I had thought that after the Speed tragedy, people would think twice before posting personal abuse about our players.
I suppose it was too much to hope for.
To be fair, i dont think any of the above posts include any form of
personal abuse per say - certainly no mention of the guy himself, nor even any suggestion of even his character or effort, just an observation of his professional performance, which to be honest I can't really argue with.
If its one thing that hurts, its the reality of having to admit that some of your own teams' players are not good enough - fans always love to have the rose-tinted glasses on when it comes to their club, but our current predicament means we have had to face a stark reality about this club lately.
The fact is that (imho) Williams has not shown anything to suggest he is someone we should be splashing any more of our (limited) wage bill on after his loan ends - especially since we have 2 contracted players already at the club (albeit Taylor is still only on his way back to fitness), however, i do not think he has proven to be so much better than LJF (who i think has been decent, albeit prone to the odd "Nos" on occasions) to warrant us signing him permanently.
Today was just confirmation of this for me...against 4th tier players he still looked uneasy, constantly made the wrong decisions, turned back to face his own goal when unnecessary and sliced and scuffed clearences aplenty! He also failed to get any decent sort of service into the danger areas, which was quite dissapointing given his relative high position up the pitch and the number of times he had opportunity to do so.
In fairness to him though, he wasn't the only one lacking (today and all season). Again, imho, Lowton is just not living up to his potential and i seriously doubt his long term future as a full back - his defensive positioning and overall play is weak to say the least, i'd be tempted to hand him a position in midfield cos theres no doubt the kid has potential, ability, and forward play is good - he'd also add height / heading ability and strength to this area of the pitch whereas we currently have little evidence of this in the centre of the park.
Maguire is also not quite as good as i feel many think he is - he can and will become a really good defender, but i think he'd ideally need a stint out of the side, and let him learn from experience of watching (cant believe im about to say this but...) Collins (who i would say has been one our better and most consistent performers this term) alongside either Ertl or (god willing his injury clears) Morgs. His nack of hitting the long but aimless ball up field is not only annoying and unnecessary but puts us under pressure by losing possession, and his positioning and lack of pace to recover has also been exploited on more than one occassion this season and regularly see sides given a chance at least once every match or two.
Ched, im pleased to say has shown his quality (about time), its just a shame we shaln't get to enjoy it much longer beyond Jan - hope BT is ready to step up to the mantle soon!
Out of interest, what has happened to Tonne? Always looked comfortable and the lad seemed to have great ability - but since scoring in two games off the bench he's been seemingly AWOL from the first team, yet i cant recall any injury being mentioned!? Similarly i think Flynn has to be given a consistent go soon enough - he's had a hard start here, and has been average for the most part, but has really looked improved lately but every time he gets his opportunity from the bench (and impresses) he seems to wind up back on it for one reason or another.
Quinn also needs to rediscover his form of early season!!
UTB!!
