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Meant to post this after the game on sunday, did anyone else notice something a bit strange in his pre match warm up? I was there on my todd so just thought id watch us warm up and McNamee caught my eye - the starting 11 were off doing keep ball etc...the keepers were going through their paces and then the subs were just messing around playing keepy up and and having a joke together - looked like good team spirit even Byrne was involved...all the subs joined in bar McNamee who just wondered round the pitch on his own with a ball. Not really doing anything and just didnt look part of anything going on.

Looked like he was in a massive sulk after being dropped? Either way didnt look like he wanted to be there in the slightest

Maybe he didn't get what he wanted from Santa?

being an elf at christmas time is hard work, perhaps he's tired?

Noticed that...i thaught he was a ball boy,obviously packed with talent hes in danger of dissapearing without trace,i honestly see him dropping down the lgs if thing dont improve,he looks brilliant at times,ime hoping DW gets the talent out of him hes obviously got.

Against Yeovil he went straight down the tunnel after being subbed, and I did see him warming up alone too. I did see Byrne go over to him and give him a chat and a pat on the shoulder in the warm-up, though Macca didn't look very happy at all. Saying that, he did put in quite a lot of effort when he came on, so I don't think he wants to leave, he just wants to play every game. Wilson gave him a good mention in his post match interview, so I think Wilson will play him regularly. He has to stop the step-overs though!

If McNamee "disappears without trace" that will be mis-management at its worst.I dont care how many step-overs he does,If I was not a Town fan,Macca's the only Town player I would pay to see.

Also noticed it to,I hope he dont go down the same road Leon Knight went down.The step overs annoy me at times, he's way to predictable now,he's got bag's of pace why don't he just skin the defender or cut inside him,going by some poolies i would think Macca will be a regular starter.

He's the type of player who would fit in with DWs style of play.

You'd say that, but I saw a Hartlepool fan moaning that DW dropped their most creative player. Mind you, he was talking about Monkhouse who was a bit more robust/less spectacular.

No doubt about it, an on song Macca wins games. But sometimes a struggling team needs more meat in midfield. Mind you, Sunday was crying out for Macca long before he came on.

I really don't understand this sudden backlash against MacNamee.  He is without doubt a match winner, can't remember to many people slagging off Mark Walters when he used to do his step overs.

MacNamee's problem is he doesn't get in to matches enough, but that's not all his fault, he needs his team mates to feed him the ball, in home games especially most full backs can't handle him.  I also think he puts in a number of decent crosses and it's not really his fault our forwards/midfielders don't get on the end of them.

We should be supporting this lad to the hilt not criticising him because he tries a few tricks to get the better of his opponent.

i don't think there's anyone who would hand on heart suggest we can do without him. he does, as everyone has said, need to learn about the quick whipped in ball when he's within 15 yards of the touchline. i don't think him slowing the ball up helps at all, especially as most teams know about him and double up...so he's got even less of a gap to put the ball through!

Im not criticising jan,all i was getting at he's become a bit to predictable,he would be the first name on my team sheet.I just think he's got the pace to beat defender's,whether it be go around them or cut inside.

Opposition manager's only have to watch him and see what his game is,In my opinion he need's to change his game plan a bit so he's less predictable.

 

Wasn't picking out your comments in particular Russ, just I've noticed a few comments cropping up over the last couple of weeks where he seems to be getting a bit of stick, that's all fella.

I was sat behind what I assume was his Dad and Brother on Saturday.  After one of Kanyuka's interesting headers, the Dad shouted 'Pussyclot', which is a word I never thought I'd hear in an English league ground!  ;D

Paranoia setting in i think.

His position has come under threat from our poor back 4. If he was protected a little more behind him then he could concentrate on going forward, at the moment he's getting dragged inside and back.

