Liam Kelly (4 Viewers)

[Evo1883]

As silly as it sounds it looks like the club have a big job on in replacing Kelly either when his legs start going or he moves on /retires.
Its amazing how much we change as a team when he's not there.

I dont think I've ever truly appreciated just what he is to our team..
The evidence suggests he's pretty much our main man because we can't seem to do without him very well at all

 

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[larry_david]

Can't wait for him back

 

[Harry_Walker]

Proof is in the pudding. He is instrumental to our team

 

[cc84cov]

He’s out with a new issue with his toe last I heard off a robins interview

 

[no_loyalty]

Isn’t he supposed to be back in training next week? we need him back in the team ASAP, if he can stay injury free for the rest of the season we will have a real good chance of staying up.

 

[Saddlebrains]

Said for years hes our best player by a mile

 

[steve101]

He just has the knack to read the game very well and get into the right positions. Not always appreciated the same as attacking midfielders but so crucial in enabling those attacking midfielders to attack.

 

[christonabike]

He is the cog in the engine that slows the game and speeds it up when needed. We are clueless when he isn’t there. The fella from Leicester gets involved but doesn’t have the vision he is always mopping up balls etc not dictating play and giving a killer pass.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

So why have we signed Matty James?

 

[Jamesimus]

The fella from Leicester gets involved but doesn’t have the vision he is always mopping up balls etc not dictating play and giving a killer pass.

Now I love Liam Kelly, but he certainly isn't our important player because of his vision or ability to give a killer pass

 

[Magwitch]

So why have we signed Matty James?

Perhaps because Kelly is injured, no real idea about when he is due back listening to Mark Robins a groin injury has turned into a toe injury. He is a vital cog for us but does miss a lot of games, out for the first three months this season as he was last and out again since early January I agree though him missing have cost us.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

Perhaps because Kelly is injured, no real idea about when he is due back listening to Mark Robins a groin injury has turned into a toe injury. He is a vital cog for us but does miss a lot of games, out for the first three months this season as he was last and out again since early January I agree him missing has cost us though.

So why did we sign Sheaf?

 

[larry_david]

Kelly has just turned 31 so we need to look for the future.

But what is clear is Kelly is currently essential for the present

 

[Frostie]

So why did we sign Sheaf?

To play alongside Hamer & Kelly.
It's only on here that it was decided that Sheaf was Kelly's replacement for some reason despite being a completely different kind of player.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

To play alongside Hamer & Kelly.
It's only on here that it was decided that Sheaf was Kelly's replacement for some reason despite being a completely different kind of player.

Sheaf, Hamer and Kelly in a midfield 3 was never the intention. Why would we go into a season with the intention of changing our formation?

 

[Jamesimus]

Sheaf, Hamer and Kelly in a midfield 3 was never the intention. Why would we go into a season with the intention of changing our formation?

"Whoooah we've got Sheaf and Hamer, whoooah Kelly in the middle." Of course it was the intention.

 

[Frostie]

Sheaf, Hamer and Kelly in a midfield 3 was never the intention. Why would we go into a season with the intention of changing our formation?

 

[stevefloyd]

When Kelly was eventually put back in the team by Robins our performances picked up and we started climbing the table, he gets injured and we satrted sliding the table and our performances are slowly dropping. Sheaf, I know he is quite young but has too many mistakes in him and most of them are potentially catastrophic to the team, giving the ball away in dangerous places, if he could cut them out of his game he is a decent player but atm we definitely need Kelly back...he's even started scoring, having said that Hamers passing has been quite poor of late too

 

[shmmeee]

When Kelly was eventually put back in the team by Robins our performances picked up and we started climbing the table, he gets injured and we satrted sliding the table and our performances are slowly dropping. Sheaf, I know he is quite young but has too many mistakes in him and most of them are potentially catastrophic to the team, giving the ball away in dangerous places, if he could cut them out of his game he is a decent player but atm we definitely need Kelly back...he's even started scoring, having said that Hamers passing has been quite poor of late too

James, Hamer, Dabo, Biamou, and Hyam (repeatedly) have all made mistakes as bad as anything Shef has done off the top of my head. They get let off with it because fans haven’t decided that’s a thing they do.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

View attachment 18709

Which means nothing? How long did it take for all 3 to feature together? Even then it was when we changed to a back 4 which of course was not the intention going into the season.

