The actually I don't mind Lansbury thread

[mozo]

Here goes, time to destroy the last crumbs of credibility I have on OTIB...

This Lansbury fella. He was seriously rusty and off the pace when he joined, but with a few games under his belt he's become a reasonably reliable partner for Massengo in our midfield.

Okay his pace and athleticism are, shall we say, limited... But he's increasingly having a positive contribution and has that game management nous. 

I'm not saying we offer him a long term deal but I'd pick him ahead of Bakinson atm and he's not a Brunt by any stretch. 

Here's your chance to disagree with me with an onslaught of ridicule and bile.

 

[nickolas]

#onyourown

[Gazred]

I think you highlighted both his pros and cons and for me the jury is still out. Not done enough to warrant a contract beyond the summer yet. Has his moments but he looks like he's doing a job in the DM position but doesn't have the mobility anymore for this side to play further forward where i think he could be more affective.

[Port Said Red]

He put in some really good challenges within the penalty area today, I thought his positioning was excellent at times too.

[LoyalRed]

Average isn’t he 

[Davefevs]

Think he’s steadily got better for us....from a pretty low starting point though.

He can pass, he’s not afraid to put his foot in.

He’s ok.

Would I sign him?  Depends on make-up of the rest of the midfield next season, and wage demands.  I think we could recruit better for cheaper.  We’ll see.

[1960maaan]

Had his best game in a City shirt .....  #verylowbar

He showed today that he is a decent player, but for me. he goes too long too early. I'd like to see him just put his foot on the ball occasionally and just keep it moving. Playing as we do, we don't keep the ball well, constantly clipping the ball over FB's or CB''s just means we lose it quicker. He has a good touch, vision, strength but I don't think he's what we need going forward to next year.

[Lanterne Rouge]

He doesn`t mind the dark arts either and happy to take one for the team when necessary. We don`t have anyone else like that really.

[GrahamC]

He’s had about 3 or 4 ok displays for me, but no, you are not on your own, he was the ideal foil for HNM today, experienced, clever at stopping the game, giving the ref some verbal (no one else bar Wells does this), he also won & used the ball tidily.

Not convinced by him yet, but compared to our other central midfield options he is much more experienced than them & has a vastly superior availability record to at least a couple of them.

[Redtucks]

Is his experience and know how part of the reason for the big improvement in HN Massengo???

They seem to be improving into a decent midfield partnership IMO.

 

[Bris Red]

To be fair if his salary demands are reasonable i would probably give him a 1 year deal in the summer - he definitely has the makings of a decent enough squad player.

[Numero Uno]

52 minutes ago, mozo said:

Here goes, time to destroy the last crumbs of credibility I have on OTIB...

This Lansbury fella. He was seriously rusty and off the pace when he joined, but with a few games under his belt he's become a reasonably reliable partner for Massengo in our midfield.

Okay his pace and athleticism are, shall we say, limited... But he's increasingly having a positive contribution and has that game management nous. 

I'm not saying we offer him a long term deal but I'd pick him ahead of Bakinson atm and he's not a Brunt by any stretch. 

Here's your chance to disagree with me with an onslaught of ridicule and bile.

 

Wasn’t as bad as you thought!!

[Kid in the Riot]

13 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He’s had about 3 or 4 ok displays for me, but no, you are not on your own, he was the ideal foil for HNM today, experienced, clever at stopping the game, giving the ref some verbal (no one else bar Wells does this), he also won & used the ball tidily.

Not convinced by him yet, but compared to our other central midfield options he is much more experienced than them & has a vastly superior availability record to at least a couple of them.

Finally a replacement for Pack...?

[redsquirrel]

was he ooc or a loan?

[Numero Uno]

Just now, redsquirrel said:

was he ooc or a loan?

I think he’s ooc at the end of the season.

[Lanterne Rouge]

8 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

 

But I think there will be better options in the transfer window. Matty James who was with Pearson at Leicester seems an obvious one.

