McGhee disappointed with Knight

[Marc]

apologies if already posted, found it on the BBC News sport website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/brighton/4054787.stm
Quote:
"He should be playing week in, week out, and be scoring goals for us."

Well if you started him alongside Claridge he WOULD be playing week in week out, 20mins at the end is'nt enough!

I sense a RIFT in the dressing room

 

[Uncle Buck]

Careful, not allowed to question McGhee, now repeat, Knight is a lazy, diving little maggot, only interested in himself and it is right to play a centre back and a 38 year old who has spent the last 18 months in non league football in front of him.

Say it 50 times and you will be cured....

 

[Rangdo]

Careful, not allowed to question McGhee, now repeat, Knight is a lazy, diving little maggot, only interested in himself and it is right to play a centre back and a 38 year old who has spent the last 18 months in non league football in front of him.

Say it 50 times and you will be cured....

I think Mcghee is a superb manager but I do wish he'd give Claridge and Knight a full game up front. Pllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeee do it for the Rotherham game.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I do wish he'd give Claridge and Knight a full game up front. Pllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeee do it for the Rotherham game.

We agree on something then.

 

[pasty]

I think Mcghee is a superb manager but I do wish he'd give Claridge and Knight a full game up front. Pllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeee do it for the Rotherham game.

I can't see many disagreeing with that one.

 

[Marc]

Careful, not allowed to question McGhee, now repeat, Knight is a lazy, diving little maggot, only interested in himself and it is right to play a centre back and a 38 year old who has spent the last 18 months in non league football in front of him.

Say it 50 times and you will be cured....

Bollocks to that, I'm getting annoyed at McGhees constant dropping of Leon to the bench, he did'nt score all those goals last season by starting on the bench and being dropped just because he was'nt scoring. He needs to start up front at all home games and its blatantly obvious he would have a chance to score with Claridge alongside him....if he does fail then we'll cross that bridge if we come to it!

 

[Storer68]

if he scored then there wouldn't be a problem. trouble is he hasn't (until Ipswich) looked at all dangerous, so what is a manager to do when his only striker is not doing the bizness

 

[Lammy]

We agree on something then.

I agree with that too!

 

[Uncle Buck]

if he scored then there wouldn't be a problem. trouble is he hasn't (until Ipswich) looked at all dangerous, so what is a manager to do when his only striker is not doing the bizness

However some of the issue here must be that the manager is not playing to his strengths? Coppell did, McGhee does not. He is the sort of player that needs a system built round him and as we do not have that many players, maybe it is something that should be done?

 

[Marc]

if he scored then there wouldn't be a problem. trouble is he hasn't (until Ipswich) looked at all dangerous, so what is a manager to do when his only striker is not doing the bizness

Thing is McGhee does'nt play Robinson or Molango so he has to play Knight. He's not gonna get out of this drought with 20mins each game and to have him on the bench at home against a team we should've got a draw against is just silly IMO. Rotherham is the ideal match to get him starting alongside Claridge, Rotherham will be cautious but after their win last night they will come out with abit more adventure and get caught out at the back....Leon can do that with his pace and up against that Rotherham hero (forget his name) who's the same size roughly then he;d stand a greater chance of scoring a goal and proving that he can score and that it is just a goal drought and nothing more.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

We MUST beat Rotherham on Saturday so Knight, who looked really lively against Ipswich, will surely have to start.

 

[Easy 10]

Leon can do that with his pace and up against that Rotherham hero (forget his name) who's the same size roughly then he;d stand a greater chance of scoring a goal and proving that he can score and that it is just a goal drought and nothing more.

Cor, that was a really long sentence. When I read it in my head, you sounded like Vicky Pollard.

 

[London Calling]

a kick up the back side..

Lets watch leon on Sat

 

[Rangdo]

We agree on something then.

It would be a very dull message board if we agreed on everything wouldn't it?

 

[Lokki 7]

It would be a very dull message board if we agreed on everything wouldn't it?

I agree!

 

[Rangdo]

 

[trueblue]

However some of the issue here must be that the manager is not playing to his strengths?


What are his strengths then? I think he only scored a lot of goals a division lower because defenders were more prone to errors and generally not as sharp. He's quick over a few yards, but his stride is so short that in any chase even a medium-paced, tall centre back will catch him.

What he needs to do in this division is make good runs and become a goal poacher. That way his lack of body strength matters a lot less. He hasn't really looked like finishing off any dangerous balls into the box in the games I've seen.

Undoubtedly he is one of our most skilful players and I am by no means 'anti' Leon (I'd like to see him start on Saturday), but I think McGhee's been fully justified in trying to change things.

 

[Uncle Buck]

[What are his strengths then? I think he only scored a lot of goals a division lower because defenders were more prone to errors and generally not as sharp. He's quick over a few yards, but his stride is so short that in any chase even a medium-paced, tall centre back will catch him.

What he needs to do in this division is make good runs and become a goal poacher. That way his lack of body strength matters a lot less. He hasn't really looked like finishing off any dangerous balls into the box in the games I've seen.

Undoubtedly he is one of our most skilful players and I am by no means 'anti' Leon (I'd like to see him start on Saturday), but I think McGhee's been fully justified in trying to change things.

I would say his strengths are his touch and pace over the first five yards. If balls are put on the ground in front of him, or flicked over the top of the defender, he has the ability to create something from these. On Saturday he was essentially sitting on the defenders shoulder, waiting for that ball over the top and if the said defender had not decided to hold his shirt, the chances are he would have scored.

At the end of the day, he never stood a chance with a large section of our support as he was not Zamora.

 

[Easy 10]

What he needs to do in this division is make good runs and become a goal poacher. That way his lack of body strength matters a lot less. He hasn't really looked like finishing off any dangerous balls into the box in the games I've seen.

Its a good point. What is it they say about good strikers ?

"The first couple of yards are in the head"

Its not even that Leon is missing a hatful of chances - he's not even getting into the positions to miss them. I remember Gary Lineker once saying that during a game he'd make umpteen runs into the near post, and nine times out of ten the ball would never arrive. But that one time it DID arrive and he stuck it away, people would say "oh, he was in the right place at the right time", when in fact, he'd been in the "right place" loads of times, but it only got noticed when he actually scored.

Leon doesn't quite seem capable of finding that yard of space he needs at this level, and just doesn't really seem to be getting into goalscoring positions. Its a worry, cos I thought he'd do ok at this level, but its just not happening for him.

 

[trueblue]

I would say his strengths are his touch and pace over the first five yards. If balls are put on the ground in front of him, or flicked over the top of the defender, he has the ability to create something from these.


I don't agree on that. That's the point I was making. If a ball is played over the top to put him clean through and it becomes a chase over any distance, most defenders will catch him because his little legs just can't work quick enough. Granted, if he can use that speed to spin someone on the edge of the box, it might work but otherwise it's not so likely.
He needs to be making runs to get in on balls played in behind the defence.