Jump to content
oneBoro Forum

Recommended Posts

Not entirely sure why Leadbitter is actually getting criticism for this game alone, if that's the case. Seems like once the goals of last season dried up, people started questioning what he brings to the team. Thought he was no worse than anyone yesterday, did his job, barring the stupid yellow card. Can't really fault him for lack of creativity in a game that was almost completely void of it from the usual suspects.

 

I was just as annoyed by Clayton's card as Leadbitter's though as I didn't really see the man he brought down going anywhere at the time and he's closer to a 3-game suspension.

 

When Forshaw came into the team, don't get me wrong he barely put a foot wrong and if it's simply a case of Leadbitter vs. Forshaw, I can understand if that's the reason people want to see Forshaw with more of a chance. But Leadbitter's not done much wrong (barring games where the team were, as a whole, poor) to deserve being dropped out of the team and was very much part of the reason we kept keeping clean sheets from November to January. That partnership in midfield was being lauded non-stop.

 

I've been criticising Leadbitter for weeks, as have plenty of people on here. The guy has seemingly last all ability to pass it further than 2 feet.

 

I can only comment on what I've seen, as I always say. Over the past month, I've seen the Leeds, Fulham, Wolves, Charlton and Hull matches. He was injured for Wolves and was part of an all-round rubbish performance at The Valley. In the other 3, he's done nothing worth really complaining about IMO.

 

And this 'can't pass a ball further than 2 feet' thing doesn't seem to be backed up by looking up his statistics this season and I had a look back at a few matches recently to double check these weren't just great stats earlier in the season being levelled out by poor form. Him and Clayton are of course top of our overall passing charts. Looking at the long balls per 90 minutes though, Clayton leads with Leadbitter again right behind him. And that's accurate long balls per 90 including players from every position.

 

Clayton averages 10 long passes per 90, Leadbitter averages 9.1. Clayts gets 6.8 of those accurate with Leadbitter on 5.6. Forshaw is close behind, particularly if you limit those stats to only games that the 3 of them have played in what WhoScored.com considers as either DM or CM (so ruling out games where Forshaw played behind the striker). But what you're trying to say is Leadbitter can only pass short when, in fact, his short passes are apparently what let him down between the 3 possible choices for CM this season.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 776
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  •  

    44

  •  

    42

  •  

    39

  •  

    30

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

How many of those passes are sideways or backwards though?

 

Forshaw offers more penetration, which I'm sure we can all agree is what we are lacking at the minute

 

Bingo.

Link to post
Share on other sites

No No its not penetration, last season Tomlin was getting stick for coming deep to get the ball moving forward. Its still the same scenario, but now Ramirez has to do the same. unfortunately we have two distinct areas of play, attack and defence. We are a defensive side (that fact cannot be questioned) We have been successful with this strategy(that fact cannot be questioned) Our problem is not Leadbitter, its our strike force. I could go into detail, but come on the facts speak for themselves

Link to post
Share on other sites

How many of those passes are sideways or backwards though?

 

Forshaw offers more penetration, which I'm sure we can all agree is what we are lacking at the minute

 

The long balls are mostly forward-thinking from the games I checked out specific passes for, which were games outside the ones I seen myself. When I say forward-thinking, I mean for those which are going sideways are clearly being played into space on the wing. There's a couple where you can see he's played it across the pitch sideways but the ball was aimed at a full-back in space from one side of the pitch to another.

 

And you can't blame Leadbitter for picking out a man in the space on the wings if the winger/full-back themselves isn't able to pick out a body in the box. Most of his long passes are going to be that kind of ball, aiming for someone out wide.

 

You're also making it sound like Forshaw never passes sideways or backwards when he's played in that position too which just isn't true. In fact, when you look at the passes made in one of the matches that both were involved in (Cardiff at home, both played a full 90, barring the couple that De Sart came on for Leadbitter at the end), they're both in very similar positions, playing very similar passes. Both look to pass forward on occasion but mostly keep it simple.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Leadbitter was very poor again I thought, far too little creativity with the ball, plus he played some very risky passes which put us in bad positions on numerous occasions. When you are playing a team who are happy to sit with 10 men behind the ball at home then someone like Forshaw is essential. Leadbitter is a very good and influential captain though. Thats why he is always in the starting 11 and will continue to be.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Leadbitter was very poor again I thought, far too little creativity with the ball, plus he played some very risky passes which put us in bad positions on numerous occasions. When you are playing a team who are happy to sit with 10 men behind the ball at home then someone like Forshaw is essential. Leadbitter is a very good and influential captain though. Thats why he is always in the starting 11 and will continue to be.

