Jcr

[The Big Shrimp]

What a bunch of pants! You can't realistically justify that our uplift in form is mainly due to Maher not being around.

Obviously the fact that we now have 2 decent Strikers has absolutely nothing to with it....

Its fact, as per a SUFC player. Maher's "disagreement" with Moussa was the final straw for a lot of players!

Two decent strikers makes a difference of course, but its Macca & Bailey who've run the show.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

JCR played in the championship, Bradbury played there in league one.

Teams were harder when JCR was playing.....

Not when he was on loan to us.

We slumped with him in the team during our title season, and we were then relegated with him in the team the following season once he'd signed permanently.

He is now on course for his 3rd consecutive relegation.

 

[Jam_Man]

Not when he was on loan to us.

We slumped with him in the team during our title season, and we were then relegated with him in the team the following season once he'd signed permanently.

He is now on course for his 3rd consecutive relegation.

True, but when he was on loan with us he only played a handful of games, and the slump we had over Christmas can hardly be put down to one player...

 

[Jam_Man]

Its fact, as per a SUFC player. Maher's "disagreement" with Moussa was the final straw for a lot of players!

Two decent strikers makes a difference of course, but its Macca & Bailey who've run the show.

Its not fact at all.

The strikers have had a far bigger impact on the side than any that Maher could have had by "upsetting" other players.

Finally we have a team where the 9 other players reaslise they have strikers who can do something and confidence has boomed because of it.

Lets not make Maher a scapegoat...

 

[Andyhsufc]

Tbh, I can see both sides of the argument with Maher as on the one hand, I think that his low morale must have had an impact on the rest of the squad (fottball manageresque) but on the other hand, there were a number of other factors such as confidence and inadequate strikers etc

 

[NZamba Legend]

I know Tommy Black has his knockers but I think he is a much better team player than JCR ever was. He is very direct, has decent delivery, runs into space and is not scared to have a shot.

 

[leeblue]

tommy black puts crosses in which already makes him twice the player jcr was

 

[Jam_Man]

I know Tommy Black has his knockers but I think he is a much better team player than JCR ever was. He is very direct, has decent delivery, runs into space and is not scared to have a shot.

Yet JCRs work rate and defensive qualities were far better.

JCR wasnt perfect and was frustrating at times but he improved substantially throughout last season and would have been a good player to have in League One.

Im more than happy with Black though and agree his crosses are better than JCR's and does get more across.

 

[leeblue]

always love the JCR debate, I couldn stand him others thought he was the next george best, has a southend player ever split the support like JCR did

 

[Kris]

Although I agree with much of what has been said above, however I would like to know what he would have been like for us if we had Walker and Barnard in the team, one player who has the pace to be up with him when he broke forward, and the other who knows how to play the line and will look to get into the box, something we did not have last year. Also his keeping the ball rather than pass it may have been that he was waiting for some to be in position for him to pass the ball to, by the time we got up there it was too late and he was either dispossed or crowded out a ball played. Whenever I saw him play for Jamica he seemed to be able give the opposition a torrid time and make quite a few crosses into dangerous positions.

But it is all ifs and buts.

This is precisely my stance. JCR actually put in far more crosses last season than people give him credit for yet there was rarely anywhere near enough people attacking the box to take advantage.

We all know Freddy used to hang around outside the area, while the likes of Bradbury and Harrold, playing the target man role, were also coming deep in the build-up which made it difficult for them to then burst into the box as
well.

Add to that the fact that we didn't really have any consistent runners from midfield and it's pretty easy to explain why we rarely scored from crosses - and that includes from Gower as well, despite his delivery generally being good.

I too think JCR would be a lot more productive now that we have two strikers in Barnard and Walker who aren't afraid to attack crosses, as well as two midfielders in McCormack and Bailey who like to ghost late into the box.

 

[Kris]

True, but when he was on loan with us he only played a handful of games, and the slump we had over Christmas can hardly be put down to one player...

Agreed. I think the slump in League One also coincided with Guttridge being out for about a month with an injury. I'd say that was more of a factor as Benno, as industrious as he was when playing on the right, looked out of his depth in the centre of midfield in League One.

 

[Kris]

I know Tommy Black has his knockers but I think he is a much better team player than JCR ever was. He is very direct, has decent delivery, runs into space and is not scared to have a shot.

Hmmm. I'm still not convinced by Black yet. He's very skilful, gets into good positions and has a better footballing brain than JCR, but his lack of fitness negates this and his inability to track back - something JCR was very, very good at - leaves Francis horribly exposed at times. Ultimately, I don't think his end product is any better than JCR's, to be honest.

If we were to go up this season, unless Black can improve his work rate/fitness level by about 30% I think he'd be an absolute liability in the Championship.