Colossus Clarke.

[1danewhitehouse]

Point taken, but sometimes the balance of an argument does not lie equidistantly between its poles. I believe the argument for Done has been paper thin all season (as Cerebus has said, he was in the team for the first four games, lest we get too carried away about his 'lucky charm' status) and is now redundant.

I see little or no ability commensurate with a professional footballer at this level. He has little pace; his movements are reactive rather than anticipatory; his scoring record is abysmal. The best I can see on the other side of the coin is that he is committed and tries hard (though the effect of that is nowhere near what people like to think).

Our last two wins have been achieved once he has been removed from the pitch, at which point we improved, so that part of the myth is being dismantled. What's left? Shadow-chasing, I suggest.

I'm sorry. I want better; much better than Matt Done in our team. I would urge you to set your standards higher too.

Nothing at all wrong with wanting better. I want better too. That doesn’t mean you have to deride the current preferred option. You point to improvement when he went off in the last 2 games but fail to acknowledge how much worse we looked as a team in the games (Charlton and Wallsall) where Clarke was preferred to start.

What seems to be working best for the team at the moment is Done starting with Clarke and/or Lavery coming on to vary our play at some point.


I still don’t think we’d have enough movement and would be too predictable with Clarke and Sharp as a starting front 2 but Clarke is playing his part from the bench at the moment just like Lavery did at Coventry.


To summarise, all 4 strikers are making a contribution at the moment but only 1 is doing it on a consistent basis. That 2nd shirt is still up for grabs and it might be a case of horses for courses with some rotation in that position unless we can bring in a striker who can make the shirt his own (Evans?).

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Oh I agree, but I don't try to dictate to others. That's the hypocrisy, mate. It's blasphemy to criticise Bassett as though he is some cherished Grade 3 relic, but there is open season on Clough and Adkins, two very capable managers, albeit not successful with us. I don't say "how dare you? He's a legend, show some respect"

Say what you like about Leon Clarke but don't tell the truth about Matt Done? Not for me, I'm afraid.

For what it’s worth, I don’t advocate the undiluted derision of any player/manager (though some come close to deserving it). All will have some good qualities as they wouldn’t have made it into the professional game if they didn’t. But “truth” is subjective and I think most on this forum would acknowledge that neither Clarke or Done is “the answer” to the long term question of who is ideal to partner Sharp but neither are “useless” either. They are both good at certain things but both have significant weaknesses too. But they are different meaning that if it’s not working with one, replacing them with the other has a decent chance of working as it allows us to vary our play going forward which is a decent position to be in.


In the words of our gaffer “. “They, all of the strikers, bring something to the table and they’ll all have big parts to play.”

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Having only seen 2 games this season, yesterday and Chesterfield away I think he's pretty good and would question why he doesn't start. However I know in reality when he has started he's been poor and therefore might be effective as a sub in the occasional games where we need the ball to stick up front. In both games Sharp's performance improved significantly when Clarke came on as he could concentrate on being in the right place instead of leading the line himself.

Contrary to other opinion on here I actually think he chooses when to chase defenders and doesn't bother when it's a lost cause rather than being lazy. When he does chase the defender they seem to panic as he's experienced and might nick the ball.

Done works hard and can see why Wilder plays him from the start. Us Blades are suckers for a trier!

I don’t think the hard work and chasing comes naturally to Clarke. It’s as if now and again you see a switch go off in his head when he’s decided to chase a defender down whereas Done does it naturally without thinking about it.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Thinking Clarke is shite doesn't mean Done is a good player. And vice versa.