What amazes me is the fact that some are slating Elmo for his performances, yet it wasn't him that asked the club to buy Dave and then stick Elmo on the wing where he's clearly much less effective than as a wingback. Elmo is still the player that he was he's just been ****ed over by being played out of position. Sound familiar?
Thing is LB, football isn't about systems and positions, it's about players ............ good players can make slight adjustments to their game and maintain a standard. Elmo, whether we like it or not, isn't playing to his own high standard - his diving about, feigning injury, shirking tackles and not always tracking back can't be just due to a slight change of system, he's a far better player than that excuse. One of the itk posters on here wrote sometime back that Elmo had a new agent, if that's the case, my take (for what it's worth) is that his new man might be bending his ear with the talking up of ''prospective'' new employers. His loss of form really can't be just down to a system change, can it?
Probably fair comment however it does seem coincidental that he was criticised when at Sunlan for not being good enough when he was played in the same position that he finds himself in now. I just don't think we see him at his best as a right winger, he's much more effective when coming from deep, but we can't play him there as it'd mean leaving out our £3.5M man, and Bruce will never do that. As others have suggested they could swap positions although that's presumably been tried, and failed, in training, what other reason could there be for not giving it a go?
You're right when you say we're not seeing him at his best - I think once he's ''settled'' with a new contract, either with us, or with someone else, we'll see the old Elmo return. My gut feeling is that he's perhaps a player who doesn't like the uncertainty that coming to the end of a contract brings. Only time will tell!
Do we have to slate one of our players to the point of, they're ****ing ****. We're a winning team and they're all playing their part. Yes Elmo isnt as good as last season or the one before. To maintain like he has, is incredible. Now its drop the **** he's ****ing ****. Why do we have to have a scapegoat? What a great choice Steve Bruce has now. But do any of you know if Snoddys knee flares up after every game?? I know some of you will scream we should be told. Well you ****ing wont. I'm happy with whatever team Brucey picks. Lets get behind all the lads.
I don't get what Elmo has to do to be dropped. Snodgrass has to come in for him on Saturday. Elmo has stopped taking a man on and putting balls in the box. Even worse he gets in the way of Dave who isn't allowed to bomb on as Elmo is just stood on the touchline. I thought Hudd did very well when he came on but it was frustrating seeing how deep we got when we took Hernandez off. It felt like those last 20 minutes the game was over, Cardiff had given up we weren't really looking to get players forward. The game could of ended after 70 minutes. It would be nice to see us try and take advantage of a poor side with a lack of confidence. I don't rate Akpom that highly but surely last night was a chance to play him, and try and get him a goal to boost his confidence. Its clear we are going to keep Akpom, so why not play him as at some point Hernandez may get injured and we may need a fit and firing Akpom.
If he has a new agent and that agent wants to realise maximum profit (his driver) from his sale or retention, then I would suggest that more than half a season of well below performances is not the best way to go about it. Steve Bruce would have us believe it is transfer rumour (a dig at his agent?), but, perhaps, he doesn't know, just as he doesn't know why we are so bloody inconsistent. None of our players claim to know, either.
