Kevin Stewart

To be fair one of his injuries last season was due to a red card challenge (not given obvs, league 1 refs) so not much he can do about that.

Footballers aren’t ‘unreliable’ because get injured, it happens all the time at every club. Did we say Lavery was unreliable earlier because he did his hamstring? Is Ward unreliable because he has done his Achilles tendon?
 
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Raging_Bull said:
He's quality, not sure what his prognosis is but if we can get him back for the second half of the season it's a huge bonus.
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Definitely would be great news if that were to happen. We're extremely reliant on keeping Dougall and Wintle staying fit right now, so the sooner we can get him back the better. If either of the aforementioned players is out, then we literally have to play a defender in midfield. I suspect a centre mid will be our top priority in January.
 
BFC_53 said:
Definitely would be great news if that were to happen. We're extremely reliant on keeping Dougall and Wintle staying fit right now, so the sooner we can get him back the better. If either of the aforementioned players is out, then we literally have to play a defender in midfield. I suspect a centre mid will be our top priority in January.
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Chances are Virtue and Stewart are not far off. I suspect the defender you are speaking of is Connolly who has played many more games as a midfielder.
I know he has his critics but is still only just 24 and probably 3 to 4 years off his peak and was a good squad addition on a free
 
BFC_53 said:
Definitely would be great news if that were to happen. We're extremely reliant on keeping Dougall and Wintle staying fit right now, so the sooner we can get him back the better. If either of the aforementioned players is out, then we literally have to play a defender in midfield. I suspect a centre mid will be our top priority in January.
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Also, we technically might only have two games left with Wintle if Cardiff decide to interupt.
 
Stewart is class and I'm sure will play a big part in the 2nd half of the season. Admittedly his injury is taking longer to recover than we all thought but maybe they are being extra careful given we do have cover in that position.
 
To be honest he appeared in 11 for Liverpool so not too shabby and he has the same early stats as many young players. I hope we get to see him at his best.
 
is he really that good, and that much better han dougal and wintle, from the times ive seen him play hes been on a similar level with them, which might mean that i think that dougal and wintle are better than most think
 
tangysider said:
Chances are Virtue and Stewart are not far off. I suspect the defender you are speaking of is Connolly who has played many more games as a midfielder.
I know he has his critics but is still only just 24 and probably 3 to 4 years off his peak and was a good squad addition on a free
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I'm not in the game of slagging people off for the sake of it but as midfielder, I can see how Connolly has done a job but for the way we play, he's just not technically good enough.

I think he'd be excellent as a ball carrying centre half.

I would also agree that we miss Stewart. Sadly, I think the point is that Stewart could have played much higher were it not for his body. Which is a shame for us and most of all for him.

He has both the physicality and technical ability we really need. Connelly just doesn't. He's good enough defensively but he simply doesn't have the ball skills from what I've seen.
 
Pauls_Boutique said:
Yeah. 88 games in 3 seasons, what a let down......
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Yeah he had 3 years at Hull where he had a run of 78 games. But in a 10 year spell from 18 to 28 (his age now) taking the Hull games out he has played 61 games in 7 years! Many of them only as a sub.

Compare James Husband who has been in and out for various reasons and is a year younger and played 260ish games in the same spell.

Maxwell and Madine have played nearly 400 games in that spell. Keogh well over 400.

Drill down further over his career and in 10 separate seasons he has only made a handful of appearances. 27 is the most games in a season, twice whilst at Hull.

Don't get me wrong I'd love to see him come back injury free and have a good run, he's class without a doubt but I sadly can't see it.
 
Costero Poderoso said:
is he really that good, and that much better han dougal and wintle, from the times ive seen him play hes been on a similar level with them, which might mean that i think that dougal and wintle are better than most think
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If you watch him when he was playing last season he was an integral part of Critch's plans, the balls always went to him and it was his job to drive the ball forward and also to break up play, he is a really talented midfielder. He isn't the creative, attacking sort, which apart from Carey, we haven't had for some time. Wintle is the player who has taken on his role whilst he is out and has done the job really well, but if Stewart was fit (and that's a big if( then if Wintle stays then I think we would see Wintle and Stewart together in midfield and that would improve us, without doubt. That would leave Dougall on the bench, which is a good player to have to come on if needed ar to replace one of the other 2 from the start if one needs a rest.

I am hoping that the reason we aren't seeing him in the team at the moment is because they are doing everything they can to get him fully fit and is having treatments/ops that will mean he is not likely to get injured so much again. That would make sense as a long run in the tea will mean the team will improve.
 
Pauls_Boutique said:
To be fair one of his injuries last season was due to a red card challenge (not given obvs, league 1 refs) so not much he can do about that.

Footballers aren’t ‘unreliable’ because get injured, it happens all the time at every club. Did we say Lavery was unreliable earlier because he did his hamstring? Is Ward unreliable because he has done his Achilles tendon?
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No they do not have unreliable injury records, because they were one off injuries. How many times has Stewart come back from an injury only to get injured in his first game back and then be out for another prolonged period? At least three that I know of. His fitness record is totally unreliable, whether it's his fault or not. Blame does not come into this!
 
