Tin hat ready !!!!!, is Doyle that bad ?

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ScoobBlade

ScoobBlade

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I know he isn't the greatest passer of a ball and his ability to influence a game is questionable but he's a workhorse allowing those around him to be creative ie. McDonald when he was here. Would macca have been the player he was without Doyle alongside to do the donkey work ?. 4 managers now have decided he's worth a start, 4 people with a bit more football knowledge than us as much as we beg to differ, isn't it time we cut him some slack
 

No, he's mistake prone, often anonymous and shows little leadership. Doyle will be forgotten a couple of years after he leaves. Monty (similar role and skill level) hasn't been because he had presence. And Trevor Hockey is still remembered fondly by our older supporters, and he spent most of his career with Brum.
 
Doyle like Porter seems to be the target of most abuse, but I don't think he's that bad. He's solid and whilst he's not a Michael brown he offers a lot all round. I'd be interested to see how a central pairing of McGinn/ Baxter and Coady would look, but I didn't think on sat he was the worst player. Hill, McMahon, Lappin and White all looked shitter than Doyle.

Cloughie likes him, so that's enough for me.
 
ScoobBlade said:
I know he isn't the greatest passer of a ball and his ability to influence a game is questionable but he's a workhorse allowing those around him to be creative ie. McDonald when he was here. Would macca have been the player he was without Doyle alongside to do the donkey work ?. 4 managers now have decided he's worth a start, 4 people with a bit more football knowledge than us as much as we beg to differ, isn't it time we cut him some slack
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I agree, Doyle is nothing like as bad as some make out. He works hard, actually does break up the opposition's play (rarely ours as he keeps things simple and ensures that we retain possession a lot more often than people give him credit for) and his passing and, occasionally, shooting aren't bad at all. Certainly better than his predecessor's.

I know I'm in the minority, but I really don't mind him. Whilst it is no major praise, he has been our best midfielder this season. I would say this could be McGinn, given the chance, but he has played too few games thus far to gain this quasi-accolade.

He deserves praise for being the only one with the bollocks to actually take some responsibility and have a shot from outside the box every once in a while rather than trying to walk the bastard thing in.
 
I think there may well be be plenty about who can do his job better, but none of them are currently employed by SUFC and until the JTW, NC's got to manage with the best we have. Then we find out whether we can afford any and then, if we can, whether they want to come here. Let's just give him a break till then can we?
 
ScoobBlade said:
I know he isn't the greatest passer of a ball and his ability to influence a game is questionable but he's a workhorse allowing those around him to be creative ie. McDonald when he was here. Would macca have been the player he was without Doyle alongside to do the donkey work ?. 4 managers now have decided he's worth a start, 4 people with a bit more football knowledge than us as much as we beg to differ, isn't it time we cut him some slack
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For me, one of our better players this season thus far, albeit not having a good game on Saturday.
 
Doyle the player and captain are a big disappointment at the moment. I have said a million times before that he needs to sit in front of the back 4 and not do the chasing for his midfield. By trying to lead by example he makes it worse because he is late to every tackle then late to get back in.

Doyle the motivator doesn't exist. He doesn't interact with players in play, while the ball is out. He doesn't go round motivating players and he certainly doesn't pick players up when they make mistakes. He is actually more likely to have a pop at them. When they finish warm up before the game he is the 1st back down the tunnel. The manager(s) doesn't bring him over for tactical changes.

I want the Doyle who played in the play off final against Huddersfield. He was just about perfect in that game, sat in front of the back 4 and keeping it simple.

Since then and the big name players have gone he has tried to pick up the mantle. I wish we could have the old Doyle back and then others, especially the youngsters might respect what he is trying to do.
 
Honest answer, no he's not that bad. He's an average third tier player.

I'll tell you the problem with Doyle, it's the role he's told to adopt and the things he is supposed to be good at that are his downfall. He's deployed as a combative, deep lying midfielder with the job of club captain. My problem with that is that he offers very little defensive presence and doesn't demonstrate enough in terms of leadership qualities in my opinion.

He can pass fine, is ok at winning the ball when he gets close enough, occasionally scores a decent goal. He's ok....would probably be alright if he had a Gerrard all action type next to him. In our position and with our lack of quality we need more than a steady "does a job" captain.

In short he's asked to perform above his capabilities in my view. Maybe not by the manager but by the supporters.
 
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The best compliment i can come up with is he's not as bad as Porter or Williams.
 
