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pete

Now is time for Dowell if there is one

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There has been a clamouring on here for Dowell to replace Vrancic.  I wouldn't have considered that to be against Rotherham who would present a difficult opponent.  Mario again gave an example why Dowell should be considered again yesterday with wayward finishing.  Dowell in his brief cameos has not pulled up any trees and was woeful in his only recent start against Watford.  But the next fixture is against Birmingham perhaps weakest team in the division with Wednesday.  Dowell might just be given the nod in place of Mario for this game.  This seems to be perfect opportunity to give him 90 mins to see whether he is capable of creating, against Birmingham this should be an opportunity not to be missed.

If he can do it perhaps a further start at Wycombe to give him the start of a run so many believes he should be given.  If he doesn't perform we must start to look for a proper 10 which we shall need next season.  Yesterday can only have persuaded promotion is now nailed on.

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Can't see there being any unforced changes to the starting XI until we've got these 'easy' matches out the way and played Brentford. If we win those and avoid defeat to Brentford promotion will be pretty much nailed on. Perhaps that may change things.

I get the impression Dowell hasn't impressed Farke, even allowing for his injury, hence the lack of pitch time. To be fair he's not the only one, possibly Idah as well?

If promoted I can see a few going out on loan next season.

Edited by Capt. Pants

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I actually thought that Mario was pretty decent in last match, so dropping him might be harsh. Dowell has been really lacking any workrate on his appearances so far, so I'm bit afraid it would weaken our midfield in a game where we sure have hard battling opponent. 

Of course it might be only due to lack of match fitness, but I'd love to see one sub appearance first where he really looks like prepared to leave everything on the pitch. Would maybe rather see Idah starting with Pukki if any changes would be made.

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It would be very un-Farke-ish to inexplicably change the starting line up after back to back wins, we just know from experience that it generally only happens because of injury.

 

That said, with any new player i'm always desperate to see our newer and younger players do well when they arrive at the club, I think Dowell has had a really bad bit of luck picking up that injury and then having to come back into a side thats now top of the league. I was surprised that Vrancic played almost the full 90 on Saturday as I thought Farke was probably going to try to give him another 30 minutes, I think he hasn't managed to really get the managers attention with his cameos so far. 

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I don't think we can avoid the fact that Birmingham and Wycombe present just as big a threat as Brentford. Taking any team for granted isn't DFs style thank goodness. 

If we can beat Brum and Wycombe and even accept a draw against Brentford, we will be in great shape.

I too would love to see Dowell in his preferred position with us on the front foot against teams. But DF is loyal. At one time Vrancic couldn't get a game. Now he is a regular.

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Wouldnt suprise me if we see Dowell start on Tuesday.

Personally think Stiepermann will be back as our main No10 very soon. 

Dowells minutes work out at around 5 games played for us this season. 

Getting back from injury, getting match sharp and staying injury free seems hard for him, which is a shame because on paper Cantwell, Dowell & Buendia sounds very good.

 

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Zero chance of Dowell starting or indeed any changes (unless injuries / illness dictate otherwise). We should all know by now it's not the Farke way. This season (the run of games when we had many players out injured excepted) he has had a large squad yet fails to utilise it. Churlish to complain of course as the table confirms he knows best as far as results go. However, his reluctance to use his squad can (in my opinion) lead to problems with many players going months and months with barely a few minutes here and there of game time.

Take last season's appalling post restart run in. Pukki was shot and Drmic no better yet Idah was totally ignored! Both Hugill and Idah have had injuries this season but (again) Pukki is first choice in every single league game (almost) whether he's scoring or not. This selection will carry on until the end of the season and we will be absolutely no further forward in having other forwards to bring in should Pukki get injured / lose form. The whole charade will begin again in August!    

For 'Idah' read 'Dowell', same principle. MK suggests Stieperman will be back soon as our No 10. If that happens then Farke really has got serious selection judgement questions to answer!!  

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Will get an idea for how well Dowell is doing in general if Stiepermann jumps straight in ahead of him in a week or so.

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13 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

Can't see there being any unforced changes to the starting XI until we've got these 'easy' matches out the way and played Brentford. If we win those and avoid defeat to Brentford promotion will be pretty much nailed on. Perhaps that may change things.

I get the impression Dowell hasn't impressed Farke, even allowing for his injury, hence the lack of pitch time. To be fair he's not the only one, possibly Idah as well?

If promoted I can see a few going out on loan next season.

Not sure how the likes of Dowell and Idah can impress when out injured? Also they are young lads, so surely it is better to not rush them back and throw back into the physcalites of championship football? 

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Vrancic starts, no question.

Breaking down birmingham is going to be very, very difficult. I would rather have vrancic in the side in case we get a free kick in shooting distance.

This is going to be a very hard game, we are going to have to be patient, play our most astute football to break them down. They will happily have us play in front of them so moments of quality are needed to score. There were a few chances against rotherham we did not take. So now we need to take them

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1 hour ago, Basel_NCFC said:

Not sure how the likes of Dowell and Idah can impress when out injured? Also they are young lads, so surely it is better to not rush them back and throw back into the physcalites of championship football? 