Stewart is class, Dougall and wintle are too, but IMO while they excel at breaking up opposition play and have excellent defensive positioning and discipline, Stewart for me has a playmaker/vision quality than they don’t have. You can’t have too much quality so I’d love him to get a run of fitness.
 
Stewart is our best midfielder by a distance I'd say. He was a big reason we got promoted last year. Unfortunately his body can't seem to take the demands and breaks down as is the case with some players ie Jack Wilshire to name one.
Id be happy to get 15/20 games out of him if we can by using him strategically but it's a worry when you look at his record. Fingers crossed cos he is top top quality.
 
Mikeyboy said:
118 league appearances in 8 seasons. An average of 14 per season so far. His 16 for Blackpool being the 2nd highest at any club in his career. Let’s hope his luck changes for the better.
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It’s not luck, he’s injury prone, some players just are. Unfortunate it may be but there’s no getting away from the number of matches and months he has missed throughout his career.
 
I agree that he's the most talented footballer we have in midfield. Unfortunately he has glass ankles which is a massive shame for him, he was fantastic for us last season before that nasty challenge against Oxford.
 
Seen people having a pop at him on Twitter last night for having a life outside of football 😂

‘Any chance of doing your day job?’ someone said….

What do you want him to do? Not invest in his future? Sit in a dark room and hide every day after 2/3 hours or whatever it is of rehab?
 
Fast Fourier Transformati said:
Oh do come on, of course he is.
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I don't think it's that outrageous of an opinion. On reliability Dougall is the man as Stewart has barely strung any appearances together for us, is he on his 4th injury/knock of the season already? Dougall came in and changed our fortunes last season, got us promoted with two peaches at Wembley and has consistently performed for us at now two different levels.

I think ability wise there ain't much between them, when fit Stewart is an excellent defensive midfielder but in the context of our midfield Im not a fan - he is EXTREMELY negative, often sitting in line with the centre halves. In a midfield that has creative, driving midfielders he'd be perfect (think the Adam, Southern, Vaughan dynamic), but our midfield lacks creativity massively, I actually see Stewart as a bit of a hinderance as he emphasises our achilles heel. Last year we began to excel when we put Dougall and Stewart behind 3 attacking/creative midfielders in a 5 man midfield, I think one of the worst things we've ever done is play Stewart and Dougall in a 4 4 2.

Dougall for me whilst certainly a defensive midfielder, at least has a forward instinct in him as small as it may be. He attempts the occasional forward ball and sits no where near as deep as Stewart, so in the context of our midfield I prefer him.

I think the main thing is Dougall can do what Stewart does (it's not often Dougall fails to break up play), but Stewart would never be able to do what Dougall sometimes can (think two goals at Wembley) - add in the fact you're never gonna even get half a season out of Stewart and it is a no brainer.
 
TangerinePeel said:
I don't think it's that outrageous of an opinion. On reliability Dougall is the man as Stewart has barely strung any appearances together for us, is he on his 4th injury/knock of the season already? Dougall came in and changed our fortunes last season, got us promoted with two peaches at Wembley and has consistently performed for us at now two different levels.

I think ability wise there ain't much between them, when fit Stewart is an excellent defensive midfielder but in the context of our midfield Im not a fan - he is EXTREMELY negative, often sitting in line with the centre halves. In a midfield that has creative, driving midfielders he'd be perfect (think the Adam, Southern, Vaughan dynamic), but our midfield lacks creativity massively, I actually see Stewart as a bit of a hinderance as he emphasises our achilles heel. Last year we began to excel when we put Dougall and Stewart behind 3 attacking/creative midfielders in a 5 man midfield, I think one of the worst things we've ever done is play Stewart and Dougall in a 4 4 2.

Dougall for me whilst certainly a defensive midfielder, at least has a forward instinct in him as small as it may be. He attempts the occasional forward ball and sits no where near as deep as Stewart, so in the context of our midfield I prefer him.

I think the main thing is Dougall can do what Stewart does (it's not often Dougall fails to break up play), but Stewart would never be able to do what Dougall sometimes can (think two goals at Wembley) - add in the fact you're never gonna even get half a season out of Stewart and it is a no brainer.
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That's fair enough TP, football is all about opinions and you make very good points. I also think Kenny Dougal is an excellent player, but not quite at the same level as Stewart in that DM role. You are right though, if we had a more creative midfielder he would be ideal to play behind him. it's just a shame he can't string a run of games together without getting injured. Anyway great post and Merry Xmas 👍
 
Notice he was getting dog's abuse on Twitter the other day for seemingly concentrating more on his property company than he was on his football!
 
I thought he was excellent on Saturday - without any disrespect (especially Kenny D) who have played their this season, it actually looked and felt like we had a midfield.
 
A really good player. I can see why he gets injured a lot. He's not the biggest lad and often he is to brave for his own good.He goes flying into the tackles.
When fit he is a massive asset.
 
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