captainchris

That is a very wise call!

Not ad happy as Danny Ings though !!!

Could not agree with you about Cork against Villa - he was superb so today he must have been something else! Not so good as Vic defending perhaps however his passing and awareness are quite a bit better..

You moan about so called 'trolls' and proceed to with your own negative opinions which is evidently perfectly ok? Anyway Cork played well and in true Osvaldo style we should give him at least ten games 'to adjust' after being out so long!

Unfortunately money doesn't always buy you quality as I think we have seen on at least two occasions relatively recently....... Let's put quality before price for the next signing...

Yes it was shocking unfortunately Yoshi was guilty there as well as the first and between him and Gazza neither covered themselves in glory.

Agree 100% Yoshi was well short as was Gazza but Cork really made us tick... I enjoyed watching him, he has a great sense of where the space is to receive the ball and use it with great effect.

Well sorry but Cork was superb and always available. We really played well with him sitting in midfield and knitting the team together. Ok he was involved in one of their goals but really it was down to a poor defence and a disaster of a goalkeeper.... God help us if GAzzaniga has to play Sat! Apart from the awful defending we looked good for long spells I felt. I really do not fancy us when we go with two up Top but tonight Osvaldo did seem very slightly better. First half and actually all season the front players do not push up On their defenders when we have the out wide in a crossing position. What this means is there is nobody to cross to and few chances created.... Second half this seemed to be partially Corrected but it has been an issue all season.... SRL is looking way off right now which has been the case each time he has been away with England. Most certainly need a very decent centre foward option in January. The squad is very thin oh and another goalie on the books looks necessary.. Gazza looks so dodgy.... Without doubt all that possession is pointless without goals and MP needs to look at pushing our front guys right onto their centre backs when we are attacking. The policy/ tactic of keeping them a yard and a half back means we have no one to cross to and so continually cut inside...... Second half was better in this respect but this needs addressing.... Sort the defence out get super Kelvin in if he's ok and keep Cork in for Sat though I do fear for us whoever we put in on Sat...

Fair comments..... Villa are terrible and we gift them three goals.

Have to say he was slightly better tonight but with SRL really off colour he isn't a great alternative yet....

Have to say I thought Cork played very very well...... Always available and reads the game very well.... I would keep him in personally...

Perhaps it will prove to be rediculous but no more so than your argument that it's the rest of the team's fault for not providing the chances for him..... Maybe that can be improved on, I certainly would say we need to break quicker and get the midfield or front midfield to make runs into the dangerous areas or something but for now we are quite conservative..... Many people persist in referring to what happen in the future on this topic.... Yes he might come good in the future and we might create more chances in the future but right now he has some improving to do...

You are entitled to your opinion of course, however not sure what the link to my post is? Whether you count him as playing 6 games or 10 or what ever....... You are still saying give him time by saying its only x amount of games he has played..... With our style of play you will never be creating lots of chances so where does that leave him? Are you saying its the rest of the team's fault that he is struggling by not creating chances for him?

I'm not sure what point you are making there? The fact is Lovren and Wanyama have settled in quickly and Wanyama came from the Scottish league which is as similar as you can get to our Championship so he had more 'adjusting' to do than most ........ So these guys have managed to settle and play very well but our friend under discussion hasn't played well. The ironic thing is that even the pro Osvaldo crowd are all saying that we should 'give him time' and are therefore admitting by inference that he is playing below expectations so even they agree that there is an issue with him. The only slight disagreement is the matter of whether he is given time or not played at all.

So a player is gash for ten games and in your eyes that should earn an extended run in the team !!!! What kind of logic us that??? He didn't come from ice hockey to football ! He is a 27 year old mature 15m footballer who should be able to come in and play pretty quickly. If he was having a reasonable game or two you might have a point but he is clearly miles off the pace and a passenger so no way can we afford to keep hoping he will improve. There is not a shread of evidence to say that he will improve and meanwhile we are carrying him..... Mayuka is just as good if not better, come to that Billy Sharp would not have been worse..... In fact if Ramires is anything to go by Osvaldo could get worse as time goes by..... Actually .......

Two points: Ricky is far better receiving and retaining the ball than Osvaldo. Resorting to two up front against teams like Arsenal and Chelsea in particular does not work for us. We just can't get the ball to them so It is dissapointing that MP continues to persist in trying it. Osvaldo is too selfish to work alongside a partner too. He doesn't make space, is poor at ball retention and is really very static..... Our style is just not conducive to 442. There are probably several reasons but being one short in midfield cuts the options down for our passing game and we lose control of the game. The answer is we need some more pace to inject into the wide midfield to give us a different dimension from midfield the answer is not to take one out there and leave two players isolated up front.... Our first 11 is by far our best 11 at the moment and that does not include Osvaldo who is just not having any significant impact on the game.......

Ward Prouse and Lallana had AN off day granted but Osvaldo doesn't seem to have even one good day. He was brought in to improve us but clearly hasn't. To even begin to compare him with some of bright enterprising hard working skillful locals is certainly stretching a point on the evidence so far on view. There will need to be quite a dramatic improvement from Osvaldo if he going to improve this team..... We need to step It up if we are to compete with the big boys in this league and Osvaldo yet again did not look as though he can do that......

Ummmm a sophisticated well thought out addition to the debate - thank you for your well thought out reasoned opinion......

Yes but it's the here and now that actually counts and that aint impressive no matter how much you've seen of Osvaldo in years gone by........... Maybe he will come good but maybe he won't and so far he hasn't.........

Well JRod was not criticised by me.....! Sorry JRod is currently a far better player... It's not just that Osvaldo has had a couple of 'rusty' games he has been poor. If we had brought in a youngster in that position and he'd played like that he wouldn't have lasted three games let alone 10!!!!! For the money and our status we must have high expectations not low ones.......

Can I be the first to say Lord Duckhunter - an excellent post and along with the long article the thread linked to On the first post and very accurate appraisal of the situation....

Nailed on I'd say !!!!!!!! -))

Very good point. Our record buying players in is not that good so if we do look to bring in two or three then this time we either need to do Wenger and coach them fast or buy a lot more carefully.... Am a little surprised that we haven't managed to coach Rimirez and Osvaldo to play here...... They both give away possession far too easily. Both dwell on the ball far too long and both play with their head down.... So bl---dy coach them !!!!!!!

Why so brittle when Osvaldo is criticised ? He has most definately been poor so far..... There is nothing to suggest that this will change next week or next month or how long exactly do you give him ? The worrying thing is for me that he doesn't control the ball and pass to a team mate - he invariably loses possession. Watching him closely today the problem is that he doesn't get his Head up - he is permantly looking down. This results in him hanging onto the ball too long and getting the ball taken off him..... Invariably this kind of weekness cannot be cured or helped With 'more time' - at his age it's a permanent problem.....

NOTE TO MP: Osvaldo and Lamert DOES NOT WORK.................... Even a knackered AL is better than MPs alternative options. SRL has been well below par so why not bring him off when Osvaldo came on???? Odd strategy.......