Johnson - Not A Happy Bunny

[Robbored]

Why does Johnson come out and complain about City's 'lack of guile' after the Argyle defeat when the most creative footballer at the club wasn't even in the squad yesterday? Especially with Lee Johnson being out injured.

Noble in most peoples opinion had a decent game in mid-week but despite that theres was no sign of him yesterday.Now I don't know if he was injured or maybe breached club discipline but to leave him out of the squad if he was able to play is scandalous imo.

Carle covered a lot of ground but created very little.Theres more to playing football than simply running about for 90 mins. Even though Noble may not be so energetic as other midfileders he can cause defences problems with his positioning,vision and ball skills. He can do more damage in 75mins than others can do in 90.

Its a real puzzle trying to work out why Johnson doesn't seem to agree with most fans about Noble.

[fka dagest]

I'm very reluctant to criticize Johnson at all, but he does seem to have embarked on a rather odd rotational policy lately. Noble and Vasko would have been the first two names on the sheet for me yesterday.

[Sargent Pepper]

I thought it was obvious why Fonts was in for Vasko and that was for his pace against Easter. That is surley a no brainer. I can also see why he went with 2 upfront and there by sacrificing Nobe's but agree that it was odd that he wasn't on the bench.

[CityMann]

Why does Johnson come out and complain about City's 'lack of guile' after the Argyle defeat when the most creative footballer at the club wasn't even in the squad yesterday? Especially with Lee Johnson being out injured.

Noble in most peoples opinion had a decent game in mid-week but despite that theres was no sign of him yesterday.Now I don't know if he was injured or maybe breached club discipline but to leave him out of the squad if he was able to play is scandalous imo.

Carle covered a lot of ground but created very little.Theres more to playing football than simply running about for 90 mins. Even though Noble may not be so energetic as other midfileders he can cause defences problems with his positioning,vision and ball skills. He can do more damage in 75mins than others can do in 90.

Its a real puzzle trying to work out why Johnson doesn't seem to agree with most fans about Noble.

Agree. Would like to have seen Noble involved

[beaverface]

I thought it was obvious why Fonts was in for Vasko and that was for his pace against Easter. That is surley a no brainer. I can also see why he went with 2 upfront and there by sacrificing Nobe's but agree that it was odd that he wasn't on the bench.

On the contrary, I thought Vasko put in a Man of the Match performance against Watford and would have been perfect to mark Rory Fallon, which then meant we then needed to choose a different centre back to mark Easter which should have been between Carey and Fontaine.

[tin]

I'm very reluctant to criticize Johnson at all, but he does seem to have embarked on a rather odd rotational policy lately. Noble and Vasko would have been the first two names on the sheet for me yesterday.

Spot on. Vasko should've been in to deal with the aerial threat of Fallon and Carey's shown this season against much better striker's than Easter that he can deal with the nippier forwards.

Noble's exclusion was baffling. I thought he did well in midweek and would've been my choice to partner Elliott yesterday. How he wasn't even in the final 16 is crazy unless he's injured or done something we don't know about.

I still don't think GJ knows his best XI yet. McAllister's place should be under threat from Fontaine and if anyone was to partner Dele it should be Trundle. All good and well saying that now but I've been saying this for far too long now.

[bh_red]

Why does Johnson come out and complain about City's 'lack of guile' after the Argyle defeat when the most creative footballer at the club wasn't even in the squad yesterday? Especially with Lee Johnson being out injured.

Noble in most peoples opinion had a decent game in mid-week but despite that theres was no sign of him yesterday.Now I don't know if he was injured or maybe breached club discipline but to leave him out of the squad if he was able to play is scandalous imo.

Carle covered a lot of ground but created very little.Theres more to playing football than simply running about for 90 mins. Even though Noble may not be so energetic as other midfileders he can cause defences problems with his positioning,vision and ball skills. He can do more damage in 75mins than others can do in 90.

Its a real puzzle trying to work out why Johnson doesn't seem to agree with most fans about Noble.

do most fans say that about Noble though? there is a number of people who don't actually rate him as much as some others, personally I think he was good at League 1, but has struggled in this divsion, he's had a few good games, but overall more bad than good and as a creative midfielder over since he's been here his goal scoring and creative record is poor.

he played against Watford and I thought that game summed him up really, yes he can keep possesion and doesn't lose the ball at time, but he just didn't seem to me to be a creative influcence at all? and for me wasted his chance on tuesday to cement his place.

nothing has been said about Noble being injured so I'm guess it was just a case that he didn't do enough for GJ and so was dropped? Personally I think Carle has come into the team and settled well and showed himself to be a more complete and clever player having bits of everything in his game, but unfortunately too many others around him didn't perform

for me though, our biggest problem was that we gifted plymouth 2 goals, would have started with Vasko over fontaine without doubt yesterday, also worth noting that we did improve when Trundle came on and after his goal, he looked alot better and was willing to take more risks, like the shot which the keeper spilled, he seemed alot more willing to take a risky shot at goal.