Do it in training I guess. Sorensen managed to do it and claim a position at LB having not even played 1 minute on the pitch. 

I think people are using the injuries as an excuse. A lot goes on in training and unless you impress Farke in it, you have little chance.

Edited by Capt. Pants

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7 hours ago, hogesar said:

Will get an idea for how well Dowell is doing in general if Stiepermann jumps straight in ahead of him in a week or so.

Stiepermann, when on form, is a very effective player for our set up and at his best is imo probably first choice no 10. But as he has not been himself this season and been out for a few weeks, he might face the same problems as Dowell in getting back to being fully match fit.  Two seasons ago, though, he was excellent at picking out a key pass and good at putting away goals from loose balls on the edge of the area. We could do with that, although Vrancic is doing pretty well at that without yet finding his scoring boots - but that will surely come, as Vrancic is normally class with either foot. 

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54 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Do it in training I guess. Sorensen managed to do it and claim a position at LB having not even played 1 minute on the pitch. 

I think people are using the injuries as an excuse. A lot goes on in training and unless you impress Farke in it, you have little chance.

Yep they can impress in training or do a bit more with their time off the bench.

Players can't always expect the luxury of 6 or 7 games to get fully up to speed. 

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1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Stiepermann, when on form, is a very effective player for our set up and at his best is imo probably first choice no 10. But as he has not been himself this season and been out for a few weeks, he might face the same problems as Dowell in getting back to being fully match fit.  Two seasons ago, though, he was excellent at picking out a key pass and good at putting away goals from loose balls on the edge of the area. We could do with that, although Vrancic is doing pretty well at that without yet finding his scoring boots - but that will surely come, as Vrancic is normally class with either foot. 

For me Vrancic has been a 'weaker' (not weak) link in the past few games. I agree about Stiepermann who in particular is probably second only to Emi in terms of his ability to link up with Pukki.

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13 hours ago, yellowrider120 said:

Zero chance of Dowell starting or indeed any changes (unless injuries / illness dictate otherwise). We should all know by now it's not the Farke way. This season (the run of games when we had many players out injured excepted) he has had a large squad yet fails to utilise it. Churlish to complain of course as the table confirms he knows best as far as results go. However, his reluctance to use his squad can (in my opinion) lead to problems with many players going months and months with barely a few minutes here and there of game time.

Take last season's appalling post restart run in. Pukki was shot and Drmic no better yet Idah was totally ignored! Both Hugill and Idah have had injuries this season but (again) Pukki is first choice in every single league game (almost) whether he's scoring or not. This selection will carry on until the end of the season and we will be absolutely no further forward in having other forwards to bring in should Pukki get injured / lose form. The whole charade will begin again in August!    

For 'Idah' read 'Dowell', same principle. MK suggests Stieperman will be back soon as our No 10. If that happens then Farke really has got serious selection judgement questions to answer!!  

Farke has some exceptional managerial abilities that far outway any frailties but it's hard to argue with this.  Idah and Dowell and Hernandez need some real minutes but the rest of your last paragraph is spot on!      

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I think Farke's recent comments are definitely a push for Dowell, with Marco coming back to fitness soon I can see him dropping to 3rd choice behind him and Vrancic. Dowell needs to make things tick when he's on the pitch and he simply hasn't, you know Marco returning will have a much greater impact. I keep saying I feel we have Missed Marco and I can't wait for his return, I can see him keeping both Dowell and Vrancic out the side if he can rediscover his form of our last promotion push!

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2 minutes ago, Norfolk Mustard said:

I'm expecting to see lots of Steipermann as soon as he's available. He's very effective.

.... sadly, not on a football pitch he isn't!    We all see the game differently but Marco can't control a ball, keep it under pressure, press well, win tackles or aerial duels.... he's not quick or sharp, doesn't anticipate well enough and loses possession far too easily when players around have committed, leaving us under pressure.   He has an eye for a pass but his lack of control prevents its execution far too often so we only see an occasional contribution and that is simply not enough.     

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24 minutes ago, ged in the onion bag said:

.... sadly, not on a football pitch he isn't!    We all see the game differently but Marco can't control a ball, keep it under pressure, press well, win tackles or aerial duels.... he's not quick or sharp, doesn't anticipate well enough and loses possession far too easily when players around have committed, leaving us under pressure.   He has an eye for a pass but his lack of control prevents its execution far too often so we only see an occasional contribution and that is simply not enough.     

Last time we were in the Championship he scored 9 goals and got 6 assists. We currently have Vrancic in that position who is 3 and 4 respectively.

If Stiepermann gets fit, Farke will have him playing more often than not I suspect.

 

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2 hours ago, ged in the onion bag said:

.... sadly, not on a football pitch he isn't!    We all see the game differently but Marco can't control a ball, keep it under pressure, press well, win tackles or aerial duels.... he's not quick or sharp, doesn't anticipate well enough and loses possession far too easily when players around have committed, leaving us under pressure.   He has an eye for a pass but his lack of control prevents its execution far too often so we only see an occasional contribution and that is simply not enough.     

