Originally Posted by
howoldboy
Defensively he is a total nightmare.
His positional play, inability to read the game and inability to mark a man are beyond a joke.
Any praise he has ever had is for his fitness levels and desire to get forward. Unfortunately that is not enough to justify a place in the team at this level.
Deliberately, in my opinion, Phillips and Lumsden do all they can to protect him.
As he was on Saturday, he was to blame for the first goal again tonight. but they chose to ignore his mistake and instead tried to blame it on Lewis. This was not based on what they had seen with their own eyes, but on texts they had received from people viewing on iPlayer!
Shortly after the goal, Mellish made an abortion of trying to control a simple pass, giving Barnsley another opportunity to break clear. This time Phillips said it was Robinson who had lost possession. Lumsden did nothing to correct him.
It is a recurring theme.
Despite the best attempts of those playing alongside him at the back, he can't be organised and repeatedly causes chaos in our defence. I genuinely feel sorry for the poor bas****s trying to play alongside him.
He may well be a "good lad" but why not try leaving him out for once and see how the defence performs without him?