I might be wrong and have only watched a few matches and highlights this season
but it does seem as if McNeil is struggling to get back to the form he was showing
last season.
I'm not sure why but it doesn't seem as if he is not making many forward runs
or getting as many crosses in as last season. No goals so far this season too.

The 4-4-2 system Dyche like to play does rely on the two wingers playing dual roles
- defending when required but also creating chances and that doesn't seem to be happening much this season.

So what do others reckon?

Is it time to give him a rest?
If he was rested then have we got anyone who can replace him?
Or possibly change the system?

Beating Citeh will put the spring back in his step

Probably annoyed he didn't get his move away in the summer transfer window.

Give him a rest , he’s 21 FFS

I think he got a girlfriend in the close season which looks to be effecting his form

He is coming into the middle far too often and, IMO, has lost his dribbling confidence because of this. I don’t want Charlie going outside him. I wantDwight beating a man and putting them wonderful curling crosses in. BTW this has to be under instructions. If it wasn’t he would be told to get chalk on heels, by SD.

I thought he played well yesterday. I’d like to see him play off the front man or front two. Carrying the ball through the middle in a five.

Used to be really direct and instinctively looked to run with the ball, rarely went past his man but could find half a yard and always seemed to manage to dig out some sort of a ball into the box. That's been replaced with check run, look sideways or backwards for a simple pass.

Perhaps the fearlessness of youth is being coached out of him? Maybe it's the opposition concentrating on nullifying his threat. Perhaps the fact the team isn't performing how it can do. A dip in confidence inevitably affects his form. It's likely to be a combination of factors though.

huw.Y.WattfromWare wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:06 pm

He is coming into the middle far too often and, IMO, has lost his dribbling confidence because of this. I don’t want Charlie going outside him. I wantDwight beating a man and putting them wonderful curling crosses in. BTW this has to be under instructions. If it wasn’t he would be told to get chalk on heels, by SD.

I think the same, how people can say he is a centre midfielder, with his talent for putting a cross in, is nonsense.
He does require people in the box to make the cross to, and at times this season we have been very negative going forward. That has to affect Dwights game.

I don’t think he is a traditional central midfielder. But what I do think is he can offer us what De Bruyne offers city.

That’s not me saying he’s anywhere near his level. But more he’s a similar style of player.

there's a reason most other teams don't play 21 year olds every game - look how phenomenal Phil Foden is and yet he has been in and out of the City side - very difficult to be consistent at a young age. Wolves spent 35 million on some random Portuguese kid, so far he's scored against Doncaster in a mickey mouse cup competition and has hardly had a kick in the PL.

What Dwight has done has been nothing short of phenomenal and extremely unusual

its a cyclical thing, in a few weeks he will be back to his best. we all have to endure dips in football or otherwise.

It’s obvious to everyone that McNeil is our main threat going forward, unless we go long. He’s getting heavily targeted and nullified as a result. It’s to be expected, and he’ll adapt his game to overcome this in due course.

He’s just turned 21, and there’s an expectation that he will carry a PL team, week in, week out.

It ain’t gonna happen. Just let him develop.

joey13 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:02 pm

Give him a rest , he’s 21 FFS

Give it a rest Joey...hes only 21 FFS!

TsarBomba wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:50 pm

It’s obvious to everyone that McNeil is our main threat going forward, unless we go long. He’s getting heavily targeted and nullified as a result. It’s to be expected, and he’ll adapt his game to overcome this in due course.

He’s just turned 21, and there’s an expectation that he will carry a PL team, week in, week out.

It ain’t gonna happen. Just let him develop.

Vydra would relish the chance to push forward...

He needs proper game management. Unfortunately Brady can’t shake off his injury problems so Dwight must play far more football than he should be.

He’s probably played double the amount of minutes over the past 18 months than he probably should have. Nowt we can really do about it. He’s also asked to play a very demanding role.

The team is almost u up to strength. A couple of more games and he will be whipping in goals and crossings. Take my word for it. He Is a major asset.

We've always been a structural team that relies on one or two creative outlets. Much of this season that's solely been McNeil.

Every game opposition are instructed to close him down, to watch what his next move is, managers may even change team selection based on him playing.

Against palace every time he got the ball he had two men closing him down.

So we need more outlets than only him and more players who will create space for him. It helps a lot when Gudmundsson plays because at least it's one thing extra the opposition defence has to think about.

He’s been quiet but he’s still one of our best players and developing, I’m not concerned at all it’s just that he’s set such high standards we all know there’s more in the tank. Patience needed by all I think, most posters above make great points.

Coaches from other teams study videos, he is very predictable and consequently easy to nullify.

Eze with 1 goal and 1 assist this season - given brilliant reviews on here by some

McNeil with 1 assist this season - what has happened to him

He's been Dyched

He’s clearly been asked to drift inside and look for the ball more often to HELP THE TEAM. If he stayed rigidly on the wing and waited for the ball we would be even more predictable, our midfielders would be outnumbered and we would struggle getting the ball to him.

Got to say, I agree with cricketfield, would love us to bring in a couple of quick, powerful wide players and get Dwight in a no 10 role.

It is strategic. The athletic did an article on his positioning this season. He has been asked when attacking to drift in field to assist Westwood and Brownhill, thus allowing Taylor the freedom of the left wing.

Yes this hinders Dwights attacking prowess, however I must highlight that the two best defence splitting passes in the game were done by McNeil in a central position. He drifted in midfield an played a great pass to the bombing on Taylor and the next one was the through ball that gudmundsson hit the post with.

