The enigma that is Paul Coutts

[Russ]

When you can't even remember what a player looks like you know he must be shit.

 

[wizadry]

You need a player to keep the ball moving ,to start attacks, to link defence and attack ,someone who can control the ball and keep possession ,this is vital in a team who attack unless you go route one. People who just simply say no goals ,no assists don't understand the game ,you need players to play the way Adkins wants us to play. Baxter slowed us down and played percentage passes ,losing possession regularly and dangerously ( a hugely over rated footballer) If you take Coutts out of the side we lose any fluidity and outlets for the defenders to play the ball to. Have a look who Baptiste and Edgar always look for to either get the ball back to take a player out or move the ball on to the wide man or up front. What we don't get out of him is someone who can tackle and defend but that player would be beyond our reach in the 3rd division.

Coutts doesn't assist, doesn't score, can't tackle, can't or won't track runners, can't or won't play killer through balls no where near enough but he can pass a simple ball, now if we must pay someone thousands of pounds a week to only be able to do this when a midfielders job is more than this then we will be in this league at best for a long time and I do understand football.

Baxter is a tosspot but he is by far a better footballer than Coutts.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Adkins will be a very brave man to dump every single player out of contract - especially after the slight improvement in the past 6 games.

UTB

If he hasn't got the balls to do it then he's not the man for us.

 

[Ricky]

Its a good job Charlton didn't achieve it or people might be on here arguing a case against you?

It's a good job for Charlton they had a very good budget for the time.

Quality players "gel" quicker. Aside from his poor first 20 minutes as a sub, a player like Baptiste shows quality very early on.

We're going to be missing Edgar and Baptiste, and McEveley really needs to go, but even keeping the latter, we're restructuring the defence again whatever happens. We're short a couple of quality wingers. Coutts needs improving on, and Hammond shouldn't be made permanent.

There's really no shying away from the fact that we haven't been good enough this season by a long shot (not even making play-offs when automatic should be the goal) and with the loan players in the squad we're already at three signings needed before you consider upgrading the other players.

We can't escape the overhaul needed and we ought not be scared of it.

We should do as much as we can with the budget we've got but if we try and do everything in the summer we'll no doubt fail, as the budget won't be there for it and it'll be quantity over quality again. That's where the balancing act will come into it. I won't be at all surprised to see Coutts and Hammond starting the first game of next season. We should still be able to do enough with the budget to keep us in the top 4/5 until January though.

If we did have the budget then I'd expect to see everything addressed in the summer, and then like Wigan have done, we'd stay right in the mix even if the team didn't gel because the quality of the players would override that.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

It's a good job for Charlton they had a very good budget for the time.

So will SUFC in 2016/17 compared to most other teams in the 3rd division.

 

[Ricky]

So will SUFC in 2016/17 compared to most other teams in the 3rd division.

Compared to most, yes. But if all the noises are to be believed still not enough to dominate the division like the one we wasted on Clough last season when you add in the January splurge.

 

[SwissBlade]

Here's what you do with those players to improve midfield:

Coutts - drop him and try to loan him
Reed - loan him
Hammond - don't re sign him
Flynn - don't re sign him
Cuvelier - don't re sign him
Whiteman - keep and bring in gradually
Basham - keep and use in midfield/defence depending on who else is signed

Then you look for midfielders with one common denominator - goals and assists. PL loanees might be a decent bet as well as the summer frees.

Then we might have half a chance of going up.

Coutts - drop him and try to loan him
Reed - keep and bring in gradually
Hammond - don't re sign him
Flynn - Sign and Use as winger/ wing back
Cuvelier - don't re sign him
Whiteman - keep and bring in gradually
Basham - keep and use in midfield/defence depending on who else is signed

Agree on the point for goal scoring midfielders, we had one of those recently but he liked the space dust too much... ooops sorry, i mean got his drink spiked

i would look in League one and Championship, keep away from the PL as they'll be too expensive, too old, too young, too shite

 

[Blade59]

I wouldn't be surprised if coutts had a quality season next year.

