How Bad Was Ivan Sproule Today

[candygram for mongo]

Apart from tracking back once or twice today, Ivan Sproule contributed absolutely nothing today, he was shocking, Elliott is nowhere near fit and was a passenger also.Mcindoe was useless as well.

Adebola was outstanding but Maynard does not react quick enough to Dele's flick on's, Carey and Fontaine played well also.

You can not go to a place like Wolves and play with 8 men, everyone has to be at the top of their game.

[rockin-robin]

He should of scored.

[RedM]

Ivan was mentioned quite a bit on the radio during the first half and praised for doing a bit of the defensive work too. 2nd half he seemed to fade, I only realised he was still on once mentioned. He hasn't played much recently though and he caused all sorts of problems against Doncaster last week, hot and cold that's the player he is. I don't thnik there are 2 better wingers than what wolves have though.

[Steve Watts]

Ivan was mentioned quite a bit on the radio during the first half and praised for doing a bit of the defensive work too. 2nd half he seemed to fade, I only realised he was still on once mentioned. He hasn't played much recently though and he caused all sorts of problems against Doncaster last week, hot and cold that's the player he is. I don't thnik there are 2 better wingers than what wolves have though.

That's the frustrating thing with Sproule. He's showed that he has the ability, but just doesn't show it enough.

As good as he was last week, I came away from the game saying that it'll be another 15-20 games before he has another good one....that's what he was like last year, and seemingly what he's like this year....at least he's consistent, I suppose!!

[sephjnr]

Adebola was solid today, but NOT outstanding. He had around 3/4 good runs on goal, he made that many passes (two of which were howlers), he had a single header the entire game because - guess what? - he was marked throughout and never beat his markers... and in the first half he chested down a cast-iron shot just for his legs to betray him at the crucial second.

Ivan was c**k today, granted, but was never offside during the dying seconds and was well in position for the cross, and people were there to get it. McIndoe - whilst having almost none of the ball - needn't have been subbed; he was in better shape than most of the players, surely?

The problem is that 99% of the game was played HOOFING (and we were far more responsible for that than Wolves) and we could barely keep the ball to even entertain the notion of a couple of passes.

[headhunter]

Awful, truly awful.

Last week against Doncaster you think maybe, just maybe, if he could repeat this level of performance then he is worth a place in the side but as someone else has said on this thread he's a one good game in 15 player [a bit like Aaron Brown used to be!].

On Tuesday I would bring Wilson in and keep Skuse at right back. That gives us both pace and a good level of defensive cover on that side of the field.

As for the midget yesterday - totally overrun in midfield leaving Elliott to do all the work and look completely knackered after 70 minutes.

Elliott apart our midfield is ridiculously lightweighet - no physcial presence offered whatsoever by LJ, IS, and MM who, when substituted, looked decidely miffed [i was with home fans close to the dugout, that's how I could see!]

[Robbored]

That's the frustrating thing with Sproule. He's showed that he has the ability, but just doesn't show it enough.

As good as he was last week, I came away from the game saying that it'll be another 15-20 games before he has another good one....that's what he was like last year, and seemingly what he's like this year....at least he's consistent, I suppose!!

Thats spot on.

Everyone was saying how good Sproule played against Donny - probably his best game in a City shirt so far.The comment was made and echoed by many that like a lot of flair players Sproule is inconsistant. One good game in five is about right and comparisons were made with past City wingers like Aaron Brown and Christian Roberts. Even Scott Murray had plenty of games where he was awol.

It hard to fathom why many speedsters are so unreliable.The best and most consistant ones like Ryan Giggs and Thierry Henry are/were able to produce almost every week and thats why they are so successfull.

If Sproule was able to deliver on a weekly basis then no doubt he wouldn't be playing in the CCC.

[Rocky]

Sproule generally frustrates the hell out of me, he is too hot and cold (mostly cold at the moment)

I can't see how a professional footballer cannot cross the ball 8 times out of 10

[internetjef]

ive always thought that sproule is far from the quality youd really want in your fist 11.

One good performace against a promoted side like donny i suppose it was a bit naive to think he would then replicate it against one of the preseason favs on hot form like wolves.

i think most people would agree that right midfield is prob the one position that is really up for grabs with GJ happy with the rest of his 11.

