Payne

He has been totally a marked man

 

Yes, and O'B looks jaded to me.

 

he's been poor; his use of the ball has been poor and his set piece delivery not great either. yes, he's been targeted as the key playmaker by opposition teams but good players find space to play in and good players work things out during the 90mins to give themselves the best opportunity to effect the game - he hasn't been doing this lately.

 

But clearly not good enough solve it and the manager hasn't got the players or the tactics to help him.

 

Has Payne done enough during his tenure at Valley Parade?

I don't think so. He needs to do more work of the ball, be less rigid and create space for himself. Are his set pieces that good?

 

Since we all welcomed the news that he was staying for the season, he has been hugely disappointing. He is far from been alone in that respect though.

 

Was it Payne that delivered the cross for Doyle to score?

His corners are poor i'll give you that- the plymouth game was dire but like others have said its not just Payne who is not at his best.

 

He's been poor like everyone else. Largely because he's been bypassed by Hopkin's tactics, as have LOB and Ball who's performances have also dipped. Good players don't turn shit overnight.

 

Regarding O' brien - think he would benefit from a rest/spell on the bench for two or three games.

 

Should have had a hattrick yesterday.

 

It was and a well created bit of play by Payne too, capped off by a good cross.

 

Payne is much more effective with Akpan on the pitch

 

His skill for the first goal was brilliant and the cross to set up the goal too.

Our only attacking threat in a poor side. If he doesnt do it we don’t. Our best player by some way. Not above criticism however

 

Did Akpan even play for the first half of the season when Payne was most effective?

 

Good question, I thought Payne's best spell could have been when Akpan was injured!

 

Am I reading this right? On the whole he’s been our shining light!

 

Point is this mark our talented midfielders out of the games and we have nothing else.
Payne is a marked man

 

Do that with most teams and they'd struggle. Every decent player will be targeted, especially at our level its the way you deal with it and we haven't.

I don't necessarily agree with the mark Payne out of the game and we struggle, I just think he's going through a poor stage of the season and the excuse against Fleetwood was a little bit overinflated by Hopkin as an excuse to not doing anything in the game. He will be closely marked as he's a good player, we need a way to use to our advantage which is something so far we haven't done.

 

the problem Payne has had is that we've been playing hoof ball, and he's 4 ft 6.