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Ritchie De Laet


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He played well enough in pre-season but lets be honest it was against shit opposition & he is an average at best nearly 30 year old defender who has barely played a game for nearly 4 years

Tuanzebe is currently playing RB but presuming he will be ousted/moved for Elmo now we have even more midfielders and with Bree/Hutton & Tuanzebe all available as cover for RB he simply isn't needed and will not be missed.

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21 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Bruce is doing a lot of bizarre things but if RDL was always available for a loan move and yet the only club in the world that were interested were Melbourne. Then I’m afraid his days at a top level are numbered. 

I don’t care how good he looked in Pre season, he’s finished. 

Isn't the loan market closed for all of europe so the only available nation to take him would be Australia? 

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2 hours ago, LakotaDakota said:

He played well enough in pre-season but lets be honest it was against shit opposition & he is an average at best nearly 30 year old defender who has barely played a game for nearly 4 years

Tuanzebe is currently playing RB but presuming he will be ousted/moved for Elmo now we have even more midfielders and with Bree/Hutton & Tuanzebe all available as cover for RB he simply isn't needed and will not be missed.

Yet the only decent team we've played so far is Sheffield United in 8 games.

Also in the same preseason games he outshone everyone else who was also playing against "shit opposition"

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Ignoring that he was possibly our best player pre season, this further weakens our weak defence and removes cover for injuries to Axel and Chester doesn't it?

Not ignoring that he was our best player in pre season makes it look even more bonkers. 

If Bruce doesn't reward playing well for him, then that's not going to help him with the players. I was really looking forward to De Laet giving us some balance back at the back and Axel going into the centre. That's clearly not happening now. Really want a journalist to ask Bruce what's going to happen if Chester and Tuanzebe get injured.

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18 minutes ago, Junxs said:

Yet the only decent team we've played so far is Sheffield United in 8 games.

Also in the same preseason games he outshone everyone else who was also playing against "shit opposition"

Playing well against telford & walsall isn't really an indication of being able to play consistently well in the championship is it.

He's barely kicked a ball for 4 years and is 30 in 2 months time

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Just now, LakotaDakota said:

Playing well against telford & walsall isn't really an indication of being able to play consistently well in the championship is it.

It is if he played better than all his team mates against them, yet still doesnt feature under Bruce. It wasn't just his performances, also his crossing, he actually looked up and put pinpoint crosses in. Our current rightbacks just swing it blindly into an "area" which is never occupied.

It's almost like Bruce wanted him to fail so he could send him out, so is punishing him for not failing. Its simple really, if you're not one of his favourites then you have no chance.

I'd honestly have him at RB over Tuanzebe, Elmo and Bree.

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I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again, but as good as he did look in pre season (and he did play well), pre season means nothing. It is solely there to get players a bit of match fitness. Performances mean nothing, all anyone at the club will care about is the running stats for each player.

Some players will be brilliant before going back to the norm the second the season kicks off, others will look awful but suddenly be back firing in the actual season. Even this year Hutton blazed past a few players before looking up, composing himself and sticking a beauty of a cross bang into Andre Greens path, that's right, an accurate, measured cross from Hutton resulting in a goal for Green, and speaking of Green, he scored about 40 goals or so* this pre season and played in the championship and could barely control the ball 

Pre season means nothing except match fitness 

 

*number of goals may not be accurate, I didn't check and just made it up, but he did get a few! 

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1 minute ago, weedman said:

I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again, but as good as he did look in pre season (and he did play well), pre season means nothing. It is solely there to get players a bit of match fitness. Performances mean nothing, all anyone at the club will care about is the running stats for each player.

Some players will be brilliant before going back to the norm the second the season kicks off, others will look awful but suddenly be back firing in the actual season. Even this year Hutton blazed past a few players before looking up, composing himself and sticking a beauty of a cross bang into Andre Greens path, that's right, an accurate, measured cross from Hutton resulting in a goal for Green, and speaking of Green, he scored about 40 goals or so* this pre season and played in the championship and could barely control the ball 

Pre season means nothing except match fitness 

 

*number of goals may not be accurate, I didn't check and just made it up, but he did get a few! 

Nobody's saying he certainly would have been brilliant if he started in the league, but it at least warranted a chance which he didn't get. He didn't even make the bench in any of our league games.

I can't think of a single footballing reason to play Tuanzebe at RB while RDL was here. Hutton and Elmo I understand, they're needed elsewhere. 

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20 minutes ago, weedman said:

I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again, but as good as he did look in pre season (and he did play well), pre season means nothing. It is solely there to get players a bit of match fitness. Performances mean nothing, all anyone at the club will care about is the running stats for each player.

Some players will be brilliant before going back to the norm the second the season kicks off, others will look awful but suddenly be back firing in the actual season. Even this year Hutton blazed past a few players before looking up, composing himself and sticking a beauty of a cross bang into Andre Greens path, that's right, an accurate, measured cross from Hutton resulting in a goal for Green, and speaking of Green, he scored about 40 goals or so* this pre season and played in the championship and could barely control the ball 

Pre season means nothing except match fitness 

 

*number of goals may not be accurate, I didn't check and just made it up, but he did get a few! 

