Nez

He won more than a couple of headers, and they went 'nowhere' cause no one was around the guy to feed off his flick ons! Same with his simple lay offs on the floor, he's so hesitant and slow because it's very rare that there's any movement around him so how is he supposed to play the ball succesfully when everyone appears content to lump it to him and stay still?! It really is beyond me what some people expect of the lad, he came on, imposed himself against one of this leagues strongest/biggest centre half partnerships in Roberts and Ashton, and had our best chance of the game which he flashed narrowly over. He was constantly setting off on runs then having to stall because the delivery never came into the areas he was running into, which were, regardless of some peoples opinions, the correct areas to run into. He's a decent player, but unfortunately some people have made up their minds on him and decided that's that, and he's not good enough, when in reality, he's not a bad player at all.

It's not often that I'll say this about a footballer, but I feel sorry for Smith. In his first season he was behind the undroppable Kuqi in the pecking order, and now has a half-arsed loanee barging his way in front of him. Now obviously I don't know how hard Smith works on the training pitch, but I'd assume if he wasn't putting in the effort there, he'd not get in the match day squad. The thing is, we utilize him completely wrong. We shove him on with five minutes to go, and start lumping the ball up to him and expecting him to deal with it, usually he's up against a centre back just as big as he is (or near), who's been heading the ball away for 80ish minutes already and is adjusted to the game. We shove Smith on and expect him to impress. That simply will not happen with 10 mins here, 5 mins there. It takes a fair few minutes to adjust to the tempo of the game, especially as a striker, but sadly too many of our fans expect him to be on, and impacting, straight away. Those types of strikers, with the nouse to do that, are in leagues far higher than us, and are few and far between. Instead of using him as a target man to lump the ball too when we're all out of ideas, why don't we get the ball out wide and cross it? Smith is not your 'flick on target man', he's someone who should be stood in the box tapping them in or heading them in. Anyone who has any sense can see he's been in the right places, he missed a sitter against Exeter was it last year? And he's come close to tapping some crosses in (on the rare occasions that actually occurs) and been an inch or two away from the killer touch. People forget that on the one occasion Dickov had the balls to bench Kuqi, Smith scored with a header, from a cross (IIRC), and was then immediately benched so Kuqi could take back his starting berth (now some may argue about this clause involving Kuqi being guaranteed to start every game... Now if that's true, Dickov needs his head testing. Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Dickov and believe it or not, I do back him, but any club/manager who writes into a players contract that he is GUARANTEED to start every game, is insane.) Also, I think a lot has to be said about other players regarding some of Smith's ineffective sub performances. When he does win the ball in the air, no one is around him to get onto the ball! There is usually absolutely no movement around him. People also slag him off for not being mobile enough, but think about it, how many lower to mid League 1 sides have a 6'6" striker who is actually mobile as well as massive? None, all those players are playing in higher divisions. Fair enough, if he gets a run of games, and performs badly, then yes, move on and let him go at the end of the season, but unfortunately he'll probably be given 5 mins here and there, and be written off as ':censored:' again and again, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did bag a fair few for a club who's staff and players know how to properly utilize him.

Ah, well I'll consider myself told too then :P

Oh dear. Seems like another one of our fans who forgets what level of football we're playing. Brill is prone to the odd mistake, maybe more than 'average' but he's saved our backside plenty of times too. He may make more than 'average' amounts of mistakes and misjudgements but that's why he's a league one goalkeeper! If his anticipation and judgement was better, he'd make better decisions, therefore less mistakes, therefore looking like a better goalkeeper. There's an awful lot more to making a save than just holding a ball or getting in the way of it. Making the correct decision, positioning, timing your jump, and much more come into play. This is where Brill is weak, his mental game. Do you really think he'd be a professional goalkeeper if he was so bad at the basics? A footballers mental ability will improve with experience. Dean's only 24 I think, that's still young for a keeper. You'll probably throw back the fact he's played in quite a few matches which he has, but players will keep learning throughout their career even up until the day they retire. That's what life's like. You live, you learn. And I dare say you'll try your 'Brill won't learn' line again, but in my opinion he's learnt quite a lot from last season, mainly his communication has improved. As for most of his mistakes leading to a goal, wonder why? Oh I see, because he's the goalkeeper, the last line of defence. If a midfielder makes a mistake, he's got the defence and goalkeeper behind him, if a defender makes a mistake, he's got the goalkeeper behind him, if a goalkeeper makes a mistake, what's behind him? The goal. That's why so many mistakes made by goalkeepers end up in goals being scored, because there is no one else to cover for those mistakes! As for you mentioning Brill not being able to cope with pressure, I wonder why? Each game he plays at home he knows one wrong decision or dropped catch will have a couple of hundred people hurling abuse at him, as that's what so many of our fans are like. I'm just as disappointed about last night as anyone, but stop whinging and moaning about one man in particular. You either succeed as a team, or fail as a team, in this sport. We clearly succeeded as a team first half, and failed as a team in the second. So get off his back and start being positive. He's not the best goalkeeper in the world, or this league. But I'm sure Dickov and Brill himself both know that, and I'm also sure Brill himself is just as disappointed about making mistakes as we are. But it happens, and he's saved our skin a fair few times too. He's wearing our shirt, get behind him! When I'm at games and I see him fumble a cross and then reclaim it, I'll whisper 'Bloody hell Brill' or something along those lines, but I've never gone on with the 'f**king hell brill, hold onto it you w**ker' route. That doesn't help players. SUPPORTING them, whether they're playing well or badly, does help them. P.S Sorry for the block of text people, I'm just a little tired of people blaming particular players for disappoint team displays.

