Shelvey

[DanH90]

Should have come on today when we brought on Edwards and Brownhill. It was clear Edwards wasn’t going to get any joy unless we managed to beat the press and get him against their back line. (Which we did twice but too late in the game.) The only midfielder capable of those passes is Shelvey.
Missed opportunity.

[Safron]

Can't for the life in me understand why he isn't getting game time he is a game changer

[ElectroClaret]

Can't for the life of me understand why we brought him
in if he ain't gonna play.

[Goliath]

Should have come on today when we brought on Edwards and Brownhill. It was clear Edwards wasn’t going to get any joy unless we managed to beat the press and get him against their back line. (Which we did twice but too late in the game.) The only midfielder capable of those passes is Shelvey.
Missed opportunity.

Of course Edwards got no joy..we made absolutely no attempt to isolate him against their full back. We just started trying to scrap. You're spot on as well, Laurent should have been off early doors for Shelvey and we could have just controlled the tempo of the game. In the end they dictated the speed and style of the game as we got dragged into it.

[dandeclaret]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

[Woodleyclaret]

Poor use of subs when we needed to freshen up at half time

[Vegas Claret]

Dreadful stuff not bringing him on, not sure why we bothered signing him - he was brought in because we create nowt and yet he still doesn't play him.

[123EasyasBFC]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

Interesting because I thought Laurent was poor, especially in the Preston half, so many over hit and inaccurate passes

[Goliath]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

Haha and this is exactly the problem. He's outstanding at what he does, gets around wins headers wins a few tackles.
Guess what he doesn't do, get on the ball, make passes show anything that stands him.out above a team like Preston.

It's exactly why we got dragged into a scrap especially when Hanmibal went off because we suddenly lack any real quality above theirs to take the ball away from them and look to feed Edwards 1v1. I'm sorry but if you're happy to go from Berge and Cork before him to Josh Laurent then that's up to you. I'm definitely not.

[Goliath]

Interesting because I thought Laurent was poor, especially in the Preston half, so many over hit and inaccurate passes

He's strong and gets around though so no problem apparently. The best one that summed hom up is when he got down the right early on, panicked and just passed to nobody at the edge of the box and took about 6 of our own players out of the game.
It was only due to Egan Riley that they didn't then go through 1v1 and score.

[rexe78202]

Poor use of subs when we needed to freshen up at half time

How is bringing on an attacking sub with Edwards a poor use of subs?

[123EasyasBFC]

He's strong and gets around though so no problem apparently. The best one that summed hom up is when he got down the right early on, panicked and just passed to nobody at the edge of the box and took about 6 of our own players out of the game.
It was only due to Egan Riley that they didn't then go through 1v1 and score.

Yes that one in the first half when he missed the pass to Cullen and like you said if it wasn’t for Egan Riley then they are through, I just think we don’t need 2 defensive midfielders every game

[Safron]

Thought the poor sub decision was taking Hannibal off

[Goliath]

Thought the poor sub decision was taking Hannibal off

Like for like. Fear of changing things too much In case it costs us the point. If we bring on Shelvey Edwards and Benson in that 2nd half, keep the wingers wide and just try to find them at every opportunity, we win the game maybe 5 or 6 times out of 10 and maybe lose it 1 or 2. Instead we just do the same old and hope for a miracle.

[morninbob]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

Really ? Wow... Gave the ball away numerous times and plays it safe, we need someone who can pick a pass. What's the point in signing shelvey if you don't play him ?

[elwaclaret]

Must admit I’m beginning to wonder why we signed Shelvey. I thought it was to unpick defences in tight games where we are struggling to create. I thought today was ideal for giving him half an hour. Hope it is just SP doesn’t think he’s fully up to speed yet, not that he didn’t really want him.

[blatherwickstattoos]

Team full of huffers and puffers. No quality at all. But let’s pretend we are amazing

[Safron]

How are you supposed to get match fit if you are not trusted by the manager to be worthy of improving the team by being selected truly baffling

[stateofthenation]

If he’s not getting any minutes when we were 2 up v Hull when is he getting to get any?

[AlargeClaret]

Depends what he’s showing in training , but with Brownhill fit , perhaps this will allows Shelvey to start ahead of Hannibal ?

[ksrclaret]

Massive lol at Laurent being outstanding today.

