Time to Drop Freddy ?

[Yorkshire Blue]

Thoughts please.

FOR
Best finisher we've had since David Crown
Goal/game ratio still one of the best outside the Premiership
Gets people out of their seats and that little ripple/buzz goes around the ground if he picks up the ball on the run 40 yards out
Worked wonders last time it happened

I might be missing something, but I'd say that being our best finisher since David Crown, one of the best goal/game rations outside the premier$hite and the ability to get people out of their seats are all good reasons AGAINST dropping him, not good reasons FOR dropping him.

I understand you are keen to get the talented Matt Harrold (a rich man's Roy McDonough) into the side, but we could achieve this by dropping captain sideways and putting Bradbury into midfield.

 

[* ORM *]

No - the Fors/Agins were slightly misleading - but this was a positive point along with all the other Fors

And as for that lanky good for next to nothing carrot top - errrr no thanks, Fergie would be much more dangerous (and beautiful).

 

[ldnfatso]

Thoughts please.

FOR
Best finisher we've had since David Crown
Goal/game ratio still one of the best outside the Premiership
Gets people out of their seats and that little ripple/buzz goes around the ground if he picks up the ball on the run 40 yards out
Worked wonders last time it happened

AGAINST
Hardly been prolific over the last 20 games.
Still doesn't understand the offside rule.
Definitely unwilling, or unable, to probe the defence where it really hurts
Hasn't been able to partner anyone succesfully up front this season.
Can't convert a simple unmarked header from 3 yards out. (harsh, but fair) :D

What? Drop Fred with the amount of 1st team players we currently have missing? Are you f*****g mad??:thump: :thump:

 

[TTS]

I might be missing something, but I'd say that being our best finisher since David Crown, one of the best goal/game rations outside the premier$hite and the ability to get people out of their seats are all good reasons AGAINST dropping him, not good reasons FOR dropping him.

I understand you are keen to get the talented Matt Harrold (a rich man's Roy McDonough) into the side, but we could achieve this by dropping captain sideways and putting Bradbury into midfield.

Captain Sideways ????

Surely you mean the player than makes us tick ??

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Captain Sideways ????

Surely you mean the player than makes us tick ??

Not on an ORM drop Freddy thread he isn't! ;)

 

[Prodigal Son]

you are not alone ORM - myself, Shags and Shooter McGavin all agree with you, much to the chagrin of DtS

And the cliques lives on, and it sure has made a comeback in one or two places this week.

Beats me why you would drop your best plater when you barely have enough to fill the bench.

Why not play him at left-back to punish him?

 

[Angell Delight]

Yeah sure we should drop Freddy.....I never liked this division anyway :mad:

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Its not a clique thing.

First of all, there is no SZ clique. A fair few people on here know each other -some outside of football, some through football and some through the board. A clique suggests its some sort of closed group - its anything but, we just happen to have put faces to names.

Second, I've noticed that Freddy is increasingly being criticised at games, especially if he hasn't beaten 3 men and slammed it into the top corner.

 

[Jam_Man]

Second, I've noticed that Freddy is increasingly being criticised at games, especially if he hasn't beaten 3 men and slammed it into the top corner.

Bloody annoying it is too.

Funny how the criticisms are only shouted out when we are losing too.

Freddy is being made a scapegoat because a) He is laid back and b) we know he will leave.

The same people slating him for not running after every single ball would boo Thierry Henry who is far "lazier" than Eastwood.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Let him play with Foran first. He has been dying to play upfront with someone who knows where the goal is, give him his wish!!

 

[Zoot Blue]

I think it's time to give Foran a go up front with Freddy. The defenders swamp Freddy everytime he's on the ball which means whoever is up front with him should have a good chance of getting a shot off. Unfortunately, although his hold-up play is very good sometimes, Bradders can be retiscent to shoot whereas I think Foran will always have a pop.

 

[Zoot Blue]

Sorry... should have added that to the other thread. My bad!:thump:

 

[Beefy]

Hardly ridiculous and I tried to balance it with fors and againsts. Care to tell me how prolific he has been in the league this season ? Defences are not frightened by someone that plays deep and looks to score from 25-30 yards out week in week out. If they restrict forwards to shooting from range their job is done. If the forward pulls some magic out of the box there's not a lot you can do about that. I'd swap the odd spectacular finish for 5 six yard tap-ins every time and I'll bet if we had a quick goal poacher in our midst (e.g. Hooper) we'd be far higher up the table than we are now.

