| Midfield 23:04 - Apr 17 with 4811 views | quad |
Dozzell doesn't ever score or assist and is lightweight.
Bishop looks good in patches but flatters to deceive and rarely scores or assists. Also lightweight and injury prone.
Downes has a poor disciplinary record and gets silly bookings / sendings off for petty things. Also rarely scores or assists. Too immature in my opinion to be captain.
So why do so many ITFC fans seem to defend them no matter what and think that Paul Cook should keep them for next season? If we are not scoring or creating chances what use are any of these players going to be to us?
Should there be an argument for getting rid of all of them?
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| Midfield on 10:34 - Apr 18 with 538 views | jayessess |
| Midfield on 10:16 - Apr 18 by skinnybob72 |
Dozzell frequently gets into a shooting position 20-25 yards out - and then never actually takes a shot. He continually tries to thread cute passes into the box which never seem to come off.
Downes is playing like a petulant child at times perhaps as a result of not getting a move when Palace were sniffing around.
Edwards doesn't seem to be able to cross the ball anymore, hits the first man more often than not, and he doesn't seem to have the pace to get beyond the opposition either.
Town are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league - a massive part of that is down to a complete lack of chances being created for the strikers - who as a result are lucky if they have 10 goals between them. If there was one area that needs improved it's the midfield. |
I definitely think our centre midfielders could do a lot better, but I struggle to see why they're mainly responsible for us being bad as an attacking unit.
They're playing behind attacking players whose don't hold the ball up, link play well, make good decisions in attacking areas, turn back on themselves when attacking and don't have great movement. You could swap Dozzell for peak Andrea Pirlo and I still don't think we'd be a fearsome attacking machine.
Twice yesterday the midfielders worked the ball well to get Stephen Ward into the box down the left. Both times he showed zero composure, never looked up, never committed a defender and played a pass with 0% of success. And he's the most experienced player at the club, he's supposed to be the cold-blooded, seen-it-all, know-how, old pro! |  |
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| Midfield on 11:02 - Apr 18 with 522 views | moscow2000 |
| Midfield on 10:16 - Apr 18 by skinnybob72 |
Dozzell frequently gets into a shooting position 20-25 yards out - and then never actually takes a shot. He continually tries to thread cute passes into the box which never seem to come off.
Downes is playing like a petulant child at times perhaps as a result of not getting a move when Palace were sniffing around.
Edwards doesn't seem to be able to cross the ball anymore, hits the first man more often than not, and he doesn't seem to have the pace to get beyond the opposition either.
Town are one of the lowest scoring teams in the league - a massive part of that is down to a complete lack of chances being created for the strikers - who as a result are lucky if they have 10 goals between them. If there was one area that needs improved it's the midfield. |
I didn’t watch the whole match yesterday as I didn’t get home in time but I did listen to it all on Suffolk.
Watched the 10 minute highlights this morning and I’ve got to be honest Edwards might have started the season well for us but my god he’s an awful footballer
We had a great opportunity yesterday when the ball fell to Edwards on his left foot, he should have smashed it straight away but had to bring it back to his right foot and his defending is terrible.
I thought Bennetts was poor as well yesterday giving away possession in dangerous areas and again his shooting and crossing is woeful but he can certainly beat a player with ease.
Downes was very quiet but expect it’s because he’s playing deeper to allow for the rest of the midfield to get forward
Bishop & Dozzell show the odd glimpse of something but as said previously are too lightweight and too busy admiring themselves.
I think the only one to keep would be Downes unless the other 4 who played yesterday realise that if you don’t put the effort and desire in, their careers will just come to a standstill |  | | |
| Midfield on 11:02 - Apr 18 with 520 views | jayessess |
| Midfield on 09:03 - Apr 18 by pointofblue |
Our youngsters are over-rated yet we’re going to play Nolan there? I’m hoping he’s going to be one of those who is let go, not given another chance after failing to deliver here over three seasons. |
On Nolan, a lot said about how "powderpuff" Bishop and Dozzell are, but Nolan's defensive contribution stats this season are woeful:
Tackles/90
Downes 2.6
Dozzell 1.6
Bishop 1.1
NOLAN 0.7
Interceptions/90
Dozzell 1.7
Downes 1.5
Bishop 0.6
NOLAN 0.6
Clearances/90
Dozzell 0.8
Bishop 0.7
Downes 0.3
NOLAN 0.3
Dribbled Past
Downes 0.4
Dozzell 0.5
NOLAN 0.5
Bishop 0.6
You're more or less carrying him for his offensive contributions. | |
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| Midfield on 12:15 - Apr 18 with 482 views | quad |
I started the thread specifically about Downes, Bishop and Dozzell because those are the 3 midfielders in the squad rated the most highly amongst the fans.
Seems like generally most fans want to keep Downes and then opinion is divided on whether Bishop and Dozzell are worth persisting with or not. Which is fair enough.
I don't really care about the likes of Edwards and Bennetts as nobody seems to rate them and I very much doubt whether anyone would care less if they were shown the door.
I'm a bit on the fence regarding Norwood. If he stayed injury free and was given the service I'm sure that he could score a lot of goals. Unfortunately he is always getting injured and he doesn't seem to have a very professional attitude (putting it mildly). | | | |
| Midfield on 12:23 - Apr 18 with 469 views | monty_radio |
| Midfield on 09:19 - Apr 18 by jayessess |
Is the argument not just patience? Bishop and Dozzell are 21-year-olds who are still developing, they aren't the finished article and they're already amongst our better players. If we aren't prepared to give them time to develop, what's the point of having an academy?
The reality is we're only very occasionally going to produce academy kids who are going to dominate adult football matches as soon as they come in. Even the ones who eventually make it as pros are going to take time and they're going to peak from 23/24 onwards, not at 21.
For me the real trouble is that our more experienced players take so little of the load.
(I can't offer much defence of Bishop, who is at his peak years and despite his obvious abilities still struggles to use them in ways that impact games. He should be leading us at this point and isn't) |
Bishop is 25 in July. | |
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| Midfield on 12:36 - Apr 18 with 460 views | jayessess |
| Midfield on 12:23 - Apr 18 by monty_radio |
Bishop is 25 in July. |
Yes, that's what I'm addressing in the bit at the end in brackets. [Post edited 18 Apr 2021 12:36]
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| Midfield on 12:45 - Apr 18 with 447 views | SE1blue |
I want to see how they perform now that we have a 'proper' manager. Someone who plays them to their strengths and recognises what their true attributes are. I don't think we can really judge them on the Lambert era personally.
If we can buy some players who can score when given an opportunity, I think their confidence will grow and you'll see more of their true talents.
All that said, all three need to seriously raise their games and show what people have been defending them for. I don't expect promotion next season due to the level of changes needed but i do hope to see players fulfilling their true potential if given a second chance. |  |
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| Midfield on 12:54 - Apr 18 with 436 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
They are all good players with potential. However, none of them has fulfilled that potential this season. Stick any one of them into a team that is doing well and I think they would shine.
The question is whether we can put the right players around them to make them perform. I would want Downes to stay because the disciplinary side can soon be improved. Dozzell has as bad a disciplinary record and cannot tackle. He needs to learn to do that. Ultimately, I would be a little disappointed if Downes was not here next season but totally ambivalent to whether the other two are.
Any of our current players who stay will need to perform a lot better than this season or should not be in the first team squad. |  |
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