Massimo Luongo

[CrosbyKitchens]

Luongo is our best midfield player. Shame he's a crock. If we can get him fit we're laughing. 

[Guest freerole]

Got the talent but a Hutchinson MK2 in terms of injuries. Sadly a bad signing.

[gurujuan]

2 hours ago, freerole said:

Got the talent but a Hutchinson MK2 in terms of injuries. Sadly a bad signing.

It was a bit strange at the time, for one of their better players, there was very little desire to keep him from QPR

[Wednesday_Jack]

Travelling to the other side of the world every 3 months for pointless friendly’s doesn’t help

[Sham67]

You can tell he's missed pre-season. If he comes back from the break fully fit we should see the best of him.  Good player at this level. 

[Dutch McLovin]

17 hours ago, gurujuan said:

Fitness has obviously been an issue, but hopefully he can resolve those issues. He does seem to have the tools to be able to do a bit of everything That will be useful if the manager persists on playing 4-4-2 

However, that then throws up question marks around Bannan. Pairing those two as our midfield engine room would leave us really vulnerable to counter attacks All right if we were on top, but not much good when we don’t have the ball

Bannan should never play in a midfield 2 again. We should have learned this by now... IMO wide left in a 442 is where Bannan operates best.

 

Luongo is a good player, however he is more of a box to box type rather than attacking or defensive CM player. If i was the manager i would be looking at bringing in 2 new CM players and playing one of the 3 youngsters (Hunt Shaw Waldock) along with Luongo to make up the 4. The other two id look to loan out to get experience. 

[gurujuan]

7 minutes ago, Dutch McLovin said:

Bannan should never play in a midfield 2 again. We should have learned this by now... IMO wide left in a 442 is where Bannan operates best.

 

Luongo is a good player, however he is more of a box to box type rather than attacking or defensive CM player. If i was the manager i would be looking at bringing in 2 new CM players and playing one of the 3 youngsters (Hunt Shaw Waldock) along with Luongo to make up the 4. The other two id look to loan out to get experience. 

Totally agree, wide (or narrow) left is Bannan’s best position, and with Luongo fit and operating as a box to box midfielder, we just need a more defensively minded player to complete the trio Not sure any of our youngsters are yet ready Maybe Hunt can remain with the squad, but I’d be looking to recruit a couple of energetic back ups

[Bluesteel]

He made a name for himself further forward and is good at that but he was the best/most efficient tackler in the league before we got him and I think we need someone like that at the base of midfield. He is fit enough to get forward when it matters.

[Guest ka58]

11 hours ago, hirstyboywonder said:

 

He started off OK under Bullen. The Preston game was a nightmare for him completely his fault, the Derby red card was harsh to say the least, looked as though he had been fouled. 

As the 'pointless'???? stats show, we have given away far more points without him in the team than with him and as said, he has been honest enough to admit his mistakes and make a concerted effort to improve which many don't.

 

As for Monk making him available for transfer and then bringing him back, I think that says more about his management than anything else, a few of his decisions can be described as bizarre. 

i don’t think measuring a player by how team did is particular useful.

 

for example - we got 4 points from the away games at derby and Charlton - but he gifted Charlton their equaliser - although we ultimately won. And he gave away the penalty that cost us two points at derby.

 

so let’s just say they were the only two games he played in - his record would be undefeated and 2 points per game but he actually cost us 2 points and could have cost us 4.

 

he didn’t start ok under bullen either - he has been consistently poor.

[oldishowl]

We have lots of issues in midfield, the main one being that we have not had a consistent way of playing since the days of Carlos.

 

Players won’t perform consistently if they are asked to play a different role every week while the opposition have a regular system and players are good at their job because they do it every game.

When the pressure comes on this makes the difference.

 

When we had Wallace, Lee , Hutch, Bannan they knew their job because they had the same one every week.
 

Since then it’s been chop change every week. Generally, because we don’t have settled way of playing our set up changes depending on the opposition.

Impossible to be successful doing this .

 

I don’t blame the managers for this. Because I don’t think the players are there .

 

Look at Bannan. He has gone from playing triangles with those above plus Hooper to his only out ball being a lob over the top for Fletcher. No wonder he struggles sometimes.

[York_Owl]

18 hours ago, gurujuan said:

Yes we are short on numbers in midfield, but if we only play with a 2, a couple of back up players should suffice

We’ve got to move away from signing back up players. 
If the player is deemed not good enough to improve the first xi then we should move on to someone that can.