If Robins signed Sheaf with the intention of playing him left of a midfield 3, then he must have lost the plot.

 

[Frostie]

Which means nothing? How long did it take for all 3 to feature together? Even then it was when we changed to a back 4 which of course was not the intention going into the season.

If Robins signed Sheaf with the intention of playing him left of a midfield 3, then he must have lost the plot.

It's to give us options. Do you think we should only have 2 central midfielders in the squad?
The point is he was never to replace Kelly but supplement him - that narrative was just created by fans.

 

[stevefloyd]

James, Hamer, Dabo, Biamou, and Hyam (repeatedly) have all made mistakes as bad as anything Shef has done off the top of my head. They get let off with it because fans haven’t decided that’s a thing they do.

Absolutely but Sheaf is usually at least 2 or 3 every game, I am not trying to slate him because I quite like him and he is still naive in terms of first team football and at times he is great but he seems to have lapses of concentration at times and dwells on the ball or does a crazy pass which makes him look worse than what he actually is, also agree on Hyam who gets stuck in 2 minds and usually chooses the wrong option

 

[shmmeee]

Absolutely but Sheaf is usually at least 2 or 3 every game, I am not trying to slate him because I quite like him and he is still naive in terms of first team football and at times he is great but he seems to have lapses of concentration at times and dwells on the ball or does a crazy pass which makes him look worse than what he actually is

That’s simply not true. He has maybe one bad pass per game at absolute worst. Overall his ball retention is among the best in the squad. He’s improved significantly from his first few games at this level, as have all our players.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

It's to give us options. Do you think we should only have 2 central midfielders in the squad?
The point is he was never to replace Kelly but supplement him - that narrative was just created by fans.

Ah options. We now have Sheaf, Kelly, Hamer, James and Eccles as options for our two sitting midfielders.

Only O’Hare and Allen are adequate in attacking midfield. We have 0 options out wide. This is exactly the point of questioning James’ signing.

Glad we agree that Kelly, Hamer and Sheaf were not intended to start together though.

 

[stevefloyd]

That’s simply not true. He has maybe one bad pass per game at absolute worst. Overall his ball retention is among the best in the squad. He’s improved significantly from his first few games at this level, as have all our players.

Yes you are probably right maybe 2 to 3 was a little off I should have said sometimes he has 2 to 3 bad passes/dwells but as I said I do like him and he is certainly one of our better passers of the ball

 

[Frostie]

Ah options. We now have Sheaf, Kelly, Hamer, James and Eccles as options for our two sitting midfielders.

Only O’Hare and Allen are adequate in attacking midfield. We have 0 options out wide. This is exactly the point of questioning James’ signing.

Glad we agree that Kelly, Hamer and Sheaf were not intended to start together though.

Options to change system etc. Christ, we're lambasted for not having a Plan B as it is. When you build a squad you don't just have one XI & one formation in mind.

Why are you bemoaning lack of wingers if in your own words "Why would we go into a season with the intention of changing our formation?"
Make your mind up.

On your last point, James, Hamer & Sheaf were all starting together until Sheaf got injured were they not?

 

[Saddlebrains]

My frustration with Hamer is his constant want to do the hollywood pass instead of a simple round the corner

 

[Deleted member 11652]

Options to change system etc. Christ, we're lambasted for not having a Plan B as it is. When you build a squad you don't just have one XI & one formation in mind.

Why are you bemoaning lack of wingers if in your own words "Why would we go into a season with the intention of changing our formation?"
Make your mind up.

On your last point, James, Hamer & Sheaf were all starting together until Sheaf got injured were they not?

Which is exactly my point. We didn’t need more options in holding midfield. How many formations need 3 holding midfielders? We could get away with 1.

We have less options going forward and our focus should have been there.

You can’t believe we need all these options in holding midfield rather than more options further up the pitch?

They were and like I said, it was never the intention going into the season. The only reason they were playing together is because we were so lacking in attacking midfield that we had to.