I think he'd better better suited to us than Lansbury.

Scored a cracking free kick for Cov today

[Sir Geoff]

Free agent. Villa paid up his contract in January.

[Victory Park Reds]

He did a 6/10 for me today and almost scored with a great free kick.I think we should all remember that he hardly played before he came to us from those arrogant yam yams and is probably just getting proper match fit.

I trust “cheers nige” if and when he’s appointed who he would like to sign.As he mentioned him last week after the Coventry debacle and played ok today I can see a longer deal for him.

 

[Rossi the Robin]

1 hour ago, bris red said:

To be fair if his salary demands are reasonable i would probably give him a 1 year deal in the summer - he definitely has the makings of a decent enough squad player.

Yep he’s getting better all the time and been injured 

[GrahamC]

33 minutes ago, billywedlock said:

I'm not yet convinced, but unlike some other signings, he is not yet totally over the hill. Has not played in 2 years really, so is only slowly showing something. Clearly NP has seen something in training, and we are missing some experience. We never replaced Pack who was far more important than many realised. I guess the real worry, is this another sick note player. We have a squad full of those. In his youth he was a wonderful player, but 45 games in 5 seasons says it all. 

A lot of the time at Villa he simply couldn’t get in their squad.

Dean Smith said when he left them he had been training all season but wasn’t in their 25 named.

It was a while ago when we seriously competed with Villa & realistically we won’t do any time soon, so although I’m not sure, I don’t think his availability record is as poor as certain others.

[Red_Alligator]

Kudos to you for opening this thread mozo and thankfully, thus far, the responses have been measured in their tone.

My view is that we need to see what Lansbury can offer us when fully fit, which he clearly isn't at present. Give him a one year deal and take it from there. 

[Harry]

My issue has always been twofold. 
1) I didn’t see the point of a (likely) high wage short term signing of a guy with a poor injury history and very few games in 3 years. With 15 games to go, he was unfit. Maybe he’s now found some kind of fitness, with 5 games left. Pointless wage, for me. 
2) He’s not a DM. I criticised Holden for playing him there and I’ll say the same to Pearson. He just can’t play that role. 
 

Here’s one example from today. 
They hit the post from this chance. A DM shouldn’t let the opposition stroll through the centre of the pitch unchallenged. 
Here, pic 1 shows Garner picking up the ball from a keepers throw. Lansbury has 15 yards on him. He should be able to recognise that Garner is already beyond the rest of the midfield and that he needs to cover the defence. He has 2 options, the yellow arrows. Either make the decision to commit straight away and engage Garner, make a foul if necessary. Or drop back and block his route to goal, slowing him up allowing the other players to recover and get back behind the ball. 
What he can’t do is option 3 in the red arrow, which is basically jog back in a parallel line allowing Garner to run all the way to the edge of the box unchallenged. 
Pic 2 shows when Garner made the pass to his left - He’s now infront of Lansbury. That’s awful!! 

[Harry]

4 hours ago, billywedlock said:

Pic 2 highlights a whole load of other problems too ! 

True enough. But those problems are likely caused by a player being able to run 50 yards straight to the heart of the defence, unopposed. Lansbury has allowed that to happen and the rest of the shape becomes a panicked mess. 

[Fuber]

13 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Does the occasional quality thing on the ball that shows why he was rated as a top midfielder at this level in the past.

Pearson said post match that Lansbury has been playing with an achillies injury. That explains a lot! He looks uncomfortable walking, and has very little mobility.

But big improvements recently. Looks a bit sharper and looks up for it.

Don't think i would want him to stay on with us. But good to see improvements.

Another niggling injury. 

Shock. 

[SecretSam]

It's interesting that a couple of replies have noted how much we miss Pack. Massively under rated player IMHO, yet many fans couldn't see his value or contribution.

[Bristol Oil Services]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Journalist]

8 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

It's interesting that a couple of replies have noted how much we miss Pack. Massively under rated player IMHO, yet many fans couldn't see his value or contribution.