Foran is going to end up like JCR, going past his man and giving up sending early balls into the box to non-existent targets so going past the same man another couple of times waiting for someone to wake up.

I don't think theres a forward in this division who would have scored as many goals for us this season as Eastwood has. I'd agree that many teams have nullified Eastwood this season by forcing him further and further away from goal but again I'd ask why it is that teams think that they can structure their defence against us around doing just that? Its because he's our only attacking threat. I don't think a goal poacher would score many in this team at all, particularly if you're talking about playing one ahead of Eastwood. Half the 'easy' chances we miss in the box are created by Eastwood beating his man and crossing the ball into the middle.

Freddy Eastwood is by far our most talented player. I'd have thought that would have been obvious even to somone who said they'd snap the arm off of anyone offering £250k for him a year ago. We're not in this mess because of him - in fact he's the least of our worries.

 

[sufcintheprem]

The lazy thing in football is bizarre.

If a player is always caught out of position but works really hard to get back and tackle (as tempting as it is, I'm not going to name a current culprit), he is perceived to be hard-working and determined.

If a player sprints 50 yards to collect a pass, tries to take on a player to create something and doesn't chase a ball 30 yards away with sufficient vigour (typical Eastwood) or hasn't developed his game to the point where he can make space for himself effortlessly (see Chopra) he is deemed lazy.

It seems that the only way a genuinely attacking player can get plaudits for being hard-working is if they hit byline to byline and chase lost causes like JCR.

 

[* ORM *]

Freddy Eastwood is by far our most talented player. I'd have thought that would have been obvious even to somone who said they'd snap the arm off of anyone offering £250k for him a year ago. We're not in this mess because of him - in fact he's the least of our worries.

You won't find too many people arguing with that but I'd still takes 5 tap ins from a donkey in our current predicament

 

[CM2 Blue]

Eastwood is our most talented player and I live in hope that the run in to the end of the season will ignite the magic in him and that he will score the type of goals he has scored in the last 2 or 3 seasons for us. Unfortunately, we have not found the appropriate foil for him in attack and he has looked off the pace at times in key games. He does have much to learn about offside and timing headers but he is never going to be the type of player who 'leads the line'. Eastwood/Foran could be very good but I still feel that Paynter could do well for us if he is given the chance of playing off a target man. In any event I still feel we can hang on to our status as a Championship team. Up the Blues!

 

[Colchester Shrimper]

You won't find too many people arguing with that but I'd still takes 5 tap ins from a donkey in our current predicament

Unfortunately our resident 'donkey' is not obliging!

 

[Beefy]

You won't find too many people arguing with that but I'd still takes 5 tap ins from a donkey in our current predicament

We all would.

 

[Bielzibubz]

No I wouldn't and for a number of reasons but primarily for this:
Freddy, as we can all attest to, has struggled to find the kind of partnership that his type of game thrives on and my main bone of contention is that we haven't had a partner for Freddy that has posed anything like the threat that is going to cause a defence to think twice about putting two, maybe three, players on him
Any opposition that's done their homework knows this and can quite easily negate Freddy's undoubted talents and make it seriously hard work for him to have any effect on the game let alone crack in the kind of goal ratio we had become accustomed to.

With this in mind I'd be inclined to give Foran a go up front. With his aerial ability, his willingness to get stuck in, his awareness of players around him and his pace (which, IMO both Bradders and Harrold lack) I think it would certainly give any defence something else to think about and perhaps give Freddy that yard of space and thinking time that I think he needs.

 

[steveo]

The same people slating him for not running after every single ball would boo Thierry Henry who is far "lazier" than Eastwood

By his own admission Henry is a "lazy" player and trainer. The reason is because his game is based on sprints and his theory is he doesnt want to be knacker chasing all over the pitch, when the time for a sprint arrives.
Fred plays a similar game but as reviously mentioned defences swamp him as soon as he gets the ball, so we have to take advantage of the extra space they are giving other players. Bradbury doesnt do it, so he should be dropped for Foran. Its fairly obvious to me but Tilly wont drop Bradders.