[Evy11_BCFC]

Spot on. Vasko should've been in to deal with the aerial threat of Fallon and Carey's shown this season against much better striker's than Easter that he can deal with the nippier forwards.

Noble's exclusion was baffling. I thought he did well in midweek and would've been my choice to partner Elliott yesterday. How he wasn't even in the final 16 is crazy unless he's injured or done something we don't know about.

I still don't think GJ knows his best XI yet. McAllister's place should be under threat from Fontaine and if anyone was to partner Dele it should be Trundle. All good and well saying that now but I've been saying this for far too long now.

I would agree with that, but I feel Vasko may have been dropped as Fallon was not expected to play. Last time out, they played Maclean and Easter, both smaller strikers and maybe Johnson thought that these two would line up again today. If this was the case then I would agree with his decision to play Fontaine, however the fact that it wasn't changed at half time, when Fallon was clearly causing us problems was a bit strange. Noble should definately have played some part as well.

[Denilson]

Noble was sat behind me in the stand

[Robbored]

Noble was sat behind me in the stand

Did you askhim wy he wasn't in the squad?

[RedM]

Why does Johnson come out and complain about City's 'lack of guile' after the Argyle defeat when the most creative footballer at the club wasn't even in the squad yesterday? Especially with Lee Johnson being out injured.

Noble in most peoples opinion had a decent game in mid-week but despite that theres was no sign of him yesterday.Now I don't know if he was injured or maybe breached club discipline but to leave him out of the squad if he was able to play is scandalous imo.

Carle covered a lot of ground but created very little.Theres more to playing football than simply running about for 90 mins. Even though Noble may not be so energetic as other midfileders he can cause defences problems with his positioning,vision and ball skills. He can do more damage in 75mins than others can do in 90.

Its a real puzzle trying to work out why Johnson doesn't seem to agree with most fans about Noble.

I was as amazed as you to find Noble not included yesterday, but take a look here; http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/Suspensions/0,,10327,00.html

It seems he was absent through an ankle injury. Unless you know something in particular why plant the idea into people's heads that club discipline has been breached, I think this is grossly unfair?

[brad blit]

do most fans say that about Noble though? there is a number of people who don't actually rate him as much as some others, personally I think he was good at League 1, but has struggled in this divsion, he's had a few good games, but overall more bad than good and as a creative midfielder over since he's been here his goal scoring and creative record is poor.

he played against Watford and I thought that game summed him up really, yes he can keep possesion and doesn't lose the ball at time, but he just didn't seem to me to be a creative influcence at all? and for me wasted his chance on tuesday to cement his place.

nothing has been said about Noble being injured so I'm guess it was just a case that he didn't do enough for GJ and so was dropped? Personally I think Carle has come into the team and settled well and showed himself to be a more complete and clever player having bits of everything in his game, but unfortunately too many others around him didn't perform

for me though, our biggest problem was that we gifted plymouth 2 goals, would have started with Vasko over fontaine without doubt yesterday, also worth noting that we did improve when Trundle came on and after his goal, he looked alot better and was willing to take more risks, like the shot which the keeper spilled, he seemed alot more willing to take a risky shot at goal.

I agree with the point that Noble is a good league 1 player but average at this level especially with his fitness problems. He keeps possession well at times but he always seems to look backwards and we don't need that right now as we havnt scored in 3/4 games and we need more attacking minded players. Carle I thought had a good game yesterday, hardly gave the ball away and seemed to be one of few players trying to play footy on the ground.

[BCFC_Dan]

do most fans say that about Noble though? there is a number of people who don't actually rate him as much as some others, personally I think he was good at League 1, but has struggled in this divsion, he's had a few good games, but overall more bad than good and as a creative midfielder over since he's been here his goal scoring and creative record is poor.

I for one don't rate him particularly highly. I've seen him put in some quite excellent performances when City are playing the opposition off the park but that usually requires the opposition to have enough problems of their own that they let him have the space he needs to play well. At all other times he's flattered to deceive.

Maybe he doesn't get as much of a chance as some of the others but Johnson needs players who he can trust to "affect the game" and Noble just doesn't seem to do that often enough. It seems to me that Carle possibly doesn't either but as the new signing he is naturally going to get more chances to prove himself than a man who has already wasted several.

