Assessment without Spearing?

JJpool

JJpool

Well-known member
Seems like we did ok and were creating chances with Virtue.

Conceded a wonder goal and a deflected shot.

Not sure Spearing would have done that much more.

Thoughts from people who were there or watched?
 
Agreed, heads gone at the moment. Break will do him good. Spearing is finished.
 
Stanah said:
Only person we missed today was Heneghan, what an idiot he is.

I honestly think he is a liability, today he was made captain and then does that!

He let himself, Dunne, his teammates and all the travelling fans down.
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Bang on stanah
 
As much as I love Spearing’s leadership, commitment and work rate we need a replacement for him for next season as he is too slow and even his passing has let him down many times this season. I’d try Virtue for the remainder of the season and if that does not work we should look elsewhere for a pacey, tough tackling midfielder who could potentially be our new captain next season. We are lacking leaders at the moment!!
 
TangerineDan said:
As much as I love Spearing’s leadership, commitment and work rate we need a replacement for him for next season as he is too slow and even his passing has let him down many times this season. I’d try Virtue for the remainder of the season and if that does not work we should look elsewhere for a pacey, tough tackling midfielder who could potentially be our new captain next season. We are lacking leaders at the moment!!
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I agree that it's time to move on from Spearing.
Virtue was good yesterday but I think his place in the team will end up being as a move box to box midfielder using his energy to break the lines agent further forward. For that to work he needs quality passers around him with vision to pick him out when he's on the move.
I was so disappointed with Heneghan rash challenge yesterday as it meant that we had to change all our shape, Ronan had to come off (as did Madine) and we shifted to a back 4. The back 3 with McDonald and Feeney as wing backs, Virtue, DH and Ronan in the middle had given us balance and a far better shape than we have had since before Christmas.
 
It's easy to knock Virtue for not scoring yesterday but one thing I noticed was both him and Macdonald had efforts on goal and MVT made 2 good chances with his runs.

It seemed as if we were more of a threat from a wider range of players.

I'm not dissing spearing but I can't remember the last serious effort on goal he had.

I really like Virtue and think he could be very important player if we can get (as said above) the right players with him.
 
Virtue was everywhere yesterday, great energy. Not sure he is a direct replacement for Spearing though. I thought that was Guy's role. Team looked far better balanced yesterday and Callum Mac cleared one off the line too. Just such a waste that Grayson moved away from this system, which suits our players.
 
If we agreed the 3-5-2 is a formation that suited us then with current personnel I would have

Maxwell
Moore. Edwards. Husband
Howe. McDonald
Dewsberry-Hall
Virtue. Ronan
Gnado. Fonz


I believe Howe would give us more going forward than Turton but would also be better defensively than Feeney. McDonald or Bola on left, I'd go with McDonald as he is ours and we need to think of the future.
DH is composed, covers and has the ability to dictate play from that position ( it really is one we need to get someone in for) virtue and Ronan give energy to the midfield and can both break forward and make a run off the ball or see a pass.
Up front Gnando or Madine, I went for Gnando as he is in better form at the moment and Fonz to give us a bit more pace when he can hurt defences, this could be a fit Kiakia.
 
Like that Stanah and akin to my thoughts with what we have available.
We haven’t seen Teddy play yet but time to try him out with next season in mind (likewise CMac on the left).
Edwards is no better or worse than Henighan down the centre. I like Husband at LCB.
Gnando or Madine should be interchangeable and not played together (remember England trying to play Gerrard and Lampard together for years).
Ward like Scannell doesn’t seem to be able to get over his injuries and be the player he would have been.
Oh for a DJ, Dicko,Parker type of pacy striker to play on the last man. That was one glaring error in the Jan window. Bola seems unnecessary with options we have, but a quick ST was needed. I know we had Hardie but he needed time away to build confidence as he is doing now.
 
I am only judging Howe on the two Reading games against us, I do acknowledge though this was against a lopsided Blackpool and he enjoyed masses of freedom with no left side in place for us, he did exploit this well though.
Edwards is an old style CB, big, strong and safe. His distribution is poor but is this position he should give it short to players around him, he seems to understand his limitations, Grayson never did. Grayson played him on the right side and expected him to play big diagonals and pick out long passes to wingers and to be mobile enough to cover for Feeney in defence who is poor,, this has never been a strength. Heneghan is a mistake waiting to happen and thinks he's a footballing centre half, he is continually the wrong side of the attacker and for a big guy he is out muscled be strong strikers like on Tuesday or at Tranmere.
I do agree on the need for more pace upfront as as much as I love Fonz we do need the type mentioned to play off the big man.
 
Fonz looks dangerous either out wide or as an attacking midfielder but he just isn’t a finisher.
How many managers have we had that have put him at CF in countless formation variants and still he seems incapable of scoring 10 goals a season
 
Totally agree with his finishing.
He's an enigma, we all see a player but what is he?
When he's played deeper I see a lack of end product and he can easily disappear (like KiaKia does)
When we get a striker he is a squad player for me.
 
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