So what’s the deal with Sydney?

[yellowrider120 766]

13 hours ago, hogesar said:

Idah was one of the best goalscorers from the bench in the league.

That Knapper swapped him for an unfit, unsuitable punt mid-season during a play-off push is bordering on insanity. I claimed it at the start and there's been nothing to suggest that is changing.

Wagner also clearly doesn't fancy him. If you're going to keep Wagner which Knapper decided to do this season, why sign someone he isn't going to rate?

We hugely lack options from the bench which is mostly down to injury but also down to self inflicting January decisions.

Blimey! Agree with EVERY single word!

[repman 635]

16 hours ago, Gordon Bennett said:

The only conclusion I can come to us that Idah was very unhappy here and keeping him would have been detrimental to the player and the group.

SvH might end up being suitable for us under a different manager who I'm sure Knapoer has lined up already but in the current system I don't think he is. 

Wagner said something along those lines after Idah left if I recall correctly, about having players in who are committed to the cause and the like.

[king canary 7,633]

It is always an odd decision to loan a player in on a short term deal who is both unfit due to lack of game time and coming from a different league with a totally different style of football. You look at our rivals and their January loanees were generally playing in England or Scotland and thus didn't need an extended period of adjustment to make an impact. 

[hogesar 9,708]

10 minutes ago, king canary said:

It is always an odd decision to loan a player in on a short term deal who is both unfit due to lack of game time and coming from a different league with a totally different style of football. You look at our rivals and their January loanees were generally playing in England or Scotland and thus didn't need an extended period of adjustment to make an impact. 

Yes, and now our only real options away from our starting eleven is to bring on Fassnacht or Gibbs to try and change a game and neither are really game changers in any traditional sense.

[king canary 7,633]

1 minute ago, hogesar said:

Yes, and now our only real options away from our starting eleven is to bring on Fassnacht or Gibbs to try and change a game and neither are really game changers in any traditional sense.

I did think yesterday was a game where what we really needed was Rowe or Hernandez fit enough for 20 minutes off the bench. There was space in behind and when we actually got the ball to Sainz for him to run at the defence he worried them. Obviously I'd like SVD to be better but I'm not convinced Idah off the bench would have changed a great deal either. 

[repman 635]

1 minute ago, king canary said:

I did think yesterday was a game where what we really needed was Rowe or Hernandez fit enough for 20 minutes off the bench. There was space in behind and when we actually got the ball to Sainz for him to run at the defence he worried them. Obviously I'd like SVD to be better but I'm not convinced Idah off the bench would have changed a great deal either. 

i was disappointed that Wagner chose to do nothing in those last 10 minutes or so, I don't think anyone would've had any impact but I can't see what the hurt is. With Rowe and Hernandez out Welch is probably the best dribbler in the squad (bar Sainz who was on the pitch). He probably isn't ready for championship football week in week out, but at the end of the game when you're behind there's no harm in giving him a chance. Same goes for any player really.

[Harry53 209]

On 01/04/2024 at 15:03, S_81 said:

Or finally give Aboh a run out. 

I agree. As I hear he isn't encouraged to stay with us and hasn't signed a new contract. So as long as Sid is in front of him he will never get minutes on the pitch. At 60 minutes yesterday it was the ideal time to get Aboha on to show him we want him at the club,  but no,  we didn't rest Josh and we sure didn't show any commitment to Ken. 

So I agree with others,  why did we sign Sid when we have our own youngsters needing game time? 

Ken Aboha will leave just like all the good young players,  because we don't play them. 

[Harry53 209]

4 minutes ago, repman said:

i was disappointed that Wagner chose to do nothing in those last 10 minutes or so, I don't think anyone would've had any impact but I can't see what the hurt is. With Rowe and Hernandez out Welch is probably the best dribbler in the squad (bar Sainz who was on the pitch). He probably isn't ready for championship football week in week out, but at the end of the game when you're behind there's no harm in giving him a chance. Same goes for any player really.

I couldn't agree more. If a game is tight you would not bring on an academy player, but yesterday was again (like Rotherham) where Ken could have come on. 

Knapper believes in bringing through the young lads? Really? So far there is no evidence of this. 

[king canary 7,633]

18 minutes ago, repman said:

i was disappointed that Wagner chose to do nothing in those last 10 minutes or so, I don't think anyone would've had any impact but I can't see what the hurt is. With Rowe and Hernandez out Welch is probably the best dribbler in the squad (bar Sainz who was on the pitch). He probably isn't ready for championship football week in week out, but at the end of the game when you're behind there's no harm in giving him a chance. Same goes for any player really.

Yeah I was saying this at the time. 10 minutes left, we're not creating anything, players look tired- what is the harm in giving Aboh and Welch 10 minutes to see if fresh legs can make an impact. I'd get if we'd created even a couple of half decent chances and were worried about unsettling the balance but it clearly wasn't happening for us. 

[repman 635]

14 minutes ago, Harry53 said:

I couldn't agree more. If a game is tight you would not bring on an academy player, but yesterday was again (like Rotherham) where Ken could have come on. 

Knapper believes in bringing through the young lads? Really? So far there is no evidence of this. 

I think there's at least some evidence of him trying to make it easier right? 

At the end of the day the SD is not the manager, he doesn't pick the team. What he can do is build a squad that makes it more likely those young lads get opportunities. The example I always use is Webber's first summer here, though there are plenty through the years. In order to give Jamal Lewis the best shot possible of getting in the team, the only left back signing we made was James Husband. Had Lewis not got injured in pre-season he would've been first choice from the get go.

In January we let Hwang and Forshaw go and didn't bring in any replacements. Since then Aboh has been on the bench most weeks. Similarly Gibbs has had a few looks in his natural midfield position, which is something he hadn't had in the league at all this season. 

 

[hogesar 9,708]

1 hour ago, king canary said:

I did think yesterday was a game where what we really needed was Rowe or Hernandez fit enough for 20 minutes off the bench. There was space in behind and when we actually got the ball to Sainz for him to run at the defence he worried them. Obviously I'd like SVD to be better but I'm not convinced Idah off the bench would have changed a great deal either. 

Against Leicester's CB's you might be right but the problem is if we take off Sargent the opposition defence can immediately push up 10 yards and squeeze space. They'd physically dominate Welch and Aboh too so I think the view (rightly or wrongly) is they'd just get squeezed and we'd have no way out.

At least with Idah' presence it doesn't necessarily mean that. 

But yes even an Onel at least get's opposition thinking a little bit.