Part of the problem that McNamee has is that we are so slow to get the ball to him  (it's part of a general problem in our game). It's easy to double up on him when the ball starts at Smith then goes through Nalis to Peacock and Timlin before it arrives at him. That way he has to check his run and come from deeper taking on two markers in the process. If we had a player who could hit a thirty yard pass with any accuracy - and speed-  then he would find it much easier to get a cross in and less step-overs are needed.

Also he needs better targets in the box. Part of the problem against Brighton was that Peacock, when he gets into the box, plays as a third forward, not as a midfielder. So instead of providing an option at the back of the box - and makes himself harder to mark - he gets into a narrow three with Cox and Sturrock/Painter/Corr. Last season Easton got a number of goals - from Manatee's crosses particularly - arriving late precisely because he wasn't running in with the forwards.

Good post Orange!!  Agree with all of that.  I think to lay all the blame at MacNamee's feet is a little short sighted.

Last year he had Comminges running around the outside of him, this year he doesn't. Timlin isn't that mobile so maybe he can't be arsed getting up and down. Or maybe he's been told not to.

Having said all that, more often than not he'll still get a ball in, or at least win us a corner.

I miss Miguel :(

I want him back :(

Theres no-one in the box half the time anyway. Paynter/corr might be in their, cox will be trying to run in after coming far too deep and the center mids stop as soon as the reach the edge of the area. There's little point in a first time cross when your trying to pick out one man out of 5

I dont think you can really compare the two. McNamee really isnt in the class was Mark Walters.

The other teams know what McNamee is about and we dont have the players that can actually pass the ball to him in the first place. Our striker drop too deep and our midfielders dont get forward enough so when he does cross it in there is usually no one in there anyway.

His crosses has been very poor this season and as others have said sometimes he just needs to whip it in rather than doing all the step overs.

Again, like alot of our team he plays well in fits and spells but I dont think hes had a really good game since QPR in the cup.

I personally wouldnt have him in the starting 11 right now. JPM is the on form winger at this moment in time and when he wasnt he got shit loads of stick (for slightly different reasons) so I dont see why we cant question McNamee.

ps. Jan only one A in McNamee

Fair points DV, especially about the additional "a".  My Mark Walters comparison, as you probably know, was not intended as a direct comparison, if you know what I mean, was more of an off the cuff remark, than a fully blown point.

I do disagree that his crosses have been "poor" this season though, just don't think as a team we have reacted well enough to Macca getting the ball.

mcnamee is a luxury player.great when the going is good,not so when we are struggling like now.as already mentioned,he needs pin point passes to his feet to then get at the right back.alot of the time he has a 50/50 ball aimed in his direction 6ft in the air.he's never going to win the ball in that situation.

Reminds me of the Classic Fresh Prince episode in Series 1, "Courting Disaster". Where will joins the basketball team and the coach's tactics basically come down to "pass it to Will". Carlton gets jealous.

Top of the assists though DV,and countless other crosses that should have led to goals.The last 2 home games spring to mind immediately

I make 4 of his 5 from the first two games of the season.

wouldn't jp have more assists?and paynter maybe?

McNamee 3 league 2 cups 5 total
Cox 4 league 4 total
Paynter 4 league 4 total
JPM 3 leagu 3 total
Peacock 2 league 2 total
J.Smith 1 league 1 total
Easton 1 league 1 total
Morrison 1 league 1 total

Not sure how they work out assits because we must have scored more goals than that?

I spose some goals,like JPM against Yeovil aren't really assisted

And Timlin's against Yeovil as well.

And penalties.

Are own goals assisted?

not in fantasy football!

Macca also needs some competition for his place it may make him work a bit harder.

At the moment he is in danger of becoming a one trick pony with his step overs and not getting the final killer ball, he also get's marked out of games and needs to learn how to lose his marker or be able to drag his marker into the right area to leave space for team mates to exploit.

Not sure what has happened to Marshall, thought that he was going to be one after a bit of time getting used to this level would ocme good, but he seemed to make a few sub appearances, and then since the death of his family member he has not really been heard of unfortunetly.