We’ve all got favourites but you’ve got to watch the game occasionally too.

[HurstGrangeClaret]

Can't for the life of me understand why we brought him
in if he ain't gonna play.

This!

[Enola Gay]

If Shelvey's half the player some fans are hyping him to be on not much recent evidence the midfield make-up argument is largely academic; he'll win the League for us with no-one playing alongside him.

The two extremes here are that at the end of the season we'll be hailing him as the guy who single-handedly released the brakes on a shot/goal-shy team, or we'll be ruefully reflecting that there was probably a reason he's spent a year-and-change in Turkey. I'll wait and see what he actually does over a few games.

[CrosspoolClarets]

Really it boils down to if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and if it is broke, do.

Our attacking is clearly broke. I’ve lost count of the comments I got today on that subject, watching the game amidst a load of Blades fans.

Parker is naturally cautious. It runs the risk of costing us promotion and ending this gravy train we are on.

With Shelvey we will get class but not necessarily energy or fitness for 90 minutes. We know that factually. He has had a long career to show it. To me it feels worth a chance.

[mdd2]

Third in the Table lost just 2 in 33- 24 clean sheets but we have failed to score in I think 13 games from 33 and if it carries on we will only make the playoffs with the present results thus far

[fatboy47]

If Shelvey's half the player some fans are hyping him to be on not much recent evidence the midfield make-up argument is largely academic; he'll win the League for us with no-one playing alongside him.

Think we'd all love a bit of evidence enola....above and beyond the fact he's made the squad preferrably.....no shortage of past evidence that Benson, for instance, is capable of plundering goals and points pretty much at will in this division....something that clearly cuts no mustard with SP.. maybe he doesn't track back enough.

[Im_not_Robbie_Blake]

I suspect Shelvey is not near fit. We know he can pass a ball superbly, but in his brief appearences he hasn't exactly run, has he?

[Dark Cloud]

Should have played the last 15 minutes at least.

[GetIntoEm]

I'm not sure he's come in to be a starter

[DanH90]

If Shelvey's half the player some fans are hyping him to be on not much recent evidence the midfield make-up argument is largely academic; he'll win the League for us with no-one playing alongside him.

The two extremes here are that at the end of the season we'll be hailing him as the guy who single-handedly released the brakes on a shot/goal-shy team, or we'll be ruefully reflecting that there was probably a reason he's spent a year-and-change in Turkey. I'll wait and see what he actually does over a few games.

But the actual truth is that we don’t need extremes. We need someone with more quality on the ball to unlock tight defences in games like this…Shelvey has proven he can do this throughout his career. Yes he may prove to be past it, but actually getting time on the pitch to prove that seems fair.

[claretspice]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

Nah. He wasn't. He covered lots of ground and made some timely defensive interceptions. But he didn't show for the ball enough and when he was on the ball his use of it was clunky.

He's a good player and he's a valuable part of the squad but against teams that want to spoil, sit in and turn the game into a scrap, he's not the answer. After 60 minutes today his game was done.

[RickyBobby]

I am starting to think both Barnes and Shelvey were signed by Pace against parkers wishes. Why else would he be refusing to give either of them any serious game time? Seems like something funny is going on.

[Roger1960]

Parker is becoming dychesk in his refusal to try game changing substitutions

[boatshed bill]

I read a lot about this range of passing, and rightly so. But who will get on the end of these passes when it's not the way we play and not suited to the players we have up front? We play a pretty strict formula, don't we?

[steve1264b]

He isnt fit enough, they have his training stats and it obvious they must be well below par

[TheFamilyCat]

Haha and this is exactly the problem. He's outstanding at what he does, gets around wins headers wins a few tackles.
Guess what he doesn't do, get on the ball, make passes show anything that stands him.out above a team like Preston.

It's exactly why we got dragged into a scrap especially when Hanmibal went off because we suddenly lack any real quality above theirs to take the ball away from them and look to feed Edwards 1v1. I'm sorry but if you're happy to go from Berge and Cork before him to Josh Laurent then that's up to you. I'm definitely not.

Burnley fans love a trier.

[TheFamilyCat]

I suspect Shelvey is not near fit. We know he can pass a ball superbly, but in his brief appearences he hasn't exactly run, has he?

