Shea Charles

[Wade Garrett]

Thought Charles put in a proper box to box midfield performance yesterday.  He’s got some engine.  Was our best player.

[HarvSFC]

Under Martin, that long ball at the end never gets played. We'd be passing it around our centre-backs on the centre circle with time ticking away. Manning also doesn't make the forward run as he was always the inverted full-back and expected to tuck in to the centre of the pitch and recycle the ball sideways when we were attacking. The same role Max Aarons is playing at Rangers, and he's had a poor start up there. A lot more freedom and tactics designed around their strengths seemed to aid Charles, Manning, Stephens and Bazunu (allowed to play long balls now and not under constant pressure) yesterday.

[CampionSaint]

I couldn't understand why we didn't recall Charles from his loan in January.  It's not as if we have loads of quality central midfielders without him.

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, CampionSaint said:

I couldn't understand why we didn't recall Charles from his loan in January.  It's not as if we have loads of quality central midfielders without him.

He struggled to make an impact in the Championship two years ago. He didn't go from that to PL standard in half a season on loan at Wednesday.

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

[Smirking_Saint]

18 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He struggled to make an impact in the Championship two years ago. He didn't go from that to PL standard in half a season on loan at Wednesday.

I always thought it was harsh, he was clearly a good player, but he did struggle at times to play the demanding possession based game Martin wanted

It was scandalous that we decided to play Smallbone or others over Charles during Downes’ abscence

[Badger]

3 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

I always thought it was harsh, he was clearly a good player, but he did struggle at times to play the demanding possession based game Martin wanted

It was scandalous that we decided to play Smallbone or others over Charles during Downes’ abscence

Didn’t Martin see him as a stand in CB as much as anything ? 

[Badger]

29 minutes ago, CampionSaint said:

I couldn't understand why we didn't recall Charles from his loan in January.  It's not as if we have loads of quality central midfielders without him.

Personally I’m glad we didn’t. Think such an experience might have been a traumatic one, more in our interests for him to keep playing. ( Altjough staying at Sheff Weds probably brought its own issues for him as things turned out). 

[Smirking_Saint]

3 minutes ago, Badger said:

Didn’t Martin see him as a stand in CB as much as anything ? 

Fuck knows

Im not as anti martin as some on here but he did some very odd stuff

Was just a stubborn prick really

[saintant]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

 

Good watch that. Makes you realise how much good stuff he did throughout the game.

[Colinjb]

2 hours ago, CampionSaint said:

I couldn't understand why we didn't recall Charles from his loan in January.  It's not as if we have loads of quality central midfielders without him.

He was doing well, we were going down. Why tar him with that failure? He's back and hitting the ground running, the decision not to recall him could be argued to be paying off.

[Tauro]

I really enjoyed watching his individual performance. He looked like an absolute Rolls Royce of a player in there against Wrexham. Reminds me a lot of Schneiderlin at that level. Would like to see him add a little more upper body strength and he will be a top player for us. Can definitely make the jump up a level.

[goodymatt]

15 hours ago, Colinjb said:

He was doing well, we were going down. Why tar him with that failure? He's back and hitting the ground running, the decision not to recall him could be argued to be paying off.

Agree. If he did come back from loan and did well at PL level, we might be in a position where we lost him this summer. Instead we have a better version of him ready to go and be one of our best players this season. Let’s hope we can get him to sign an extension now. He was great on Saturday, seemed to find that forward pass time and again and made himself time on the ball when he needed to. Very clever player. His diagonal ball to start the move for the winner showed a different side to his game, I hadn’t seen any of his long range passing in Martin ball.

[VectisSaint]

Nice first goal for Norn Iron tonight.

[Baird of the land]

4 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Nice first goal for Norn Iron tonight.

A little bit of a deflection.

had a really impressive second half performance.

[Football Special]

10 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

A little bit of a deflection.

had a really impressive second half performance.

Do they play him in the same position/ role as we do? 

[Baird of the land]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Do they play him in the same position/ role as we do? 

Yeah as 2 in a wingback formation.

[spyinthesky]

Hopefully he is nearing a return to full fitness but would he find a place in the starting line up at the moment?

I thought Lander & Downes die well today and Aziz is beginning to score goals.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, spyinthesky said:

Hopefully he is nearing a return to full fitness but would he find a place in the starting line up at the moment?

I thought Lander & Downes die well today and Aziz is beginning to score goals.

100%

Jander will no doubt hit the buffers at some point soon, or will need a game off..Downes is bound to be ill or suspended.

[RedArmy]

6 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Hopefully he is nearing a return to full fitness but would he find a place in the starting line up at the moment?

 

Yes. Not only is he the best central midfielder we have, he will thrive in this direct system we have adopted under TE. 