I dont think McNamee is a luxury player, any player who immediately draws the attention of two opponents to mark him is making loads of space for others inside for one. You always have the feeling that somethng is going to happen when he receives the ball, definitely a crowd pleaser.

Imo McNamee is the star of our side this season.

what dave said

Initially, I was quite excited by his trickery, but without an end product it lessens his performance.
Stepovers, followed by an accurate cross, or a run into the box, are exciting. Stepovers then punting the ball out of play, or losing the ball isn't.

he put in 3 lush crosses on saturday, problem was no cunt was in the box.

Dell you been on the booze already? McNamee has far from been the star of our side this season, I would struggle to think of a star but would probably give it to Cox just because of his goal tally.  

McNamee has the luxury of doing one good run in a game to shelter him from any criticism from our fans where as people like McGovern, Aljofree, Paynter are all scrutinised and could have an excellent game then make one mistake and get booed and hurled abused at.

For me McNamee has been far too hot and cold this season, perhaps our biggest disappointment as he fails to deliver on a regular basis.  At the moment I find myself questioning whether its actually beneficial starting him.

No doubt on his day an awesome talent but he is becoming as frustrating as previous enigma's such as Roberts, Zaboub etc.

So why did he cross the ball then? Wouldn't it be better for him to fucking look up first? Then, if no one was in the box, he could lay it back.

Don Rogers use to blow hot and cold as well in his playing days, admittedly more hot than cold.
If you put McNamee in a side with a half decent supporting midfield and actually give him targets to hit in the box then you people would be saying he is Premiership class. Unfortunately McNamee has neither of luxuries and has to hold the ball up on many occasions waiting for support.
Cox has done brilliantly this season with his goals and effort, but when you talk about hot and cold, then Cox is going through a freezing point at the moment, he cant even control that little round object at the moment.

cox and sturrock were hovering on the edge. for too many years we have not had players that attack crosses

If the one trick works what's the problem? It fools 95% of defenders I've seen him up against. He's very clever Macca and if you actually stop to watch him its not just one trick he's doing, he's got loads up his bag that essentially achieve (or try to) the same thing. It's extremely hard to lose a marker when they pretty much glue themselves to you and given McNamee's lack of any kind of physical strength or height, unless he has a team mate to draw players away from him (Ie, what Corr was trying to do against Brighton) he is going to be limited in his play.

Also doesn't help that a lot of our game plan under Malpas was "Pass to McNamee". It doesn't take a genius to see it and it makes it easier for the opposition to stop us playing.

When he has space and is on his game, he's worth the entrance fee on his own. Every neutral I've taken to Town games since he's been here have only really gone away talking about him.

Referring to an earlier post, I believe Jack Smith has probably been our most consistent performer this season.

As for Macca, he is definitely a marked man when playing...
Opposing scouts are letting their respective managers know of his potential attacking threat, this is why he is double teamed the minute he gets the ball.

I still believe he has a future here and hope DW can get him playing the way we love to see him play.

I know jp has improved but if we had a pacy direct rw and a semi creative cm we would see the best of macca. As it stands with him being are only real attacking threat teams are happy to leave our other players on the half way line and put 2 or 3 on him

Absolutely spot on old chap.... :nod:

can we please stop this 'jpm has improved' bollocks  ::)...so say we paid around £250k for him...he has been the biggest waste of dollar since Drysdale....improved?? he couldn't get any worse FFS.....I'd love us to have that technology whereby we can prove how effective he has actually been since his new found 'form'...

he brings nothing to the table...as me late father (God Bless him) would say and for those anglo-scots amongst us, he couldn't tackle a fish supper

now that technology would be a worthwhile investment for dw/fitton  :nod:

jimbob whether you dislike him or not you cannot ignore that McGovern has improved dramatically over recent weeks and if Wilson can keep him at the levels hes currently at then he will be a big weapon for us.  Probably the best crosser at the club.