I remember McDonalds first 6 months, our fans slated him, said he was shit, slow, useless. I remember being at one game and one fan just ruining him "get him off Wilson, he's fucking useless, lazy bastard"... Fast forward 5 months and he was our savior and if he had been fit for the play off final we would probably have won.

Thought Mcdonald showed his quality very early on. Whilst Coutts is good technically most of his passing is over 5 yards so our build up is still slow despite him moving the ball quickly.

 

[Finn Keane o' Balmaqueen]

I thought it said "The Enema................ "

 

[Bladesince59]

Honestly thought he was possibly the best player on the park today. He was busy, his control and first touch were first class, he played some nice balls and linked up well, but questions remain over his fitness and work rate and remarkably he is still yet to score for us.

I wouldn't knock Billy, but he's had a stinker today.

He's fucking shit. End of.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Whilst Coutts is good technically most of his passing is over 5 yards

Which is a point in his favour as most of his passes go backwards or sideways and we know Long can only find touch from a backpass

 

[sitwell]

Coutts doesn't assist, doesn't score, can't tackle, can't or won't track runners, can't or won't play killer through balls no where near enough but he can pass a simple ball, now if we must pay someone thousands of pounds a week to only be able to do this when a midfielders job is more than this then we will be in this league at best for a long time and I do understand football.

Baxter is a tosspot but he is by far a better footballer than Coutts.

You are so wrong ,Baxter never gets his head up , he plays hopeful passes which is why so many go astray ,he never runs with the ball ,he gets caught in possession in other words a liability. He will never play at a decent level because of his ball retention and quite simply he is massively over rated. If you want to resort to stats and facts ,which I think are always misleading btw ,the one that does matter is winning. Compare Coutts win record this season with Baxters ,maybe that will open your eyes. Coutts is a far far better footballer than Baxter.

 

[sitwell]

Thought Mcdonald showed his quality very early on. Whilst Coutts is good technically most of his passing is over 5 yards so our build up is still slow despite him moving the ball quickly.

That is how Adkins wants us to play though ,short passes through the midfield ,that is the way in the modern game. I actually think if we changed to a more expansive game this would benefit Coutts and he could then play longer balls to our forwards.

 

[PokerBlade]

It's a good job for Charlton they had a very good budget for the time.




We should do as much as we can with the budget we've got but if we try and do everything in the summer we'll no doubt fail, as the budget won't be there for it and it'll be quantity over quality again. That's where the balancing act will come into it. I won't be at all surprised to see Coutts and Hammond starting the first game of next season. We should still be able to do enough with the budget to keep us in the top 4/5 until January though.

If we did have the budget then I'd expect to see everything addressed in the summer, and then like Wigan have done, we'd stay right in the mix even if the team didn't gel because the quality of the players would override that.

Teams that are up there and challenging for the top spot can rarely afford to waste half a season until January. There's no reason a club of our resources can't put together a side worthy of challenging. We're perpetually waiting for the next window until we make the required purchases. It's about time we just went out and spent money on a few quality players. The state of our side isn't because we don't spend money, it's because we spend large amounts of money very poorly.

 

[PokerBlade]

If you want to resort to stats and facts ,which I think are always misleading btw

I think I get the general point you're trying to make, but this could be in a hall of fame of worst ever lines in a post.

 

[sitwell]

I think I get the general point you're trying to make, but this could be in a hall of fame of worst ever lines in a post.

McEveley and Long are up there in assists ,in other words a misleading stat and fact ,these opta stats are a right load of bollocks in my opinion ,people actually now quote at matches how many corners or how much possession to prove how good or shit we are. Its bollocks ,the only stat that counts are goals.

 

[INTERUNITED]

McEveley and Long are up there in assists ,in other words a misleading stat and fact ,these opta stats are a right load of bollocks in my opinion ,people actually now quote at matches how many corners or how much possession to prove how good or shit we are. Its bollocks ,the only stat that counts are goals.

Adams and (especially) Sharp are forwards who move a lot and try and find space. With this being the case, why is Coutts never finding them?? Probably because he always goes for the safe option of passing sideways and backwards. I'm no Baxter fan, but the team has/had a far higher chance of winning games with him in the side than Coutts.

