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Liam Walsh

Dr Balls

By Dr Balls
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Dr Balls

Dr Balls

Posted
Posted

After a disastrous performance today, there are so many issues that need to be analysed, and from my own experience it is unfair to make one person the scapegoat for systemic failings. However we do need to review how it was we started with a player with than less than 10 appearances in professional football in a game this important, considering that Pack was on the bench & Gary O'Neill is apparently fully fit. 

I don't think any of us would have predicted that team & formation before the game. Liam Walsh is a young inexperienced player who, from what we have seen so far, looks lightweight at this level. It's not his fault that he was picked but we can look at how he could improve.

Firstly he needs to go out on loan at League 1 level next season. 

He will have to learn about how to play at a faster pace. The game passed him by for long periods.

He needs to go to the gym with Bobby Reid and get physically stronger. Being short is no excuse for being a lightweight powder puff. Watch some videos of Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles or even Nobby Stiles to see that shorter players can still play with passion, power and yes sometimes aggression.

He needs to improve his pace. For a young player, he was surprisingly outpaced in midfield  A proper pre-season might be what he needs.

He needs to learn to take responsibility and make that extra effort himself, rather than spend time pointing at everyone else. Being a graduate of the "Neil Kilkenny Academy of Pointing" does not make you a good player, nor win friends among your colleagues on the pitch or fans off it. Taking responsibility includes making some tackles. It took about 90 minutes before he put his foot in.

So our shocking performance today was not all his fault (he doesn't pick himself!) but it was a contributory factor, therefore we do need to address the significant issues that have been identified. And to spare him, LJ, and us fans from further embarrassment, I would suggest no more appearances this season, especially when we have other stronger, faster and more experienced players available.

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Lrrr

Lrrr

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Posted
11 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

I thought he played a few good passes myself. A bit unfair to single him out as he put in one of the less terrible performances - which admittedly isn't saying much.

Same he was no where near the worst on the pitch with at least 4 worse. Was always available for a pass and kept things ticking over, neat quick one twos which pulled players out of position but then no one with him who could then play the ball forward, could see his frustration in the second half when he had no ball forward on.

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Dr Balls

Dr Balls

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He shouldn't have played yesterday & he shouldn't have stayed on beyond half time once picked. Brentford ran the show because they controlled midfield because for long periods Walsh was a bystander. It was often like us playing with 10 men whilst he did his "rabbit in the headlights" impression. Add to that Kent adding nothing & we were up against it right from the start. And it also explains our lack of fluency & the problems the defence had playing out from the back. 

LJ sent out a boy to do a man's job against a more than decent footballing side & unsurprisingly we were horribly exposed.

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General Zod

General Zod

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Posted
30 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

I thought he played a few good passes myself. A bit unfair to single him out as he put in one of the less terrible performances - which admittedly isn't saying much.

In my eyes he started ok and was making himself available to receive the ball early doors then got totally overrun and disappeared.  I assumed he was another kid bought for the future and he shouldn’t have been near the squad yesterday with our playoff hopes on a knife edge.  Poor poor management and selection by LJ picking a player who looks miles away from being first team ready throwing him into a team lacking in confidence.  I hope the experience hasn’t hit LW confidence too much.  If we have a philosophy of buying youngsters we owe it to them to manage them correctly.  LJ let everyone down yesterday with his selection and refusal to admit at half time that he got it wrong.

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RedM

RedM

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Posted
10 minutes ago, KevP said:

Brentford having 60% possession and 27 shots ( yes 27 away from home ) says all we need to know. That is all.

And with better finishers ( and a couple of last ditch saves by Frankie/Brownhill) we could have been at least 6 goals down, and not unjustly either. Think we had 2 shots on target in the whole match, that’s how one sided it was. Shocking.

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KevP

KevP

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Posted
1 minute ago, RedM said:

And with better finishers ( and a couple of last ditch saves by Frankie/Brownhill) we could have been at least 6 goals down, and not unjustly either. Think we had 2 shots on target in the whole match, that’s how one sided it was. Shocking.

I know.....BTW we had 2 shots total but none on target. Even more depressing eh ??:facepalm:

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GrahamC

GrahamC

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Posted
49 minutes ago, hodge said:

Would excel in a midfield 3, doesn't have the defensive ability of pack which saw him caught out a few times when he went forward.

Would he?

I think he would be more suited, but “excel”?

Square pass, safe pass, sideways pass, all in our half, can’t see how this would make him “excel”.

He is light years behind Smith and Pack at present & having to play both of them to protect him (which would also mean less width and goal threat) just emphases this.

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RedM

RedM

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Just now, KevP said:

I know.....BTW we had 2 shots total but none on target. Even more depressing eh ??:facepalm:

Good grief. I must admit when I heard it was 2 shots I couldn’t remember their keeper making a save, that’s why. I’m not a great follower of statistics but surely that can’t happen very often in games, not for the home team anyway? 

