Lee Williamson

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Jon Bon

Jon Bon

Here's Jonny!
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He showed yesterday that he could be the creative box to box midfielder that we've all been craving for. He looks to have great awareness and vision, he can pass accurately and isn't afraid to get in the opponents box. Witness his little flick to set Quinny up for the second goal. Camara and Quinn were behind him, but he still knew they were there. Did he panic and try to welly it? Did he 'eck, with the deftest of touches, he almost put it on a plate for either of them.

Harper had arguably his best game in a Blades shirt and that's probably because he was allowed to do what he does best - fetching and carrying, leaving Willo to do the clever stuff.

The problem that we've had in midfield, to my mind anyway, is that Monty, Harper, Quinn are all fetchers and carriers, labourers, the 'take it off the clever buggers on their side and give it to the clever buggers on our side' type. Unfortunately when we've played those three together, we've not had a clever bugger on our side to give it to, save for Wardy out on the wing.

Willo with either Harper or Monty at the side of him would do it for me, unfortunately Blackie will probably see it differently but I really hope not. More footy like yesterday please Kev and you might just turn this season around.

The other thing I like about Williamson is his afro! Reminds me of Vic Reeves' Otis Redding 'sitting on the dock of the bay...' character.
 



Thought Williamson was absolute quality first half hour, dwindled away after that (no pre-season, struggling for fitness I suspect) but remained good on the ball. The thing that impressed me most was that Williamson got into the box when Evans/Cresswell went wider which our midfield seem to have forgotten how to do lately. Before his goal - though it seemed to be possibly not one - he had made three/four excellent bursts into the box and you could clearly see Warnock was worried as he was frantically gesturing to Derry to play deeper/get tight for quite a while.

If I was Blackwell, I'd get to end of month and then give Williamson (and others like Camara, Geary maybe) a two week mini pre-season. Leave them out of the cup game maybe and concentrate on building up fitness. If he can get fit and stay fit, Williamson could be the midfielder we're looking for based on yesterday.

Agree re: Harper too. Best game yet in Blades shirt. Harper or Monty with Williamson could be a good call.

Also agree re: the football. And when they were playing decent, effective football (which sometimes does include hoofing it as long as its not all the time), the fans responded - just like they did on Tuesday and against Newcastle. Blackwell - I hope you're taking note. Play football = fans onside.
 
The one thing I did note was that there wasn't really much halfway with the central midfield.

Cresswell, at times, were urging them to push up in his support.

Then at other times, Harper was a long way back letting them pick up the play in the centre of the park.

Not a criticism on yesterday's show, Palace weren't good enough to take advantage... just something to be aware of.
 
I think he was by far our best summer signing! My only wish was that he didnt have his injury pre-season, IMO I think we may have been alot stronger in midfield and have finally got what w were looking for
 
Linz said:
The one thing I did note was that there wasn't really much halfway with the central midfield.

Cresswell, at times, were urging them to push up in his support.

Then at other times, Harper was a long way back letting them pick up the play in the centre of the park.

Not a criticism on yesterday's show, Palace weren't good enough to take advantage... just something to be aware of.
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That has been my criticism of the way we play under Blackwell. The midfield sits far too deep and it smacks a bit of that playing not to lose rather than playing to win mentality that Blackie has.
 
I wasn't at the game yesterday but the guy really impressed me against Peterborough, have we finally replaced Brownie?!

TB.
 
First time I've seen him. Couldn't take my eyes off him. Think it's the fro. Keep it up lad.
 
Williamson will never be a king, unless he wear's a Tony Currie wig!
 
He is the main reason why I'd like to see us play 4-3-3. With Monty doing the dirty work it would free up Willo and Harper to pull the strings and play the football I think we'd want to see.

However Quinny won't be dropped for Monty's come back after Saturdays match so it isn't going to happen any time soon. I would think we'll go 4-5-1 on Saturday with us being away.
 
I don't think we need Monty in the team with Willo playing.
 
Agree completley Bladesman.

Saturday was the best I have seen our central midfiled play in a lomg time. Granted that Palace were shite.

Was not expecting Williamson to be anything like as good as he has shown in his few games (and maybe he will get even better when fully fit?).

For me the main thing that helped was having 2 men in the middle of the park that have enough football brains (and skill) to put their foot on the ball, keep calm ann pick out a pass.

A lot of the Monty lovers will be saying it would be better with him, but to me it highlighted how much better we look as a side with players than can actually make a pass.
 
SBSP said:
A lot of the Monty lovers will be saying it would be better with him, but to me it highlighted how much better we look as a side with players than can actually make a pass.
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The thing is, Monty can.

You can't blame other players performing badly purely on Monty, I'd hazard a guess his pass completion ratio must be amongst the top in the team recently.

I'd leave Willo and Harper in though,
 
Foxy said:
The thing is, Monty can.

You can't blame other players performing badly purely on Monty, I'd hazard a guess his pass completion ratio must be amongst the top in the team recently.

