Andy King

[muzzy1981]

We need a bit more squad rotation in midfield, can't expect king and drinks to do it every game all season, swapping James and giving Wellens a run would be a good shout. We seem to rotate in other positions and centre mid prob needs it tthe most

[ian the fox]

Was missing for most of yesterdays game imo

Did a lot of centre line treading , his boots must've been coverered in white paint at the end , still a few were under par & Andy wasnt particular any poorer than Nugent or Dyer !

[MattyFromLE]

THIS!

If you watch Kingy, he probably covers more ground that anyone else because he's always looking for that space or to be in situation to react. Because he does the simple things right, people overlook it and think that he doesn't do anything. Too many players struggle to get the simple right and are loved by fans because they produce something special every now and then You take him out of the team and you realise just what is missing.

Exactly! It's just like this: Wellens can only pass sideways, Gally is a luxury player, Waggy can only blast it. All throwaway comments that the fun sponges bring out when we don't get the result they think we should have.

We didn't win yesterday because we weren't good enough, or clinical enough. Not because King was 'missing'.

[rico]

[rico]

Exactly! It's just like this: Wellens can only pass sideways, Gally is a luxury player, Waggy can only blast it. All throwaway comments that the fun sponges bring out when we don't get the result they think we should have.

We didn't win yesterday because we weren't good enough, or clinical enough. Not because King was 'missing'.

don't cry about it mate

[Captain...]

Saw him plenty of times yesterday, saw him have 5 attempts on goal yesterday, saw mop up the loose ball plenty of times, saw him bursting forward a number of times with and without the ball, same him give the ball away and get muscled off the ball and give away a corner with a poor header that lead to the goal, but he was back there defending.

He was by no means the biggest culprit yesterday, but for some reason fans have a default position of slagging off our players whenever we don't win, and for some reason, despite being our longest serving player (except Logan), a fully capped international, a virtual ever present when fit, closing in on fifty goals for the club, including 4 this season, has been our top scorer our player of the season, and provided plenty of entertainment with his gurning, King seems to be a primary target.

[rico]

i'm not blaming him,no one needs to justify his work rate to me,i saw him shirk out of tackles but no-one mentions that

[theessexfox]

I agree that we should rotate now and then, its been these two all the way through, rotation is healthy.

[volpeazzurro]

THIS!

If you watch Kingy, he probably covers more ground that anyone else because he's always looking for that space or to be in situation to react. Because he does the simple things right, people overlook it and think that he doesn't do anything. Too many players struggle to get the simple right and are loved by fans because they produce something special every now and then You take him out of the team and you realise just what is missing.

I think your right in that he does cover a lot of ground, so in that way he certainly isn't lazy, but... the problem for me is that he always seems to be running where there is very little chance of receiving the ball or being of much use in general, so it's that for me that appears to make him 'absent without leave' for almost all of the games. Yes, I do realise that movement off the ball is essential, its just that I don't think King is that effective/good at it. For me, whilst he does have some talent, I don't think he is effective with Drinkwater (yesterday a good example). I'd sooner have a solid, no nonsense defensive midfielder to break up the play (like Lennon was) in order to release Drinkwater a bit more who I believe is a far superior player to King. Drinkwater I believe will improve into a decent Premiership player, King will never be better than Championship for me.

[MattyFromLE]

don't cry about it mate

What a stupid comment. Was merely making a point, mate.

[beryllind]

I think your right in that he does cover a lot of ground, so in that way he certainly isn't lazy, but... the problem for me is that he always seems to be running where there is very little chance of receiving the ball or being of much use in general, so it's that for me that appears to make him 'absent without leave' for almost all of the games. Yes, I do realise that movement off the ball is essential, its just that I don't think King is that effective/good at it. For me, whilst he does have some talent, I don't think he is effective with Drinkwater (yesterday a good example). I'd sooner have a solid, no nonsense defensive midfielder to break up the play (like Lennon was) in order to release Drinkwater a bit more who I believe is a far superior player to King. Drinkwater I believe will improve into a decent Premiership player, King will never be better than Championship for me.

That's the way I see him also, its a major weakness in our team.

[ScouseFox]

He's too good for most of our simple fans to appreciate.

[dmayne7]

I think your right in that he does cover a lot of ground, so in that way he certainly isn't lazy, but... the problem for me is that he always seems to be running where there is very little chance of receiving the ball or being of much use in general, so it's that for me that appears to make him 'absent without leave' for almost all of the games. Yes, I do realise that movement off the ball is essential, its just that I don't think King is that effective/good at it. For me, whilst he does have some talent, I don't think he is effective with Drinkwater (yesterday a good example). I'd sooner have a solid, no nonsense defensive midfielder to break up the play (like Lennon was) in order to release Drinkwater a bit more who I believe is a far superior player to King. Drinkwater I believe will improve into a decent Premiership player, King will never be better than Championship for me.

Really?! How would you explain 90% of his goals where he is making late runs into the box or being in the right place at the right time. That's something that cannot be taught, its natural and its one of the reasons that he has the potential to go far.

He is a different type of player to Drinky though. Drinkwater has a lot of energy and can control games but sometimes he can't at that limits him more than King. King is never going to be the midfield maestro who's dictating the pace of the game and pinging 60 yard passes but the comparisons to someone like Lampard are clear to me. I'm not saying he is going to be as good as Lampard but he has a similar style of play. I don't know if you've every had the luxury of watching Lampard play live but he is capable of doing seemingly nothing for large periods of the game only to pop up with a goal or a goal saving tackle. It hasn't worked too badly for him has it?

