Credit to Fleming!

[a1canary 0]

I have to say, while i wasn''t as damning as some about the prospect of

a return to central defence for Craig Fleming, i was a little nervous.

But it though he was immense on Saturday. Really up for it, strong in

the tackle, quick to close down dangerous situations, and generally a

rock along side our Gaz with his new shaven headed hard man look! May

not be new, first time i''ve seen him in a while.

I''m not sure about their goal, i was at the back of the Barclay so i

didn''t get a good view. But it looked well soft from the moment they

got way too easily down our right hand side (Wright was nowhere) to the

way the ball made its way across the left hand side of the penalty area

to their scorer without so much as an interception or tackle, to the

way it slipped apologetically under Greeno.

After that though, they didn''t get a sniff.

WELL DONE FLEM, life in the old dog yet!!

[LinkNR9 0]

I have to second that, even though I think Fleming''s well past his sell-by date. On Saturday, he had a really good game - well done, Flem.

[sheded 0]

Flemmo has been slagged off by a lot of you  something rotten !   yet he`s always been one of our stalwarts  ,  I hope he never  visits this forum   .... 

[lucky green trainers 0]

shacks will have trouble getting back in if flem plays to that level each week.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Did you hear his post match interview? He is the best individual in the club in such situations aand that''s why is is Club Captain. He was witty, honest and determined. He deserves the chance to stay in the Club as he is a true pro and a great character.

[ZLF 271]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]Did you hear his post match interview? He is the best individual in the club in such situations and that''s why is is Club Captain. He was witty, honest and determined. He deserves the chance to stay in the Club as he is a true pro and a great character.[/quote]

 

He has been a truly loyal servant and I agree deserves to be part of the squad - he has taken on that role well from Iwan but with greater loyalty to the club and for that he gets my greatest respect.

 

OTBC

 

[a1canary 0]

come on guys, lets not start the "i always said he was great/crap"

thing going. otherwise as soon as he has a stinker a load of people

will be back slating him. fact is, he''s 34 and will have good games and

bad games. having been used less this season, he was obviously fresher

on saturday and was one of many contenders for man of the match and

deserved every credit. he showed that he can still do a good job for us

and that he can still give shackell something to think about should he

thinks he''s a shoe in when fit.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Craig Fleming - top profesional, happy at the club, wasnt at the top of his game earlier in the season and struggled in the premiership but its not as if most of the team showed they also were not premiership quality.

Lets not let another useful asset to the club just walk away like Edworthy Svenny and Malky - how we could have done with those 3 back now.

In fact i think he may have been our best right back all season!!!

[ZLF 271]

[quote user="a1canary"]come on guys, lets not start the "i always said he was great/crap" thing going. otherwise as soon as he has a stinker a load of people will be back slating him. fact is, he''s 34 and will have good games and bad games. having been used less this season, he was obviously fresher on saturday and was one of many contenders for man of the match and deserved every credit. he showed that he can still do a good job for us and that he can still give shackell something to think about should he thinks he''s a shoe in when fit.


[/quote]

 

I have always said that the bloke is a top pro who has given city 100% game in game out - sadly his performances for the last 18 months have not been up to his usual standards or up to the standards required to perform in the division we are in.  My criticisms have been focused on the manager for choosing to pick him while out of form.   My criticism directly at Flem have been the way he conducted himself as captain on field and pointing his now renowned finger of blame at other players when the error was his. That was noticeably absent on sat.

I maintain choosing Flem on sat was a poor choice on the managers part; but Flem performed well - Charlie should have been first choice but Flem gave his all as usual.

 

OTBC

[Hissing Sid 154]

Agreed, he did the business on Saturday. So what happens on Boxing Day, does he play in the centre with the Doc, or at right back instead of Colin with Shacks coming into the centre?

[Hissing Sid 154]

Oops. Best ignore that post about Shacks. Was under the impression he was playing for the ressies last night, just found out he did''nt  Doh!!

[Syteanric 1]

mate of mine lives accross the road from shacks... he''s apparently fit....

 as foir flemmo, the legs have gone and he''s not a 40 game a season man anymore, however he can still do a job for us, as was proven saturday, and im sure he will retire at the club into a coaching role.. the young''uns could certainly learn alot from him!

jas :)

[LinkNR9 0]

LG Trainers, you''ve hit the nail square on the head - if Flem played to that level each week, then he wouldn''t be castigated by some of us. However, he doesn''t have the level of consistency that he had a couple of years ago and has looked a liability over the past 12 months.  

[a1canary 0]

Zipper, how on earth can you say Flem was a poor choice on Saturday? Or

that Charlie "should have been first choice?" Do you have super natural

vision or something where you can see in to some parallel universe

where he played and it was 3-0?  Since when did you become so

irrational!?

There were a couple of occassions on Saturday when he shut the door on

some potentially dangerous situations for us and you can''t say for sure

that Charlie would have done the same. There were some very big boys in

that Southampton line up and in hindsight i absolutely think Flem was

the right choice when only he and Charlie were available. And he

deserves his place in the team against Sheff Utd too given that Shacks

is lacking match fitness and has been suffering a virus. I think

there''s an even stronger case for putting him ahead of Charlie for that

game.

I was a little nervous about him coming in against Walcott and if i was

manager i may not have put him in but i''m not manager and i''m not paid

to make that decision. I can''t believe you can still say after the game

that it was the wrong one!

[ZLF 271]

Flems actual performance on sat was good, not fine, not poor but good.  I am not criticising flems performance and have praised in several threads - it is not his performance I am questioning.

However the decision making of the manager led to him picking flem ahead of charlie for the left sided central defender was flawed.  Charlie consistently outperforms flem when paired, has greater experience at a higher level and most importantly is left footed - Worthy picking Flem ahead of charlie is where my problem is. 

Fortunately for the manager Flem gave his usual 100% effort & kept things tight which ensured that the managers error cost the club nothing.

OTBC