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KevP

KevP

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3 minutes ago, RedM said:

Good grief. I must admit when I heard it was 2 shots I couldn’t remember their keeper making a save, that’s why. I’m not a great follower of statistics but surely that can’t happen very often in games, not for the home team anyway? 

In 40+ years of watching them I genuinely cant remember a home game with zero shots on target. That statistic alone is embarrassing and shows in itself how wrongly the team was set up yesterday. 

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Super

Super

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, RedM said:

And with better finishers ( and a couple of last ditch saves by Frankie/Brownhill) we could have been at least 6 goals down, and not unjustly either. Think we had 2 shots on target in the whole match, that’s how one sided it was. Shocking.

We had 0 shots on target.

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JoeAman08

JoeAman08

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Posted

I thought it was a worthy gamble to play him but was too big an ask to play him in a 2 of CM against their 3 midfielders. Plus judge and sawyers drifting inwards. Was like 5 on 2 for him and Smith. 

29 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Would he?

I think he would be more suited, but “excel”?

Square pass, safe pass, sideways pass, all in our half, can’t see how this would make him “excel”.

He is light years behind Smith and Pack at present & having to play both of them to protect him (which would also mean less width and goal threat) just emphases this.

Tbf no one moved to receive the ball. All he had were sideways and backwards balls. Bobby wasn’t picking the pockets of space like he used to. Fam is 50/50 with hold up play. Kent was Kent. The gap between midfield and strikers was routinely 25-30 yards with 3 brentford players in that space. 

I think he will be a very good player. Judging him thrown into that game where we were worse than we were at times last season is unfair. Question LJ surely but him and Smith were outnumbered all game but worked their socks off. Can’t say the same for most others. LJ should have dropped Fam at HT or early second half for Pack. Walsh, Pack and Smith I think would have more than matched them. 

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winsaw

winsaw

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Posted

Best thing the club could have done was send him out to somewhere in league 1, let him learn to play man's football, for someone who's hole football life bar a handful of games has been in youth football yesterday must have been a shock to him,

And a game like that dose nothing for his conference or learning, I can see there a good footballer there but he's not ready for the experienced pros he's going to find each week in the championship,

I have never seen a game pass a player by so much before, hopefully he's off to Cheltenham in the summer for a year of toughening up

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gordie

gordie

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, RedM said:

And with better finishers ( and a couple of last ditch saves by Frankie/Brownhill) we could have been at least 6 goals down, and not unjustly either. Think we had 2 shots on target in the whole match, that’s how one sided it was. Shocking.

Stats say 2 shots none on target and I can't even remember the 2 shots we had off target

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RedM

RedM

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, gordie said:

Stats say 2 shots none on target and I can't even remember the 2 shots we had off target

Yes I stand corrected, thank you all. No me neither it’s almost unbelieveable isn’t it that a team of professionals couldn’t hit the target once. Their keeper might as well have been given a deckchair, he will never get an easier afternoon.

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Son of Fred

Son of Fred

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Dr Balls said:

After a disastrous performance today, there are so many issues that need to be analysed, and from my own experience it is unfair to make one person the scapegoat for systemic failings. However we do need to review how it was we started with a player with than less than 10 appearances in professional football in a game this important, considering that Pack was on the bench & Gary O'Neill is apparently fully fit. 

I don't think any of us would have predicted that team & formation before the game. Liam Walsh is a young inexperienced player who, from what we have seen so far, looks lightweight at this level. It's not his fault that he was picked but we can look at how he could improve.

Firstly he needs to go out on loan at League 1 level next season. 

He will have to learn about how to play at a faster pace. The game passed him by for long periods.

He needs to go to the gym with Bobby Reid and get physically stronger. Being short is no excuse for being a lightweight powder puff. Watch some videos of Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles or even Nobby Stiles to see that shorter players can still play with passion, power and yes sometimes aggression.

He needs to improve his pace. For a young player, he was surprisingly outpaced in midfield  A proper pre-season might be what he needs.

He needs to learn to take responsibility and make that extra effort himself, rather than spend time pointing at everyone else. Being a graduate of the "Neil Kilkenny Academy of Pointing" does not make you a good player, nor win friends among your colleagues on the pitch or fans off it. Taking responsibility includes making some tackles. It took about 90 minutes before he put his foot in.

So our shocking performance today was not all his fault (he doesn't pick himself!) but it was a contributory factor, therefore we do need to address the significant issues that have been identified. And to spare him, LJ, and us fans from further embarrassment, I would suggest no more appearances this season, especially when we have other stronger, faster and more experienced players available.

About our plan......the one where its "not part of the plan to go up".....to have played our strongest side and not the strange set up instead chosen would not have aided that plan........................even the draw that we were more than capable of/likely to have got with our best starting eleven would have seriously hindered........................would have done no good at all to have started with our strongest defensive pairing and not to have swapped our most consistent,solid midfield player for an inexperienced wet behind the ears kid with barely a handful of senior games under his belt.

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