Pre Season - HT Report

Lets not forget we were missing O'Connor, Ismail, McCartan, Reeves etc yesterday. - Most of those will be regulars for us. I thought Gibson was impressive yesterday, Seems like he's put his head down & put the work in. (Same with Riley in the second half which was suprising!)

Tyler French looks like a fantastic little find. Could end up been a valuable asset if he fulfills his potential.

The capture of Matty Palmer is an excellent one, looked really comfortable yesterday & I think he'll be a key player for us.

Still wondering what Akpan offers us apart from looking like a lump of wood. I think we are 3/4 players away from having a good side. I think Doyle & Vaughan will be the main partnership this season with Clayton coming off the bench. Good to utilize Omari out wide from the bench also.

 

I find myself asking the same question of both Akpan and Doyle - What are they actually good at? Neither is strong, neither is fast, neither wins 50/50s, both aren't the best passers. Neither can hit a barn door or head the ball well. I think both their time is up at City and I suspect they'll be the two we're waiting to move on so we can bring others in.

 

Only a friendly yesterday but once again Doyle was played out of position. He is a penalty box player not a deep lying forward or attacking midfielder.

 

He was useless as a centre forward all last season. Even when presented with clear cut chances which is supposedly his strength, he missed bucketloads. Waste of a wage and we could spend that money a lot better elsewhere.

 

He was never in his usual position as second striker last season. Played the right way he would score plenty of goals

 

He still had enough opportunities to score more than he did. I also think he brings nothing else to the table apart from supposed goal threat which is criminal when he isnt even scoring goals. Doesn't it depress you when he doesn't even bother to jump for for aerial 50/50s, toe bungs a pass to the other team, tries a bit of skill then falls over the ball or gets outpaced by centre halves who are more akin to an eddie stobart truck than a pro athlete. No skill, no pace, no power and hes not even a nasty bastard or leader on the field.

 

I really thought he'd step up to the occasion against Liverpool and show that commanding midfielder that his physique implies he could be. However it was yet another limp dick display where he didn't even look as fit as the others with similar levels of game time. Not worth persevering with given I trust Bowyer could go out and find a better player for most likely less money based on his signings so far. You can't coach a pair of gonads onto him!

 

"Bucket loads"?

We weren't good enough to create bucket loads and the few we did create during any given 90 minutes certainly weren't all missed by Doyle.

Strikers thrive on confidence. If Doyle starts and scores 4 or 5 in the first month of the season I'd be willing to bet that we'd all see a completely different player.

 

Over the course of the 40 odd game season yes, bucketloads. I would love to see what evidence you base that one because I think we'll only see one type of player and that's a shit one. Contrast his performance over the weekend to Gibson, also in an unfamiliar position and also arguably an attacking, confidence based player. Gibson is also about 7 years younger yet got his head down, got stuck in and showed a bit about him. Doyle just pranced around a bit, didnt really try and offered nothing. Why people keep making excuses for him when we could bin him off and spend that money better I do not know.

 

What I'd give for the Doyle/Jones axis once more! Although having said that I think Palmer will be a great signing for us in the middle of the park this season, looked v composed on the ball on Sunday.

 

24 goals in his last 67 is the evidence I'll offer.

You got anything for me regarding Gibson, apart from "he's 7 years younger"?

 

What you chatting lol I didn't say Gibson is better although tbf if he keeps it up he will be by the end of the season. I compared them to highlight Doyle's shitness as opposed to how good Gibson is and how you're just making excuses for him. Even Simon bloody Mignolet took the ball round him with ease. He was dogshit all last season, same poor attitude and application as the rest and when a chance did come his way, he usually missed it. Evidenced by the fact most of his goals last season were penalties. Can't pass, no pace, no strength, mentally weak so why would you have him leading the line again when he failed so miserably last season. Do you think it was easy for young O'Brien for example, playing in such a crap team in his first senior season? He still performed well despite all the crap going on so why does shitty Doyle get a free pass?

 

....and what support did Eoin Doyle have last season? Scannell out for most of the season and we had no left winger? Teams nullified Payne and our midfield was over-run - completely imbalanced. We didn’t play to Doyle’s strengths and we didn’t give him that striking partner he so craved in Jan, because we committed ourselves into paying Payne’s wages.

His goal scoring record is decent. He’s been snatched up by bigger clubs than us, paying more money than what we currently are. That doesn’t happen if you’re dog shite.

 

Conversation over. I didn't realise you were a minor.

 

Wow, I think if you refuse to engage with somebody because they use informal language on an internet forum it's you with the problem buddy. I'm sure it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside though so crack on 'lol', nice deflection though!

 

Other players with far less pedigree still performed better and offered much more. Not worth the money and could be better spent elsewhere imo

 

Informal language?

How can I argue when you use such descriptive words like "Doyle's shitness", "dogshit" and "shitty Doyle" as a way to back up your opinion?

And to think I was simply thinking I'd use stats, like his goal record in the last 50 or 60 games to try and debate it with you. Silly me eh?