 

[PokerBlade]

McEveley and Long are up there in assists ,in other words a misleading stat and fact ,these opta stats are a right load of bollocks in my opinion ,people actually now quote at matches how many corners or how much possession to prove how good or shit we are. Its bollocks ,the only stat that counts are goals.

Yeah, the damned lies and statistics argument. It's a legitimate point as to how much can be adequately portrayed in statistics and what information ought to be filtered out and in what contexts. We held huge amounts of possession under Weir and it was, without much dispute, the worst football within my lifetime.

But the Coutts problem here is what exactly is he for? He's not much of an attacking threat, and he's not a purely defensive midfielder like Hammond. He does seem okay technically, but he doesn't control a game or the flow of passing like McDonald would or, not that he did it much for us, Britton does.

Coutts seems like a player who fails to excel at anything in particular. He's just a mediocre midfielder whose saving grace is that he isn't awful at much either. We need better than to sit around and hope that a player who hasn't done it for us in well over a season will suddenly be a player who can command a team to the top of the table.

 

[Barney]

the only stat that counts are goals.

True, but then a bit further up you're ferociously defending a player that hasn't scored any. It's about time we had some goals coming from midfield again, it hasn't been in the case in such a long time. Coutts as he's proven isn't the man to provide that.

 

[sitwell]

Adams and (especially) Sharp are forwards who move a lot and try and find space. With this being the case, why is Coutts never finding them?? Probably because he always goes for the safe option of passing sideways and backwards. I'm no Baxter fan, but the team has/had a far higher chance of winning games with him in the side than Coutts.

Simply not true ,just look at this seasons results you cant change facts to suit your argument. Adams movement is poor and needs working on ,he lacks concentration and yesterday our forwards were marked out of the game.

 

[INTERUNITED]

Simply not true ,just look at this seasons results you cant change facts to suit your argument. Adams movement is poor and needs working on ,he lacks concentration and yesterday our forwards were marked out of the game.

He's a young lad learning the game, he's going to have plenty more off days. Rashford was poor for Man U yesterday, it happens to all young lads. As for results, Baxter played the majority of the last 2 seasons and we finished higher than this season when Coutts has been a regular. The reason the results have been better recently is down to having a leader at the back (Baptiste). We are more solid and organised. Coutts has ability don't get me wrong, but he's either too lazy or scared to take responsibility. No matter how much ability you have, you still have to put the work in.

 

[Deadbat]

Coutts has had a few decent games recently but sadly if we are serious about promotion next season he wont be near the first team. Neither will Hammond or Flynn. Yesterday against some more mobile and quicker players these three as they have much of the year looked like they were in quick sand. Last couple of games before this the midfield played well but 2 or 3 games is not enough. Prior to this for most of the season and yesterday we have been overran in this area.

Coutts is neat and tidy and has some skill but will always look for the easy pass. Some could say that is a strength but every single t he does this! Most of his passes are sideways and backwards and he rarely tries to play in the strikers or try cuter/through balls. He rarely runs with the ball and does not have pace/aggression to carry it and penetrate. He slows play down quite a lot and seems to want to take 3 or 4 touches to do something he could do in 1. Hammond and Flynn are guilty of this too. We do not move ball quick enough yesterday and have not all season. Hammond is woeful and worse than Coutts/Flynn and they are bang average. That says it all.

The reality is that for all the discussion about what we need in midfield much of the season we have not had any kind of creative influence in terms of goals or assists from this area. Couped with the fact we have got overran and lack of fitness and running is something we have never failed to address. Also having weak players who fall to the floor at merest of contact (Flynn, Scougall, Cuvelier) to compliment likes of Coutts, Hammond, Baxter means we got overrun and overpowered in this area sadly.

Unfortunately for all talk over neat and tidy players/link players (they do this Coutts/Hammond/Flynn sometimes but at such agonisingly slow pace meaning it is a waste of time), a good midfielder/midfield normally can either do the offensive stuff which is set up goals, score goals, dribble at players and carry it with pace or do the defensive side which is tackle/harry/close/press/intimidate and get amongst players so we recycle it.

I think most would agree that current three and those not playing (Reed, Baxter, Scougall, Cuvelier etc) have not been able to do any of the above in any kind of consistent way.

