Why was Sparrow withdrawn and not Dicker?

[Ninja Elephant]

Bridcutt gave it away loads and I have to be honest I didn't know Sparrow was even on the pitch. I never said Dicker was exceptional, although he started the game brilliantly, but he was better than the other two.

Incredible. For the passes Bridcutt got wrong, how many did he get right? And how many important tackles did he make? It wasn't his best performance and he was far from perfect, obviously the goal will be the thing everyone remembers and a few misplaced passes, but Bridcutt was still our best midfielder tonight for me. He makes us play, and he is involved so much that what he does well outweighs what he gets wrong. It's easier to remember the bad than the good, especially when he cost us the goal, but I certainly am not in any great rush say he was worse than Sparrow, and certainly not worse than Dicker. Amazing statement that, in my opinion.

 

[Lush]

To be honest, neither of them are Championship standard.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

To be honest, neither of them are Championship standard.

Unfortunately, this.

 

[trueblue]

What we rely need is Dicker's ability with Sparrow's engine - that would be an excellent player. On balance MS edges it for me as he has the energy to get involved throughout but Dicker is a decent squad player.

 

[drew]

I think Dicker had a better game than his recent performances but unfortunately that still only reaches the level just below adequacy. As for Sparrow, thought he saw a lot of the ball but was too slow in thought and caught in possession far to often. Both of their poor performances were exacerbated by the first real poor game from Bridcutt in about 18 months.

 

[Silent Bob]

tbh I thought Dicker was having a good game tonight, for the first time in a while. Sparrow was, as ever, a pointless waste of space who only served to decieve his team mates in thinking they might have a pass on only for him to lose the ball or at least waste it with the wrong choice every single time. Total total shit. Even if Dicker is out for a long time I struggle to see how Sparrow can even justify a place on the bench.

Brdicutt did quite a lot of good things tonight, but also quite a lot of things went wrong which counts as a bad performance by his standards as he never usually puts a foot out of place.

 

[the right footed denilson]

Not sure Dicker is a decent squad player. What would be the point of having him on the bench? How would he change a game? Grateful to him for his last few years shift, but he isn't up to this level of football. I'd also say this, and it's perhaps a bit OTT, BUT if the likes of Kazim and Rodgers aren't better than GD and even MS, what is the point of our development squad? I mean, youngsters will improve, of course, but Kazim is a similar age to Barnes and Buckley and older than Dunk, either he has something to offer or he doesn't.

 

[the right footed denilson]

I think Dicker had a better game than his recent performances but unfortunately that still only reaches the level just below adequacy. As for Sparrow, thought he saw a lot of the ball but was too slow in thought and caught in possession far to often. Both of their poor performances were exacerbated by the first real poor game from Bridcutt in about 18 months.

No doubt LB makes the rest of the midfield look better than they are. When he plays like that we have no midfield.

 

[drew]

No doubt LB makes the rest of the midfield look better than they are. When he plays like that we have no midfield.

Not the whole of the midfield, only the other two central players. Noone is pretty much on fire and seems to be able to go past anyone. Shame his crossing in the first half wasn't so great this week.

 

[perseus]

Sparrow gave the ball away more times than I've had hot dinners in the first half

Concur. But that was only because Sparrow was given the ball. Dicker was just as inept. But West Ham targeted both players. This is the pressing technique to make Albion to play the longer ball and miss out the midfield. I do think Dicker is the more predictable of the two players. There were three players around Sparrow at times. And Dicker chose the wrong pass on the edge of the box, in the first half: at least I thought it was Dicker.

 

[Commander]

I thought Dicker played OK last night. And I thought Painter had a good game for the first time this season.

 

[Betfair Bozo]

I agree with Commander but, in truth, Painter didn't have a direct opponent to get at him. Can't really see why anyone would get especially upset about Sparrow coming off instead of Dicker either.

 

[keaton]

Watching Dicker this season reminds me of when Navarro started for us and we had a midfielder who seemed to do very little apart from move slowly away from wherever play was. I think Dickers' got some ability and hope you comes back from injury but he's the only player this season who i've thought has looked poor every game

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Thought Dicker played a good game today and probably the best I have seen him this season. Noticed Sparrow give the ball away a few more times. To be honest I think you see different things according to which stand you watch from. Always feel the WSU have the best overview as long as they have decent eyesight to go with it.

The fact of the matter is they BOTH gave the ball away far too often (again). I wouldn't wish a serious injury on any player -& especially one of our own - but I honestly don't think Gary Dicker is capable of producing the goods for us at this level (& frankly I'm not especially convinced that Matt Sparrow is either). I hope the guy recovers quickly & comes back to prove doubters like myself wrong, but I can't say I'm holding my breath. Hopefully Vicente will now step into the breach & show us all how talent & experience in the centre of the park can significantly improve the way the rest of the side play...

 

[Marshy]

Bit of a no brainer this one, we were struggling to break down West Ham as it was....who is more likely to provide a pass that might....

 

[Medwayseagull]

I thought Sparrow was better than Dicker last night but they are different types of players so asking why one was substituted not the other is not comparing like with like. I thought Painter was decent last night but he had nobody with pace running at him which makes all the difference.

 

[brighton fc]

Both rubbish centre of midfield is we're all our problems stem from !