Rubbish night, Derby were brilliant for half an hour and the game was over, we had a few half chances, nothing to test Grant too severely. No stand out performers, bloody freezing, poor atmosphere.
I don't want to jump back on Luzon's back, especially given Derby are top and really, a bit more classy tan others we'll face this year. But Wilson out of position? Just when we seemed to have found a manager who played the players in their natural positions. There's nothing here that I did'nt see coming, and while I don't like losing, I'm not overly depressed. But the team seemed to be unneccesarily disrupted last night (I've heard rumours it was a Jose Riga style, sabe the best players for games we can win).
It further begs the question why lepoint was signed. Possibly for st truiden when they get promoted this season?
He came from Liege did'nt he? I'm sure their fans (or whoever lost him) were saying great things about him before he came. Problems with the manager?
Looked like we were on the verge of a stuffing after half an hour. The season will Peeter out into nothing - we need 4 wins to be safe which we should get. Wilson is a poor excuse for a footballer, cannot wait to see the back of him this summer and hope he finds his natural level on Hackney Marshes. Ditto Morgan Fox.
If Duchatelet was picking the team wouldn't LePoint be playing? I doubt Luzon has had much say in the bringing in of Lepoint. A network player who will be joining St Truidan in the Summer. I didn't expect us to get anything out of last nights game as Derby have some very good players and are heading for promotion. But conceding two goals so quickly it was game over. I didn't go but I heard Wilson was poor, hopefully Cousins will be back on Saturday. Let us hope we get back to winning ways on Saturday.
Shame for Wilson, gets enough stick from people, especially were i sit before he even kicks the ball, then to play him out of position was a poor choice. I see on Faceache someone put a screen show up of someone asking him to sign a new contract. His reply was “ would love to but don’t think they want me anymore” Shame as i like the player TBH, i think some of the stick he gets is unjust
Diarra looked decent to be fair, Lepoint not getting on says a lot. Might have worked better if Wilson played at right back and Solly went into midfield but GL maybe didn't want to change the back 4 after 2 clean sheets.
He was our best, or at least most useful, player last season. Should have won Player of the Year. He is only 27 so hard to imagine he has declined too much. If he was rubbish yesterday, it is down to a combination of three factors: 1) Being played out of position. Never played there before for us, nor for Stevenage as a mature player. 2) No real-match practice for months. Unlike others he has not been guesting for the u21s, which is odd because we have no stand-out RM or RB there. 3) Lost heart because he knows he is not wanted by the Belgians. Hope he gets a good billet somewhere else, maybe at Huddersfield? Look how Birmingham started moving up the table after signing Morrison, and are now slipping down again while he is out injured. I see why Luzon played him there, though. We have no-one else. Lepoint is less of a defender, and playing two strikers and two wingers (a kamikaze formation against any competent opponents) we needed two CM who could defend. I give Luzon credit for resting Cousins. All last season I said we were overplaying Cousins. Although he is now older and tougher, we have still been overplaying him. Made sense to rest him against a team where we had little expectation of winning and bring him back against Huddersfield. The odd thing is that we did not rest Solly too. Someone with alleged inside knowledge posted here at the start of this season that by the end of it Solly would be fit enough to play every match. Has that day now come?
FFS!! Wilson was second in the Player of the Year just last season... he is NOT now a crap player... he just being played out of position and irregularly.
Lepoint was signed from outside of the network, and for a fee. I think it was with St Truiden in mind, perhaps less money exchanged if sold to a foreign club. That's how it works in England anyway.
Wilson, was a bit crap last night, but I put it entirely down to being played out of position, there was brief period (max 5 mins, untill they had a chance to get back in position) in the first half where he swapped with Bulot, and was playing out left, and looked more comfortable and broke down a couple of attacks. Otherwise he was ineffective. My review of the game last night was it looked like a tired performance from a team not expecting much of a result. We lacked pressure (especially in the central midfield in the first half) and the harrying from Watt that was so effective against Brentford, was missing which made Vetokele look a bit isolated. Solly and Gudmundsson look to have a good understanding, and for me Charltons best player was Gudmundsson. Shame his free kick was well saved, as a goal before half time would have turned the dull second half into a real game. Bulot was another who struggled to imprint anything on the game, he got back to support Fox often, but their communication could be better, and he couldn't get going attack wise. Diarra seemed to be a bit of a game changer, we looked much more composed in midfield (this could be down to Derby taking the gas of the pedal, and settling for the two goals as they never looked to attack in the same manner they did in the first half) Chris Eagles was decent, he harried and attacked with the ball, but was unable to create anything substantial. I can recall two breaks where we looked like we could score which both broke down before a shot was even taken, one was Eagles who got tackled from behind, before he could shoot, and the other was Buyens, who was in a position to shoot and tried to take it to the byline and cut it back in when no one was in the box. These were our best chance of the second half, and we never looked like we were going to get back in it. I think Derby played well, but were not as devastatingly good as leicester were last season. I think if we can beat Huddersfield (sorry SCP) then we will show the last couple was not just a fluke
Wilson has been crap most of the season, so I think it is a convenient excuse to say he was played out of position. His best position is wide right, but anyone who saw the Blackburn cup game, and others, will tell you how poor he was. If he was a network signing he would be getting Pelters. There is a certain amount of double Standards going on. Because he is regarded as one of our own he is given more leeway than a network signing.
Glad to see people speaking up for Wilson. Some of the vindictive abuse he and Fox have been treated to on social media is pure thuggery and malice ("Hopeless footballers, **** off back to your pub teams you useless bastards" according to one site!) I'd also say don't write-off Lepoint before he's had a chance. People made the same mistake with Bulot, who is now everyone's current hero.
Last season I voted for Poyet for POTY, but it was a difficult choice between him and Wilson, who was very consistent and effective at RB and wide right. I especially liked the lung-bursting runs he used to make to the byline, and he'd always get back to do his defensive duties. That's the player I wanted to see this season, but he was frozen out by Bob, as was Morrison, and this treatment appears to have got to him more than it did to Morro. I can't accept Dickp's view of things. For instance Buyens may be getting pelters now, but he didn't at first because he was playing well. Fox and Wilson are getting quite a lot of stick, as did Pope, and they're our own. Bulot has been criticised a lot, but as soon as he started to play well he was given full credit. So I think it's fair to give Wilson a bit of leeway, just as with Igor when he lost a bit of form. I'm confident that if he goes to a club where he plays regularly and has the confidence of his manager he can return to his old self.
Wilson still has a lot to offer the squad. Sadly I don't know if he is happy to settle for being a squad man - he's at a age where he surely wants to be playing week in/week out. I saw the message on twitter, but once a few offers get made for his services with more guarantee of first team football I expect him to go. Shame.
