Naismith's got to go

[Matt Morriss 69]

[quote user="king canary"]Naismith and Jerome? Yeah I might agree with you.

Naismith and a better striker? I''ve got no doubt that is good enough.

I can see one or two obvious issues with this squad that need rectifying. Naismith isn''t one of them for me.[/quote]

Then we will just have to disagree as Naismith and Assombolonga for example I don''t see being the best possible scenario we could go with.

I don''t like Naismith central ahead of Wes. And I really can''t see how anyone can dispute this. 2 goals in his entire time here and how many assists? None? 1?

[Matt Morriss 69]

And on a separate note thought Mulumbu was excellent when he came on, Tettey on the other hand was a total mess. Terrible distribution and looks lost at times.

Do we really need a defensive midfielder in the game nowadays? I think the days of Keane and David Batty are gone and I''d rather see two midfielders that can pass and score. Dorrans and Howson for me. Its why O''Neill and Howson looked good, O''Neill can actually pass. Tettey just doesnt have a strong passing game, all he can do is get stuck in and break up play.

[Canary Wundaboy 1,358]

[quote user="Huckerbys Boots - Matt"]And on a separate note thought Mulumbu was excellent when he came on, Tettey on the other hand was a total mess. Terrible distribution and looks lost at times.

Do we really need a defensive midfielder in the game nowadays? I think the days of Keane and David Batty are gone and I''d rather see two midfielders that can pass and score. Dorrans and Howson for me. Its why O''Neill and Howson looked good, O''Neill can actually pass. Tettey just doesnt have a strong passing game, all he can do is get stuck in and break up play.[/quote]

We certainly don''t need to play 2.

[Matt Morriss 69]

No true but Jerome had to go off so what does AN do other than to bring on Morris.

[king canary 7,578]

We need a defensive midfielder as otherwise teams walk through us. I agree that Tettey was poor though, distribution was terrible. I think if he''d have been fit Dorrans would have been a useful option off the bench to put a foot on the ball.

[Indy_Bones 441]

[quote user="Huckerbys Boots - Matt"]Tettey just doesnt have a strong passing game, all he can do is get stuck in and break up play.[/quote]Is that why over the past few years he''s our most statistically accurate overall passer in the team (with Dorrans a close 2nd)?Yes, many of those passes will be more sideways or backwards, but his passing accuracy has NEVER been in question, and considering how we''re meant to have numerous attacking players with good vision and passing, why should Tettey be expected to do all the defensive hardwork and breaking up play he does AND take care of the attacking side as well??? We''re not Man Utd paying 100+ million for the likes of Pogba FFS!At least Tettey got stuck in there a few times yesterday and looked relatively composed, which was far better than Howson who had a totally anonymous game, Wes whose passing and creativity sadly left him for once, Naismith who looked frightened to shoot, Jerome who seemed like he was 40 not 30, and Brady who didn''t even look fit half the time!

[Horse Renoir 1]

Newsflash: We''re inconsistent.

This core of players have been under 3 different managers now. We''re heavily reliant on our central attacking midfielders who by nature are inconsistent as you have to be really on it to keep creating chances.

We''ll be up and down this year which is why I''m sticking with my prediction that we''ll finish in the play offs. We can give anyone in this league a thrashing if enough of our players are on form even if we can''t play well in every game so I think we''ll win the play offs again. We''ll be more like this year''s Hull than Burnley imo

[Katie Borkins 1]

Naismith was gash yesterday.

[hogesar 9,618]

I like how Matt keeps putting in the caveat that they will probably perform on tuesday. Like hes scared that they may have just had an off game.

Pretty sure Bristol are top of this league at the moment and full of confidence so if they perform then great!

[Jools 584]

[quote user="Katie Borkins"]Naismith was gash yesterday.[/quote]Because the entire team covered themselves in glory didn''t they? [:|]

[Katie Borkins 1]

.....and this thread is about Naismith.

[Jools 584]

[quote user="Katie Borkins"].....and this thread is about Naismith.[/quote]Give that man a cookie.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I''m increasingly torn on Naismith. I think he''s coming good and is worth persevering with but I don''t like the way Wes is being shunted out wide so we can accommodate Naismith centrally. Our only good spells yesterday came when Wes dropped deeper and more central. He''s wasted out wide.

[Donkey dangler 0]

If Sunderland were to make us a reasonable offer for Naismith, I would take the money and run!

[lharman7 39]

Very much starting to lose patience with Naismith. Didn''t have the best of games again and looked sluggish. The man needs a rocket up his back side. Or maybe warm the bench for a few weeks.

[lincoln canary (& Golden Coppel) 0]

[quote user="Donkey dangler"]If Sunderland were to make us a reasonable offer for Naismith, I would take the money and run![/quote]

And leave ourselves short on players? We''d be stupid to Sell him, or any player (including Brady), at this stage of the window. we need a couple of ins and no more outs, regardless of offers.

[Jacko 0]

There were a lot of sub par performances yesterday from too many players.

However, I''m finding myself more and more inclined to agree that I struggle to see the value of Naismith to us as a player. His linkup play is very sloppy (particularly in comparison to Hoolahan), he also doesn''t seem to compensate for this by bursting beyond Jerome that often to get into goalscoring position in and around the opposition penalty area. Surely a number 10 must contribute at least one of those things?

Considering that the whole balance of the team effectively has to be compromised to include him (i.e. Hoolahan on the left, which has never been satisfactory in the 8 years he''s been here) then you need to see a significant output from him to justify that. He''s simply not delivering it.