Probably? No question. He had a questionable shot on Sunday but apart from that his passes and crosses were excellent.

lets hope he keeps 'improving' then and we can get some money for him in the transfer window as he aint all that and I won't be told any different

 JPM has gone from being totally incompetent, to almost competent.

 Fair play for the improvement, but when I think of some of teh right sided midfielders we've had down the years he'd be right at the back of the list.

He has certainly improved a lot since Malpas went but I wouldn't shed any tears if he was sold. He deserves his place in the team at the moment but certainly hadn't for a long time before. Overall, he's been a big disappointment.

Good debate. The problem is we have very few consistant players. It's best to be like jimbob and have players you dislike and will slag off and players you like who you'll defend.

Last two games JP has been one of our better players. End of.

Without macca our team well squad actually is totally void of pace. Thats a big problem

What about Nalis?  :D

Feel sorry for nalis. When your legs go you cant do fuckall about that

didn't see the Orient game so I can't comment on that front

Yes, I dislike him as he hasn't proved his worth in my opionion and a supposed 'creative midfielder' has the licence not to tackle does he? but he isn't creative which means he should be able to tackle...oh

how many chances for our forwards did our ball player/creative midfielder JPM provide on against BHA?? remind me how many shots on target we had??

he's been here now nearly a season and a half and aint produced the goods...and for that reason he should be fired....IN MY OPINION...and whilst I have regard for your testimony hertha, my opinion will not be changed by other folks opinions of him in the last 2 games when he has been here far too long producing shite

Thats better

Just out of curiosity, could you tell me in your opinion has proved there worth in the last couple of years?

just out of curiosity, could you tell me who else in our current squad we paid £250k for?

Cox?

There's no fucking way on earth that the old board paid £250k for Jon Paul McGovern.

and therein lies my point. I don't think we paid that much for him, but he has been worth the money...

that was the talk though at the time right?? I've had a search and 'undisclosed' appears everywhere for his transfer fee to us...although I did come across his bebo page so I've sent him a nice message telling him to move on ;-)

he likes his drink...so he tells us

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=2732187183

And there's no fucking way that's McGovern's real Bebo page.

what makes you say that?? looks pretty legit to me

Because Bebo is for 11 year olds.

wait for it.....he does play like one so thats about right....boom boom!

It's besides the point anyway. Until you can prove we paid this supposed ridiculous amount for him then your argument is null and void.

50k rising to 70k

Sounds more realistic.

oh...ok

What he said.....

I'd be very surprised if we even paid that all up front for Cox, there's absolutely no chance we paid 250k for jpm.

For what it's worth, I'd like to see us bring in another right winger, tall, strong and quick, allowing us to try Mcgovern in the centre. It might not work, but he's creative, can pick a pass, ok in the tackle and recently has looked alot fitter and more willing to run. With Timlin in their holding behind him and two pacey, direct wingers we could look alot better in midfield and jpm would bag a fair few as well.

I quite like jpm and think that some of the stick he gets is unfounded, he's been better than Mcnamee this year, but maybe that's cos I go to more away games than home.

Everyone seems to have forgotton last season so fucking quickly.

JPM played well for the majority of last season didnt he, second top assistor last season? 2nd top assistor this season? So he is obviously doing his job and creating chances.

He played well under Sturrock, he played well under Byrne. This season he didnt play well under Malpas as to me it looked like he didnt want to play for him. He has been better since Malpas has gone and is more than capable to play at this level.

Chips in with a few goals from the wings as well, more so than the golden midget.

But do you want a player who will chose which manager he wants to play for and gets the hump and withdraws effort when he doesn't like the manager.
I don't particularly like my manager at the moment but if I don't give it 100%, I'm on my bike.

because hes probably our most creative player and we havent got another winger in the squad and we arent going to spend any money to replace him and he isnt half as bad as people make out.

