funkyrobot

Bigged him up on Tuesday, back to anonymity today 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have to come on here and admit that Ollie Skipp was outstanding today. I’ve been a big critic of him but today as a single pivot he was excellent. MOTM. Took the ball on the half turn, played it forward, stole the ball, moved into space and wanted the ball. I was amazed that Bristol City didn’t change their game to nullify him 2nd half after he had such joy in the 1st half. Maybe that’s where he’s at his best, playing the single pivot role. I don’t know but I thought I should come on here and big him up. It’s only one game but if he can continue to contribute so positively then he’ll finally be the asset the club hope when they spent big on him. Well done Skippy 👏

Rowett going in to a must win game and not playing his best team. Winks, Mukasa and even Daka should be starting.

Glad to see no Winks wtf??

Not entirely true. Cooper was called out as a crap manager simply because that’s what he is.

Stolly Riccy Jams Nello Lukey Winsky JJ Muksy Mavs Pat Fats

The Ghost of Bobby Reid™️ in over Mukasa as a 10 and Skipp selected over James in midfield suggests Rowett is not expecting much from this game. Why else play two men down from the start?

We’ve only got one more year of parachute payments - and as already pointed out - it goes straight to the Aussie bank.

Stolly Riccy Jams Nello Lukey Winksy JJ Aribo’s Jezzer Divi Fats Ipswich 2 (Hirsty 4mins, K-Mac 90+5mins - deflected in) Leicester 1 (Divi 87 mins)

Skipp will look very much at home as a mid table League 1 meat and potatoes midfielder next season. An average League 1 player on a premier league wage. Hamza will also look comfortable as a League 1 utility player (on a premier league wage) and Luke Thomas perfect as a League 1 back up left back (on a premier league wage.)

Not a problem for a player winding down his career. Just wish we’d stop signing players winding down their careers! There’s the relevance. A club in a mess and now bringing in players who are past their best and moving on to new careers.

Beggo on TNT 4 tonight covering the Bournemouth v Brentford match. Wearing a plastic boot so presumably he’s going to be out for a bit. He’s a bit Podcast Coady eh? Always on the telly covering the premier league…..

Winks probably wouldn’t be a signing many of us would make but the fact is, he’s here and he’s far more effective as a footballer than Skipp. The ability to play on the half turn is crucial whether we are dominating the ball or not dominating the ball and Skipp simply can’t do that. Skipp wall passing back to Okoli is not going to alleviate pressure or win us games.

Amartey played as a midfielder before he signed for us. He was error prone at centre back but was a better footballer than Okoli. The only player I’ve seen in a LCFC shirt with worst ability on the ball than Okoli in recent years is Patson Daka. How either player managed to become top league professional footballers in a system where only a very tiny percentage of very capable footballers even make the professional grade is mind boggling.

You genuinely think we lose games because of one player? That’s bizarre and clearly not true. Winks is quite clearly the superior footballer compared to the guy next to him in Skipp. He retains possession, plays on the half turn, actually plays the ball forwards. Skipp just doesn’t/can’t do that. Winks hasn’t had the extended chance to play with JJ alongside him like Skipp has. He now needs to be deployed alongside JJ for the next few games or if not him Aribo next to JJ assuming he can also play on the half turn. When Winks played earlier in the season JJ was employed as a 10. James carried Skipp through the vast majority of those usually lucky wins. You have to try and dominate the midfield battle in The Championship. The best way our midfield can do that is by having the ball. We can’t keep hiding the fact that one of our central midfielders doesn’t impact the game with the ball and doesn’t do anywhere near enough ‘successful’ off the ball work to justify the praise he gets for being ‘busy.’

I don’t think the stats thing is entirely a fair criticism and it’s certainly not for a significant period of time. Almost all of our wins are outliers this season. Most won games are ones that statistically we should’ve lost and we’ve won them through wonder goals from James and Fatawu and occasionally from The Ghost of Bobby Reid. If you want to go with stats then we’ve had a higher XG against us in most games including those games that Winks didn’t play. We’ve just been lucky. We are more likely to create opportunities if we play those players that are likely to be able to take the ball on the half turn and actually progress the ball up the pitch & that’s why Winks should play and not Skipp. I don’t care what has happened in the past. I don’t care if Winks is suddenly motivated by maximising his potential for a good move in the summer I just think we are better playing our better footballers and in midfield I think that’s JJ, Winks and Mukasa. If Skipp was an effective CDM then things might be different but he isn’t.

I don’t agree Winks was poor no. I thought he was overrun 2nd half after they changed their system because he had nothing next to him. I thought him and Ricardo came out with some credit but that’s about it for the outfield players.

It’s called not having a central midfield partner next to him that can share the workload with the ball. Winks isn’t the issue, Skipp is the issue, he doesn’t do enough to play such a key central role.

Okoli didn’t close the striker for the first goal. Stood off passively - 100% his fault. Nelson wasn’t great but Okoli definitely worse and prior performances by him don’t help his standing. Nelson has potential, he’s not been relegated twice consecutively like Okoli, he helped keep a club up last year. Alongside a leader like Lascelles Nelson is the best option of the two.

I saw him strutting before the match in full LCFC gear with the biggest white box fresh trainers you could ever imagine and for a second I had Pearson levels of positivity and then unfortunately the game started.

Tbf relegated in his last season in Italy. It’s likely it’s going to be 3 consecutive relegations for the lad, assuming we do go down this season. Surely worth acknowledging with a trophy. Well done Caleb 🏆

Even coming back from an Injury. James is better than Skipp in 50-50’s, more physical and as he’s more athletic, more likely to get to the second ball too.

Most of his passes are simple backwards wall passes. Based on that, an 85% success rate is not great.

True. An instantly forgettable substitute appearance. It takes some talent to be even worse than Daka.

The Ghost of Bobby Reid™️ haunted that left wing with his effortless, ethereal, ephemeral nothingness. Was he even there? Did he even happen? Who can really say? A modern day ghost story. Terrifying.