Tommy Smith

Diego said:
It’s because he’s over covering to make up for McNairs woeful defensive positioning. He doesn’t need to do that when Fry is playing. Unfortunately I was absolutely right about McNair. He’s a fraud.
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Funny thing is paddy didn't look that bad a few seasons ago partnering fry but now with lenihan my god hes beyond bad.
 
Personally, I like Smith, he is a decent enough Championship RB, not the best, not the worst, a generally steady 7/10 as said. McNair is getting singled out and scapegoated unfairly at times imho too. Our defence is a bit one paced and because we push up across the back 4 we leave space to exploit, especially vulnerable when the full backs bomb on, we then become vulnerable to the diagonal and our CB’s get pulled wide leaving gaps centrally Lenihan and McNair sometimes end up trying to deal with one on ones in these situations as others scramble back.

McNair, whilst clearly not the greatest defender, seems to get the grief far more. Someone blamed him for something yesterday and it was actually Hackney i think. Our brand exposes our defenders more than we have been used to seeing, It is the risk we take for our overloads when attacking and we have to accept the rough with the smooth with the squad we have. When we lose possession we are vulnerable to teams with forward pace as they draw us forward, often the real problem is a midfielder or forward losing possession from being weak in a tackle or a poorly executed pass to start with, but that rarely gets discussed. We do miss Fry though and he is the better option than McNair when fit nonetheless.
 
All 4 defenders were at fault for the first goal.

It was largely just Giles bafflingly failing to clear that led to the second.
 
Sexpom said:
Tommy has been one of the players of the season, to write him off after a few games is just an overreaction which we seem to do quite a lot.
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He really really hasn't been one of the players of the season.
He has been very good value on a free and gives his all, but he is a relatively weak link, as is Giles defensively.
They are both being targeted every match now and are exposed because the central defence desperately misses Fry and the central midfield is struggling for legs just now.
 
indeedido said:
He really really hasn't been one of the players of the season.
He has been very good value on a free and gives his all, but he is a relatively weak link, as is Giles defensively.
They are both being targeted every match now and are exposed because the central defence desperately misses Fry and the central midfield is struggling for legs just now.
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I disagree I think overall he’s been fantastic and a stand out performer most weeks, the last few games have been poor defensively but otherwise he’s been great.
 
indeedido said:
He really really hasn't been one of the players of the season.
He has been very good value on a free and gives his all, but he is a relatively weak link, as is Giles defensively.
They are both being targeted every match now and are exposed because the central defence desperately misses Fry and the central midfield is struggling for legs just now.
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That’s how I am currently reading it
 
Sexpom said:
I disagree I think overall he’s been fantastic and a stand out performer most weeks, the last few games have been poor defensively but otherwise he’s been great.
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Giles is worth the liability in defence in terms of what he offers going forward

This does not apply for Smith though
 
I’ve consistently thought he’s poor

He didn’t cost us in the play offs but I think having AD is a much better option at RB
 
Think he's been solid enough for us overall but he's not good enough for a team with aspirations for promotion.

Could have cost us a goal early on into the game last night when he sold Steffen short with the back-pass.
 
its wierd as we simply have a far superior right back in dijksteel,id expect him to start next season,if hes here of course
 
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