If nothing else, yesterday hopefully showed people just how good a job Lee Johnson does for the team.

[Sargent Pepper]

On the contrary, I thought Vasko put in a Man of the Match performance against Watford and would have been perfect to mark Rory Fallon, which then meant we then needed to choose a different centre back to mark Easter which should have been between Carey and Fontaine.

Agreed that Vasko did very well against Henderson but by his own admission he has said he struggles against a forward playing deep which Fallon was. At the end of the day i could have played centre half as they didn't really cause us to many problems bar the goals where Marv was not on his toes and Basso didn't come for a cross then Dele headed it towards his own net.

We don't have a divine right to win every game you know, sometimes the other team want to win more. I'm not saying that they did, just that they were more clinical in both boxes. Accept it and move on. We need to be better at that in the next few games yes, but lets not throw the towel in quite yet.

[no1cityfan_tucks]

I thought it was obvious why Fonts was in for Vasko and that was for his pace against Easter. That is surley a no brainer. I can also see why he went with 2 upfront and there by sacrificing Nobe's but agree that it was odd that he wasn't on the bench.

Surely Vasko vs Fallon was a "no brainer". Fallon hammered our defense all day long in the air. Madness to leave Vasko out after a solid mid week performance.

But IN JOHNSON WE TRUST!!!!

[Nibor]

Vasko and Noble being excluded from the starting XI was a very strange decision to me before the game and even more so in hindsight having lost.

[bh_red]

Vasko and Noble being excluded from the starting XI was a very strange decision to me before the game and even more so in hindsight having lost.

turns out Noble is injured, ankle problem, post11

[madmax]

Yes, Noble and Boom Boom we're sat in the Williams, Block B....both injured.

MM

[samo]

Surely Vasko vs Fallon was a "no brainer". Fallon hammered our defense all day long in the air. Madness to leave Vasko out after a solid mid week performance.

But IN JOHNSON WE TRUST!!!!

To be fair to GJ Fallon had played less than 30 minutes from the bench for Plymouth over the previous two matches, so it wasn't a a sure thing he'd be starting.

Really don't get this obsession with Noble. He may have played well against Watford (I cannot comment, I was not present) but when I have seen him this season he's hardly set the world on fire. The idea that he is the most creative player at the club is a total myth and he certainly lacks the fitness and work rate of other players who can play in the same role.

Playing "in the hole" he has niether the defencive responsibilities of other midfielders or the pressure to get goals of the strikers, yet he still manages to go missing for significant periods. He is a talented palyer, of that there can be little doubt, but he is not a match winner. The idea is presence alone will lift the team is unfounded.

[Nibor]

To be fair to GJ Fallon had played less than 30 minutes from the bench for Plymouth over the previous two matches, so it wasn't a a sure thing he'd be starting.

So why drop Vasko anyway? He was MoM and deservedly so against Watford.

Really don't get this obsession with Noble. He may have played well against Watford (I cannot comment, I was not present) but when I have seen him this season he's hardly set the world on fire. The idea that he is the most creative player at the club is a total myth and he certainly lacks the fitness and work rate of other players who can play in the same role.

Playing "in the hole" he has niether the defencive responsibilities of other midfielders or the pressure to get goals of the strikers, yet he still manages to go missing for significant periods. He is a talented palyer, of that there can be little doubt, but he is not a match winner. The idea is presence alone will lift the team is unfounded.

The idea isn't unfounded because many people have noted that we play better as a team with him in the side, in particular that we keep the ball more successfully, keep it on the floor more and play better football.

His fitness and work rate have been suspect in the past but both were fine against Watford and our creativity vanished when he was subbed.

Which other players can play in the same role? Because the only ones we've seen there have been far less effective. Carle has not impressed there at all and goes missing far more than Noble ever has - though he has looked decent in the middle of the park.

Noble was apparently suffering from a knock this time, it will be interesting to see whether he is selected when fit.

[samo]

So why drop Vasko anyway? He was MoM and deservedly so against Watford.

Fair enough; was just pointing out that Fallon was not a starter for them recently (McClean, a pacy little fella was) and my dad who did go to Watford was also baffled as to Vasko's demotion to the bench. Just thought it should be said is all.

The idea isn't unfounded because many people have noted that we play better as a team with him in the side, in particular that we keep the ball more successfully, keep it on the floor more and play better football.

His fitness and work rate have been suspect in the past but both were fine against Watford and our creativity vanished when he was subbed.

Which other players can play in the same role? Because the only ones we've seen there have been far less effective. Carle has not impressed there at all and goes missing far more than Noble ever has - though he has looked decent in the middle of the park.

