I would expect everything to be all about the Boro game on deadline day, unless its fringe players going on loan. I think we want our business done quickly and wont be hanging around waiting for scraps just before the deadline.
But Neil was the box to box role last few seasons and done nothing worth noting, that’s my point. Good players stand out. Mepham stands out as a CB by doing the simple things and making them look easy. The 6 is defo a role that’s not going to get the plaudits it deserves but I just don’t see what he does there that Bellingham couldn’t. Bellingham is no way a 10 he’s far too big to be playing in that tight space, he’s an 8 or a 6 all day and say if we had for arguments sake Jobe 6, ELF 8 and Rigg or AA as the advanced 8/10 with the option of Jobe, ELF and Samed as a slightly deeper midfield 3 I don’t think we’d be any worse off.
Right. Lets move beyond Cannon. Keeping to a similar track of players with thematic names there's only one choice: Shuto Machino, Japanese international striker!
Football is all about opinions...for us fans...for the manager/coach its a bit more pragmatic. If you think back to Forest glory days, Clough always had John McGovern in his teams...I'm pretty sure he had more flair players, probably tougher players, But in McGovern he had a player he could rely on, a player he knew would do the job.... Neil is our John McGovern
Yeah by the time we play on deadline day, all decisions about who we want to sign / sell will have been made. Its just about execution then (if there are any still going, which there always seems to be). No distraction needed to RLB or the players.
Def disagree about not being a worse team without him. He's our Captain and brings so much to the team. He def doesn't have the upside compared to Rigg and Jobe but he's definitely better than Rigg is now and offers more than Rigg does. Neil compliments Jobe, he allows Jobe to go and be that box to box CM as he knows Neil will cover for him. They work as a combo, we shouldn't be selling any of them this window tho so it's a kinda pointless argument
I like it when it comes down to the player. Club done what they can, now for the young man to decide. If he thinks Sheffield are a better option, fine by me. I only want players who are dying to sign for us, regardless of money on the table
Fair enough mate, I agree he defo offers more than Rigg at the minute but I can’t say I agree with the captaincy thing and how much he brings to the team I think he’s a wheel in the cog and as you say he’s the engine in that role but if we moved Jobe back would we really be missing that much? What does he offer that Jobe couldn’t in there? Jobe is having to play as a 6 in possession sometimes and I wonder if that’s through preference to RLB or because he has to, because Neil doesn’t always want the ball. When you watch the better teams they rarely have their other centre midfielders having to come between the CB’s for the ball, it’s always just the 6. He just doesn’t look like a captain to me when he’s on the field I see other players like O’nien barking orders and looking superior, I think it was a mistake to take the captaincy from him but you could probably argue when we signed Mepham we weren’t expecting LON to stay in the Xl. Maybe I’m harsh on the lad because I expect more from him when I hear how highly our fans have rated him for years but I just don’t see the talent in him that I see in others. I think he’s a good player but he’ll never be a great player. Certainly good enough to get us promoted like but with signing better midfielders it makes you wonder if we’ll end the window without losing one because we’re going to be stacked in there and on paper Neil is not one of the better midfielders we have imo.