This is the next stage in Dwights development. He is moving more central where I think he will eventually end up

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 8:35 am

Yes this hinders Dwights attacking prowess, however I must highlight that the two best defence splitting passes in the game were done by McNeil in a central position. He drifted in midfield an played a great pass to the bombing on Taylor and the next one was the through ball that gudmundsson hit the post with.

His best defence splitting pass was the backpass

the problem is we then don't have enough quality of delivery from wide areas, and McNeil isn't really in the game at that point.

The answer really is better players with more attacking threats overall.

what_no_pies wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:08 pm

Used to be really direct and instinctively looked to run with the ball, rarely went past his man but could find half a yard and always seemed to manage to dig out some sort of a ball into the box. That's been replaced with check run, look sideways or backwards for a simple pass.

Perhaps the fearlessness of youth is being coached out of him? Maybe it's the opposition concentrating on nullifying his threat. Perhaps the fact the team isn't performing how it can do. A dip in confidence inevitably affects his form. It's likely to be a combination of factors though.

Some really interesting theories on here that I hadn’t considered, but agree with the above post that it is likely a combination of factors.

Also suspect it may be on instructions of Dyche since I felt in games last season he was being easily nullified out wide & opponents were targeting and closing down our only attacking threat.

Also like criketfieldclarets point that we’re asking him to play in to a De Bruyne role. Maybe that’s his preference and we are accommodating it, or maybe Dyche just feels it’s much harder for opposition to pick him up in a free-er role.

Personally I miss seeing him out wide whipping crosses in, and, if the intention was that he would add some variety to his play, I’d like to see it weighted a bit more in favour of that in the coming games.

Most of all I’d like to see us linked with a rapid right winger so we rely on Dwight less for all our attacking impetus from January onwards.

As mentioned above, McNeil has a similar style to De Bruyne (no comparing ability as KDB is one of the best in world football). McNeil should really play as a no 10 or left hand side of a middle 3. De Bruyne can beat a man and his delivery is incredible....but he doesn't play as a winger.

A right winger with some pace and skill is a priority in January. This will help take the pressure off McNeil.

Being the only creative player in a team and being doubled up on, whilst being asked to track back and help out is rather difficult.

They did a piece on him in the Athletic a few weeks ago that Dwight is seeing far more of the ball than when he first came in the side but a lot further back on the pitch than he used to.
Everyone knew his attacking instincts would get coached out of him. For his own career he needs an attacking manager.

Declan Rice is the same age had a few dips in form and now a makes evey England squad .Dwight will be back to peak form soon hopefully Saturday.

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:28 am

They did a piece on him in the Athletic a few weeks ago that Dwight is seeing far more of the ball than when he first came in the side but a lot further back on the pitch than he used to.
Everyone knew his attacking instincts would get coached out of him. For his own career he needs an attacking manager.

This is absolute rubbish.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:12 am

A right winger with some pace and skill is a priority in January. This will help take the pressure off McNeil.

It has been for ages. Criminal not to have replaced Lennon. Teams know we have to go via Dwight and Charlie and set up accordingly. Generally the rhs is a weakness attacking wise. A fully fit JBG would help, but a right winger and a new rb remain vital.

From the matches I've seen, it seems clear he's being asked to come inside a lot to support the central midfielders. One problem from playing 4-4-2 is that the central two in midfield will usually be outnumbered, so I can see why this is being done. It does, however, reduce the threat Dwight poses with his crosses from wide left. It's a new system and a new way of playing for Dwight, which needs time to be developed for both the midfield setup and for the player. I really don't think it's about his personal loss of any form.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:35 am

This is absolute rubbish.

I wouldn’t say it is complete rubbish. He is being coached to play more centrally. however I wouldn’t say the attacking intent is being coached out of him. It is for Dwight to develop in his new role.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:35 am

This is absolute rubbish.

In your opinion in might be.

The article produced evidence. You might want to offer evidence to counter it?
Or are you suggesting he wouldn't be a better player with an attacking manager?

Post by Devils_Advocate » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:06 pm

"I think he got a girlfriend in the close season which looks to be effecting his form"

Alex Ferguson always thought that was a problem with some of the younger players. He said there's some who are great till they get a girlfriend then go off and it takes a while before they return to and some don't. Not that I'm suggesting this is the case with McNeil.

Quickenthetempo wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:50 am

In your opinion in might be.

The article produced evidence. You might want to offer evidence to counter it?
Or are you suggesting he wouldn't be a better player with an attacking manager?

He’s already shown us what a good attacking player he’s been under Dyche as the stats show. No surprise that the opposition are now well aware they need to nullify his threat coupled with what looks like a dip in form.

He obviously has a licence to roam, to bolster Central areas.
The loss is direct runs and overlaps with Taylor, down the left. Therefore fewer crosses for goals.

Agree also about receive, turn back, pass to defender, is his current game play.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:08 am

He’s already shown us what a good attacking player he’s been under Dyche as the stats show. No surprise that the opposition are now well aware they need to nullify his threat coupled with what looks like a dip in form.

This of course is true and he has been double marked ever since Hendrick played on the right. But Dyche prefers his wide men doing defensive duties more than most.

Did you not see the 4 throw ins malarkey against Palace where nobody would leave their shape to help us retain the ball? High up on the left wing 2nd half. Dwight needs players to come near him and take defenders away from him.