[Fox92]

Wouldn't play him against Millwall on Saturday, personally. Got overrun against Barnsley and, as Rico said, did sherk a lot of tackles. Didn't keep it simple either, one or two times he kept the ball in the air instead of holding it or playing it along the floor.

Not doubting how important his goals have been for us over the years (although he should have done better with that last minute chance on Saturday) but the Millwall match will be physical and he has never come across as that type of player.

[Guest foxestalkisfullofidiots]

One of the most over rated players in the championship, gave the ball away so many times yesterday, can't tackle and the last person you want the ball to fall to in front of goal in this team, I know everyone on here thinks he can't do nothing wrong but its time to cash in, everyone slates Dyer for his end product but his final ball is no worse than King.

[dmayne7]

One of the most over rated players in the championship, gave the ball away so many times yesterday, can't tackle and the last person you want the ball to fall to in front of goal in this team, I know everyone on here thinks he can't do nothing wrong but its time to cash in, everyone slates Dyer for his end product but his final ball is no worse than King.

I think your name sums up your post quite nicely

[dayday]

Nothing against Kingy...but certain games through the season he Will not be effective,next week against Millwall Will be another,it ain't rocket science its just knowing your opposition and there strenghs....if he plays next weekend we will struggle.

[Corky]

One of the most over rated players in the championship, gave the ball away so many times yesterday, can't tackle and the last person you want the ball to fall to in front of goal in this team, I know everyone on here thinks he can't do nothing wrong but its time to cash in, everyone slates Dyer for his end product but his final ball is no worse than King.

[Bettsj2]

I think some people missed the sarcasm in the opening post, probably a reaction to all the numpties blaming King on the post match thread.

Agree with CC, there was no one reason we drew yesterday, collectively we were sloppy and lost shape after conceding King did many things right and like Drinkwater was fairly tidy in possession, but Barnsley cut off our options.

It is not like we were overrun or bullied off the ball we had the majority of possession and limited Barnsley to a few breaks, and gifted them 2 goals.

The problem we had is that we lacked cutting edge for a large part of the game and spent too long in possession trying to find a pass giving them time to get back and set, we often got forced into going backwards and then having a hoof, but that only worked when we brought a target man on.

Pearson perhaps should have changed things earlier, but it is difficult to know what to do, we could have matched them 451, but that would have clogged the midfield up even more and isolated Nugent.

It wasn't a physical game as such and I don't blame King or Drinkwater, it was a niggly game and it got worse as they realised that the ref wasn't blowing for anything, for either side, we let too many errors creep into our game, out of frustration or just one of those days I don't know, it could so easily have been a drubbing if we had converted one of our other early chances, but that one stupid moment for their first completely changed the game.

Colchester City fan does raise a good point about next week though, Millwall will be a tough game as they are a physical side, ad last time we went there with King and Gallagher we got pushed around, is it time for a 3 man midfield, James, King and Drinkywater, with Lloyd and Marshall supporting Nugent?

Even if it is just to ensure we get a good start to the game and don't concede early, we would have Waghorn, Marshall and Knocky on the bench later on if it is a stalemate.

Thanks Captain. Was completely a dig at the post match moaners. Does show the amount of moaning that goes on when something like this (which I thought I worded well enough to be recognised as sarcasm) is taken seriously.

[accessory]

Really?! How would you explain 90% of his goals where he is making late runs into the box or being in the right place at the right time. That's something that cannot be taught, its natural and its one of the reasons that he has the potential to go far.

He is a different type of player to Drinky though. Drinkwater has a lot of energy and can control games but sometimes he can't at that limits him more than King. King is never going to be the midfield maestro who's dictating the pace of the game and pinging 60 yard passes but the comparisons to someone like Lampard are clear to me. I'm not saying he is going to be as good as Lampard but he has a similar style of play. I don't know if you've every had the luxury of watching Lampard play live but he is capable of doing seemingly nothing for large periods of the game only to pop up with a goal or a goal saving tackle. It hasn't worked too badly for him has it?

Lampard has two minders playing behind him in central midfield. He is also a better passer of the ball than King.

Games like yesterday and the defeat at Leeds suggest that other bosses in this league are sussing out our weaknesses, which are similar to the ones that have cost us in past seasons. Physical sides that deny us space cause us problems - and given that several such teams await us in the next few weeks, the management need to find a way of dealing with them.

A 4-3-3/4-5-1 system might be the answer - when used in the past, it has made King a more effective player and the team more successful. Maybe it's time to give it another go at the den?

[dmayne7]

Lampard has two minders playing behind him in central midfield. He is also a better passer of the ball than King.

Games like yesterday and the defeat at Leeds suggest that other bosses in this league are sussing out our weaknesses, which are similar to the ones that have cost us in past seasons. Physical sides that deny us space cause us problems - and given that several such teams await us in the next few weeks, the management need to find a way of dealing with them.

A 4-3-3/4-5-1 system might be the answer - when used in the past, it has made King a more effective player and the team more successful. Maybe it's time to give it another go at the den?

Lampard is perhaps a better passer but King has better technique IMO.

I am not denying that he can struggle with the physical sides in this league and would be quite happy to see a 4-3-3 at Millwall. I just think that we have a very flat midfield playing James and Drinkwater as the 2.

[coolhandfox]

Lampard is perhaps a better passer but King has better technique IMO.

Really, wow what a statement!

[ian the fox]

Give me King over Lamps any day

[5waller5]

I'm not a Colchester City Fan!!!!!!!

It took me ages to realise you weren't .... genuinely i wondered why you were so active on a LCFC forum until someone called you Col!!!

[Vardinhio]

King better technique than Lampard....probably the funniest thing I've read of this forum.