Then again I've been told it's unfair to judge managers before they had a full pre-season so I think there might be a bit more to it?

All he needs if a full pre-season and so on. It was painted up as a almost magical time where ugly caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies.

Was it all a lie?

Results might be meaningless, but performances are not IMO.

Edited by sne
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1 hour ago, Czechlad said:

Isn't the loan market closed for all of europe so the only available nation to take him would be Australia? 

Yep but you’d like to thing he was told before the window closed he was surplus to requirements to give him time to find a move.  I suspect he would have been with not much interest. He must be on a decent wage too which probably put clubs off. 

If he wasn’t advised sooner then that’s pretty shit behaviour by the club. But I doubt that was the case.

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1 hour ago, sne said:

Then again I've been told it's unfair to judge managers before they had a full pre-season so I think there might be a bit more to it?

All he needs if a full pre-season and so on. It was painted up as a almost magical time where ugly caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies.

Was it all a lie?

Results might be meaningless, but performances are not IMO.

I think that's more the time, rather than the games. Having 6 weeks before the season starts with no meaningful games is time to get in players, get them integrated into the team, used to the tactics (which, before any comments, we do have, there's just obvious debates about their effectiveness and/or prettiness), training etc, it's certainly a more settled time than in the middle of the season where there's no real time to implement anything, it's just game, 3 day break, game, 3 day break etc

The games just get them match sharp, most first team players will avoid potential injuries, not overwork their muscles to prevent strains, avoid big challenges etc etc, younger or fringe players are more likely to try and impress, so I guess it stands to reason sometimes they'll look better than the other players around them 

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1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

Nobody's saying he certainly would have been brilliant if he started in the league, but it at least warranted a chance which he didn't get. He didn't even make the bench in any of our league games.

I can't think of a single footballing reason to play Tuanzebe at RB while RDL was here. Hutton and Elmo I understand, they're needed elsewhere. 

Maybe he's just not good enough? We may not see that on a match day but they train every day so plenty of time for manager and coaching staff to get an idea, it's not like we shipped him off straight away he's been training with the first team for months. 

See the Tuanzebe thread for my thoughts on him as a RB, but in a nutshell the Championship is a huge step up from youth or reserve team football and he seems to be struggling with the physicality of the players against him, putting him at RB until he learns to deal with that and he's not as exposed as he would be at CB

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5 minutes ago, weedman said:

I think that's more the time, rather than the games. Having 6 weeks before the season starts with no meaningful games is time to get in players, get them integrated into the team, used to the tactics (which, before any comments, we do have, there's just obvious debates about their effectiveness and/or prettiness), training etc, it's certainly a more settled time than in the middle of the season where there's no real time to implement anything, it's just game, 3 day break, game, 3 day break etc

The games just get them match sharp, most first team players will avoid potential injuries, not overwork their muscles to prevent strains, avoid big challenges etc etc, younger or fringe players are more likely to try and impress, so I guess it stands to reason sometimes they'll look better than the other players around them 

Fair enough, agree with a lot of that.

It's half of the story anyway.

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23 minutes ago, weedman said:

Maybe he's just not good enough? We may not see that on a match day but they train every day so plenty of time for manager and coaching staff to get an idea, it's not like we shipped him off straight away he's been training with the first team for months. 

See the Tuanzebe thread for my thoughts on him as a RB, but in a nutshell the Championship is a huge step up from youth or reserve team football and he seems to be struggling with the physicality of the players against him, putting him at RB until he learns to deal with that and he's not as exposed as he would be at CB

Yeah the manager has more intimate knowledge than us, but every time he's played for us I thought he looked more than competent.

I agree with your reason for playing Axel at RB, I understand the reasoning but I was questioning why he plays there ahead of RDL. There's no way he's a better RB imo.

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2 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Yeah the manager has more intimate knowledge than us, but every time he's played for us I thought he looked more than competent.

I agree with your reason for playing Axel at RB, I understand the reasoning but I was questioning why he plays there ahead of RDL. There's no way he's a better RB imo.

I think it's one of those short term pains for long term gains kind of decisions, a bit of time at RB and in a couple of months we don't need Jedinak at CB as AT can play there 

I never really rated RDL before he came but in his smattering of games he's definitely been better than I expected. He's nowhere near Elmo though and as a backup I'd like Bree, he's not as good, but at least he should improve in time, so I fully agree with shipping RDL out as we really don't need him in the short, medium or long term (once Bolasie is fit and Elmo is no longer needed as a right winger) 

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On the insisting on Jedi at CB I think it's simply down to Bruce hoping/believing he would be good enough to be relied on there.

Bruce made it clear that Jedi would be first choice at CB going into the season and I think he is still clinging to the hope he will good enough, or is too stubborn to admit he was wrong.

Playing Alex at RB to the detriment of the team just so he can get use to the physicality of the league (he's facing speedy wingers and not bulky center forwards at RB) is too stupid even for Bruce.

If we have a must play clause meaning he has to be shoehorned into the team then it's just a terrible deal. Short term and long term, as we'll surely be able to bring in a proper CB come January.

 

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