This is as much a criticism of Koren as it might be of Simpson, but did anyone else notice Simpson twice overrule his captain over who took the penalty? It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Steve Bruce does about it. If he does nothing it undermines Koren's authority looking forward. If we have a leader he has to lead, if he isn't respected by the players why is he the leader? I suppose the bigger issue here is that we still seem to be without a natural leader. If it was me, I would privately give Simpson a bollocking, maybe even fine him. (mind you, I'd fine him more for missing!)
Bit harsh on Simpson... if it went in we probably wouldn't have this thread. Plus he won the penalty so I think it's only fair he takes it if he really wants to. As for Koren's captaincy he did a bit of a Gerrard in scoring an equaliser when we were playing poorly... The events afterwards he can't really be held accountable for. At the point we'd scored that goal I thought we could have knicked it to be honest.
I purposefully didn't mention the fact he missed until the witticism at the end because I thought it irrelevant to the issue and I would have made this point even if he had scored.
Captaincy doesn't mean that much in football. It's not a sign of power or authority like in cricket just someone to inspire and motivate.
I knew he was gonna have it saved... it was so obvious... it wasn't the worst penalty but he somehow managed to scuff it..****ing incredible
Not the worst but anyone playing at that level earning what they do should be able to strike a ****ing ball with their laces. If you watch FLS players in the lower leagues can strike a ball hard and into the corners in ways you just couldn't imagine our strikers doing. The standard of our shooting in general is piss-poor.
Not sure how important a captain is in football. In baseball a captain is pointless unless his name is Derek Jeter. In hockey a captain is really important. If players disregard what the captain says then either having a captain is pointless or you need a new captain that the players will listen to and respect. When I played sports the captain was the hardest worker. He wasnt the most gifted individual but he was the one who never gave up, who tried 100% of the time, and the one who people looked up to. I dont know who that is on our team right now, but I do not think it is Koren.
That's generally what they aim for in football. The guy who leads by example but also who is good enough to play every week. The management team make out like Koren is really professional in training and stuff from what I've heard, it's just he seems bit moody on matchdays.
Although he's not been back from injury very long, what about Jack Hobbs? a) Is Hobbs strong enough? b) Would it piss Roko off?
Captaincy or no captaincy.... Koren is a lazy overrated prima-dona. The team carry him week after week. Is he any good other then his long range efforts? Anyone who actually gets that much time & space in a game should do a hell of a lot more with the ball than he does. No one had a good game yesterday but he hasn't been good enough all season. I'm not an ashbee fan (quality wise) but he wouldnt take a performance week in week out like what Koren gives us. Easy decision for me once a new striker is bought.
spot on - Simpson was a disgrace and in a perverse way i don't feel that bad that he missed as he deserved to - having said that Bruce should have told the team who the penalty taker was then we wouldn't have had the situation with players trying to fight each other for it
Bruce should have said who should take the penalties. I see plenty of sunday league players who I would have had more confidence in scoring than Simpson and they certainly wouldn't have mishit the ball like he did.
Ashbee was truly our Captain Fantastic at rallying the players, giving a kick up the backside and generally organising. I didn't notice a single person on the pitch doing that last night.
im personally a big believer in needing a strong captain.. i think there are exceptions to the rule, but generally i think its good to have a captain the other players are a bit afraid of, and somebody who will be 1st in if anything kicks off- i know others will think thats a bad thing, but i often think whenever we are getting out muscled or bullied that we need somebody to get amongst it and "sort it out" . i remember in the lower leagues when you used to be sat so much closer to the action at times, several occasions where a player made a mistake, and Ashbee shouted in there faces like a parent berating a naughty schoolchild, then 9 times out of 10 that player never put a foot wrong for the remainder of the game... having said that we are 2nd without that, so all the above is probably bollocks
People may disagree but. I've said it. All season. Alex Bruce is the only one who talks organises and bollocks people
Wednesday wer blatant time wasters from the off and not one of City's players had a word about it in the Referees ear - imagine the likes of Ash allowing that?