He is a decent L1 player.

JPM - for him to be really effective he needs to be further forward, not his fault because half the time is helping out with defensive duties, or covering the middle of midfield, he does not have the pace to then switch quickly to the flanks.
For me if we played five across the middle he could well become a very good attacking option.

He's not half as bad now but he was a complete and utter cock this season until Malpas went. I don't think he's anything special and there are many players in this Division equal or better than  him. I'd happilly trade him.

I would happily trade Nailis, Pook and Peacock before JPM.
We have the worse midfield in Division One.

I agree about the worst midfield in this Division. At this moment in time JPM is the pick of the bunch by a country mile but I'd also quite happilly get rid of Easton and Timlin as well. I'd very happilly ship out all our midfield players and start again. I don't include MacNamee in that.

I don't understand why everyone loves Peacock so much. From what I've seen of him, he lacks any creativity, any decisiveness, and hasn't linked well with any of the other midfielders so far this season. Everyone says he should be in the team for effort alone, but that's bullshit. At this time we need our BEST players, and IMO Peacock doesn't fall into that category. I love the bloke for his professionalism, and his love towards the club, but I simply don't think he's good enough.

In one recent home game, think it was Yeovil, towards the latter stages Blair Sturrock made a glorious run and that created a massive gap in their defence, but Peacock had the ball and never looked up, for me he doesn't have enough creativity to be a midfielder.

Because he's a nice bloke, has a nice coat and talks to fans.  Doesn't have a heck of a lot to do with his footballing abilities.  Although his work rate is good I'll give him that.

I liked the way he wore his kilt at the Old Bank do back in the summer, along with the other DJ accessories...bit of class that.

And there you have it. I don't think anyone thinks he is a brilliant footballer, but he gives his all (usually). You can't ask for more than that from a player.

Personally I don't think he's been any worse than Easton , Timlin or Pook in the centre of midfield. That may only tell us we need a new midfield of course.

Easton is similar to JPM in that he played bloody well last season.There is a good player in there waiting to get out,his ability is proven at this level.I think he's done ok last 2 games and is definitely a better midfielder than Peacock in my opinion

Er... McGovern is shite. Needs a spell in the reserves. Peacock will play every week now Wilson's manager

The best centre midfield performance i have seen in the last 3 years was zaboub against walsall. That tells you how we have lacked a genuine attacking cm

McNamee's a left winger you spastic.

I have joined in the whole midfield debate you fucknugget

Maybe try McNamee in the middle?

If it was with a 5 midfield i would with peacock and easton either side of him

who would you have on the left then?

Timlin

oh god, who on the right then?

can you draw up a diagram of how you expect this midfield to line up please?

With the players we got from left to right, timlin easton macca easton mcgovern. Can't do diagrams so fuck off

Easton is gona be a bit busy then.

If you do it attacking yeah against good teams you could keep switching timlin and macca

He's here, he's there, he's (literally) fucking everywhere.....

------------------------Timlin
---------Peacock----------------------Easton
JPM---------------------------------------------McNamee

thats how I'd set up a midfield 5 if we were to go down that route.

Good job you aint manager then isn't it.

Play Ifil on right wing.

That's more like it!

I'd play a defensive long ball game.  A flat back five, two midfielders man marking their strikers, the other midfielder tracking the runs of any attacking midfielers, and two up front who we'll see again at half time.  I've done it before, and it worked. ;)

Yeah but it was in Football Manager 2008 ;)

 :D

Actually against a very talented, young and fast Millwall team.  We won one nil and ball spent more time in the air, on the Otley Road, down the hill or anywhere but on the pitch.  I used to sub whichever player was furthest away to waste time (one bloke got subbed twice - rolling subs you see).  At 0-0 I took a corner, we had the two strikers in the box and everyone else on the half way line.  I've never felt so proud. ;D

2 Craig Eastons, there's only 2 Craig Eastons...