[jonnyowl]

Really need to work out why these players come to us and the  end up spending more time on treatment table than the pitch!

[WalthamOwl]

When fit he should be one of the first names on the team sheet for me. Hopefully this break has done him some good and he is over his injuries and comes back in to the team and we never see Pessy play for us again. 

[Shetland Owl]

further forward for me

[Dutch McLovin]

2 hours ago, gurujuan said:

Totally agree, wide (or narrow) left is Bannan’s best position, and with Luongo fit and operating as a box to box midfielder, we just need a more defensively minded player to complete the trio Not sure any of our youngsters are yet ready Maybe Hunt can remain with the squad, but I’d be looking to recruit a couple of energetic back ups

Agree with you, but i think Liam Shaw is ready to make the step up, not seen a lot of him but what i have seen he looks the part and is physically ready. Hunt and Waldock on a loan to January to teams where they will play then sign a defensive midfielder and one more, think with Luongo's injury record we should if possible sign a first teamer but they cost money.

[Guest]

57 minutes ago, ka58 said:

i don’t think measuring a player by how team did is particular useful.

 

for example - we got 4 points from the away games at derby and Charlton - but he gifted Charlton their equaliser - although we ultimately won. And he gave away the penalty that cost us two points at derby.

 

so let’s just say they were the only two games he played in - his record would be undefeated and 2 points per game but he actually cost us 2 points and could have cost us 4.

 

he didn’t start ok under bullen either - he has been consistently poor.

 

In general I agree with you, some stats can certainly be manipulated or used for advantage but I would much rather have our record over the course of the games he has played in rather than those he hasn't and it can't just be coincidence over 15-20 games. Maybe the other players are more focused and alert when he plays due to his previous mistakes!

 

Still stand by the Derby goal being an error by the ref rather than a clear foul by Moses. The Charlton goal was his fault but if we are going to pinpoint individual errors that have led to goals the others defenders will have a lot to answer for over the last 2 or 3 league games alone. 

He has conceded his form was poor and is taking steps to address it, he has proved capable of playing a role in a successful side at this level which is more than can be said for many of our other defensive options so I am willing to give him a chance.  

[Dutch McLovin]

1 hour ago, York_Owl said:

We’ve got to move away from signing back up players. 
If the player is deemed not good enough to improve the first xi then we should move on to someone that can.

This. We need to improve the team and make the first choice players back up.

 

We had Hunt Pudil as fullbacks with Palmer Wiggins/Fox as back up, we've gone backwards are the first choice are gone and the back ups are first choice.

 

Should have ditched Palmer and Fox and bought in better full backs than Hunt Pudil. Its not easy but that should be the plan.

[gurujuan]

1 hour ago, York_Owl said:

We’ve got to move away from signing back up players. 
If the player is deemed not good enough to improve the first xi then we should move on to someone that can.

I’m in agreement in so much as, I don’t want us to be duplicating older experienced players as back up. Wouldn’t have a problem though, with signing young hungry players, who we could improve, and who would put real pressure on the starters

[Dronfield_SWFC]

I think the break will have suited him and he will be a key player for the rest of the season

[Dutch McLovin]

23 minutes ago, hirstyboywonder said:

 

In general I agree with you, some stats can certainly be manipulated or used for advantage but I would much rather have our record over the course of the games he has played in rather than those he hasn't and it can't just be coincidence over 15-20 games. Maybe the other players are more focused and alert when he plays due to his previous mistakes!

 

Still stand by the Derby goal being an error by the ref rather than a clear foul by Moses. The Charlton goal was his fault but if we are going to pinpoint individual errors that have led to goals the others defenders will have a lot to answer for over the last 2 or 3 league games alone. 

He has conceded his form was poor and is taking steps to address it, he has proved capable of playing a role in a successful side at this level which is more than can be said for many of our other defensive options so I am willing to give him a chance.  

Agree with all this. In an Ideal world id keep him and get rid of palmer and bring in another RB, then Moses can try improve his form and compete to make the place his own.

 

That said full backs are a problem for us but elsewhere (CM and CF) are much more of one and with no budget to speak of Rome wasnt built in a day. Plus Monk is clueless anyway so none of this matters while he's here we'll continue to drop.