If we took away his captaincy, I don't think i'd mind him as a squad player that much. But that is all his performances warrant. My biggest problem with Doyle is how he applies himself on the pitch. I'm a big believer in 'leadership by example' so it's no wonder that under his leadership we've got a team of players rowing/pointing fingers at each other after every opposition attack that's fizzled out and every goal conceded.
 
Put Doyle next to a decent player who can get up and down the pitch and he'll do an adequate job. Put him next to another holding player and he's poor.

I actually don't mind him if he's got some class next to him but he can't be expected to do everything in there because he's simply not capable of it.
 
He's not a bad player but he is a poor player, he's not a workhorse anymore.
He goes missing in games and rarely does anything. He can link up play with simple passes from time to time but nothing ground breaking. His defensive work as seriously gone missing, probably one of the reasons why we are so poor at the back.
He has a good shot on him which we don't see enough, I'll stick my neck out and say he's one of our best long shot takers we have but he rarely takes shots.
Not a great captain but in the team we don't have many other options.
I don't hate him all the time just some of the time.
Just my take on him ;)
 

The game is all about partnerships all over the field, 2 central defenders, front 2 and lastly the central midfield pairing. Doyle has lacked a decent partner since the sale of McDonald and looks distinctly average right now but does an awful lot of what I call donkey work, fetching, carrying and giving the ball to more creative players. UTB!
 
According to our manager on RS last night he is just about the 1st on the team sheet - that is sad. Now compared to someone like Conor Coady he is class. Conor Coady being a lot younger has a lot to learn, trouble is it looks like he is not learning.
 
My main issues with Doyle are his lack of apparent communication and rallying on the pitch, his tendency to point the finger at others following his own mistakes and that he hides, effectively marking himself out of play at times.
 
I must say, I was expecting an influx of 'Doyle bashing' but the arguments made have been well put over, in a good manner, tin hat taken off !
 
I agree that Doyle has his failings but I'm not we've got anyone to do his job better, that's not to say Doyle is great at it but we lack better options. At times coady has looked the part but I'm not sure we need inexperience in the middle in the situation we're in
 
Wards said:
Put Doyle next to a decent player who can get up and down the pitch and he'll do an adequate job. Put him next to another holding player and he's poor.

I actually don't mind him if he's got some class next to him but he can't be expected to do everything in there because he's simply not capable of it.
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Agree with this, and I would like posters to slightly tweak focus from individual players to the mix in each department/position.

We no longer have any outstanding players, they're pretty much an average bunch who've been set up and lead poorly for a while.
 
ScoobBlade said:
I agree that Doyle has his failings but I'm not we've got anyone to do his job better, that's not to say Doyle is great at it but we lack better options. At times coady has looked the part but I'm not sure we need inexperience in the middle in the situation we're in
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Lappin is a genuine option. And it would have been interesting to see how McGinn would do if given the role of a holding playmaker.
 
Agree Bergs, I think a middle two of Lappin and McGinn has potential. Baxter should be more than good enough to hold down a place somewhere, but his form suggests otherwise. He has goals in him....somewhere!
 
I think the only way we will find out how good/bad/important Doyle is is if we try other centre mid partnerships.

Come on Nige, you say you're "assessing" the squad
 
Bergen Blade said:
Lappin is a genuine option. And it would have been interesting to see how McGinn would do if given the role of a holding playmaker.
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This begs the question, do we really need a holding midfielder? After all we're in Division 3 ...
 
Even the usual Doyle Bashers have managed a reasonable contribution to this thread (Silent apart ;)). I think its easy to lob the 'he's shit' label about, but when you hear a manager like Clough who's been about a bit, give Doyle the same praise our previous managers have (both as player, captain and person), then he surely isn't so bad is he?

As one or two have subscribed, another time another place, then maybe he wouldn't be getting a shirt, but in the role required, he is by far the man for the job currently.

Someone alluded to Trevor Hockey still being revered today by us older generation, well, TH did his job competently for roughly a season (though he was here longer) and was quickly moved on when he patently wasn't up to the job. Great management by Harris, recognising when a player had outlived his usefulness? Trevor was good at what he did for a short while but never overly impressed me beyond that vital period.
A lot of dreamy sentiment is spoken of the early 70's period, but short and sweet as it was, we never built on it to be sustainable and it was over in the blink of an eye :(
 
HoodedClaw said:
I think the only way we will find out how good/bad/important Doyle is is if we try other centre mid partnerships.

Come on Nige, you say you're "assessing" the squad
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Exactly. The guys played 1,621 consecutive league games now. We could be better off without him, or worse off, but we'll never fecking know!
 
When asked if Michael Doyle should be captain he did say that he was the best person for that role 'at the moment'
 

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