Leadership

[Mr Jenkins 0]

The biggest ingredient missing yesterday was anyone showing the slightest bit of leadership on the pitch.

One exception to this was Naismith and the rest of the players would do well to take a leaf out of his book.

He was crying out for us to press further up the field and doing this himself while trying to encourage others to do the same, but the rest of the guys didn''t seem to want to know. Defending starts way up the pitch, something we seem to have forgotten. I don''t know why our players sit deep, presumably that comes from lack of confidence in our defence.

It has been mentioned on several threads recently that there seems to be a lack of fitness generally within the squad, I don''t buy that but I do question why we were not more energetic yesterday in following Naismith ''s leadership.

[ZLF 271]

Been long said and completely concur.

Watch the wembley game again, only Tettey and Jerome show the required drive.

Naismith will hopefully add what has been missing since holts departure. Fingers Klose is listening and will control the back line

[YorkshirePudding 0]

Yes, not only did Russell Martin give away a goal, he then failed to motivate the team. Perhaps Klose or Naismith may be a better option, I guess Alex Neil would be afraid to change captains in fear of unsettling the squad.

[lake district canary 4,531]

It has been plain for some time that our team loses it''s focus too easily - and that needs to be rectified by the captain on the pitch.  Imo, the players of lesser teams get punch drunk at this level - too many goals against and the confidence starts to drain away.   The defenders get a little tentative...and before you know it, spaces appear and yet more shots on goal. I also believe this punch drunkness is why Ruddy''s form has dipped so much.....and I hope the same doesn''t happen to Rudd.  The way to shore it up is to have a captain that drives the team more.  I love Martin to bits, but I think his play has become too tentative and he must be aware of the level of criticism he gets in places like this........way over the top stuff, most of it, but it is there....and that has to be in the back of a player''s mind.   It is quite possible Martin win''t feature much if  Klose and Pinto become fixtures in the team, so the question then would be who is going to be that driving captain on the field.  O''Neil, maybe, but maybe Naismith would be the obvious choice imo and much more likely to be in the team every week. 

[Katie Borkins 1]

Our last true on-pitch leader was Grant Holt.  Snodgrass tried but didn''t have the same talismanic presence.  Johnson did his best in the Championship but we''ve lacked something this season.

[Salopian 1]

I''m not sure if you would call it part of leadership, but we seem to lack a defender who can concentrate on his own game but also look out for colleagues who are out of position. Someone must be ready to shout at the others to maintain shape and alertness. I hope that the experienced Klose will be able to do it, as I can''t see Bennett or Bassong, or any of the supposed fullbacks, doing it.

[Yellow Green Army 237]

We definitely need a player with a bit of drive, determination and dare I say it '' A Nasty side to them'' pushing the team forward. A player in the mould of Kevin Nolan, someone the opposition fans detest but you now fine well is going to gee up, motivate and spur his team mates on.

We do not have a player like that and have not done so since the mighty Mr Grant Holt. Oh I wish he was still playing for us!