He played an hour at Southampton. He's got to be good for 20-30 minutes at least.

[Bordeauxclaret]

Amazed anyone would think Laurent was outstanding today.
He had a decent enough game but when the obvious issue within a team is scoring goals it’s hardly surprising that people would perhaps prefer a player with a history of more attacking intent.

It might not work but it’s worth a few draws if it does.

[Burnleyareback2]

No point having Shelvey pinging 60 yard passes to feet if they are all stood on the touch line.

I’m not a plastic bed wetting fan at all and delighted with what Parker has done 100%

All this noise about needing a new striker in January. Completely unnecessary, unless you’re playing with Ronaldo up front on his own, we’re playing with lone championship standard strikers who are being asked to sit back.

Can we just go old school? Zian- your up front today- if we get the ball get yourself to the penalty spot.

[mickleoverclaret]

He isnt fit enough, they have his training stats and it obvious they must be well below par

Why is he on the bench, then?

[dvalley69]

Not checked his stats in Turkey so would be keen to know what he's done over there these past 18 months? And why he hasn't stayed there...

[dvalley69]

Didn't we get Redmond from Turkey as well? He's been useless and a complete waste of time - injury prone. Turkey's exactly the place for those types of players looking for contracts, but in the end not up to it to play consistently enough. Not sure the standard over there is all that unless you're playing for the big boys who play in the European competitions.

[warksclaret]

Think Scotty is over loyal to some players at the expense of the team-today Laurent, Fleming were having poor games and stayed on

[Luppy]

Can’t get my head around the Laurent knockers at all. He gives us physicality in midfield, something totally lacking when we try playing Cullen and Brownhill. Different levels k know but it reminds me of when Deary played back in the day - you didn’t realise how good he was until he wasn’t there. Laurent is the same. Some of our rancid performances this season have noticeably been when he hasn’t started. He’s a key man for me. I marked him as a 6 today but he was nearer a 7 than a 5.

[123EasyasBFC]

Can’t get my head around the Laurent knockers at all. He gives us physicality in midfield, something totally lacking when we try playing Cullen and Brownhill. Different levels k know but it reminds me of when Deary played back in the day - you didn’t realise how good he was until he wasn’t there. Laurent is the same. Some of our rancid performances this season have noticeably been when he hasn’t started. He’s a key man for me. I marked him as a 6 today but he was nearer a 7 than a 5.

I don’t think it’s necessarily knocking Laurent but it’s more that when it’s 0-0 and we are chasing a win, we don’t need 2 defensive midfielders on, we need to sacrifice one holder for someone more technical in the final 3rd

[Lew200100]

Not sure but Shelvey must be a long way from being able to play even 20/25 minutes as Laurent should have come off after 60/65 minutes in last two games when other teams generally tire. Why does Parker persist with two defensive midfielders with 25 minutes to go when we are head and shoulders against the majority of this league. Baffles me

[ecc]

I am starting to think both Barnes and Shelvey were signed by Pace against parkers wishes. Why else would he be refusing to give either of them any serious game time? Seems like something funny is going on.

Why was Shelvey on trial for well over a week if Parker didn't want him? He'd have signed straight away if he'd been a Pace choice.

[Jakubs Tash]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

He really wasn’t. Average at absolute best.

For all Laurent runs hard and is clearly a popular member of the squad he unfortunately isn’t a very good footballer. He’s poor on the ball and at his age he isn’t going to get much better.

[fanzone]

Laurent was outstanding again today.

Struggled passing it 5 yards to a Burnley player

[Ampth7]

He really wasn’t. Average at absolute best.

For all Laurent runs hard and is clearly a popular member of the squad he unfortunately isn’t a very good footballer. He’s poor on the ball and at his age he isn’t going to get much better.

Unfortunately he’s one of three in midfield who don’t score or assist. Only Brownhill nets fairly regularly, but again, he’s not renowned for assists and creativity.

As you say, Laurent works hard and generally does the simple things well, but then the same can be said of the other midfielders alongside him.

At this stage of the season, we might as well try something different, because we are now cut adrift of second place and 12 0-0’s are the sole reason for that. Unfortunately, I don’t think a change in personnel will make much difference unless it equates to an extra body further up the pitch and a more attack minded style of play.