 

[steve101]

Sheaf has shown he has a lot of qualities. I could see how he would be able to dictate games in a lower division where he is given more time. What gets him in to trouble on occasions I think is down to decision making in dangerous areas. More experienced or better players know what they will do with the ball before they have received it. Kelly picks up the ball frequently in these areas and knows what he is going to do, which usually involves one touch and passing it off. Matty James does this very well too. You could argue that Hamer is too quick with his decision making. He would benefit from slowing things down on occasions and making the percentage pass. Both Kelly and James can change the tempo because of their positional awareness and their experience. Hopefully Sheaf will improve this. Training alongside Kelly and James will hopefully help him.

 

[Frostie]

Which is exactly my point. We didn’t need more options in holding midfield. How many formations need 3 holding midfielders? We could get away with 1.

We have less options going forward and our focus should have been there.

You can’t believe we need all these options in holding midfield rather than more options further up the pitch?

They were and like I said, it was never the intention going into the season. The only reason they were playing together is because we were so lacking in attacking midfield that we had to.

I absolutely do believe we need those options yes else we'd be currently looking at Shipley starting as a CDM. We haven't spent fees on Sheaf (yet) & he clearly improves us as a squad, his signing is a bit of a coup.

In hindsight yes, we do need more quality in Attacking Midfield but going into the season we were hoping to have; Shipley, Allen, Hilßner, Jones, Jobello all competing for 1 or 2 spots (remember MR openly stated he'd like to play Walker & Godden together in certain instances). Obviously that's not all worked out as planned but I can understand the thinking.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

I absolutely do believe we need those options yes else we'd be currently looking at Shipley starting as a CDM. We haven't spent fees on Sheaf (yet) & he clearly improves us as a squad, his signing is a bit of a coup.

In hindsight yes, we do need more quality in Attacking Midfield but going into the season we were hoping to have; Shipley, Allen, Hilßner, Jones, Jobello all competing for 1 or 2 spots (remember MR openly stated he'd like to play Walker & Godden together in certain instances). Obviously that's not all worked out as planned but I can understand the thinking.

It’s not hindsight. We had these issues before January and they should have been addressed.

 

[Frostie]

It’s not hindsight. We had these issues before January and they should have been addressed.

You're saying we should have signed an Attacking Midfielder rather than Sheaf, that was in the summer.

Your original point re: signing James is a fairer one. I still think it was the right thing to do but would have loved an additional option in Attacking Midfield too yes. Perhaps a suitable player wasn't available/affordable bearing in mind injuries meant we desperately needed a striker too. You disagree & wouldn't have signed James, fair enough, all about opinions I just think we'd get absolutely dominated in Midfield without him, he's been Man of the Match in most games he's played.

 

[Deleted member 11652]

You're saying we should have signed an Attacking Midfielder rather than Sheaf, that was in the summer.

Your original point re: signing James is a fairer one. I still think it was the right thing to do but would have loved an additional option in Attacking Midfield too yes. Perhaps a suitable player wasn't available/affordable bearing in mind injuries meant we desperately needed a striker too. You disagree & wouldn't have signed James, fair enough, all about opinions I just think we'd get absolutely dominated in Midfield without him, he's been Man of the Match in most games he's played.

I have never said that. I think Sheaf is a good signing. We needed Sheaf in the summer absoluteky

I agree James is a good player but results have not improved since he joined. I disagree that we’d have been dominated in midfield without him. We could have played Hamer and Sheaf in all but 1 of those games anyway.

I don’t believe there were not options further forward for the wages we have spent on James and Gyokeres. We were also willing to spend a fee on a left back and let him remain at his parent club. I fear we had more pressing issues that will cost us.

Also, we didn’t desperately need a striker. In fact, the one we signed isn’t deemed good enough to get a game instead of Max so atm that signing is looking like more poor January business.

 

[Magwitch]

Options to change system etc. Christ, we're lambasted for not having a Plan B as it is. When you build a squad you don't just have one XI & one formation in mind.

Why are you bemoaning lack of wingers if in your own words "Why would we go into a season with the intention of changing our formation?"
Make your mind up.

On your last point, James, Hamer & Sheaf were all starting together until Sheaf got injured were they not?

I suggest we have been juggling with plan B for weeks most of our plan A options have been on the treatment table.

 

[larry_david]

My frustration with Hamer is his constant want to do the hollywood pass instead of a simple round the corner

This is spot on. Trys to do too much every time. Count next match how many blind one touch passes he does infield to no one.