As I said on OSIB last week, our midfield has been a problem since Marlon Pack left.

I’m still not 100% sold on Henri Lansbury, but I feel like he’s one I want to watch live before making an absolute judgment. Also needs a proper pre-season and to get fitter, clearly.

I’m more open minded about him than I was a month ago, though, I have to admit.

[MarcusX]

14 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Does the occasional quality thing on the ball that shows why he was rated as a top midfielder at this level in the past.

Pearson said post match that Lansbury has been playing with an achillies injury. That explains a lot! He looks uncomfortable walking, and has very little mobility.

But big improvements recently. Looks a bit sharper and looks up for it.

Don't think i would want him to stay on with us. But good to see improvements.

If true, why did we persist with him? Are we intent on ruining players? Depending how bad it is, an Achilles rupture at his age could be career ending.

Explains the way he’s played though. I used to rate him highly and hope he can be that player for us but I feel like he’s arrived a couple of years too late 

[SecretSam]

6 minutes ago, The Journalist said:

As I said on OSIB last week, our midfield has been a problem since Marlon Pack left.

I’m still not 100% sold on Henri Lansbury, but I feel like he’s one I want to watch live before making an absolute judgment. Also needs a proper pre-season and to get fitter, clearly.

I’m more open minded about him than I was a month ago, though, I have to admit.

Just to be clear: I didn't hear OSIB, so this isn't plagiarism

[Davefevs]

11 hours ago, Harry said:

My issue has always been twofold. 
1) I didn’t see the point of a (likely) high wage short term signing of a guy with a poor injury history and very few games in 3 years. With 15 games to go, he was unfit. Maybe he’s now found some kind of fitness, with 5 games left. Pointless wage, for me. 
2) He’s not a DM. I criticised Holden for playing him there and I’ll say the same to Pearson. He just can’t play that role. 
 

Here’s one example from today. 
They hit the post from this chance. A DM shouldn’t let the opposition stroll through the centre of the pitch unchallenged. 
Here, pic 1 shows Garner picking up the ball from a keepers throw. Lansbury has 15 yards on him. He should be able to recognise that Garner is already beyond the rest of the midfield and that he needs to cover the defence. He has 2 options, the yellow arrows. Either make the decision to commit straight away and engage Garner, make a foul if necessary. Or drop back and block his route to goal, slowing him up allowing the other players to recover and get back behind the ball. 
What he can’t do is option 3 in the red arrow, which is basically jog back in a parallel line allowing Garner to run all the way to the edge of the box unchallenged. 
Pic 2 shows when Garner made the pass to his left - He’s now infront of Lansbury. That’s awful!! 

I think a big problem for Lansbury is how deep Tomas Kalas wants to play.

On FBC pod last night I mentioned that I though TK forgot he had ZV alongside him yesterday, not Mariappa.  Having said that, I think TK has set us too deep all season.

However, back to yesterday, from memory didn’t that move come from a pass out from Samba to Garner who turned and drove into the space?  If so, our press broke down.  In opening 25-30 mins, Garner and Krovinovic and occasionally Grabbsn found too much space.  That is indeed down to HNM and HL....but also TK too.  With his pace it really does surprise me how deep he wants to play.

Very noticeable second half that he played much higher, and we pinched balls higher up, and pressed better.  How many times did we see TK and ZV pick up stray balls just inside our half as Forest resorted to aimless balls forward under pressure.  Chalk and cheese from first half.

if we start to take the positives from the second half we see Lansbury improving.  You highlight a crap bit of play from more than just HL.

For context, heres some pics of HL’s contribution yesterday.  He’s far from perfect, but I thought he did a decent job overall yesterday.

Would I sign him?  Doubt it, but I also doubt this season’s wage is very high, bearing in mind Villa paid him off.  He might indeed want something more substantial next season.  That is all to be weighed up.  Played with an Achilles injury yesterday too.