This is not a thread to criticise, but a genuine question. Dwight's performances so far this season have generally been below what we have seen from him previously.
There has been a lot of talk about players thriving off the lack of in stadium fans with their criticism, e.g Bamford. I just wonder if Dwight is missing the hugely positive backing from the crowd that he's been used to for the last couple of seasons.

Pimlico_Claret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:30 pm

This is not a thread to criticise, but a genuine question. Dwight's performances so far this season have generally been below what we have seen from him previously.
There has been a lot of talk about players thriving off the lack of in stadium fans with their criticism, e.g Bamford. I just wonder if Dwight is missing the hugely positive backing from the crowd that he's been used to for the last couple of seasons.

Some players will suffer for there being no crowds, others might not. Brian Miller used to refer to them as Monday morning footballers, good at the training ground but not in front of a crowd. For what it's worth though, Dwight was excellent a week ago at West Brom.

I’ll be honest I didn’t watch the WBA game but from what I’ve seen this season he’s doing well to stay in the starting eleven.
That’s not writing him off, he’s still a talent and hope he proves me wrong on Saturday.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:32 pm

Some players will suffer for there being no crowds, others might not. Brian Miller used to refer to them as Monday morning footballers, good at the training ground but not in front of a crowd. For what it's worth though, Dwight was excellent a week ago at West Brom.

Also very good tonight in my opinion. Waned towards the end, but very good first half.

Just want to see him charging in to the box occasionally.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:32 pm

Some players will suffer for there being no crowds, others might not. Brian Miller used to refer to them as Monday morning footballers, good at the training ground but not in front of a crowd. For what it's worth though, Dwight was excellent a week ago at West Brom.

Fair comment, just putting an opinion out there. Wasn't it suggested that Graham Branch was a far better player in training than in front of a crowd.
It's just another example of how different the game is currently, with us not being able to watch live.

Feel he is so much better when hugging the line and pressing, rather than retaining possession and going backwards. Its as if he is fearful of losing possession.They need to work on the Taylor/McNeil partnership when attacking, which could be our real strength

What I'd like to see is him not being so over-worked.
Brady could be used to give him a break, or when Dwight's game is not working out.

New thread? There's so many on McNeil already...

NewClaret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:35 pm

Also very good tonight in my opinion. Waned towards the end, but very good first half.

I think 'very good' may be a stretch, but he wasn't as bad as is being made out on here by some.

And if folk keep in mind that he's 20 years old and not Lionel Messi, then folk may understand why his performances can be up and down like a brides nighty.

I was really impressed with him at times towards the end of last season in the middle bit I’m not sure how he’s getting back into that position at the moment.

I do wonder if he’ll benefit from a rest. He’s still young and has played almost constantly at the top level for 22 months now with hardly any break.

superdimitri wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:38 pm

New thread? There's so many on McNeil already...

Apologies, I'll dig up an old one next time. Assume you are saying the same about Barnes, Long, Dyche, Substitutes etc etc....

Hes the only one that gets us going with a decent attack
Its a shame he does a good bit of work then the there ends up constantly with no end product

I thought he did OK tonight. My main criticism tonight was him overplaying it a couple of times and losing possession, when a simpler ball or earlier pass would have been the better option.

Difficult for him tonight. I suspect Spurs focused on him since he is one in our team that will run with the ball. He doesn’t need resting, he needs games, games and more games.

The fact he looks so good on the ball covers a lot of errors.
The biggest disappointment, for me, is that he is no longer creating. When he came into the first team he was going outside FBs and putting dangerous crosses along the 6yd line. Now he looks lost and spends all his time on the ball looking for Charlie Taylor to overlap.
Hopefully it is just a lack of confidence and he gets it back but he can’t be carried much longer.

DCWat wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:46 pm

I thought he did OK tonight. My main criticism tonight was him overplaying it a couple of times and losing possession, when a simpler ball or earlier pass would have been the better option.

I think that he's always suffered with that/done that. Especially the not shifting it quick enough.

Maybe I'm noticing it more, but I think oppositions have worked out that he hasn't got a right foot ( his left is a wand ! ), and are shepherding him in a way to lessen his impact ....

It’s always going to be harder for him when teams are more aware of him. It’s how he adapts to that, that will prove him to be a good player or a very good player.

He’s doing great for a very young lad with a lot of expectation upon him.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:32 pm

Some players will suffer for there being no crowds, others might not. Brian Miller used to refer to them as Monday morning footballers, good at the training ground but not in front of a crowd. For what it's worth though, Dwight was excellent a week ago at West Brom.

I believe that’s exactly what Graham branch suffered with...

Pimlico_Claret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:36 pm

Fair comment, just putting an opinion out there. Wasn't it suggested that Graham Branch was a far better player in training than in front of a crowd.
It's just another example of how different the game is currently, with us not being able to watch live.

Just read this. I’ve heard the same from a few.

Spurs had 6 players defending tonight, the back 4 and two really deep midfielders. Incredibly difficult for anything to happen for our attacking players but I think a testament to Mourinho's understanding of how dangerous our strikers and Dwight are.

I was like this. Absolutely outstanding on the park with mates, soccer schools etc. Went to Burnley school of excellence and the ball bounced off me. It was all a bit “meh”, people pointing and shouting. Didn’t do me any good all that. I was an artist a la Cantona. I couldn’t work in that brash environment.

