Kayla and Stephens

[Arkwright]

Everyone seems happy to knock the defenders and strikers but on current form this excellent midfield pairing seem a little bit off the pace.
You can't fault the work rate but the passing has become slow you could say pedestrian, they both seem to drop so deep and pick the ball up off our centre halves when surely the centre halves can carry the ball to the halfway line. The number of times Kayal picks the ball up and has eleven opposition player behind the ball means his passing options are either backwards or square at best.
You can blame a lack of movement from our wide players and strikers but pre match you watch the players pinging the ball around one touch and yet this is not transferred into match play.
The pair are doing too much work on the halfway line and not enough in advanced areas of the pitch.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Everyone seems happy to knock the defenders and strikers but on current form this excellent midfield pairing seem a little bit off the pace.
You can't fault the work rate but the passing has become slow you could say pedestrian, they both seem to drop so deep and pick the ball up off our centre halves when surely the centre halves can carry the ball to the halfway line. The number of times Kayal picks the ball up and has eleven opposition player behind the ball means his passing options are either backwards or square at best.
You can blame a lack of movement from our wide players and strikers but pre match you watch the players pinging the ball around one touch and yet this is not transferred into match play.
The pair are doing too much work on the halfway line and not enough in advanced areas of the pitch.

Well yes that was certainly very much the case yesterday anyway. After Wolves had scored they kept a lot of players back behind the ball and made it difficult for us to play our usual passing game.

Not nearly enough goals are coming from them either, and they need to force their way into the box more.

 

[martin tyler]

Everyone seems happy to knock the defenders and strikers but on current form this excellent midfield pairing seem a little bit off the pace.
You can't fault the work rate but the passing has become slow you could say pedestrian, they both seem to drop so deep and pick the ball up off our centre halves when surely the centre halves can carry the ball to the halfway line. The number of times Kayal picks the ball up and has eleven opposition player behind the ball means his passing options are either backwards or square at best.
You can blame a lack of movement from our wide players and strikers but pre match you watch the players pinging the ball around one touch and yet this is not transferred into match play.
The pair are doing too much work on the halfway line and not enough in advanced areas of the pitch.

Personally although we have numbers who can play in there it seems there is a lack of competition for their places. They have had to play almost every minute of every game and it's beginning to take a toll.
Wingers are the biggest miss.
LuaLua was in the form of his life as was March when they both got their injuries. Those players and their pace stretched the game and created space for others to get into and for passes to be mad. Without them last 3 teams have just basically sat in front of us and without the width we had before that's a hard thing to break down

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Personally although we have numbers who can play in there it seems there is a lack of competition for their places. They have had to play almost every minute of every game and it's beginning to take a toll.
Wingers are the biggest miss.
LuaLua was in the form of his life as was March when they both got their injuries. Those players and their pace stretched the game and created space for others to get into and for passes to be mad. Without them last 3 teams have just basically sat in front of us and without the width we had before that's a hard thing to break down

Agreed. We need to be able to up the tempo, stretch the opposition and make gaps appear. That isn't happening at the moment.

 

[METALMICKY]

surely the centre halves can carry the ball to the halfway line.

Hands up all those who on current form would like Dunk to dribble the ball to halfway line more often?

Personally I think they struggle to spot passing opportunities as we have some poor movement in front of them. The injuries to our natural wide players like KLL and March are killing us and Murphy looks worried as he knows he has to keep an eye on Calde who is not a left back.

 

[Mowgli37]

Wasn't at the Wolves match so I can't speak for that game but against Ipswich I thought Stephens was outstanding with Kayal being marked out of the game. On form though they really are one of the best pairings we've ever had in the centre of the park.

 

[Seagulls1984]

They have been flogged to death !!!

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Well yes that was certainly very much the case yesterday anyway. After Wolves had scored they kept a lot of players back behind the ball and made it difficult for us to play our usual passing game.

Not nearly enough goals are coming from them either, and they need to force their way into the box more.

Four goals for Stephens this season is a pretty good return. If you want to criticise goal returns, then the defence haven't scored all season (and the strikers are an obvious issue). We've scored a lot of goals from the midfield quartet.

I agree with the OP re Stephens and Kayal. They've both missed only one league game all season and it's starting to show. They've worked very hard with them both playing box to box. Hopefully a rest of 10 days (assuming they're both rested for Hull) will do them good. It would be good to see either Crofts, if he can stay fit, or Towell playing well enough to offer a viable alternative so we can give Stephens or Kayal a rest (obviously not both in the same game like the Preston match).