----

As for the comparison between Coutts and Baxter; neither are/were good enough. Both have some footballing ability (Baxter played some sublime balls in his time/Coutts toucn out of the sky yesterday showed his ability). However these do no compensate for so many failings.

One is slow, unfit, legs have gone who plays the easy ball all the time and rarely goes forward. He never scores and barely ever assists. He is neat and tidy but does not influence games at all in any real sense. The other is actually more capable and does take chances and at leats has tried to go forward with passes but is even lazier and also not mobile enough at this level. He does not track back and cannot commit to being in any kind of shape too play football regularly. That and he is a druggie. Alllegedly.

Both are crap. Both should not be here this time next year all being well.

We need three new midfielders next season (assuming formation continues) who actually offer some of key aforementioned qualities I discussed earlier. Look at the lads at Wigan and what they do in terms of contribution. Wildschutt, Power and Morsy. They are all fitter, quicker, more mobile and offer more goal threats than our alds. They link defence to attack by running with the ball or moving it forward at pace; not sideways after 6 or 7 touches like our lads to allowing teams to get everyone behind the ball.

 

[wizadry]

You are so wrong ,Baxter never gets his head up , he plays hopeful passes which is why so many go astray ,he never runs with the ball ,he gets caught in possession in other words a liability. He will never play at a decent level because of his ball retention and quite simply he is massively over rated. If you want to resort to stats and facts ,which I think are always misleading btw ,the one that does matter is winning. Compare Coutts win record this season with Baxters ,maybe that will open your eyes. Coutts is a far far better footballer than Baxter.

My eyes are open sitters and we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. Unfortunately, imo of course Coutts is never going to be quite good enough for us, he's one of a number of players we've had that could play at a decent standard at some point in his career but can't no longer. If it was a choice between Coutts and Hammond on the other hand I'd choose Coutts all day long but all that shows is how week our midfield is.

 

[Ricky]

Teams that are up there and challenging for the top spot can rarely afford to waste half a season until January. There's no reason a club of our resources can't put together a side worthy of challenging. We're perpetually waiting for the next window until we make the required purchases. It's about time we just went out and spent money on a few quality players. The state of our side isn't because we don't spend money, it's because we spend large amounts of money very poorly.

I agree with you, but I'm trying to be realistic. I don't expect us to be challenging for top spot, it seems unlikely - there are far too many question marks. 'Should' doesn't apply to Sheffield United. On paper we have the resources to dominate the division but we've proven to be a special case. We pick the wrong time to spend and the wrong manager to trust. Generally, we'll always naturally try to do things on the cheap. We'll never be bold enough to go out and hoover up all the talent like others have. I'm just trying to think based around the limitations the club set themselves.

 

[Blade58]

In summary:

A midfield that lacks pace
A midfield that lacks invention
A midfield that lacks goals
A midfield that must be consuming an out of proportion amount of our wage bill

In conclusion:

Some of them need to go

 

[coaxingstar71]

He's fucking shit. End of.

Quality argument.

 

[coaxingstar71]

That is how Adkins wants us to play though ,short passes through the midfield ,that is the way in the modern game. I actually think if we changed to a more expansive game this would benefit Coutts and he could then play longer balls to our forwards.

I agree, I can't understand why people don't get it - We've got 2 forwards in Che and Billy that obviously prefer the ball played into feet, Che has a bit of pace, although was no match for Barnsleys defenders yesterday as was proved when he tried to outrun them and was quite easily caught. Neither are lightning so it's no good trying to play through balls or over the top. Therefore Coutts is playing 5 and 10 yard balls to their feet as obviously instructed to do, so they could try give-and-goes and balls 'round the corner' (as we've seen to great effect recently) - unfortunately yesterday everything bounced off Billy, hence my earlier comment of if he'd had Coutts' control..... once again, our main problem is a lack of pace, all over pitch.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Coutts has had a few decent games recently but sadly if we are serious about promotion next season he wont be near the first team. Neither will Hammond or Flynn. Yesterday against some more mobile and quicker players these three as they have much of the year looked like they were in quick sand. Last couple of games before this the midfield played well but 2 or 3 games is not enough. Prior to this for most of the season and yesterday we have been overran in this area.

