Time for Howson to go off into the sunset

Colin Warnek said:
He’s been a legend here so excuse me but.. he was the worst player on the pitch in a red and white shirt today. Ponderous and gave the ball away so many times.

Think we have enough for the middle in Hayden and Dan.

He should be fondly remembered but not get another one year deal.
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Dan Barlaser..
 
I wouldn't single out Barlaser he is instrumental at times into the way we control a game and when he went off today IMO we lost a foot hold on the ball in midfield.

Getting the pairing right is critical but to be honest I don't think any of the midfield pairings sniff out danger well and just do the simple/ugly side of the game well, jonny, Hackney and obrien really good engines and all different in there own way, barlaser very astute and composed passer on the ball needs to work on the rest of his game but has shown he can step up, he was easily one of our best players against Chelsea at home and wasn't out of place against Villa either.

Footballs a funny old game, Azaz plays in greenwood who could of took it first time maybe ? Good block, engel plays in greenwood Azaz follows up bad miss, engel plays in Greenwood again second half bad miss to Name a few game over, the front 4 whoever plays is not clinical enough
 
Howson was poor today, sluggish and for a senior pro his decision making was very poor at times, he’s now giving the opposition a chance every game by playing blind balls but he’s not the only one ,Hackney also has the habit of doing the same,as we witnessed against Chelsea.
 
Our midfield 2 should probably be O'Brien and Hackney. Howson is showing his age at times, although he's still very good when he's playing well. Barlaser does some things really well but there are too many negatives to his game that outweigh the good. There is no way Barlaser gets anywhere near being a starter in any of the top 4 and the fact he's even in consideration for us tells us about where we're at as a squad.

The big worry is Howson retiring, O'Brien finishing his loan and Hackney heading to the PL is a realistic situation we will be in by the summer and that's a scary situation to be in.
 
Nano said:
Our midfield 2 should probably be O'Brien and Hackney. Howson is showing his age at times, although he's still very good when he's playing well. Barlaser does some things really well but there are too many negatives to his game that outweigh the good. There is no way Barlaser gets anywhere near being a starter in any of the top 4 and the fact he's even in consideration for us tells us about where we're at as a squad.

The big worry is Howson retiring, O'Brien finishing his loan and Hackney heading to the PL is a realistic situation we will be in by the summer and that's a scary situation to be in.
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On current form there’s no way Hackney is heading to the Premier league, of the three midfielders on the pitch today only Barlaser can hold his head up high.
 
Colin Warnek said:
He’s been a legend here so excuse me but.. he was the worst player on the pitch in a red and white shirt today. Ponderous and gave the ball away so many times.

Think we have enough for the middle in Hayden and Dan.

He should be fondly remembered but should not get another one year deal.
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Was thinking the exact same today watching the game. He has done really well for us. But boro seem to hold onto players a little longer than they should just because of loyalty maybe and not what’s best for the team. I’m thinking Friend, Clayton, Ledbitter and Arca off the top of my head.

However I don’t think Barlaser is the answer in there. He is a squad player at best. For me it should be Hackney and O’Brien in the middle.
 
Hackney and Howson should be midfield two until we find a suitable replacement. All were pretty poor today. Barlaser is not his replacement and O'Brien has not showed anything in his albeit brief cameos.
 
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We have this post 'Howson is passed it' after every less positive result, yet other players didn't play at their best either. Too easy to say his legs are gone or whatever, he still is influential and has more good games than bad. He will be here next season as we are still nowhere near to replacing him.
 
He wasn’t great today that’s for sure but he’s still performing well overall - that said it probably is time for someone younger in there next season. We will have a very different centre midfield next season i think as both Howson and Hackney are most likely not to be here. In the mean time I’d like to see O’Brien alongside Hackney in the centre.
 
Definitely worth another year , his experience and reliability/ safety is very very valuable off the bench / filling in.
but politely, we really shouldn't be asking him to do 20km a week, most weeks middle of the park if you want to be a top six side.
 
Weirdly O'Brien seems to be one of these that has got better while he has been out. He was decent at left back but I was excited when he joined but I haven't seen the player that was at Huddersfield yet, no where near actually
 
lostinyorkshire said:
Weirdly O'Brien seems to be one of these that has got better while he has been out. He was decent at left back but I was excited when he joined but I haven't seen the player that was at Huddersfield yet, no where near actually
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Yes I’m puzzled by these comments about OBrien as well. What evidence commits people to say he should be our starter midfielder ahead of Barlaser and Howson? Barlaser hasn’t let us down , does the simple things very well and works hard. Keeps his place for me.
 
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