McSheffrey (2 Viewers)

Yeah he did okay.

He was brilliant today, that was the Mcsheffrey we saw at the end of last season under Thorn. Was our best player today imo.
He was running and committing defenders, ran the channels well, supported the strikers well and read there knock downs. Managed to find lots of space behind the strikers and had numerous good shots.

Is 10x better in the hole than David Bell (who I also thought had his best game of the season today)

Sheffers was at hte top of his game today ,him and hussey combined very well in the second half ,my one critisism would be in the first half when he persisted and battled his way through,but selfishly shot wide when cody was inside ,alone with the goal beckoning

Yes Hussey ran and passed to him in space superbly 5 times 2nd half; 3 of those led to Reading fouls, as their approach to Sheff by then was blatantly "kick him".

PS ref was TERRIBLE, as was balding lino. Nobody has mentioned that yet.

There were a couple of baffling decisions in that first half.

Best cov player on the pitch was class today....ref was shit agreed, there are worse teams in this league than us

I'm just relieved that McSheffrey isn't finished, as after his first few games he looked all washed up. But in terms of ability, in that role, he is our best player when on any kind of form. He'll never be the player he was when young, but he's still a top Championship talent.

The most vital thing is-he gives us something that nobody else does; he can play in the "hole"; I don't think Baker can, as at Stockport he got most of his goals from distance and had just one striker ahead of him.

I raved the other day about how a fit Sheff could save our season, with Bell moving deeper. He is the only guy who can link with the flanks, and central midfield, and also get into goalscoring positions constantly. If you watched Sheff today, his movement was immense. He linked with both wings, particularly Hussey, and on numerous occasions when the final ball was lacking he was in a goalcoring position, waiting for the knock-down, and often our most advanced player. It transformed our shape, splitting the Reading CB's-who in the first half were constantly talking to each other and trying to pick him up as he was proving such a nuisance. His more advanced positioning also gave space for the rest of our midfield-which was helped with Bell and Thomas playing the RCM/LCM role better in this formation than Baker and Gael did, perhaps because of Sheffs stretching presence.

Will it be enough? Who knows, but the highlight of the day for me was seeing something of last seasons midfield shape returning. That was the platform for everything we did right last season, and I feared it had gone forever. If it hadn't been for an off-colour Sammy and a bad pen, it would have probably seen us get 3 points. It gives me hope.

Nonleagueherewecome said:

Yes Hussey ran and passed to him in space superbly 5 times 2nd half; 3 of those led to Reading fouls, as their approach to Sheff by then was blatantly "kick him".

PS ref was TERRIBLE, as was balding lino. Nobody has mentioned that yet.

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I thought that a handball led to the equaliser, having said that we should have played to the whistle. And less of the baldism

It was purely descriptive, ha ha! As a long-term receder with a bald dad, I myself can see where Larry is coming from in "Curb Your Enthusiasm"!

Yeah he did do very well today, he has lost a lot of pace since back in the day but he battled his socks off today and had a few decent long range shots. It was actually great to see us taking more shots today and i do think if it werent for a good keeping display im sure we would have got 2-3 easy.

I just hope McSheff doesn't have a little good phrase and then go back to poor performances, im sure it was this time last year when he got his diving header against donny, i wouldnt mind one of them on tuesday!

A real step change in performance from McSheffrey but well overdue

Let's be blunt. If Mcsheffrey has a bad season or get's injured for a long period of time we are most likely going down. He's the only consistent goal scorer we have.

Nonleagueherewecome said:

It was purely descriptive, ha ha! As a long-term receder with a bald dad, I myself can see where Larry is coming from in "Curb Your Enthusiasm"!

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You shouldn't worry about your dad being bald....it is passed on from your mother's side. Check your maternal grandad, was he bald?

I don't think he actually played that well yesterday. Certainly not enough for everyone to be sucking him off and thinking if he doesn't play we will be relegated.
Speak to me after another 10 games and if he is consistent in them all. I will sing his praises

Agreed, he had a good game but needs to follow it up on a regular basis.

egastap said:

You shouldn't worry about your dad being bald....it is passed on from your mother's side. Check your maternal grandad, was he bald?