[Doctoroncall]

Interview with Shea

[Saint Garrett]

Seems a far better player off the bench than starting games. I really like him as a player, but I find him too casual and not "on it" at times. The game passed him by on Tuesday, you can see why he's not forced a first XI spot this season ahead of Downes, Jander and even Bragg...

[saintwbu]

23 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Seems a far better player off the bench than starting games. I really like him as a player, but I find him too casual and not "on it" at times. The game passed him by on Tuesday, you can see why he's not forced a first XI spot this season ahead of Downes, Jander and even Bragg...

Lack of midfield control whenever he plays - i’m sure someone will have some stats to say otherwise, but it feels like we often don’t play that well in games he starts, even back to the last Championship season. 

[Badger]

Golden opportunity to play v his old club and show his worth tomorrow.

Agree with some of above comments re the MF selection though. On paper I’d have thought Downes-Charles the best pairing, yet it seems to lack something and the combination is less than the sum of its parts should be. Wonder why. Are they too alike ? 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Doctoroncall said:

Interview with Shea

Good article, thanks.

[saintant]

36 minutes ago, Badger said:

Golden opportunity to play v his old club and show his worth tomorrow.

Agree with some of above comments re the MF selection though. On paper I’d have thought Downes-Charles the best pairing, yet it seems to lack something and the combination is less than the sum of its parts should be. Wonder why. Are they too alike ? 

He's still only 22 and learning the game. I think he'll go on to be a fantastic player within the next couple of years as he evolves. We'll likely end up selling him for big money. Right now he's not the finished product but you can see the potential as he glides around the pitch.

[Badger]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

He's still only 22 and learning the game. I think he'll go on to be a fantastic player within the next couple of years as he evolves. We'll likely end up selling him for big money. Right now he's not the finished product but you can see the potential as he glides around the pitch.

Perhaps tomorrow is his ‘coming of age’ then 

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Badger said:

Perhaps tomorrow is his ‘coming of age’ then 

If it is City might be the club offering big money for him 🙂

[Badger]

34 minutes ago, saintant said:

If it is City might be the club offering big money for him 🙂

Probably got a massive % sell on or discount in there.

Was the deal done under Wilcox (or Shields?) watch ? Perhaps we’ll end up owing City money to take him.

(Too much to expect we’d persuade them to take Bazunu as part of the deal as well I suppose). 

[Turkish]

My sources tell me he’s going have a SIGNIFICANT impact tomorrow. You heard it hear first 

[Saint_clark]

10 minutes ago, Turkish said:

My sources tell me he’s going have a SIGNIFICANT impact tomorrow. You heard it hear first 

Must be getting nervous about your "never lose again" prediction - at some point you're gonna have to decide, do you stick with it and risk being as wrong as MLG or do you gamble with a prediction that we lose. 

[Turkish]

13 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Must be getting nervous about your "never lose again" prediction - at some point you're gonna have to decide, do you stick with it and risk being as wrong as MLG or do you gamble with a prediction that we lose. 

Nerves are for virgins

[Saint_clark]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Nerves are for virgins

So, yes?

[RedArmy]

30 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Must be getting nervous about your "never lose again" prediction - at some point you're gonna have to decide, do you stick with it and risk being as wrong as MLG or do you gamble with a prediction that we lose. 

I would assume not as nervous or wrong as you are with your “Will Still will manager in the premier league before Saints get back there” prediction. 
 

 

[Saint_clark]

Just now, RedArmy said:

I would assume not as nervous or wrong as you are with your “Will Still will manager in the premier league before Saints get back there” prediction. 
 

 

I was wrong 🤷🏼‍♂️ it's interesting though that any time Tonda or the players are asked about what they're doing different tactically, they all say not much and it's just about getting some momentum and belief in the side. I maintain there isn't much difference between the way we were trying to play and the way we are now.

[Turkish]

47 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

So, yes?

Are you? Aren’t you about 60 pal?

[Turkish]

34 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I was wrong 🤷🏼‍♂️ it's interesting though that any time Tonda or the players are asked about what they're doing different tactically, they all say not much and it's just about getting some momentum and belief in the side. I maintain there isn't much difference between the way we were trying to play and the way we are now.

Are you having a laugh? Did you watch us play under Still?

 

bang long ball into Damien Downs or Adam Armstrong. Lose bring on a striker, winning bring on another defender. 5 at the back whatever long ball, disorganised repeat week in week out We were a shambles under Still.

[RedArmy]

36 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I was wrong 🤷🏼‍♂️ it's interesting though that any time Tonda or the players are asked about what they're doing different tactically, they all say not much and it's just about getting some momentum and belief in the side. 

Eh? We’ve had players calling him a genius for his ability to put together an effective game plan. 
 

Im not sure Will Still even knew what a gameplan was. Just pick 11 players,  hope for the best and mumble about rubble a few times.