Luke Thomas ….

Quicksilvera said:
I think his confidence is on the deck tbh.

He was being hammered from the south yesterday for no real reason.

There was a moment where the ball was floated over and he completely misjudged the flight of the ball and it went for a throw in, you can tell he’s seriously lacking any confidence.

There is a good player in there and I hope we get to see it, people are too fast to get their daggers out when it comes to some of our players and it serves nobody.

Barlaser is another he was given some praise for yesterday but with the constant caveat of “albeit against league one opposition”
Click to expand...
Cruel though it sounds I hope we don't try to see if his confidence returns frankly. We haven't t got enough games left to experiment and hope it does come right and would rather we play Engel for the upcoming games v Ipswich snd Leeds. That said if Carrick wants to persist who am I to judge.
 
I think bangura will be great as a wingback. Engel can play there or in the back three as cover for Clark.
 
He looks way of the pace, he doesn't seem to have any real strengths.

He did though mis control the ball twice and let the ball go out for a corner, which directly led to the breakaway for the 2nd goal, so perhaps his strength is he is very lucky!!
 
Zoophonic said:
Cruel though it sounds I hope we don't try to see if his confidence returns frankly. We haven't t got enough games left to experiment and hope it does come right and would rather we play Engel for the upcoming games v Ipswich snd Leeds. That said if Carrick wants to persist who am I to judge.
Click to expand...
You’re entitled to that opinion mate, i think there could be a potential bargain in there.
 
He's looked very very poor everytime i've seen him play (for us).

Not having a proper run of games won't have helped his cause to be fair.
 
Reminds me a bit like Chilwell for England. Despite being a left footer he just turns and passes to the inside most of the time. He very rarely looks to get on the outside.
 
MickaelDebevePhenomenal said:
Definitely this, so hard to judge his true ability.

He was playing too narrow and never looked like he wanted the ball. Poor lad looked petrified.
And every time he did get it, he played the safest quickest pass he could just to get rid of it.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. but go and build up your confidence in a lower league please. We're not a charity case: we've already allowed Crooks to leave at a crucial stage in the season, apparently because his family quite liked the sound of America.
To be fair, Engel was absolutely shocking against Southampton - gifted the ball to the opposition time and again, wasted final third opportunities with rushed or mishit deliveries. I guess the thinking was that Thomas couldn't be any worse, but first half he was. After good players like Friend and Giles, left back has become a bit of a problem position for us. At least Ayling, hugely limited as he is, is holding his end up at right back just about.
 
Perhaps a combination of fitness and confidence. Just before he was taken off yesterday we lost the ball deep in their half. He turned to chase back and he looked physically wrecked. He was treading water and just didn't look like an athlete - his legs had gone. A couple of minutes later he conceded the corner when he stumbled over the ball.
 
People talk about being low on confidence but that isn't an excuse for me. He is here to win a contract and has been short in every department, heart and endeavour being the minimum and hes failed to even show that.

We don't need anymore young players who suffer with confidence if we want to get out of this league.

The reviews from Leicester and Sheffield fans before he came were very critical.
 
I think all players eventually find their level; where LT's is it's too clearly to say.

I actually think he's a better defender than Engel, although that's a low bar tbh.

I'm hoping Bangura can be the player we need, because I'm not sure if Engel is right now.
 
B_G said:
I think LB will be high on the shopping list again. As most know, I don't rate Engel at all but putting my opinion aside, it doesn't feel like Carrick is convinced by him either.
Click to expand...
I don't see what this is based on? He's started 31 out of 39 games he's featured in.
 
Jonathan said:
I don't see what this is based on? He's started 31 out of 39 games he's featured in.
Click to expand...
It's based on him being dropped for Bangura and Thomas a few times during the season. Bangura kept getting injured though so couldn't hold down a place. Thomas has been pretty poor in his starts as well but was still picked over him yesterday. He even played O'Brien at left back a few times in front of him earlier in the season until O'Brien got injured. I think Engel has only played as many games as he has out of lack of options.

There's the obvious counter argument that Carrick has rotated his players but it's not really Carrick's style. He tends to stick with the same team where he can, especially when we are winning. He doesn't tend to chop and change the defence unless it's forced. Take Ayling as an example, has started every game since he arrived. VDB has started every game he is available since he broke into the team. Fry has started every match he has been available this season. That trend runs back into last season. Giles, Smith and Lenihan played every match they were available last season. That's not the case for Engel.

We'll see in the summer but I would be fairly confident we will try and source a first choice LB.
 
B_G said:
There's the obvious counter argument that Carrick has rotated his players but it's not really Carrick's style.
Click to expand...

This season, we wouldn't know if it was, would we? He's had precious few opportunities to do it given the number of senior players fit.
 
Frozen Horse said:
This season, we wouldn't know if it was, would we? He's had precious few opportunities to do it given the number of senior players fit.
Click to expand...
I think he still has first team players that he trusts and plays.

Dieng (Ignoring the few games after the AFCON)
VDB
Fry
Ayling
Hackney
Howson
Forss

tend to play whenever they are fit. He rotates the other forward players.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top