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Nope, he had a bit of a comb-over in his 70's though. Even better, his dad kept a full head of hair until he died aged 103. Like a toothbrush, it was. I try to model my hair on his

Bennets Afro said:

I don't think he actually played that well yesterday. Certainly not enough for everyone to be sucking him off..

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Don't get me wrong, he played well..but I don't think this is the best incentive-scheme we can come up with! May have been how we got King to sign for us though..

I think we all get frustrated with Mcsheffrey because we all know what he can produce, very much like Bell.

They're both by far the most creative players we have, beggars can't be choosers. I think that everyone'll agree that one of our main failings as our team is our lack of pace.

This creates the situation where, excluding set pieces, opponents mistakes and long distance shots, to score goals we need a superb passing move or we rely on decent crosses.

Our diamond formation means that our only crosses depend on the full-backs. Cyrus' crosses are of decent quality, Hussey needs improvement, but even so we don't get enough players into the area do depend on this as an outlet.

Our main tactic is to play our way through the opposing team. this obviously puts a lot of responsibility on the attacking three of the diamond ie mcsheffery, bell and baker. whilst I'd agree that for the most part they've failed to perform this season compared to last. I think that they're job has been made a lot harder by the loss of a genuinely top quality outlet in Marlon.

We see the decline in they're performances and understandably put it down to lack of effort. However I feel its the loss of King that has really affected the options when any of the aforementioned three are on the ball. This in turn has really.affected their confidence and so their performances.

Its chicken and egg, but if we can put together a decent combination in the front two, this'll only come with Juke and Cody (or maybe a thin Freddy), I reckon we'll see a marked improvement in our creative midfielders performance.

Did anyone else think he looks fat? A prat from G casino had got in on a freebie and kept shouting that he should use his tits as he is a little fatty, Fat Bstard and other such weight related taunts. I just didn't get it. The bloke weighs 2 stone less than me and looks in peak physical condition. Did anyone else think he looks overweight or was it just him?

I actually pointed out that he looked a lot slimmer than against Leicester, where he did look a little chubby

I reckon the idiot must've been getting him mixed up with Eastwood, the horrible little slimeball. This lad looked like he had been kept in a dungeon to be fair. Pale, greasy and in need of a wash. Are all casino staff like this?

Bertola said:

I actually pointed out that he looked a lot slimmer than against Leicester, where he did look a little chubby

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Agree with that. It was like he was the one who'd just got back from Fat Camp.

Rich, at the end of the day there are a fair few that will always be McSheffrey haters. I think part of it is the Brum transfer, but I'm just glad to have him back. Especially on Saturdays form-we need him playing like that.

Who got MOTM? I heard that it was Juke, Sheffchencko and Murphy. Juke made it into the Mirror team of the week on Sunday.

Have never been a big fan of his BUT I thought he had a decent game on Saturday and on that form would rather him play in the team.

My reservation is that since his return he hasnt been very consistent. But like I said no complaints from Saturday from me

PUSB

I have followed gary Mac's career since he was 14 (know the family well) and have always said he is a natural preditor for scoring goals and I don't quite understand the ferocity of some of his critics.

He has been quite prolific for us over the years top scoring in three seasons prior to moving to the yam yams.

He much prefers his current role in the diamond or up front to that of operating from the flanks where he was expected to bomb up and down the wings plus play back to defend as well - I think those sort of duties have nullified a number of previous forwards ie Mifsud, Morrell, Simpson, Eastwood etc - so lets hope he Gary now maintain a rich vein of form in his preferred role and tjhe goals and results will flow.

Rich said:

I reckon the idiot must've been getting him mixed up with Eastwood, the horrible little slimeball. This lad looked like he had been kept in a dungeon to be fair. Pale, greasy and in need of a wash. Are all casino staff like this?

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No theres a few nice looking polish birds in there,petite unlike half our british birds