I knew exactly what you meant. He wouldn’t be coming on for Jobe is more my point - that lad plays 90 minutes regardless of performance.
Improved so much in the last few months. Still only 19 though, it’s a shame we don’t have other options in the middle of the park to rotate these young lads. Rigg is special but the way it’s currently going he’ll burn out this season.
Good job he’s our best player by a distance I guess - and has warranted virtually every minute he’s had.
the perfect 'riggy' post mate, i am obviously no coach but i look at it that these lads will have sh1t games and dropping them for a game or two would not do them any harm, they need that time to reassess and realise they still have plenty to learn...i simply feel that at such an early age a bad performance will affect them and once they take a step back they will see that they are good players and everyone has bad games, not an easy job to get that mindset into teens though. personally, i thought we played well against a team that came here not to lose and we should have taken more care over our shooting, just delay it a second rather than stabbing at it. ref watch, probably the best game i have seen 'mad-ley' have for us, but that linesman just wanted to give anything against us. i am sure RLB has been aiming to get mepham and ballard together at the back so wondering where onien will fit in now, although they hardly had anything to do, they did seem to pair well. mepham gets my MotM though, apart from one 'lost it in the floodlights' mistake he just moved around mopping up.
Perhaps I could phrase the question a bit more clearly. If we buy a specialist CDM do we drop Jobe or Rigg as a regular starter irrespective of substitutions, rotation or end of season burn out ... ... and where would Neil play to make the most of his talents.
I would drop Dan and put Luke in there and leave Mepham and Ballard in behind him, he has been immense this season and doesnt deserve to be dropped, when he has played in central midfield before he was younger, less experienced and with poor quality central defenders behind him. He can use both feet and reads the game well from deep. Cant be any worse than Dan has been this season and I hate digging him out.
Luke O’Nien is a defender, that’s it. Keep him well away from the midfield. It hasn’t worked previously and won’t in the future.
What about the People who said he would never be a defender? He actually marked that bloke from Sheff WEd out of the game in the play off semi, Barry Batman
Thought the only thing he could have done differently is book their keeper for time wasting (as early as the first half to be honest)
He provided most of our dangerous balls into the box last night, he was much further advanced than usual, the lad done well, he is worth a try rather than persisting with a clearly out of sorts Dan Neil. His distribution has improved massively since his last midfield appearances.
If I remember rightly though everyone and his dog was saying this about Jobe last season and to my mind it’s made him into the player he is this season
Not sure Jobe having a poor half a season last year because he was knackered has made him a better player this season mind. My own take on it is that it boils down to whether we want to be a club who sacrifices promotion for developing players. There’s far too many in our fanbase who A) think we are better than we are based on comments made about other clubs in and around us and B) would refuse better players because they’d potentially be replacing someone like Rigg or Neil. We are a good championship team with some top youngsters but we can certainly improve - otherwise we’d be running away with the league. We can’t handicap ourselves by playing too many young lads who will inevitably end up shining and getting a move away from here whilst we’ll find ourselves no further forward. It’s all about balance and having players in and around these lads who will help them thrive and knowing how and when to use others ie Rigg and Watson.
They must've heard about us taking the piss when Sheff Wed play and they keep saying "Barry Bannan". Maybe they kept saying Jobe Bellingham to get their own back!
If they can work on it tactically wouldn’t be against a 343. It’s a great formation in football gets employed a lot more fully fit patto Mepham O9 Ballard Hume Neil Jobe Cirkin Roberts Isidor Mundle just a suggestion
I don't think they will mate. maybe spread the money over two or three signings will be the best we can hope for, in fact it may already have been spent, on deals like the Roberts contract, in which fingers have been burnt , large investments ie like for like is not part of the plan imo.