I'd leave Willo and Harper in though,
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It's not just the ability to pass, it's the ability to keep the ball when there's no pass on, which Harper and Williamson both have the composure to do. They can keep the ball and pick somebody out when they become available which is vital in a team with as little movement off the ball as ours when Camara doesn't play. Monty on the other hand, would look at the floor, start running forward, probably straight into an opposition player who would relieve him of the ball.
 
Latters said:
It's not just the ability to pass, it's the ability to keep the ball when there's no pass on, which Harper and Williamson both have the composure to do. They can keep the ball and pick somebody out when they become available which is vital in a team with as little movement off the ball as ours when Camara doesn't play. Monty on the other hand, would look at the floor, start running forward, probably straight into an opposition player who would relieve him of the ball.
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Exactly.

Quality on the ball and that unfotunatly for Monty is something he lacks.
 



Bladesman said:
Exactly.

Quality on the ball and that unfotunatly for Monty is something he lacks.
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Again, remind me again where he's regularly shown this recently?

Certainly in comparison to his team-mates?
 
Tactically Blackwell is known to favour a four man midfield with three men holding the line and one pushing on.

Having said that having Williamson in the side balances things nicely. With the creative output of Jamie Ward, and the ability of Williamson in the centre aligned with the fetching and carrying of Monty and Harper we finally look to have got things working in the centre of the park.

On the subject of Monty, he has been at the Lane as a first-teamer for 9 years now, played 300+ first team games, and out of them i have seen the majority and his career has been defined by three stages

The first one was roughly 2000-2003 when he was a promising youngster who could play in the middle as well as the flanks, and looked like a decent product of the youth team, and made the breakthrough to being a first team regular a lot earlier than Tonge and Jagielka who were percieved to be better players at the time.

The second stage was roughly 2003-2006 when he seemed to lose his way, he tried to do stuff that was beyond his capabilities and he seemed to lose his way and soon became a figure of fun who used to inspire a lot of moans and groan whenever he appeared on the team sheet.

The third incarnation of Monty has come from 2006 until the present day, where he has become a midfield battler who can grafts away in the centre of park, understands what he can and can't do, and lets the more skilful players do the complicated stuff whilst he keeps it simple.

At the moment i see Monty as one of the senior pro's, now vastly experienced and knows what his limitations are and what his strengths are, and i would imagine that he is a player not many others like to go up against. Someone recently told me that there has been offers in for Monty in the past that were a lot more than you would think, and i to be quite honest looking at Monty and his strengths it probably doesn't suprise me.
 
The thing is, Monty can.
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No he can't! He's there to stop the opposition simple as, because he can't do the other stuff that makes a footballer a footballer, e.g. control a football, pass a football, run with a football etc. The fact that there's a Monty love in is down to the woeful tactics that we employ, the destroying game where we have no creativity and do nothing other than sit deep, invite the opposition on, then try to break up their more creative play and lump it in the hope that Henderson will do something with the hopeless ball. Those tactics suit the talentless and the inept, two areas where Monty excels.

You can't blame other players performing badly purely on Monty, I'd hazard a guess his pass completion ratio must be amongst the top in the team recently.
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I agree, you can blame it on the manager that picks him, and who persists with the destroying game as opposed to the creative game until forced to play otherwise as he was at the weekend. Harper is the "McCall", he can read the game and he can pick a pass, he's proved that over the years in a very good Reading side. Williamson played the "Brown" role in the tactics employed at the weekend. Too early to make rash comparisons, but persist with these two and who knows, we may learn to keep possession and pass again, which really would be an achievement.

Monty belongs to a non creative, non passing game, unfortunately one in which we've been relatively successful but remember, it's just as easy to stop the opposition playing by keeping the ball and using it well as opposed to simply breaking the play up then aimlessly lumping the ball when you do get it. I know which style I'd rather watch, and with the right playing staff and a manager who isn't afraid to play football who knows, we may actually get some success as opposed to being the nearly men and a team kown for nothing more than their battling qualities

:gallop:
 
Big Mart said:
No he can't! He's there to stop the opposition simple as, because he can't do the other stuff that makes a footballer a footballer, e.g. control a football, pass a football, run with a football etc. The fact that there's a Monty love in is down to the woeful tactics that we employ, the destroying game where we have no creativity and do nothing other than sit deep, invite the opposition on, then try to break up their more creative play and lump it in the hope that Henderson will do something with the hopeless ball. Those tactics suit the talentless and the inept, two areas where Monty excels.



I agree, you can blame it on the manager that picks him, and who persists with the destroying game as opposed to the creative game until forced to play otherwise as he was at the weekend. Harper is the "McCall", he can read the game and he can pick a pass, he's proved that over the years in a very good Reading side. Williamson played the "Brown" role in the tactics employed at the weekend. Too early to make rash comparisons, but persist with these two and who knows, we may learn to keep possession and pass again, which really would be an achievement.