Hey guys. Having a bit of an issue with Latics Player and was wondering if anyone here can help. Whenever I go to sign in to Player, the screen fades black and doesn't load or do anything after that, and in the bottom left corner the 'error on page' alert comes up. I've updated Flash player and had no luck so far. Any one out there have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance. Nez

Priceless!

Wasn't it Butler who had a 'discussion' with one of our fans in the main stand when warming up last season at BP? Although to be fair, it was more the fan throwing abuse at him rather than Butler doing anything wrong. Regardless, seems a decent defender from what I've seen of him, I'd be happy if we signed him.

I think it's a bit harsh to say Abbott's lazy. As others have said he's certainly not as much of a work horse as Warne was but he's hardly as lazy as some make him out to be. Also I think it's not possible for a club like us to be able to find a striker who's gonna hit 20 a season and work his nads off each game, as most forwards at this level are either a work horse, or a goal scorer. If we did somehow manage to get hold of one, a bigger club would snap him up in no time. Also, prior to his injury and the games where he was clearly unfit, I do recall him chasing the ball when opposition defenders had it. I'm not saying he'd chase the ball from one flank to the other, but he did close defenders down to some degree.

I agree with that. I was saying to a mate today, I think Brooke would benefit from going out on loan next season, should we sign a striker or two. Eaves certainly seems to be ahead of Brooke in the pecking order at the moment, but that could obviously change depending on who's in charge next season, and the application in training from both of them, and when/if we get a striker or strikers in. Either way Brooke's got potential, and a loan would only help his development.

Agreed. I think there's a fair bit of potential in Brooke. Personally I think that the best thing that's happened in his career, is funnily enough probably the worst too, that being his goal on his debut, as it's made a lot of people seemingly expect him to be a little further along in his development than he is. He's had limited chances this season, largely from the bench, and it's hard enough coming on as a sub anyway, never mind in a game against a team playing for promotion, with a centre back who's played in the Premiership in his career. And he's only 19, given time I think he'll become quite a decent striker at this level.

As awful/miserable as it sounds I couldn't be bothered waiting around for the lot who went onto the pitch to clear off. If I wouldn't have had to have waited for them to haul themselves off the pitch, I woulda stayed behind.

Abbott does his fair share of running if you ask me. Not all players have to bust a gut for every single ball to put their shift in. Abbott works hard enough bringing the ball under control and he does this in most cases if you ask me. He does his job a damn sight better than a lot of the others we have out there, and, although not as often as I'm sure we'd all have liked, has got himself a few goals this season, which is a contribution none of our other strikers can brag about.

Really pleased with tonight. As everyone's said everyone in blue played well tonight. Was most impressed by Greegs, Pav, Lee and Stephens. Nardiello looked sharp and offered something for Abbott to utilize, so I hope it's not a bad one, and glad to hear he was on his feet afterwards. One thing I was particularly impressed with was the fact we actually played some good football, and kept possession where we'd have lost it in similar situations earlier this season. All in all a routine win against admittedly sub par opposition, but it's much better than struggling against similar teams like we have been doing.

Thank God. Those two words, in reply to the quote, are all I need to say to get my views of him across.

Very cold, result good.