Coutts is neat and tidy and has some skill but will always look for the easy pass. Some could say that is a strength but every single t he does this! Most of his passes are sideways and backwards and he rarely tries to play in the strikers or try cuter/through balls. He rarely runs with the ball and does not have pace/aggression to carry it and penetrate. He slows play down quite a lot and seems to want to take 3 or 4 touches to do something he could do in 1. Hammond and Flynn are guilty of this too. We do not move ball quick enough yesterday and have not all season. Hammond is woeful and worse than Coutts/Flynn and they are bang average. That says it all.

The reality is that for all the discussion about what we need in midfield much of the season we have not had any kind of creative influence in terms of goals or assists from this area. Couped with the fact we have got overran and lack of fitness and running is something we have never failed to address. Also having weak players who fall to the floor at merest of contact (Flynn, Scougall, Cuvelier) to compliment likes of Coutts, Hammond, Baxter means we got overrun and overpowered in this area sadly.

Unfortunately for all talk over neat and tidy players/link players (they do this Coutts/Hammond/Flynn sometimes but at such agonisingly slow pace meaning it is a waste of time), a good midfielder/midfield normally can either do the offensive stuff which is set up goals, score goals, dribble at players and carry it with pace or do the defensive side which is tackle/harry/close/press/intimidate and get amongst players so we recycle it.

I think most would agree that current three and those not playing (Reed, Baxter, Scougall, Cuvelier etc) have not been able to do any of the above in any kind of consistent way.

----

As for the comparison between Coutts and Baxter; neither are/were good enough. Both have some footballing ability (Baxter played some sublime balls in his time/Coutts toucn out of the sky yesterday showed his ability). However these do no compensate for so many failings.

One is slow, unfit, legs have gone who plays the easy ball all the time and rarely goes forward. He never scores and barely ever assists. He is neat and tidy but does not influence games at all in any real sense. The other is actually more capable and does take chances and at leats has tried to go forward with passes but is even lazier and also not mobile enough at this level. He does not track back and cannot commit to being in any kind of shape too play football regularly. That and he is a druggie. Alllegedly.

Both are crap. Both should not be here this time next year all being well.

We need three new midfielders next season (assuming formation continues) who actually offer some of key aforementioned qualities I discussed earlier. Look at the lads at Wigan and what they do in terms of contribution. Wildschutt, Power and Morsy. They are all fitter, quicker, more mobile and offer more goal threats than our alds. They link defence to attack by running with the ball or moving it forward at pace; not sideways after 6 or 7 touches like our lads to allowing teams to get everyone behind the ball.

You must have missed the three times I watched Coutts take his balls, under pressure' from up in the air getting full control with the one touched as opposed to Adams who looked to be wearing octagonal boots, when he wasn't trying to kill the ball or pass it on with his shin.

 

[Ricky]

Che's pace... where has it gone?

He should be offering an option in behind the defence, he should be an outlet, but it seems he's afraid to be direct nowadays and he struggles to outrun average paced defenders. He's got better at receiving the ball to feet and holding it up, but he doesn't excel in any area technically and he'll have to improve a lot more in that regard to compensate for his loss of pace.

I don't know why he's got slower, my guess is that it's due to his body type and the way it's naturally developed having done conditioning work with a professional club for 18 months. But I suggest he works on losing a bit of weight and working with a running coach. His athleticism was his main asset and he needs to get it back.

 

[Deadbat]

You must have missed the three times I watched Coutts take his balls, under pressure' from up in the air getting full control with the one touched as opposed to Adams who looked to be wearing octagonal boots, when he wasn't trying to kill the ball or pass it on with his shin.

His control was excellent all game. I gave him man of the match. I remember the one brilliant take out of the sky and then he kicked a pass straight out soon after. As I sayd neat and tidy but does not affect the game where it really matters. He rarely plays a straight ball into the strikers; it is always square or backwards. For a midfielder to not score in 2 seasons is pathetic. He has barely even looked like scoring either. We have neat and tidy but ineffectual players like him and Flynn and we stare at another mid table season in League One.