 

Leadbitter instrumental in the build up to the goal and also ensures Nugent gets a free header.

 

[video=youtube]

Link to post
Share on other sites

Leadbitter was very poor again I thought, far too little creativity with the ball, plus he played some very risky passes which put us in bad positions on numerous occasions. When you are playing a team who are happy to sit with 10 men behind the ball at home then someone like Forshaw is essential. Leadbitter is a very good and influential captain though. Thats why he is always in the starting 11 and will continue to be.

 

As I said before, it seems strange to criticise Leadbitter over a lack of creativity when the usual suspects weren't able to express themselves creatively for the majority of the game. Looking at people like Adomah and honestly even Ramirez who were very well marshalled out of the game by a good defensive unit. If those 2 struggled to create a decent chance, how can we expect Leadbitter to? Or how do we openly criticise Leadbitter for a lack of creativity but not the other 2?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I see where you are coming from Wilson. I would criticise leadbitters distribution from the centre of the pitch, it's a much worse area to lose the ball. His passes in a game like that have to have less risk to them.

 

I wouldn't criticise his creativity though, that's not his primary job

Link to post
Share on other sites

Leadbitter was very poor again I thought, far too little creativity with the ball, plus he played some very risky passes which put us in bad positions on numerous occasions. When you are playing a team who are happy to sit with 10 men behind the ball at home then someone like Forshaw is essential. Leadbitter is a very good and influential captain though. Thats why he is always in the starting 11 and will continue to be.

 

As I said before, it seems strange to criticise Leadbitter over a lack of creativity when the usual suspects weren't able to express themselves creatively for the majority of the game. Looking at people like Adomah and honestly even Ramirez who were very well marshalled out of the game by a good defensive unit. If those 2 struggled to create a decent chance, how can we expect Leadbitter to? Or how do we openly criticise Leadbitter for a lack of creativity but not the other 2?

 

The problem is that we are too predictable when leadbitter plays, We play through the wings left to right and it's so easy to defend against so it's hard to criticise players for been marked out of the game or for not having much success when the other team knows what's coming, why shouldn't leadbitter be creative? He's a central midfielder whose job is to break up and and get us going forward what's the point in having a number 10 if your midfield doesn't utilise him? Modric plays in the same position but is he not creative? There's plenty of teams who play our system and have a creative midfield we have Forshaw who is exactly that so why not use him?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not entirely sure why Leadbitter is actually getting criticism for this game alone, if that's the case. Seems like once the goals of last season dried up, people started questioning what he brings to the team. Thought he was no worse than anyone yesterday, did his job, barring the stupid yellow card. Can't really fault him for lack of creativity in a game that was almost completely void of it from the usual suspects.

 

I was just as annoyed by Clayton's card as Leadbitter's though as I didn't really see the man he brought down going anywhere at the time and he's closer to a 3-game suspension.

 

When Forshaw came into the team, don't get me wrong he barely put a foot wrong and if it's simply a case of Leadbitter vs. Forshaw, I can understand if that's the reason people want to see Forshaw with more of a chance. But Leadbitter's not done much wrong (barring games where the team were, as a whole, poor) to deserve being dropped out of the team and was very much part of the reason we kept keeping clean sheets from November to January. That partnership in midfield was being lauded non-stop.

 

I've been criticising Leadbitter for weeks, as have plenty of people on here. The guy has seemingly lost all ability to pass it further than 2 feet.

 

you are at it again being negative. A good team has balance of all kinds of play and players. I need not add any more explanation.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Leadbitter was very poor again I thought, far too little creativity with the ball, plus he played some very risky passes which put us in bad positions on numerous occasions. When you are playing a team who are happy to sit with 10 men behind the ball at home then someone like Forshaw is essential. Leadbitter is a very good and influential captain though. Thats why he is always in the starting 11 and will continue to be.

 

As I said before, it seems strange to criticise Leadbitter over a lack of creativity when the usual suspects weren't able to express themselves creatively for the majority of the game. Looking at people like Adomah and honestly even Ramirez who were very well marshalled out of the game by a good defensive unit. If those 2 struggled to create a decent chance, how can we expect Leadbitter to? Or how do we openly criticise Leadbitter for a lack of creativity but not the other 2?

