Brighton beat us by the odd goal this season, and West Ham by the only goal last season, but other than those narrow defeats, I don’t think we have lost to an U21 team. As well as beating Brighton the first time we played them, we have beaten Middlesbrough, Leicester and West Brom, and the season before the pandemic we beat both Southampton and Chelsea. None of them have walked over us, except for Chelsea ripping us apart for 20 minutes or so before we fought back to win 3-2.
Matt has been a costly signing for us. Paid a fee for him and no doubt one of our higher earners. He has contributed next to nothing and looks like he isn’t a professional footballer any more. I don’t agree with people booing him or the sarcastic cheers when he is subbed and things like that but the reality is he has been useless for us and we are lumbered with him. A lot was made of not playing silly buggers with Mansfield last season and no one would pay what they wanted for 6 months of DJ. I wonder what it really would have cost when you factor in the signings of Matt and Stevens wouldn’t have been needed and that they both offered pretty much nothing.
We shouldn’t have been looking at players like Lalkovic either, what happened to this new groundbreaking approach to recruitment? Did the computer say no when it realised you have to pay good players a bit more money? With a quarter of a season gone we don’t look any better than previous seasons at all and the likelihood is we will finish in a similar position.
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Right up there. Every bit as bad as Williams last season, and I imagine the same issue ie legs have completely gone.
Yeah fair enough.
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Back off ;). More seriously every striker needs some system built around him that allows him to shine. Without it will look like a fish thrown on a road. Not too delicious. Every gaffer should build a system that allows players to flourish. So for me it is more an issue with the system, or maybe lack of any or too many systems tried, and not a problem with the player. We can all agree he is not a top level striker, but he can be accomodated successfully to a system. Because it’s not happening, that lies on MS. That’s one of (many/his) shortcomings in his work. It should be corrected, the best for yesterday, but probably January will solve it.
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He’s just knackered rather than being outright rubbish. His signing has been an expensive error by the club, add to the list of recruitment fudge ups that’s is now entering it’s 9863rd page. Sooner we can offload him the better.
However he’s not in the echelons of crapness with Osei Yaw, Barrowman, Ryan Jarvis etc.
Unfortunatly I think Sadler thinks the more he plays the more he will roll back the years… Bit weird.
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Different part of their careers Matt is more like a Gaffney only potentially worst
Dale Banton was sh*te
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I was excited when we signed Matt, local guy and certainly done well at his previous clubs I felt he was just the kind of player we have been crying out for. However he looks past it and has been a huge disappointment. I would move him on…
I see his bandage moved hands yesterday. I’m sure it was on his left hand last week, it was on his right yesterday. Yes i was that bored yesterday
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He’s been desperately disappointing other than a few cameos where he’s show glimpses of his old self. I don’t like the criticism of him though, he’s one of us, cut him in half and he’d bleed red. I do think though a mutual parting of the ways in January may be most appropriate.
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Had forgotten about Ngoo. He was signed from Liverpool mid season so expectation he’d help a faltering play off bid but he was s*** yeah.
Think he went off to play in Scotland afterwards so not sure if he revitalised himself up there like Guthrie and Devlin did or just scored 1-2 a season.
Wright was here under Dutton so that’s the first issue, young player coming into a team with no confidence whatsoever and being asked to be the creative spark. Also no fans in those times which was difficult for most players.
I thought he looked o.k in his loan and clear potential to play higher.
Corey Blackett-Taylor scored a brilliant goal for Charlton yesterday. He didn’t show much here but since proven himself as a decent enough league 1 player.
Matt should’ve been way better than he has been, 32 and with two really good scoring seasons at league 2 in the previous two years. It’s a signing that shouldn’t have failed but spectacularly has.
He did nothing in Scotland but was moderately successful in Albania!
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This is a very useful and productive thread, especially if the player himself happens to glance at UTS or hears of this.
I see a player who ought to be doing great things for us and, for whatever reason, it’s just not happening at the moment. Only he will know why, or even he might not. He might have some inkling of how he’s feeling, either in terms of the physical side of his game or the mental. What I haven’t seen or heard is any suggestion that he’s not trying his best so any personal criticism of the player should not happen. The fault would lie with the person who picks him for the team but I suspect, as others have mentioned, that Sadler is desperately trying to give him game time to get him into form, in the belief that he still has that ability. It’s a big gamble and it could decide Sadler’s future so, in every respect, I hope it’s a gamble that pays off.
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The whole legs have gone nonsense does my head in, this shouldn’t stop him winning headers, holding the ball up, being a physical presence.
Bloke just can’t be arsed.
I think Matt will have plenty of self awareness to know he’s not done himself justice by a mile so far.
Any psychologist or mental health expert would then quickly advise him to stay away from reading stuff about him on social media as it won’t be positive.
I never said anything about booing him on or off the pitch which I believe has already happened in a couple of games this season.
This thread is basically one you’ll see on the other 91 club forums discussing past and present players so it’s not some hit job but I just can’t believe considering the expectations when he signed two goals in over 20 games is anything other than very poor compared to many other strikers.
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Yeah in what is now the Championship, in a team that was way out of its depth and only won 5 games all season.
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Banton had a decent record in the old Division 4 too big a jump for him
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He was injured too. I’m not saying he was any good, he was really cack for us but I suspect we have had much worse.
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