Noble was apparently suffering from a knock this time, it will be interesting to see whether he is selected when fit.

It does seem Noble was injured not dropped, which would account for his absence after a good showing tuesday, but if you look back we have actually scored less goals when Noble is on the pitch this season than when he is not present. I'm not a 'hater' I just think he often struggles to impose himself on teams at this level and for all his talent he is much more inconsistant than other players that are on the end of far more abuse on here.

You are right in so much as we don't have another person who is comfortable playing in the same role, but then the question has to be; do we need someone in that role? I'm not sure we do. We created a lot more against Argyle than against the Foxes or Watford and that involved playing two up front.

[Sargent Pepper]

Surely Vasko vs Fallon was a "no brainer". Fallon hammered our defense all day long in the air. Madness to leave Vasko out after a solid mid week performance.

But IN JOHNSON WE TRUST!!!!

Like i said with Fallon playing behind the main striker Tamas would be left with the dilemia of whether tyo follow him or stay in posistion. Louis is a much better reader of the game and was a better choice for this match. I didn't see any plymouth player "hammer" us. They just took 2 of thier 3 chances. Lets not look for a scapegoat. Lets move on.

C'mon you reds!!!!

[Nibor]

You are right in so much as we don't have another person who is comfortable playing in the same role, but then the question has to be; do we need someone in that role? I'm not sure we do. We created a lot more against Argyle than against the Foxes or Watford and that involved playing two up front.

We lost against Argyle. We didn't against Leicester or Watford.

It's about more than just creating chances. The extra option for passing that 4411 gives everyone and the resulting better possession we have makes us far harder to beat.

4411 has been a far more successful tactic for us this season than 442. I think we don't have enough quality to stand 442 against the better sides in this division and get results as consistent as we have with 4411. That's why we're nicking wins not winning 4-0.

[red4eva]

Asked Cole Skuse yesterday why David Noble wasnt in the squad and he said he'd hurt his ankle in training on Friday.

[samo]

We lost against Argyle. We didn't against Leicester or Watford.

It's about more than just creating chances. The extra option for passing that 4411 gives everyone and the resulting better possession we have makes us far harder to beat.

4411 has been a far more successful tactic for us this season than 442. I think we don't have enough quality to stand 442 against the better sides in this division and get results as consistent as we have with 4411. That's why we're nicking wins not winning 4-0.

Fair play and good points.

I do still think any comment in Noble should be tempered a touch, because for every game where he is great he has one where he is ineffective, but I'm bhind him 100% whenever he is out on the pitch for us.

I think that with the full week to prepare for this game we should be better equipped to face Cardiff, whoever plays, and if Noble gets back to fitness I'm sure he'll be in the reckoning.

[Robbored]

I was as amazed as you to find Noble not included yesterday, but take a look here; http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/Suspensions/0,,10327,00.html

It seems he was absent through an ankle injury. Unless you know something in particular why plant the idea into people's heads that club discipline has been breached, I think this is grossly unfair?

It was common knowledge that McCombe and Lee Johnson were both injured but no mention of at all of Noble picking up a knock - unless you were prepared to trawl the mainsite for the injuries/suspension list (which I never knew was there)

I wasn't trying to 'plant the idea' that Noble had breached club discipline - just looking to explain why he wasn't in the squad.If it had been annouced, as with McCombe and Johnson that Noble was injured then this thread wouldn't have been started in the first place.

[swindlered]

It was common knowledge that McCombe and Lee Johnson were both injured but no mention of at all of Noble picking up a knock - unless you were prepared to trawl the mainsite for the injuries/suspension list (which I never knew was there)

I wasn't trying to 'plant the idea' that Noble had breached club discipline - just looking to explain why he wasn't in the squad.If it had been annouced, as with McCombe and Johnson that Noble was injured then this thread wouldn't have been started in the first place.

By mentioning a breach of discipline you criticise Noble's professionalism as you imply that he could be capable of such an act. Unintentional i'm sure but maybe you should word things more carefully next time.

[yessir]

By mentioning a breach of discipline you criticise Noble's professionalism as you imply that he could be capable of such an act. Unintentional i'm sure but maybe you should word things more carefully next time.

maybe robbo should put his brain in gear before making stupid assumptions, it,s not all cloak and dagger , but maybe Gj didn,t want plymouth to know DN was injured ?

[Robbored]

maybe robbo should put his brain in gear before making stupid assumptions, it,s not all cloak and dagger , but maybe Gj didn,t want plymouth to know DN was injured ?

That did occur to me - but why not say that Noble was injured after the game?

[edson]

That did occur to me - but why not say that Noble was injured after the game?

Was GJ asked the question after the game?