 

The problem is that we are too predictable when leadbitter plays, We play through the wings left to right and it's so easy to defend against so it's hard to criticise players for been marked out of the game or for not having much success when the other team knows what's coming, why shouldn't leadbitter be creative? He's a central midfielder whose job is to break up and and get us going forward what's the point in having a number 10 if your midfield doesn't utilise him? Modric plays in the same position but is he not creative? There's plenty of teams who play our system and have a creative midfield we have Forshaw who is exactly that so why not use him?

 

Pretty much what Garcy just said above. Forshaw fulfils the same role when he plays there and the example match where both were involved at home to Cardiff seems to prove that. The choice of putting him in the team in that position doesn't seem to be based on how creative he is, it's to play the same role as the other 2.

 

It's more about the system than it is the player and whilst we have struggled to break some teams down because of it, it also gave us the joint best defence in the division and the best clean sheet record in the club's history, which in turn has put us in the position we're in.

 

Modric is a bit of an out-there claim as well, surely? How can we expect any of our players to play like him? We don't have the luxury in terms of attacking talent to effectively throw caution to the wind the way Real do as a team either.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Look we were playing what I think are the best team in the league after us , especially Huddlestone who was excellent all night. Teams pretty much cancelled each other out so it is harsh to criticise Leadbitter in my book. At the end of the day we won with the team AK put on the pitch. I also agree that the creative players are the ones who should be criticised for a lack of creativity not the defensive midfielders.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Leadbitter was very poor again I thought, far too little creativity with the ball, plus he played some very risky passes which put us in bad positions on numerous occasions. When you are playing a team who are happy to sit with 10 men behind the ball at home then someone like Forshaw is essential. Leadbitter is a very good and influential captain though. Thats why he is always in the starting 11 and will continue to be.

 

As I said before, it seems strange to criticise Leadbitter over a lack of creativity when the usual suspects weren't able to express themselves creatively for the majority of the game. Looking at people like Adomah and honestly even Ramirez who were very well marshalled out of the game by a good defensive unit. If those 2 struggled to create a decent chance, how can we expect Leadbitter to? Or how do we openly criticise Leadbitter for a lack of creativity but not the other 2?

 

The problem is that we are too predictable when leadbitter plays, We play through the wings left to right and it's so easy to defend against so it's hard to criticise players for been marked out of the game or for not having much success when the other team knows what's coming, why shouldn't leadbitter be creative? He's a central midfielder whose job is to break up and and get us going forward what's the point in having a number 10 if your midfield doesn't utilise him? Modric plays in the same position but is he not creative? There's plenty of teams who play our system and have a creative midfield we have Forshaw who is exactly that so why not use him?

 

Pretty much what Garcy just said above. Forshaw fulfils the same role when he plays there and the example match where both were involved at home to Cardiff seems to prove that. The choice of putting him in the team in that position doesn't seem to be based on how creative he is, it's to play the same role as the other 2.

 

It's more about the system than it is the player and whilst we have struggled to break some teams down because of it, it also gave us the joint best defence in the division and the best clean sheet record in the club's history, which in turn has put us in the position we're in.

 

Modric is a bit of an out-there claim as well, surely? How can we expect any of our players to play like him? We don't have the luxury in terms of attacking talent to effectively throw caution to the wind the way Real do as a team either.

 

It isn't just the system though is it last season leadbitter was much more creative and his passing was more aggressive and attacking last season especially at home he let Clayton do the dirty work and he played with the ball more the number of times last season Clayton would win the ball and then automatically give it too grant and then he would look to get us going but this season he hasn't been anywhere near the player he was I think people are missing the point it's not the leadbitter is a bad player he just isn't playing the same as he was and it does hinder us especially going forward Forshaw every game I've seen him play has played with more attacking intent Rhodes and Nugent have benefited miles more when Forshaw has played.

 

I know hull was alas ways going to be a difficult game I don't think anyone's doubting that but we're talking about our ability not other teams we should especially at home be looking to go on the front foot? Look we won the game and that's all that matters but overall in the last few weeks we've struggled that's not just upto leadbitter he hasn't played every game but as a team we've played poorly but the Cardiff and wolves game where I think most people who watched it would agree miles more entertaining and we won so why's are we so afraid to play that way?

 

In regards to the modric comment I think I've been a bit misunderstood what I was trying to say that it doesn't matter at what level you play if you play that system you would have atleast one to look to go forward you Modric was just the example of a player playing in that position I used of course abilitys will be different but the job and the position is the same

 

This is only my opinion but when I've watched us this season sometimes we've been dire to watch mainly when Clayton and leadbitter have played together the defensive side I can't fault at all but I've enjoyed it much more when Forshaw has played

Link to post
Share on other sites
×
×
  • Create New...