A painful but 100% correct summary.

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1 hour ago, hogesar said:

Last time we were in the Championship he scored 9 goals and got 6 assists. We currently have Vrancic in that position who is 3 and 4 respectively.

If Stiepermann gets fit, Farke will have him playing more often than not I suspect.

 

Sadly, I fear you may be correct. If so that will be a serious indictment of Farke's much hyped managerial 'genius'.   

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Has a bit of a first season-Vrancic about him for me. Not quite playing at the right pace, not used to his team mates and trying spectacular things that aren't quite coming off. I think he needs a long run of games before we start seeing what he can do. I think he'll come good for us in the future but right now I'd stick with Vrancic to not upset the balance of the team too much with Dowell coming on as a sub

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2 hours ago, hogesar said:

Last time we were in the Championship he scored 9 goals and got 6 assists. We currently have Vrancic in that position who is 3 and 4 respectively.

If Stiepermann gets fit, Farke will have him playing more often than not I suspect.

 

....even during that season, he wasn't very good technically, very frustrating to watch, yes he did contribute but he seriously over-achieved and fair play to him for those goals and assists.... then he had some experience of the EPL and got seriously found out, he rapidly lost all the confidence and belief he had developed.    

Have no doubt you are right he will come back in, but there is no hiding all those weaknesses in his game, he's not the answer and I would prefer the younger lads to get an opportunity.   Unfortunately none of Platcheta, Vrancic, Hernandez, Dowell, Steipermann, Martin or even McLean have found a way to contribute well in the forward 3 positions which is a worry especially if we go up.    

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33 minutes ago, yellowrider120 said:

Sadly, I fear you may be correct. If so that will be a serious indictment of Farke's much hyped managerial 'genius'.   

I don't think it would be. The guy scored nearly 10 goals and got 6 assists. None of our other number 10's look like getting the same.

Happy to go with Farke and the coaches over you on this one 😀

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20 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I don't think it would be. The guy scored nearly 10 goals and got 6 assists. None of our other number 10's look like getting the same.

Happy to go with Farke and the coaches over you on this one 😀

Yeah, yeah, yeah.................. but apart from all the goals and ALL the assists and all the linking up of the play and being an integral part of a team that stormed to the title - WHAT DID STIEPERMANN EVER DO FOR US THE LAST TIME WE WERE IN THIS DIVISION?

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22 minutes ago, ged in the onion bag said:

....even during that season, he wasn't very good technically, very frustrating to watch, yes he did contribute but he seriously over-achieved and fair play to him for those goals and assists.... then he had some experience of the EPL and got seriously found out, he rapidly lost all the confidence and belief he had developed.    

Have no doubt you are right he will come back in, but there is no hiding all those weaknesses in his game, he's not the answer and I would prefer the younger lads to get an opportunity.   Unfortunately none of Platcheta, Vrancic, Hernandez, Dowell, Steipermann, Martin or even McLean have found a way to contribute well in the forward 3 positions which is a worry especially if we go up.    

I get that he's a bit unconventional but at this level I think it often works in his favour - he's quite unpredictable and also, last time in the Championship was one of our best players in the air in terms of winning those balls, too.

I agree he struggled big time in the Premier League but so did a lot of our players.

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It's quite a hard position to play, I think. And, although maybe not always the most stylish player, Stiepi has shown that he is effective in this division.

 

I'd argue that we might have put up a greater fight in the Prem (would still have got relegated) had he been in the team more because of the understanding between him and the other attackers.

 

In my opinion it doesn't totally suit Vrancic but he's still creating chances, creates angles for others and he's getting chances on goal himself. It'd be more of a concern if he wasn't getting chances to score but we know he's a good finisher so he'll get there.

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I think we’re going to have issues next season if we go up, Hugill, Dowell certainly two who will struggle in the premiership judging from their performances to date. They certainly might step up, but not looking likely and once Pukki stopped scoring in the premiership our points dried up. We need a serious second striker who will get ten goals for us.

Secondly when we did have the three season run, we had some good creative players, number ten is a very important position in the premiership so I hope we spend some money there!

The loan market will b3 important next year and hopefully we might get Skipp for another year.

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1 hour ago, Indy said:

I think we’re going to have issues next season if we go up, Hugill, Dowell certainly two who will struggle in the premiership judging from their performances to date. They certainly might step up, but not looking likely and once Pukki stopped scoring in the premiership our points dried up. We need a serious second striker who will get ten goals for us.

Secondly when we did have the three season run, we had some good creative players, number ten is a very important position in the premiership so I hope we spend some money there!

The loan market will b3 important next year and hopefully we might get Skipp for another year.

Totally agree about Pukki and 'a serious second striker' but (unfortunately) whoever that guy is will simply kick his heels on the bench like Rhodes, Drmic, Idah, Hugill..................you see the point I'm making??). Although promotion this season will be a huge achievement for Farke, I can only see next season being a massive, crushing disappointment (again). Reason? His marked stubbornness to use his squad. A leopard cannot and does not change it's spots I'm afraid.   

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