D 2-2 vs Colchester United (A) - League Two - Sat 30th April, 3pm

El Nombre in not reading or understanding the core point and creating a new argument shocker.

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His dad Arsenal Mick was there yesterday

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Nope, just don’t agree, and made an observation :+1:

I’ll try.

Kinsella will again, quite rightly, be our player of the season. He is the talisman and exemplar in terms of effort and attitude.

The Kinsella problem is nothing to do with Kinsella himself. I don’t think anybody has ever said, and I quote, “see - not good enough” because he is a more than adequate fourth division footballer which currently makes him our star man. The issue is more to do with how he gets used and the specifics of his job in the context of any specific midfield, the other midfield players and their roles. If we want him to be akin to Adam Chambers then give him a chance by not playing another Adam Chambers type alongside him and more clearly define where he should expend his energy. There is a box of Kinsella optimum impact that would be drawn as wide as the penalty area and as high as twenty yards in front of our back four.

So that’s about 800 square yards of grass (about the same size as the box) rather than the “every blade of grass” we seem to expect from him. He isn’t fertiliser. He needs to own “his” space. His domain, his territory. Whilst we enjoy lauding an “every blade of grass” type, if he is closing down the opposition left back, there is a hell of a lot of spare grass somewhere in the middle of the pitch for the opposition to exploit.

If his job was obviously that which I describe then his goal and assist record wouldn’t matter a jot. But that isn’t obviously his job. His job has seemed to be to tackle anything that moves anywhere on the pitch. Something he’s good at and something that gains that ubiquitous reputation. But it isn’t something that should exist in a functioning midfield unless you have both the physical and mental agility in other midfielders to perform “liquid” football. We don’t and I doubt we ever will.

Oh and I agree on Osadebe. Looked like he was back to wearing concrete boots yesterday. From 9 out of 10 last week to 4 out of 10 this week. Frustrating as hell.

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Brilliantly put that, great post.

I have made similar points in the past about the way he presses and tackles anything that moves on any part of the pitch. The fans appreciate it when he gets a tackle or block in but as you rightly said there are often times when there are big gaps left by him moving to press. I’m not sure it is all down to the role he is being asked to play but it is so ingrained in his game now. A bit of good coaching to teach him some discipline in terms of his positioning and when to go and press he could be an even more valuable member of the squad.

I feel bad for Labadie and his awful injury but give me Kinsella any day of the week over him. After a full season I still haven’t worked out exactly what he offers the team or how we could get the best out of him.

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Hmm not sure about that.

As far as “his role”, I still come back to this:

And this:

funnily enough, the debate the last time he was player of the season and still won’t change.

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It’s got a lot of the ‘Anthony gerrard’s’ about it for me.

He was constantly a fan favourite because of his last ditch tackles - but most of the time it was because he was out of position.

Earring is my player of the season, he’s contributed a lot more than any else for me - and played 50 times, with some genuine quality. Rushworth is probably 2nd for me, Kinsella 3rd.

But he doesn’t do that many hard tackles, so probably won’t win.

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I didn’t vote but I think had Monthe not missed those games through suspension I would have gone for him. He has been pretty consistent and we really missed him when he was out.

Then I’d have gone for Rushworth. He has had a few sticky patches but in general he has been good. I guess that is cos there isn’t much else to choose from, it’s not really the same kind of thing as choosing Jimmy Walker over Darren Wrack and Andy Rammell.

I like Earing, I think next season is a big one for him. If he can progress he could be a really top player for us. Very good first season all things considered.

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I voted Earing too. 50 apperances in your first season can’t be sniffed at, although Kinsella did push him close for me for his continued effort and willing to the cause.

I think it is more due to sentiment, but I really hope Flynn can find a way to incorporate him into the team next season. I would play him as the deepest midfielder allow him to harry and harrass, before playing it off to those around him to create.

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For what it’s worth, I don’t think Liam Kinsella is player of the season (for a change), I just get bored of the same old hot takes for the last four years whenever he’s not literally the best player of the pitch.

I don’t think it matters how many player of the season, man of the match, multiple managers of different repute choose to play him week in and week out and retain his contract and some even make him captain, it won’t change for some. I guess because they’ve made definitive statements on him and are a bit upset he makes them look a bit silly every time he plays well, but hey ho.

It’s a boring debate at this stage. He’s proved his worth over and over.

Earing for me too.

Great point on Osadebe, the amount of people that have said we should keep him off the back of 4 good performances amazes me.

In all fairness to Kinsella he’s been surrounded by crap players for the past 4 years, it can’t be easy for him.

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Quite. People talk about him “leaving gaps” when he tries to win balls. How about one of the other lads puts themselves about as well then.

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Yep , two wingers he can’t pass to, two full backs he can’t pass to, and almost 3 years without a striker who could hold the ball up.

I’ll judge him when we put some decent players around him.

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I think he will look like a perfectly serviceable ball winning midfielder for a mid to play off league two side. In other words exactly what he looks like now, just hopefully at that point that won’t be all he needs to do to be head and shoulders above 90 percent of the rest of the side.

Wil

Scottish Dave voted for Earring but I can’t see past Kins I’m afraid.

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I think Flynn will be moving Rodney on in the summer in the brief cameos he’s had ive not seen anything to warrant a squad number next season, surely if Flynn rated him he would have given him more game time especially with the likely hood Miller and Kiernan not being here next season.

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He ain’t that big!

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I agree he hasn’t shown much so far but he hasn’t had chance to get fully match fit. Vale fan on Twitter reckons if we get him fully fit and motivated he is a good player. Maybe a full pre-season and MF influence can find that good player?