Tom Lees out!

[Blatter]

Lees was one of our better players last night. I know that’s a backhanded compliment in a way because nobody came out of the game particularly well. His marking and tackling was ok but his inability pass accurately is a major problem.
Our midfield is not helping him though. Bannan has played either left sided or further forward recently and Hutchinson always drops deep. With Shaw and Luongo out at the moment our midfielders never seem to be in position to give him a telling pass out of defence to get attacks started. Result is usually a lofted ball upfield that comes straight back to him because we lack a decent target man.

 

 

[Mike Hunt]

The OP is either a wum or a idiot or both 

I am going for option 3 

[prowl]

Lees is a funny player, he goes through good patches and bad ones but at the moment he's consistently in the top 2 or 3 players in each game. Just don't pass the ball to him he looks like he's going to have a heart attack when the ball is at his feet. Great at getting a foot in, a block, last ditch tacle.

 

At the moment we've got bigger problems than Lees.

[WhiteOwl91]

Just a wind up thread. 
 

Posters first ever post with something as ridiculous as that. 
 

Don’t get caught 

[Salmonbones]

Right now, we don't want to throw certain players under the bus because we are going to need them when we are really in the mucky stuff -  not that we aren't already.

 

Lees is not a player who will get the plaudits, but he's not one i'd be slating right now either.

 

Last few games, some players have looked like they have no fight in them, but I would not put  Lees in that category.

 

 

[Bulldog]

2 hours ago, mcmigo said:

Our defence is the third best in the league at home, and the ninth best overall.  Lees is one of the few players who has been OK this season.

 

The comment re centre backs being some sort of creative force in the team is the same debate as was raging when we were struggling for goals in the carlos second season.  For some reason people advocated the issue was the centre backs and we needed a 'ball playing' one to replace Loovens.  

 

Our problem is goalscoring - we are the lowest scorers in the entire football league.  That is the job of pretty much everyone aside from the centre backs. 

 

 

Excellent post and well said. I genuinely didn't realise we were the lowest scorers in the FL.

But at the same time I guess its not much of a shock.

[Weshallovercome]

1 hour ago, SallyCinnamon said:

Defence isn’t the issue.

 

So true, I was going to add the midfield is like a sieve, but we don't have a midfield really, we just have a few players scattered around doing very little.

[Sefton owl]

3 hours ago, mcmigo said:

Our defence is the third best in the league at home, and the ninth best overall.  Lees is one of the few players who has been OK this season.

 

The comment re centre backs being some sort of creative force in the team is the same debate as was raging when we were struggling for goals in the carlos second season.  For some reason people advocated the issue was the centre backs and we needed a 'ball playing' one to replace Loovens.  

 

Our problem is goalscoring - we are the lowest scorers in the entire football league.  That is the job of pretty much everyone aside from the centre backs. 

 

 

Indeed

 

We are like the opposite of Manchester United. 

[cowl]

Lees struggles whenever he's asked to play in the centre of a back 3.

 

On the right he's fine.

 

For me, it should be Lees on the right, with Hutchinson in the centre of a back 3, the spot on the left is a bit of a problem. It falls to Urhoghide, but ideally he'd be on the right (if it's not going to be Lees).

 

Hutchinson could play on the left, but that would perhaps mean Dunkley unfortunately coming back in. I just don't rate Dunkley, but that might be our best trio (Lees Dunkley Hutchinson) if Urhoghide is still felt to be too inexperienced.

 

If Hutchinson is to play on the left, Börner can actually play in the centre of a back 3. Though left-footed, and perhaps a reasonable fit for the left, he really struggles there due to his lack of pace.

[Freshfish]

It shouldn't be our back 3/4 who launch the ball forwards with a high degree of hope. And yet that's what happens more often than not when we have no midfield dominating a game. It's not the best defence in the world but it's being asked to be defence, midfield and strikers from set pieces. Foookin' world's gone mad ...

[unkastav]

3 hours ago, Danielh said:

Tom Lees performance has gone well down and he's past it. Negative play, lacking confidence,backward passing, dodgy play and needs replacing. He has a better presence in their box than anywhere near ours. We need Hutchinson to take that place and sure up the defence. 

Nonsense

[greyowl]

If only our forwards were as good !

[Shetland Owl]

only one who is playing well

[Danielh]

4 hours ago, Shetland Owl said:

only one who is playing well

When Hutchinson came back it upped Tom Lees confidence and made the defence tick. Now it needs a leader again in Hutchinson. It proves a point my post- like when people slag off Reach- there's no debate like his contributions when the chips were down before, he came out and worked hard and then this season played brilliant when played in position, then came good crosses and goals. Bannan playing his arse off,up and down the pitch, looking after players and stopping him playing his own game and having to play defence aswell and people quick to jump on him every chance they get. Mess with people's position and formations that don't work and we are quick to blame the players and not the tactics and who is managing the players. Think before you speak

[Hack-Abusi]

My only issue with Lees is those long floaty balls he always sends down the wings .. absolute horsesh*t

[Guest]

19 hours ago, matthefish2002 said:

Tom Lees is a bread and butter Championship defender. 

On a par with other defenders like Tommy Spurr, Leigh Bromby, Mark Beevers, Richard Wood we have had over last 15 years.

Other players I am more worried about who are not Championship standard.

 

Tom Lees is a better defender than all of the others on your list but he is a basic no nonsense no frills defender. We can't expect him to be able to pass consistently well as he never has been able to, Jos trying to use him as a ball playing CB was beyond bizarre.

 

This wasn't a problem when he had Loovens alongside and played in a back 4 as he could give it short to Hutchinson, Bannan, Loovens or either full back and we would still have enough to be able to get forward because we had players like Kieran Lee and Hooper who could transition the play from midfield to attack. If not, he also had someone with physical attributes like Nuhiu or Fletcher to aim for long or Forestieri who could run the channels effectively. 

 

Now we can still go short to Bannan or Hutchinson but we are set up much deeper as a team and they often have nowhere forward to go, if Dunkley and Osaze are playing alongside him , they aren't much better on the ball than he is and we have nothing effective to aim for up field if he has to go direct.