I am a massive fan of this guy and can someone tell me why he is not playing? He had a poor game in man city and since then he hasn't had a look in. If you look at last season we were struggling up into Coventry away when he came in and changed the game. He stayed in the team for the rest of the season and unlocked so many defenses. I remember him nut meging the Nottingham FOrest defender in the play offs and also running the show in the play off final. He has come on as sub today and had 2 shots from outside the box and also had a shot outside the box against Wigan. Can you think of any other player doing this? I know he sometimes drifts out if games but I hope he's given his chance on Saturday at home to have a good game and get our season going.
I'm a huge fan of Dobbs. I think that he's going to be utilised more at home this year - where we're expected to be more attacking, and where opposition is going to allow us the ball a little more. He hasn't been on it this season, but we are still only 4 games in! When he's on his game, he is the best guy in our team at reading the final third of the pitch. The assists and goals that he was picking up at the end of last season showed how easy he found the Championship. He can score those goals and play those passes against bottom half Premiership teams for sure! I look forward to him getting a run in the team. But he has to earn the place. He's been a little slow with the ball this season, but that's just acclimatisation. We know he's not unfit, as he trained all summer without having a break! So once he gets used to the pace of the league, I expect the tricks and goals to come back out from him!
must be just me but when he came on he refreshed the side, if he aint gonna start he must come on with at least 1/2 hour remaing, not 15 min
I thought Dobbie was terrible today. He had a couple of lame shots, and his awareness of passing opportunities was really poor. Even though he hasn't really done anything fantastic yet, I much prefer Routledge in that position. Dobbie was a really important player for us last season, because he would pop up with a brilliant turn and shot 3 or 4 times in a game when he was playing well. However, we struggled in those games to keep the ball because he's really a forward playing deep, not an attacking midfielder. And I don't just mean that his passing wasn't good enough, his positional play wasn't good enough either. If we played the ball to him every time he might create something, but if we didn't use him as the focal point of every attack, he would just disappear from the move. You also lose out defensively, because even though he works very hard, he doesn't maintain the shape of the midfield well enough when we are pinned back. In this division, he has less time on the ball, has less touches on the ball, and can only be caught in possession once or twice or we will be punished. That's why he is perfect to bring on for 15 minutes at the end of the game, where he can change the shape of the attacks, and take a few risks, but to play him from the start is very risky. Having said that, I know he is capable of putting in brilliant displays and if Routledge is still injured next week, he may well start at home to West Brom, and that will be his big chance to impress.
would rather have him on for the first 60 then sub him against WBA to see what impact (if any) he does have, remember he was playing for QOTS in Scotland, not even a Scottish prem league player so i think he is going ok
Amazes me when fans say daft things like "he hasn't really done anything fantastic yet" when the player has hardly kicked a ball in anger this season. FFS. Musty, you are dead right. In case you lot haven't noticed we need goals and pretty damn quick. Routledge may be a clever-dever player but in 102 games has scored zero goals. Dobbie won us the playoff final almost single handed imo. Scored one and set up another. Routledge could never have taken that 19 yarder on the edge of the box and you know it. Imo the manager has got this about face. Routledge should be on for Dobbie, not vice versa. The guy is more than capable of scoring and isn't afraid to have a pop. Routledge does neither. It's not a coincidence that since Dobbie has been dropped to the bench our chances and goals have reduced dramatically. We are placing far to much emphasis on Graham alone. A player totally lacking in confidence by the looks of things.
I have total admiration and appreciation for what Dobbie did for us last season in what I have always referred to as the Dobbie role and the Dobbie midfield. This season he is one of our players whose touch is off and he appears off the pace in his feet and mentally. Both of which are correctable if the has it in him - but they take game tme because only so much can be accomplished in training. Question is does Rogers believe he has it in him ... Routledge was acquired for a reason and I have never thought it was to give cover for Sinair and Dyer. Having said that I think the whole team has yet to reach the level of sharpness it had during the last quarter of last season and took into Wembley where Dobbie was king.
HTR, who said Dobbie hasn't done anything fantastic yet? I assume you are quoting my post where I said Routledge hasn't really done anything yet. We do need goals, but we don't need them pretty damn quick. We have a long season ahead of us, and I think Dobbie has a part to play, but we need a more steady midfield than Dobbie offers us to even compete with premiership sides. Like I said, last year I felt he would disappear from games, and that will only get worse in the premiership, because the quality of players is that much better. I agree that we are putting too much emphasis on Graham, but I think with time, players like Routledge will bed in, and he probably won't get us that many goals, but will give us more attacking variables than Dobbie gives us.