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

Because Caldy is playing forward a long way cos he hasnt the pace to overlap, so Murphy is playing inside too much, so consequently, we are not getting behind the full back, which nulifies Zamoras impact.
Bobby's strength is in the box, picking up loose balls and pulled back crosses.
Murphy playing inside is taking away space from Kayak and Stephens, so they are dropping deeper.

 

[sdmartin1]

1. They have both played pretty much every game
2. The lack of width in the past couple of games has meant the onus is on them to provide almost all the creativity
3. They were having to drop deeper to collect the ball because Wolves could focus their defence more centrally

Despite these things, Kayal in particular was still sprinting about track back etc, think it's harsh to criticize either of them tbh.

 

[Brighton Mod]

Agreed. We need to be able to up the tempo, stretch the opposition and make gaps appear. That isn't happening at the moment.

Our build up is definitely slow, especially when it comes from the back through the midfield. Stockdale tries to get things moving from the back, but Stephens, what an earth is he seeing out there. Whilst I understand that players will play to instructions from the manager, surely he as a more vision than currently being shown. On the occasions that we did create space he failed to see the opportunity and when he did the pass came two or three seconds late, hence the our advantage had gone. yesterday both Bruno and Calde found space on their respective wings, but time after time we saw a negative five metre pass only to be returned.
Kayal gives is all in all respects, but I cannot say the same of Stephens.

 

[HantsSeagull]

Everyone seems happy to knock the defenders and strikers but on current form this excellent midfield pairing seem a little bit off the pace.
You can't fault the work rate but the passing has become slow you could say pedestrian, they both seem to drop so deep and pick the ball up off our centre halves when surely the centre halves can carry the ball to the halfway line. The number of times Kayal picks the ball up and has eleven opposition player behind the ball means his passing options are either backwards or square at best.
You can blame a lack of movement from our wide players and strikers but pre match you watch the players pinging the ball around one touch and yet this is not transferred into match play.
The pair are doing too much work on the halfway line and not enough in advanced areas of the pitch.

agreed. they are industrious but not a lot of creativity going on. wish kayal would just shoot sometimes.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Our build up is definitely slow, especially when it comes from the back through the midfield. Stockdale tries to get things moving from the back, but Stephens, what an earth is he seeing out there. Whilst I understand that players will play to instructions from the manager, surely he as a more vision than currently being shown. On the occasions that we did create space he failed to see the opportunity and when he did the pass came two or three seconds late, hence the our advantage had gone. yesterday both Bruno and Calde found space on their respective wings, but time after time we saw a negative five metre pass only to be returned.
Kayal gives is all in all respects, but I cannot say the same of Stephens.

Very harsh on Stephens, a player who has been one of our best this season (as has Kayal). There were limited options a lot of the time yesterday, especially once Wolves scored and they had 10 men behind the ball at all times.

 

[Wellesley]

agreed. they are industrious but not a lot of creativity going on. wish kayal would just shoot sometimes.

When he does shoot it always seems to go way over the bar. A bit like Nobby Horton, the excellence of his all round game more than compensates for this. Would be nice to see him bag a few though.

 

[Marshy]

The addition of Crofts to the midfield had made the passing slow and pedestrian.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

The addition of Crofts to the midfield had made the passing slow and pedestrian.

What a surprise. Unfair criticism of Crofts from a poster who has had a go at him before. I never understand why fans are so against a specific players (unless they don't put the effort in and work hard, I support all of our players).

 

[Bold Seagull]

The addition of Crofts to the midfield had made the passing slow and pedestrian.

He's not a natural wide player though, I actually thought Crofts did alright trying to adapt to an unfamiliar role.

 

[HantsSeagull]

When he does shoot it always seems to go way over the bar. A bit like Nobby Horton, the excellence of his all round game more than compensates for this. Would be nice to see him bag a few though.

hmm 33 goal in 218 apearances - i remember him being a bit more prolific than that. he took the pens aswell didnt he?

 

[fleet]

It's simple really, we have a weakened back four and a weakened midfield without Bong / Rosenior / KLL / March - that makes the other defenders and midfield players do stuff they wouldn't normally do and makes them look worse. It was obvious we would lose some December games until January transfer window (although I thought we would win against Wolves), but let's see how we look with a left back, a first choice CB pairing and KLL back.

 

[Wellesley]

hmm 33 goal in 218 apearances - i remember him being a bit more prolific than that. he took the pens aswell didnt he?

He did, but I was going on my recollection as a youngster more than facts and I can remember thinking 'Don't shoot from there.' and then watching it sail over the bar again. I get that same feeling with Kayal. So frustrating, especially when time is running out, although when they do go in........