Sheaf did lots of good things last night. He was sloppy in possession at times but nowhere near as bad as some are saying.
Many of us called it before the team was announced, Allen & Sheaf might of worked against Brum, but wouldn't against Saints. Had Eccles started last night I think we might of had more control of the game. I know Soton like to keep the ball, but that 1st half was a hard watch.
So you find him lazy cause of where he positions himself from goal kicks ?
What about the numerous times last night he sprinted back to cover Bidwell , was that a fluke ?
His work rate was excellent last night. He was up against a Premier League quality full back and caused him all sorts of problems. He also took the goal really well. We are lucky to have him.
I think he's always going to look a bit awkward and gangly legged but last night his work rate was terrific , he won a lot more aerial duels and he is visibly gaining in confidence. Loved him blowing a kiss to the Southampton fans as well
Agreed. He is far from lazy. I think people mistook unfamiliarity with his role in the early matches for laziness. He is adapting to life in the Championship excellently and seems to have an excellent attitude.
The problem is we are in protected species territory now with Sheaf, and a lot of fans are too sentimental about him to really evaluate properly.
He's had two pretty poor games on the bounce yet is coming out with some automatic 7 out of 10 scores and a variety of excuses. If Eccles had put in the same performances he would get called a league 1 player and subsequently heckled to the bench.
Realistically the whole central midfield needs an upgrade, and there are no exceptions.
Da Silva didn't do too badly when he came on . Nice to have decent back ups in both full back roles for once but I would stick with Bidwell for the foreseeable future
The players were explicitly told not to press from the front and wait for a mistake last night.
Id take this a lot more seriously if it was anyone but you saying it TBF.
Don't we? Most of last season's arguments was too many loanees . Even this season there is a clamour for another forward . We need a competitive squad ,that can only be good moving forward
We kept in the game. Allen’s constant running was vital to keep us in the game and O Hare is pretty much back to his best. He should have had a penalty, created the goal and hit the woodwork. In fact he actually now looks a goal threat
We signed him as Robins wanted to bomb Bidwell out
And I wholeheartedly disagree with that , even last season when Bidwell was getting criticism I was one of his biggest supporters.
Fact still stands though we need decent cover in all positions
The ball that cost us the goal wasn't playing through the lines, it was a 3 or 4 yard pass which a player of his calibre should not fuck up.
I'm generally on the same page with you about Sheaf but I don't agree with you about him having two poor games
More frustratingly for me he has a great ten minutes followed by an awful ten and seems to repeat it throughout games.
I know players can't perform at their best for 90 minutes week in and week out but the way Sheaf constantly swings from the sublime to the ridiculous is unbelievable
He needed to play more at his stage of his development. In Bidwell ,JDS, Milan and Lati we have players with a lot more experience
Whilst not wanting to get too excited after a few games of quality, it does seem like COH has used the time out injured to really work on his game.
Pre-injury, he was arguably our most influential player who perhaps lacked a killer instinct in the final third. If he can consistently add goals to his game we have a premier league player in our team.
The midfield and forwards got an average score from you of 5.3.
We clearly were playing to the instructions given which was to let Southampton have the ball in their half rather than running around after it. We did it reasonably well, even first half. We just didn't use the ball as well as we could have or made the wrong choice of pass.
I think we can play better but average scores of 5 are what I'd expect in a defeat.
I still think O'Hare is a little bit off his with his match sharpness but he's getting there
I agree. Last two matches he has actually looked a better player than pre injuries. There seems a bit more composure and end product yo his play.
Bore off. He’s neither lazy or like Bothroyd.
I'm not sure why you have such affection for one and hatred of the other. You keep saying people would've criticised if it was Eccles. Would they? I've seen moaning about his set pieces and I agree (in fact why he took that corner last night when they'd been good was baffling) but I think most who go recognise he's been playing well and are fair about him.
It is possible to like both Sheaf and Eccles and some of the blind high scoring of Sheaf that annoys you, is the polar view of you who refuses to see when it's good. As always the truth of both players who imo have both contributed massively is probably somewhere in the middle.
Like I said, the reason we got anything last night was due to the exceptional performance of the defence. I have given them a mixture of 8 and 7.5 The midfield were two seconds behind a lot of the time, and when they got the ball frequently gave it away. Robins also alluded to this in his interview too. Running or not, I don't think they played well.
Rating critique based on score line isn't really something I am going to do either. It doesn't really change how well someone played.
Nah. Just like you shouldn’t listen to me when Thomas next fucks up and I want him dropped.
Fair enough, it's a subjective measure I suppose
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Said this to my mate, fitness and sharpness are two different things.
Fitness wise he's fine, but sharpness still at bit off at the moment, understandably.