I''d much rather see Pritchard and Hoolahan share the workload in the central position for the whole season. Given the issues at Sunderland and the lack of depth in their squad it isn''t inconceivable that they''ll return with an offer, particularly if some panic sets in. We''d be well advised to take that money if offered it, particularly as it would free up wages of one of the top earners at the club.

[lake district canary 4,531]

I see this thread is going to re-appear every time we have a poor result.  While I don''t think he had a great game yesterday, I don''t think anyone else did either.  He was no more guilty of wayward passes than anyone else and had some good touches too.  The main isssue yesterday was one of control of midfield and up to the equalizer we had that. Once that sloppily defended goal had gone in, the opposition had their tails up and the whole of our team struggled, not just Naismith.If we had defended properly and won 1-0, he would have been instrumental in an excellent away win. The defence and covering midfielders are what cost us yesterday, not Naismith. 

[Indy 3,283]

If this had been Thompson or Murphy given these four games and performed like Naismith has, after his performances last season then everyone would be saying they will never make the grade!

As it''s an 8 million mistake we have to give him more time! Why he''s clearly either not good enough or as others said needs to get motivated to play for City.

We''re not short of players in that area so sell and use the money on the new striker.

[daly 500]

Who at the club thought Naismith was worth 8 million in the first place .

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

[quote user="Jacko"]There were a lot of sub par performances yesterday from too many players. However, I''m finding myself more and more inclined to agree that I struggle to see the value of Naismith to us as a player. His linkup play is very sloppy (particularly in comparison to Hoolahan), he also doesn''t seem to compensate for this by bursting beyond Jerome that often to get into goalscoring position in and around the opposition penalty area. Surely a number 10 must contribute at least one of those things? Considering that the whole balance of the team effectively has to be compromised to include him (i.e. Hoolahan on the left, which has never been satisfactory in the 8 years he''s been here) then you need to see a significant output from him to justify that. He''s simply not delivering it. I''d much rather see Pritchard and Hoolahan share the workload in the central position for the whole season. Given the issues at Sunderland and the lack of depth in their squad it isn''t inconceivable that they''ll return with an offer, particularly if some panic sets in. We''d be well advised to take that money if offered it, particularly as it would free up wages of one of the top earners at the club.[/quote]

 

This sums it up perfectly.  Others were sub-par but at least they put in a decent shift in their positions.  E.g. Klose was below his best, but you could still identify a lot of important contributions he made.  Naismith hardly contributed for long stretches.  Especially in the 2nd half, we were struggling to keep possession and pass through the midfield to create an attacking threat.  This is where I expected Naismith to contribute by being available and playing intelligent balls on, especially against lower quality opposition, but it''s just not happening.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

Impact sub at most for me.

Energy and nuisance value are his main assets, He''s no ball artist.

Rather have the £8m thanks and we have a good supply of replacements with Pritchard and Maddison lined up plus a decent little bevy of young wide players to call upon.

Keep Hoolahan in the centre and push Howson into a more forward role.

With Naismith, I can''t help but feel that there''s more to this player than we have seen. He was quite popular with Everton fans although not a regular, it is reported that Moyes is keen to have him back under his wing and our own manager chased him for a while before considering an £8m outlay appropriate for the player.

SN hasn''t lived up to all that hype by quite some way.

[havemyhowsonit 0]

He''s had 2 good games Liverpool and Blackburn other than that he''s being cr@p. Not good enough imo.

Needs to be benched but seems to have a love affair with Neil

[Jim Smith 2,314]

The problem is not so much Naismith himself, he is playing ok and certainly better than last season. He tends to be involved in a few decent moves in every game even if his impact is still not what you would want/expect from an £8m supposedly premier league quality player.

The problem is the balance of the side and the fact we seem to be shunting others around to accommodate him. Wes is the better player in better form and yet gets moved wide too often for my liking. Playing both Naismith and Wes and not wanting to drop Howson means little if any pace in midfield. Yesterday Naismith had faded badly in the second half yet we took off Mulumbu who was having a good game and along with Tettey had the measure of their midfield. From that point onwards we had less control of the game. It was in my view yet another poor substitution, partly due to the fact Neil is inept when it comes to subs but also partly due to his unwillingness to drop/take off Naismith.

[Fuzzar 1,702]

I too would be happy for Naismith to move on, especially if it expedited the arrival of a striker for the balance of the squad reasons given above. We also have Maddison in that position.

But Naismith was very much a Neil signing so he''ll have to admit a mea culpa if we''re to sell so soon after buying. If Sunderland are still interested perhaps they could dress it up as a best for all parties and just move on.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

I would suggest that, with the Moyes link, selling to Sunderland will be our only chance of getting our money back.

[Making Plans 936]

I was always under the impression that you played football standing on your feet. Naismith appears to think that spending most of the game on his ar*se is preferable.

[Indy 3,283]

When he is on his feet, he''s super quick when chasing the ref or one of our own players to voice his anger! Shit slow when he has the ball.

[Katie Borkins 1]

Naismith is gash.

[Samwam27 519]

I wouldn''t care if we only recouped half of Naysmith xfer. He looked awful last year, and only shown a few odd glimpses this year.

With such a plethora of midfielders, including Pritchard and Maddison waiting in wings he''s a luxury.

ANy resale + wages goes towards strikers which is the urgency for a long season ahead. 4 games in & there is no competetion for Jerome, no game changer, no plan B. Ship some dead weight out the door to free funds up