Pimlico_Claret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:42 pm

Apologies, I'll dig up an old one next time. Assume you are saying the same about Barnes, Long, Dyche, Substitutes etc etc....

No need to be sorry. Just pointing out you can search before making a new thread.

There's loads of duplicates on here. If you actually want to find a previous post about a player or topic you can't find it because you don't know which thread out of many to choose from.

cricketfieldclarets wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:09 pm

I believe that’s exactly what Graham branch suffered with...

In my opinion, the only thing graham branch suffered with was the absolute weapons shouting abuse at him week in week out as he’d been chosen as the scapegoat.
Good player was branchy. Deserved far more respect than he got. May well have been better on the training ground, I don’t know, but I do know he always put a shift in and got on with his job whatever it was that week.

huw.Y.WattfromWare wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:47 pm

The fact he looks so good on the ball covers a lot of errors.
The biggest disappointment, for me, is that he is no longer creating. When he came into the first team he was going outside FBs and putting dangerous crosses along the 6yd line. Now he looks lost and spends all his time on the ball looking for Charlie Taylor to overlap.
Hopefully it is just a lack of confidence and he gets it back but he can’t be carried much longer.

Do you think this has been ‘coached’ into him? Only asking as my mate suggested quite some time ago when we were enjoying Dwights weekly attacking performances that he hoped that this part of his game was left alone to develop as opposed to turning him into a defensive midfielder to fit in with ‘the system’.

Bordeauxclaret wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:33 pm

I’ll be honest I didn’t watch the WBA game but from what I’ve seen this season he’s doing well to stay in the starting.

You actually think Dyche would change the starting XI bar for injuries!

Not sure what Dwight's role is at present. One minute he's playing wide, the next coming inside. For me he's been lacking for a while. The understanding he had with Taylor down the left flank was our most creative outlet but at present it's very poor.

Dwight struggles against the better sides.

Dwight had a good end to the 1st half where we took control, but overall he had a quite game

The better players take advantage to the fact that he is very left sided

He is a 20 year expected to run every game by some, when he doesn't on here there has to be a reason.

Lucas Moura a full Brazilian international costing around 25million from PSG contributed very little last night, it can happen in football. Doesn't mean he isn't interested (as has been mentioned previously) or that he wants out (was mentioned previously then he signed a new deal) it just happens.

I think if we can keep jbg fit that will help. As teams will have to good attacking wingers to Mark.

Top Claret wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 7:45 am

Dwight struggles against the better sides.

Don't all of our players struggle against the better sides ?

Yes he has some shortcomings such as weaker on his right foot and lacking real pace but he is the one guy I look to as the player capable of doing something different to win us a game

Starts every game for me

He was fairly anonymous in the first half but as a wide attacking midfielder you are always reliant on service which was non existent.
2nd half he was more influential but he's stopped whipping those crosses into the box and was caught in possession that led to their goal.
There's probably 3 reasons for this.....1.The opposition are doubling up against him and nullifying his threat. 2.Our front 2 aren't making the runs for him to feed the ball into those areas and 3.His confidence isn't as high.
I agree with Cricket Field's assessment that we need a fit and firing JBG to share some of our attacking threat.

Maybe needs a rest now and then and yes why not give Brady game time.

Our lack of subs or too late does my head in.

Spurs used all 3 by 70 mins.

bobinho wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 6:47 am

Do you think this has been ‘coached’ into him? Only asking as my mate suggested quite some time ago when we were enjoying Dwights weekly attacking performances that he hoped that this part of his game was left alone to develop as opposed to turning him into a defensive midfielder to fit in with ‘the system’.

I was wondering that myself. It is amazing how much young talent bursts onto the game and then plateaus or goes backwards. Traditionally it was said it had been coached out. I hope not because he did so much that was good when he first came in and I’d hate to see that talent turned into another workhorse.

BOYSIE31 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:57 am

Our lack of subs or too late does my head in.
Spurs used all 3 by 70 mins.

But they didn't, they used them in the 57th, 79th and 93rd minute.

BOYSIE31 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:57 am

Maybe needs a rest now and then and yes why not give Brady game time.

Our lack of subs or too late does my head in.

Spurs used all 3 by 70 mins.

want to check that ?

ashtonlongsider wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 7:11 am

Not sure what Dwight's role is at present. One minute he's playing wide, the next coming inside. For me he's been lacking for a while. The understanding he had with Taylor down the left flank was our most creative outlet but at present it's very poor.

I’ve noticed this too. Last year there were calls for him to be played more centrally and that seems to have happened but it’s nullified our main attacking threat - the left. Can’t help but feel RB’s have a much easier game when just having to deal with Taylor on the overlap than both of them bombing down that side. Hope we revert “back to basics” and very quickly!

McNeil would be a better player if Jay Rod played. They tend to look for each other/link up and this brings the best out of the both of them.

I thought Dwight did OK last night... but to be fair, all the players haven't shown their full ability this season yet, it's not fair to single out one player.

I thought Dwight did ok , couple of lovely moves skinning their players in their box and looked pretty sharp .Though against such a quality team and defenders a winger will always struggle for service and space . Overall most of the team stepped up their game a notch inc Gud, Dwight, Brownhill, Long,Lowton as the “ old team “ starts to gel again . Need to start with Jay imo and with our fixtures it may get a bit worse before it gets better . I think being well clear of the bottom 3 by end of year must be our first target