Richard Smallwood

That's my thoughts too around the pressure, which seems so strange for a man who the season before started 40 games in the Championship captaining a promoted Hull side to safety, actually safe by 14 points.

A move I'd get if he was 33/34/35 and looking for 1 or 2 years to see out, but he was 31, and had offers to still play at the high L1 level. But there's still pressure here over a Barnsley/Peterborough as he's likely to be playing in front of more fans here than either of those 2 as well as being at the biggest club in the tier which demands a level and success which admittedly few have been able to reach in recent years.

 

Thanks for that Rod, it's helped me decide our travel on Friday to Whitby. The friends we are going with live in Allerton Bywater, we are going in one car due to parking at the apartment. We were weighing up do we drive to them and go to Whitby from there or do they come to us !

Deffo be going to them now

 

In my opinion we can only play one of Smallwood, Gilliead or McDonald. At the moment we haven't the players for either 5-3-1 or 4-2-3-1, although the latter is the best option. I said earlier that we could put out a decent 4-2-3-1 in
Lewis, Halliday or Oyegoke, Platt, Stubbs, Ridehalgh, one of Smallwood, Gilliead, or McDonald, Pattison, Walker, Odour, Cook and Osdebe or Smith. We'd need to sign a wide player or two and a better left back but that would be a very competitive side, and one where players are playing in a comfortable position. But Hughes seems to be fixated on playing 5-3-2. The trouble is we haven't got the wing backs for that, or the mobile back three it needs, and even Oyedoke has said that he's essentially a right back. So we're falling between two stools. We haven't the players for any system so Hughes has had to revert to 5-4-1, which is mindnumbingly boring, confuses the players and leaves Cook even more isolated than ever.
All this calls into question the whole management stategy. Just like last season we seem to have had a scatter gun approach to recruitment with no coherent plan. All the talk of flexible formations and having various options is mindless to me. Players at this level like to play in a settled system where they're comfortable and every team that gets promoted does that. Instead we're still trying to shoehorn our better players into odd formations which simply don't work.
It might be that we can find the players before the window shuts to develop a settled and successful side, but I've no confidence at all that that will happen. I've seen enough in the last eighteen months to be convinced that Mark Hughes does not have what it takes to be a successful manager at this level. Sooner or later he'll be gone and, like the fans of every club he's managed, we'll all breathe a sigh of relief and hope for better from his successor.
It goes without saying that I hope I'm completely wrong, but, to me, the evidence suggests that I aren't.

 

I don’t think Barnsley was a serious offer. I was told his offer in League One was Posh but he didn’t want to relocate from the north east, so he approached City and then the deal happened, as we offered him a longer deal.

The Barnsley and Derby interest might just have been tentative.

Charlie Wyke and Gillead must have kept in touch as they were on a night out in North East with Smallwood not long before he signed.

 

Some very interesting thoughts on Smallwood. He doesn’t inspire me as a captain. They’re all kinds of captains but he doesn’t drop into any of them he is not the round the shoulder type or a shouty type or mini talks on the pitch. He just looks like the silent type. In my view you can only be the latter if you are exceptionally skilled player. He is not unskilled but he doesn’t come into the Beckham style of captain.

His play from last season was non inspiring in every way. He walks a lot on the pitch and doesn’t appear to bothered if he makes a mistake. There were matches where I thought he had done well but these were few and far between. Gilly doesn’t have the same skill level but he does put in the effort. That is it on a nutshell, he could make a difference if he was enthusiastic and put effort in.
Obviously just my view of course.

 

Smallwood doesn't inspire me as captain either. If I were Hughes I would have replaced him with Stubbs for the start of this season and "promoted" him to Club Captain.

 

Maybe signing for Bradford City as Captain was part of his transfer deal to come to Valley Parade plus a bonus (like goal bonuses for strikers), as he had held the captains position at Hull City.
I wouldnt have a problem with Stubbs as our Captain.

 

I'm convinced his heart isn't in it anymore. He was great when he first arrived, charging about putting tackles in, chasing back, knocking good passes across the pitch. But he seems to have become disillusioned for whatever reason and does none of those things now. His passing is poor and often puts colleagues in a tricky situation, people drift past him easily and as a captain he's non-existent.

 

I think Smallwood can operate with Mcdonald in the same lineup. But it requires wholesale changes. This could see a formation consisting of
Lewis
Platt Stubbs Odusina
Oyegoke Mcdonald Smallwood (New LWB)
Pattison Walker
Cook

We'd need Odusina in the back 3 to provide much needed pace to our back line. I feel he'd do a better job there than Kelly
Oyegoke is a RWB by nature. He needs to play in his natural position. It would provide us much needed pace an width. We need a new LWB to provide similar attributes on the opposite flank. But thats not something we don't already know. Play Pattison in a more attacking role, similar to Walker an Allow Smallwood to break up play, enable Mcdonald to dictate it.

This obviously comes with its flaws, for one, where does Halliday fit into the team? short answer is he doesn't. Secondly, Odusina looks to be down the pecking order so is unlikely to start, thirdly, we need Mcdonald to be fit an capable of getting regular minutes in, an lastly, we need Hughes to sign a bloody LWB

 

Lewis

Halliday Platt Stubbs Ridehalgh

Smallwood McDonald

Walker Pattison Odour

Cook

Just go with that….

 

Or swap Pattison for Smallwood and add a winger.

 

Perhaps he doesn't like (or rate) Hughes' style of football ?

 

Could be but he is a professional?

 

Hang your head in shame Smallwood, that was absolutely infuriating to watch you today. Strolling about, playing hospital balls back to defenders, lazy challenges, emotionless and clearly don’t give a toss. Worst captain I’ve seen my 17 years supporting city. Please never play for us again.

 

Not fit to wear the shirt, nevermind the armband

 

He's been a poor signing. Nothing in skill department and an engine that looks like it's blown a gasket. As for him being captain, everything about the second goal today suggests he shouldn't even be on the pitch let alone be captain. I'd have given it to Stubbs but his form has fallen off the edge of a cliff, hit the bottom and is tunnelling below the ground.

 

Totally agree.

 

Yes. All his fault. All of it. Without him it would have been a 4-3 win today. Pay up his contract. Only one to blame.

 

No he was just shite. It can be the fault of multiple people, but he was shite. Without him it might have been 1-0 since he was at error for the 1st and 2nd (despite bad keeping). His effort on the 2nd goal was inexcusable unless he suddenly had the shits.

 

What does he bring to the team? Again today I see nothing. Corners: no. Free kicks: no (no defenders scoring last year). Penalties: no. Through balls: no.

Today, he opened the scoring for them. After that, I didn’t see any desire or gusto to make amends. Sits deep when we need someone feeding the wingbacks. Doesn’t give an option in the final third when we need goals.

Gets subbed off.

Sell him, give MvDonald his spot and use the money elsewhere.