more 'annoy-a-cality'
initial start i didn't think we were bad at all. In fact , I thought we were more likely to win it than them. They're not a bad side and a draw was a fair result until the penalty .
We were the better side for 60 minutes of that game , one bad mistake has cost us. As for Neil I think he is under pressure now and that's exactly how it should be .We now have serious competition for the MF and I struggle to remember when we last could say that. Over the years too many players were guaranteed a start and that edge professionals need was missing.
I said this earlier mate. The last 2 years nobody has been able to challenge him. Clearly we need to see what Samed is all about, but his pedigree suggests he will challenge. Browne for me isnt a holding player, but maybe I am wrong. Regis seems to be putting a huge trust in Neil. I think he is right to. As a coach I absolutely woud too. Captain and a one man pivot. Regis put Neil into the back line at the weekend to counter the width of Watford. If you put a spotlight only on Neil against Boro it is a performance of such discipline and for the team it is quite something. I thought it was exemplary that day and a real leaders performance. I get the sense Regis has a lot of faith in him, along with his teammates. I hope he comes through the blip in form quickly, he remains our most important player IMO, not the best, but most important.
I agree , just like Jobe who had a poor spell last season ,but came through it. I'm not a coach but for me ,to drop him now would /could damage his confidence more than raising his game. Rotating players is a core skill for any coach ,we haven't seen this side of our coach yet ..
Captains arent immune from being dropped, but it is not a decision taken lightly. He is the coaches decision maker on the pitch. I think Regis will understand the importance of that and its complementaty nature. Regis will have chosen him to be his right arm so to speak. Captains in the modern game have a different role than even 10 years ago. They are getting closer to a criket captain in some ways. They are the only player allowed to speak to the ref for example. I used to admire captains like Robson or Butcher. Really demonstrable on the pitch, loud and demanding. When I played I captained teams and it was how I was. Then we had the likes of Keane who I didnt like. I always thought he was more bully than captain. It is a fine line. Our squad is so young I think a demanding voice would be counter productive. I think Regis would hate a captain shouting the odds and throwing his arms in the air. It is the opposite to him on the touchline. We are a calm, measured, leadership team. Neil is having to learn this but I believe of all of our squad he is best placed to work well with Regis. Certainly Regis must think so. I thought ONien was a great captain but always felt we needed a different profile. He will be the perfect club captain. Everything he does to represent us is brilliant. And we know he is 100% supporting Neil as he learns the role. I think in time Neil will grow into a really smart leader on the pitch and off it. I urge some support as he takes this on. In life, as well all take on more responsibility, we need time to adapt. Footballers need the same. We need to demonstrate 100% support for him IMO. There is continuing interest from top end Premier league clubs. They arent going away. I know this for certain. A season as captain makes him more appealing to them. I would hate to think we didnt help him on his journey by being OTT in response to a handful of poorer performances. I hope he is thick skinned, but he cares as much as any fan does about this club, it might way heavy if his community are going overboard. Would love him to have a solid game tomorrow. Nothing special. Just play his game, dictate the pace of the game and out possession and shape. No daft mistakes in the box. I will be happy with him.
Decent player, we can't write him off over a few games. We wrote a coach off over the second half of last season. Regis is switched on. This is a great season for us. I'm enjoying it and I'm expecting us to be right up there. If we're not, I won't be too disappointed. We're doing the business up to now and other teams are making mistakes too. Good times.
To be fair, he's had nothing but support home and away ... ... commenting on his performances, and that of everyone at the club, is part of what supporters do.
There were two mistakes in the Watford game. Mundle didn't pick up the man at the back post. Then Neil gave the pen away. I think k the difference was Mundle had a decent game overall while Neil struggled a bit. Best I've seen our central midfield this season was possibly away to Portsmouth when Neil didn't play. I'm a big Neil fan and do think he can offer a lot of value. I just think he's kind of been left behind with Jobe and Rigg developing at a greater rate. Plus those two both offer something going forward that Neil never will. He might need to be benched for a while to enable him to address whatever it is that's going on. Probably just poor form imo. He definitely needs to work on his game out of pocession.
…and what happened the next game? Neil straight back in after suspension, Browne dropped to the bench. Not ideal if you ask me but never mind.
