I love our tactic of leaving him on his own at the back when we have a corner. His pace gets him out of so many problems. Proper player
Aye just been reading a bit today. But fan after been introduced for the first time today. Nice to see the player get back into it.
Why does Roberts need to go? Because he’s ineffective out on the right on his own. He has limited help from Hume and he’s not quick enough to play the wing by himself with no overlap so he’s constantly isolated
Only if we can play in a way that produces a consistent end product. With Amad we had that, this season he’s still just as good a player but the team isn’t functioning to get the end product from him. If he isn’t getting goals and assists something needs to change. Let’s see what Pembele brings when he’s ready, a pacey direct full back might just be what he needs.
0 goals and 1 assist in 14 appearances. He looks easy on the eye because he’s good on the ball but he’s wasted with Hume at RB. Huggins would a better fit on that side if we’re to stick with Roberts or Ba with Hume.
Means nowt when you watch the games. He is elite for us like. Teams are **** scared of him. The way he traps the ball and just causes carange when he goes forward. That's worth more then numbers for me. I bet if you asked amad who he enjoyed playing with the most, it will be Roberts
I think Roberts is on thinnish ice because for all his sexy football the end product hasn't been there this season, how long do you let that go on for? It's especially noticeable when Clarke on the other side is so effective. I believe he has good stats for assisting the assister which is useful. If he doesn't start scoring or assisting more I'm not sure how he justifies a nailed on place in the starting lineup though.
Oh 100% mate I don’t disagree with some of what you’re saying.. but we don’t have Amad. TM has done nothing to accommodate that loss so Roberts has gone from not only having another technically gifted player on the same wavelength as him in Amad but also with Pritchard out of the team we’ve gone from playing cute football in triangles to giving the ball to Roberts and then him having no support. As much as I thought Gooch was a liability even he was bombing forward as much as possible. There’s none of that now for Roberts so it’s either change him or watch him be ineffective most games.
Yeah he's looked settled and confident from the first time we saw him. The move from France hasn't bothered him in the slightest he could have been born in South Shields. Massive potential. Hasn't taken him long to get his first goal.
Agreed but in a weird way I'm glad ref didn't send him off, it did us no favours against Swansea and this squad seems more able in soundly beating 11 than 10.
Rooney thought the defen i thought that from the stands yesterday too. Couple of nervy moments where he just looked too eager, but once he was on for a while, caused Sanderson all sorts of problems
Canny effort in the end against a side with at least a lot of energy. After that " drinks" break, Rooney obviously told them to push farther up and get stuck in more. ( I believe the current phrase for this is 'apply the press'!). Nowt new in the world though. We struggled with this IMO, but we can't abandon the way we play because it gets sticky, we have to play through it. Deserved win in the end, very good effort from a makeshift back four, and Mayenda looked more of a threat in twenty minutes than either Burstow or Semedo have looked to date. I imagine that will stir them both up, especially Burstow who needs that energy to add to a good technique. Break a good time I think. Get some muscles fixed.
Spoken about Amad/ Roberts before, each complimented each other and were almost telepathic in their movements and I think Roberts struggles a bit without him. When Amad is back playing wherever that is it'll be interesting to see if he's as lethal as he was when combining with Roberts. Roberts is a wonderfully skilful player and Birmingham were doubling up on him all game when they weren't kicking lumps out of him, as do all teams, same with Clarke, but cos Roberts isn't getting a full back giving him another option he runs into blind alleys at times. On the eye he's worth the entrance fee alone, and happily for us he isn't the only one in our young exciting squad. TM has to find a way of making him more effective.
Strange 1st half. Got a goal and just went all casual. No urgency. Ref was poor. To me cynical fouls deserve bookings and they carried out quite a few. Pleased the 2 new CB's got some game time. I bet 99% of us were screaming for Pritch to be introduced but maybe TM got his subs right. Biggest plus for me yesterday was Mayenda. Strong, held the ball well and likes a shot. 3 points we move on