With arguably 5 right midfielders on the books (williiams, sproule, wilson, nobes & murray) i just hope we address this situation in the xmas transfer window. We've got west ham syndrome on the right wing, too may average players. it must be a drain on the wage budget aswell.

in the meantime theres not much we can do, with GJ adverse to loans, and we will just have to make best with what we have until xmas.

[Nogbad the Bad]

We're missing Brian Wilson who was keeping his place in the team on merit before his injury.

He's a consistent player who offers alot to the team in terms of work rate, stamina and link play. Not short on skill or afraid to shoot either.

To my mind he is vastly underrated and City play some of their best football when he is in the team.

As for Sproule, I can't see him ever nailing down a first team spot - inconsisitent, frustrating and apparently unable to master the wingers' basic necessity of being able to deliver a good cross on a regular basis.

The occasional exciting run, or even brilliant goal, is not enough at this level when it is hugely overshadowed by so many occasions when he fails to deliver anything of note.

[jimmy ateyo]

I'm still really disaapointed with him since he signed, i think he will always be that player who you think should be doing more

he did play ok against brum and donny, but i think those performances is what you should be getting every week ?? but we seem to get 1 or 2 good/ok games in 10-15 ? - don't think he's clever enough for the championship

his goalscoring is pretty poor he cant cross and is always likely to get booked as he's hot headed

i must admit he would be 4th choice for me on the right, behind Noble, Wilson & Williams

still if he plays, i hope he proves me wrong

[xerox6060]

I'm still really disaapointed with him since he signed, i think he will always be that player who you think should be doing more

he did play ok against brum and donny, but i think those performances is what you should be getting every week ?? but we seem to get 1 or 2 good/ok games in 10-15 ? - don't think he's clever enough for the championship

his goalscoring is pretty poor he cant cross and is always likely to get booked as he's hot headed

i must admit he would be 4th choice for me on the right, behind Noble, Wilson & Williams

still if he plays, i hope he proves me wrong

Agree big disappointment since he signed, has a turn of pace but limited control, erratic delivery and school boy finishing, very very disapointing I can't believe Williams or Murray wouldn't be better, and I'd play Wilson when fit.

[candygram for mongo]

Adebola was solid today, but NOT outstanding. He had around 3/4 good runs on goal, he made that many passes (two of which were howlers), he had a single header the entire game because - guess what? - he was marked throughout and never beat his markers... and in the first half he chested down a cast-iron shot just for his legs to betray him at the crucial second.

Ivan was c**k today, granted, but was never offside during the dying seconds and was well in position for the cross, and people were there to get it. McIndoe - whilst having almost none of the ball - needn't have been subbed; he was in better shape than most of the players, surely?

The problem is that 99% of the game was played HOOFING (and we were far more responsible for that than Wolves) and we could barely keep the ball to even entertain the notion of a couple of passes.

Totally disagree about Dele's performance, he won virtually every header, he often came through 3 men with the ball due to his strength and tenacity, it is not his job to run 30 yards on goal and get a shot in, his job is to hold the ball up for the completely ineffective offensive part of the team to run past him and get the shots in.

I was sat in the wolves section and they were complaining about him being too physical all the time, wolves took 70 mins before they got any where near the better of him.

[sephjnr]

Totally disagree about Dele's performance, he won virtually every header, he often came through 3 men with the ball due to his strength and tenacity, it is not his job to run 30 yards on goal and get a shot in, his job is to hold the ball up for the completely ineffective offensive part of the team to run past him and get the shots in.

I was sat in the wolves section and they were complaining about him being too physical all the time, wolves took 70 mins before they got any where near the better of him.

Dele is part of this ineffective offensive clique, because he's being used as a striker. He had a small handful of actual strikes on goal, one of which - as mentioned - was fed to him on a plate in the first half but betrayed by his feet. By your description if the team has to run PAST him, why is he up front to begin with? it only leaves us with one proper shooter and another attacking midfielder. If that is wrong then it must be that Del either has poor vision or poor passing to realise it because how often has Del actually READ the situation, found his team-mates to be wanting and then *adjusted* his style to suit them? or - if that's not possible - try to go it alone, thereby justifying his position up front? ... and if he actually possesses these qualities, why doesn't he bloody teach them to the clots who are supposed to be midfielders?