It's all about form and experience, Dobbie may well be off form, and Routledge may well have the Prem experience over Dobbie, but for me if you have both these players on form, only Dobbie will get you goals, and not based on past performance alone either. I'm not a fan of Routledge at all, and would always play Dobbie first, and then bring on Routledge if Dobbie is not up to par, as for WBA game, I would consider it a poor decision by Rodgers if Dobbie did not start, and I don't agree with Leeeeon, that Dobbie loses us the shape of our midfield defensively, as that can happen with any of our midfielders who are off form, including Leon (Mancity Game), some players will adjust quicker than others, maybe because there is less pressure in their given position, but at the end of the day, Dobbie is essential to our progress this season, and I'm sure Rodgers knows that!!......................... please log in to view this image
I am a massive admirer of Dobbie and after the form he showed at the end of last season i thought he was going to be the man for us this year. I have to say he has not been at his best and has started slowly this season. But he was the same last year and took time to build in to the season. i have no doubt he will do the same again as he did last year. Maybe he struggles pre season and needs the extra months to get back with it. he will be back to his best soon. remeber form is only temporary.
surely though TLF, the guy needs game time and stop trying to impress with the 10-15 min he is getting
Leeeon. Sorry. Misread your post and I apologise. But Musty is right. Judging Dobbie on 15 mins max per game is downright unfair. He had a really poor game at Man City but so did 9 other players. Vorm was the only one who looked half decent. I accept that this was largely down to the high quality opposition we faced that evening. As for not needing goals quick....I think that if we don't kick into gear up front soon we'll find ourselves with a mountain to climb. As Taylor said in his recent interview, it doesn't matter who scores and we shouldn't place too much emphasis on Graham alone. Trouble is, Routledge's goal scoring stats are appalling and he is unlikely to be the man to do it. Dobbie just hasn't been given enough of a chance imo. Everything good we did pre-season came through Dobbie and he's been rewarded by being benched. If I was him I would not be happy. I'm not the Manager but I agree with Dragon Phil - Dobbie should start on Saturday and if he doesn't do the business then bring on Routledge.
I seem to be on my own with this opinion on Dobbie! I think he should start against West Brom too, because he definitely deserves more of a chance than he's been given. I am not too optimistic about him performing well, but will always give him 100% support. Interesting point DPJ about pressure in certain positions. Not something I had thought about, but they do say scoring a goal is the hardest job in football, and maybe that pressure is affecting him more than I expected. I still think his defensive positioning leaves a lot to be desired, and that is why when we needed to close out a game last season, he would always be the one to make way for a substitution.
It's a two edged sword though, do you think? By taking Dobbie off, we're making the midfield a much sterner unit, but we're also sacrificing impetus going forward. With a midfield three of Britton, Allen and, say, Gower, the amount of times any of those three would pick the ball up and drive forward from midfield will be pretty low, even at best. I remember once Dobbie went off last season, was it Forest at home (the non playoffs), and the ball just started coming back every time, and we couldn't get a foot on the ball. A lot of times it was the start of the ball coming straight back at us, and I don't think it was coincidence. I'm not saying only Dobbie is the answer, but having 3 midfielders none of whom are particularly attack minded in the middle is asking for trouble in my opinion. I think to control the centre of the field, you need either an attacking outlet, or a physical presence. Our football will only get us so far, if the other team is hungrier or more intense, you need to have a release in midfield, be it someone regaining possession regularly or someone to give the ball to, who you know will give you some respite.
I agree that there are gonna be very few games this season where we want to be playing the type of midfield we saw against Arsenal. Like you said, without an outlet in central midfield we can end up defending constantly, like we did in quite a few games last year when we made the change from one attacking midfielder and two central, to two central and one deep. It makes it really hard to get support to the front man. So, I think we should maintain the same shape for most games but I think when Routledge is fit and firing, he is a better option to start a game than Dobbie. My theory is (it hasn't happened yet), is that Routledge is much more of a midfielder than Dobbie, and more attacking than any other central midfielder we have, so even though he is naturally a winger, he will in the long run be more effective at creating goals than anyone else who can play that position.
Dobbie is a luxury player who should definitley be utilised for home games and it's Routledge the one the one that should be replacing him. As for away games when we're more likely to be under the cosh then fair enough keep him on the bench and bring him on when need be. Against Reading for the hour he was on Dobbie was superb they just could not handle him. When the going got tough he was replaced by Pratley just to tighten things up and I can see that happening again this season. I hope he is given a run in the team though as he does seem to be the most skillfull player we have, he has very quick feet and he's an even quicker in thought.
