boringteacher wrote:Blazing_Saddler wrote:I don't think you meant me, but I wasn't having a go at Richards. He was poor today, although the few times he did actually do anything today, something came from it. Best move of the match was when he made a really good run through the middle, and it ended up with Macken getting a decent half chance. His overall play today wasn't great though, very sloppy, and poor set peices too.
He has had a good season though has Richards, I don't see why he is the scapegoat, there are so many others that could be used, such as Gray, who spent 2/3 of the season going through the motions.
I'm sure it wasn't aimed at you as well. Richards has been our best player this season (Macken took 3 months to get fit, Butler/wacka have been with us for only half the year). However, when it matters he has been consistently crud - Gbarssin should be starting ahead of him based on current form. If you take the charitable view that Richard's recent appalling performances are due to tiredness, he aint going to get any better in the run-in. Unless we go 451, I'd start him off the bench on Monday.
I have been impressed with Macken of late, but I don't buy it took him 3 months to get fit. He was another one going through the motions for the best part of the season. Fair enough, we had a tool of a manager, but he is a proffesional, his attitude has changed, and his performance have shown that.
The thing with having a player like Macken is, he is excellent at holding up the ball, and bringing others in to play. When you have a player like this, you need players from midfield joining the attack, and getting past the forwards. We have no one like this, Richards did it once yesterday, and it was the best move of the match. I like Gbarssin, but he is a limited footballer , that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a place in the team, cos he does a job well. We still need that player from the middle of the pitch who gets in to the box, and I don't honestly see who that is.
It's a little late to be worrying about it now really, 3 games to go, we have what we have, and on yesterdays performance, we are going to fall just short of what we need to stay up.