Why won't Mr W change the Team?

[FatMan Fat 0]

Once again I am gonna bang the drum. Why is Iwan still being picked as a starter? Great bloke - yes!! Great servant for the Club - yes!! The striker who can lead us to the Premiership - NO!!
Iwan lost his edge last season and is just not good enough to be a starting striker. By all means have him on the bench and use as a power sub for the last 15 minutes, if necessary, but Svensson should be in the starting line up.
Against the Baggies I thought the whole team was up for it, but Mr W''s policy of sticking with an unchanged team is going to cost us a defeat before too long. We weren''t good enough to penetrate West Ham with Iwan up front, and we weren''t good enough against the Baggies with Iwan up front. It''s not as though playing a target man is the way to success anyway. Do Arsenal, MU, Chelsea etc play with a target man?
And what has McKenzie done to deserve only getting 5 minutes or so? In the games that he has played for us he has shown that he can snatch goals.
What is the point of buying new strikers and then not playing them, especially as we are only drawing our matches?
Oh, I forgot, Mr W is quite happy to sign players and then not play them...Neilson, Briggs, Heckingbottom.....:-(]

[MadDan 0]

It does look like Mr W was not let into Delia''s xmas shopping list so went out and bought two strikers only to find the saintly one turning up with the Huckerby all gift wrapped.

Hence we have an extra striker or two.

Could be that Mr W was more concerned with stopping the opposition from gaining any extra points on the basis that it stops anyone gaining on us and we are we by week heading towards promotion.

Others might suggest that WBA were going to knock seven bells out of our strike force and Roberts was the most robust one available. Or that like cricket''s nightwatchmen he was the one we could afford to be injured.

Was suprised to hear Megson''s references (radio tonight) to the high level of bonuses offered to Huckerby on us achieving promotion. Wonder what other conditions did we offer tosecure his services ?

[Anderz 0]

I agree with the sentiment of the posting, Roberts is not the player he was and I think NW is perhaps playing him a bit on his reputation and record for Norwich rather than his present ability and form.

Whilst I''d love to see Iwan get his 100 goals, I just can''t see him doing it and its this record that perhaps is fuelling NW to stick with him. I''d quite like to see the roles reversed of Svensson and Roberst, with Iwan coming on in the 65-70 minute when perhaps the battle on the pitch has already been won.

I have an awful lot of sympathy for Mackenzie, as I don''t think NW thought he''d be able to get both Huckerby and Mackenzie and so bought Mackenzie as an insurance against not signing Hucks. Now he''s realised that he can''t play both in the current system and cannot offer both a first team berth which any player wants at the club they play for. However, I don''t think NW is to blame for this, I think its just an unfortunate situation that has arisen through uncertainty, and hopefully both players will get a chance to shine at various points both this season and future seasons.

On the other hand, would anyone swap the position we are in for Roberts playing fewer games? I''m sure the togetherness of the squad would go along with the sentiment, that the results far outweigh the personal feelings of any individual at the club. The togetherness of the players is perhaps one of City''s strengths, so therefore it''d be an awful shame to lose that for the sake of allowing one player a divine right to play whilst ousting another player out of the first team reckoning.

Think my rambling comments have circum-navigated the point I was trying to make, and so can only apologise if this makes no coherant sense.

[ZLF 271]

I agree that Iwan was ineffective for the time he was on the pitch. However there is a lot of merit in sticking to a winning side and I can see why Worthy stuck with him. ... Once he started it was unlikelythat there will be any changes before half time.

However once it became clear that their 3 at the back was working well and Iwan was anonymous NW should have been taken off 10 mins into the second half. Giving Sven just 20 minutes (or Leon 5 mins) to pick up the pace of the game and make a difference is simply not on. Once again city looked better with Sven up front than Iwan - time for the Swede to start on Sunday.

OTBC

[shortfatb 0]

Iwan was great and is a good ambassador for the club, but last night he was even more leaden than usual with his footwork, failed to win most one on one heading opportunities and whilst some of his initial control in holding up the play looked okay, his distribution was hurried and poor. When Matt Svensson came on he looked positively youthful, won more ball than Iwan, rattled the centre backs and had shots on target. I think he could be so much more than Iwan if we gave him a game or two and a better foil for Huck.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

Ok if we didn''t play Roberts we''d play Svensson. Now I know Svensson had a great first few games for the club but since Roberts has been starting Svensson has done nothing for me. I know he hasn''t played consistantly for a couple of years now but he has been getting 25/30 minutes every game now for a few weeks and not done a lot. His hold up play is less than satisfactory at the moment and I''ve barely seen him shoot. I know he hasn''t been here long and I''m not going to judge him yet but I just feel that if we dropped Roberts we would be no better with Svensson.

[ZLF 271]

I have to disagree with you Dumbledelia - I felt that Iwan contributed less in 70 mins on the pitch than Sven did in 20 - his hold up play and link play was far superior and he should have had a penalty. He does need to improve his match fitness I have no doubt about that but so far he has impressed me more than Iwan this season. Without a doubt Sven deserves a place in the starting line up. (By the way have city conceeded a goal whilst Sven was on the pitch?)

However if you were to compare Sven to Crouch then I know who I would pefer!

OTBC

[Scotty 0]

Look at our position in the table people - while were there I''m afraid I can''t bring myself to have a go at his selections. That said Svennson look to be improving, and I personally would start him with Hucks on Sunday, and would have liked to have seen Mckenzie on sooner last night - but like I said whilst were top - carry on Nige your taking us to dream land.

[Intenso 0]

Spot on Zipper, last night we had a repeat of the West Ham match when the team really turned up a notch with the replacement of Roberts by Sven. There was far greater movement and threat from Sven than we''d seen all match from a lack lustre Roberts who was consistantly beaten in the air by the WBA defence. It''s no shame admitting your best days are over at 35 but it will be hard to take if we miss promotion because NW was hoping Roberts might score 100 goals for the club.