Monty belongs to a non creative, non passing game, unfortunately one in which we've been relatively successful but remember, it's just as easy to stop the opposition playing by keeping the ball and using it well as opposed to simply breaking the play up then aimlessly lumping the ball when you do get it. I know which style I'd rather watch, and with the right playing staff and a manager who isn't afraid to play football who knows, we may actually get some success as opposed to being the nearly men and a team kown for nothing more than their battling qualities

:gallop:
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Sorry if this is nit picking, your post is relatively well thought out and typed, but i can't take any post seriously which states "unfortunately we've been relatively successful"
 
Sensiblade said:
another thread decend's into Monty bashing, woooooooo.
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Rather than Harper, Bunn, Quinn and Evans bashing aye? Or perhaps its just fans who pay good money just being abit critical of the players and highlighting a major flaw in our style of football? :)

BM is spot on and time has proved it as he made this point a number of times over the years regarding Monty.

Monty is I think one major reason that our style of football has never changed.
 
Bladesman said:
Rather than Harper, Bunn, Quinn and Evans bashing aye? Or perhaps its just fans who pay good money just being abit critical of the players and highlighting a major flaw in our style of football? :)

BM is spot on and time has proved it as he made this point a number of times over the years regarding Monty.

Monty is I think one major reason that our style of football has never changed.
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Sorry but I don't agree with you or BM here, he his far from one of the major reason why our style hasn't supposedly change, I believe these are excuses for people to have a bash at the player.

Obviously BM isn't a fan of Monty and quite clearly picks the same points we see that get thrown around for those same players you listed.

For one if these players are so inept and I mean it for all they wouldn't be were they are. They would have never made those big money contracts (big money to us on a normal salary), they would never be in the game for a start. For me Monty does the simple things well that’s what he's really good at, and that is the reason why teams have been interested in him.
He is one element to this team and our suggested style, he often cuts things out and tries to bring the game to a set pace and allow us to start a control possession, he lays it off to a player and then it bypasses the others as that said player then lofts it forward. You can't lambaste one player and claim he his the reason for everyone else having a bad day at the office, he has know bearing what so ever on any other player, they're the ones who lace their own boots up, they're the ones who have to do their job on the field, having said that he can have bad days at the office as they can too but for the most part he performs and does his job, that also the reason for him getting picked game after game.

I also honestly believe that he can fit very well into a team that plays good football too, good footballing sides don't have to be full of flair, they have to do the simple things well and I believe that’s what are the problems with United at times we mostly play bad when players are trying to do too much and don't know their limitations, if we had more people with a level head like Monty has shown then our team wouldn't have been so much of a long ball team that it has, because mass panic wouldn't creep onto the pitch so quickly and we wouldn't play the hot potatoes stuff that we do when we make mistakes, this comes down to the coaching staff though and I feel that’s been the main reason we have been playing badly. In the Panic to get things right we have looked too deeply into the situation of what’s being going wrong on the pitch, we have tried to do way too much to correct the mistakes and probably overloaded the team with information, when the best thing would have been to get the team reverting back to basics.

We all pay our money and we all gain our favourites we all have our opinions too and its right to voice them but I think at times people target sole players as being a single reason we play badly when there are 10 more on the field who can be playing equally as bad.

this has given me an idea for a thread.
 
I agree with BM (Mr. Wanker).

I can't argue that Monty isn't simple - he has proved that time and time again.

I think going back to basics is what our team needs at the moment. I'm not a coach but to me they just need to be put and the training pitch and shown to pass and move. It should be second nature to players at this level but we seem to fall down on this.

Monty has been playing at this level for a long time yet and he still has no footballing brain. Its not just his skill that cvauses a problem, he is constantly out of position. yes he does make some good interceptions but a lot of the time the opposition has been given the ball by him (shit pass, or just head down and run straight into them).

The basic of this is that with him in the side it reduces our ability to play football carrying someone, who can and will run all day for SUFC, but doe snot contribute anything else.

We looked so much better with two footballing midfielders who can do dirty work tracking back and breaking down the other side, but they also offer so much more.
 
SBSP said:
I agree with BM (Mr. Wanker).

I can't argue that Monty isn't simple - he has proved that time and time again.

I think going back to basics is what our team needs at the moment. I'm not a coach but to me they just need to be put and the training pitch and shown to pass and move. It should be second nature to players at this level but we seem to fall down on this.

Monty has been playing at this level for a long time yet and he still has no footballing brain. Its not just his skill that cvauses a problem, he is constantly out of position. yes he does make some good interceptions but a lot of the time the opposition has been given the ball by him (shit pass, or just head down and run straight into them).

The basic of this is that with him in the side it reduces our ability to play football carrying someone, who can and will run all day for SUFC, but doe snot contribute anything else.

We looked so much better with two footballing midfielders who can do dirty work tracking back and breaking down the other side, but they also offer so much more.
Click to expand...

We'll have to agree to disagree on all your point's.
Monty's like marmite, you love him or you hate him.
 
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