O’Nien wholehearted but sometimes foolish

Not quite sure how many bookings he has but seems to have gathered a few and will not be far off a suspension same as Flanagan . Seems to get involved for the wrong reasons at times which is a shame as most fans appreciate his work rate and commitment but some of his yellows have been avoidable and we can’t afford to lose key players to suspensions as the way games come around we need everyone available . Love him to bits but calm down !

 

Agreed. We all love his passion and I don't mind him being booked for his blood and thunder tackles on the pitch... but that one yesterday was just plain stupid and avoidable.

 

He’s lucky to still be in the side IMO. Evans (when fit) in the middle with Neil, please.

 

I don't think he picks up many daft cards, every now and then maybe but it's not a regular thing.

He's a player who thrives on (and excels in) the more cynical side of the game and such players are both necessary in a successful team and more likely to pick up yellows. There's no issue for me.

 

I would not want to see him hold back.

 

First name on the team sheet. Didn’t a certain Marco gabbiadini used to pick up stupid cards? His aggression was part of who he was and made him the player he was. Can’t believe people want him out of the side!

 

We’ve needed a worky ticket for a while and now we’ve got one, his work rate and commitment is unreal. Take that away and we’re a player down.

 

If he wasn't playing I'd feel a lot less secure about our ability to manage the game. He's a great combination of a physical player with an intelligent player.

 

Not to,ention his fitness. He’s like the Duracell bunny!!

 

We've been weak as piss in midfield for years. It's about time we had someone in there who can take the rough stuff and dish it out.

 

He is aye, you can see from looking at him that he takes responsibility for his own fitness. I bet he's a first on last off type.

 

I like O'Nien he's definetly a workie ticket but also an integral part of our team.

Generally I abhor cheating it makes the referees job far more difficult.

It does make me laugh when our own fans bleat on about other teams players ply acting when we have our very own.

Like can be petulant at times which imo he should try and control and stop picking up needless bookings.

Unfortunately gamesmanship is part of football

 

Every side needs a player who will do the dirty side of the game, Pick 11 technical players in this league and you will be steamrolled. Until we have someone even better than O9 to do this job , he should always be on the team sheet.

 

Theres nothing wrong with rotating, keeps everyone happy and cuts down on yellows.

 

The debate about our midfield is an interesting one. Great problem to have for LJ and happy to go with his choice
Personally I can't make my mind up we have so many options.
Neil and Evans seems a classy option but then you lose the drive and physicality of Onein
Winchester has proved his confidence is growing. Do we give Huggins a start (He looks to have real potential) and move Winchester up the pitch
Then there is Pritchard and Embleton.

One thing I have noticed teams try to flood the midfield to stop us playing. At times on Saturday Bolton looked like they were in complete control
But it was only because they had 7 in midfield at times and were able to pass the ball around While we continued to be very open and tried to stretch the game
I think we have enough good flexible players now that occasionally we should just match them up flood the midfield and shut games down
Instead of bringing on defenders and sitting back.
But thats the balance LJ is looking for flood the midfield and create little or stretch the game and create chances.
I think he's looking for a Man City style of play where most players are box to box and very interchangeable
But that relies on a high level of skill and a massive work rate from the players.
We are miles away from this yet but also we have progressed miles from the Parkinson style of play in a fairly short time.
Bit of a rambling post but a great debate to have and pleased I don't have to make the decisions

 

O/9 is one of the first names on the team sheet for me.

 

think part of him deciding to stay was the 'game time'...his shoulder problem is hardly holding him back and there are times when i find myself shouting at him to calm down a bit but he seems to know just how far to push it, he annoys players by constantly sticking his foot in and breaking up play or 'pinching' the ball, tries to keep the middle ticking over and keeps it simple and rarely out of position, i would like to see him after he gets his shoulder sorted but don't really want to see him out of the side for what could be months of rehab...might just be me being selfish there though.

 

some great comment most covering what i was going to add, well done lads

 

Its part of his game and i wouldn't want him to change.
You saw against Wycombe when he got a smack off one of their players how much he can get into his opponents head by being the way he is.

 

Doesn’t it make a welcome change to have so many options instead of having players needing to be used in positions they are not used to , keeping everyone happy is going to be difficult as we have already seen with O’Brien but the season is a marathon and we need this amount of players . I would much rather be in the position of having too many players compared to previous seasons where we have had to resort to makeshift sides which resulted in us falling short of getting out of this league .