irishrover
Global Moderator
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,372
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Post by irishrover on Mar 1, 2016 15:31:01 GMT
I might be putting a tinhat on here but I'm not convinced that it is neccesarily wrong to judge Liam Lawrence on the basis of 5 games. Normally that would be wrong but surely we have signed Lawrence primarily to have a short-term impact between now and the end of the season. He wasn't signed to be a core part of the squad or, most likely, to be part of a long term future. He has been bought in as a veteren who can have a positive impact on the squad right now and he clearly hasn't done that. There may be reasons for that - it might take him a while to adapt to the style of play, to get up to match fitness, to find his best position in this team etc. But, given the amount he has appeared so far (compared to say Rory Fallon) I'm not sure it's wrong to say that so far he has been a big dissapoint and needs to up his game pretty sharpish if he's going to have an impact in the run in. Might not be all on Lawrence. might be that DC has overused him or players are not helping him adapt etc but so far I think it's fair to say his signing not been successful and it really needed to be for us to maintain a promotion push given that it was our key bit of transfer window business.
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Post by Westcountry Gas on Mar 1, 2016 15:35:51 GMT
I hope DC gives Lawrence another start tonight, DC doesn't usually give in to the baying mob on the terraces. I'm hoping for something different tonight, maybe completely revamp the front 2, go with Bodin & Fallon, and Leadbitter & Montano on the wings. wouldn’t write him off, but not sure what he’s done to warrant a start tonight. We have a hit a bit of a slump can we afford to stick Lawrence in being a slower more ponderous version of Linesy in the hope of getting him fit. Generally our midfield (and the teams relative success) has been about work rate and I believe Lines has been left out on occasion because of that. If we continue the 3 at the back I would rather see 2 of Mansell/Sinclair/Clarke in there with Lines. In fact I would argue that if that is how we continue to play Gosling as an attacking player in the 3 would currently be a better option than Lawrence. I have nothing against LL, but I don’t know what he adds to the team. I for one don’t want to see a ludicrous 3 in midfield of Lines, Lawrence and one bloke doing all the work again I would play him tonight and also against Notts County, and that would be 6 games on the bounce he has started. More than enough time for DC to assess if he really is good enough to warrant a place in the starting line up. If he isn't up to it, then DC needs to go the owner and ask for funds for an impact player in the middle of midfield. Mansell, Lines, Lawrence & Ollie Clarke are all decent players who are good enough to keep a team in this division, but the standard of the top 7 teams in league 2 keeps increasing every season, and the midfield is currently a long way off being a top 7 midfield. IMO we have a top 7 keeper, defence & strikeforce, but the quality in the middle of the park and out wide is below par for a team determined to win promotion.
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
No Buy . . . No Sell!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,293
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Post by brizzle on Mar 1, 2016 16:35:48 GMT
I've only seen him play the one game, and that was when everyone struggled in tricky, windy, conditions, so I can't really form an opinion. Even if I'd watched all five matches he has featured in I'm not sure that's enough time for him to fully gel. He may gel, he might not gel; what I do know is that when it was announced he had signed all the comments were positive and it seemed everyone thought he was a good acquisition. ... it's just as well previous managers didn't listen to sections of the crowd during Jason Robert's first 9 games, or the start of Rickie Lambert's Rovers career. I don't think Lawrence should be judged on his Rovers career after 5 games, but he hasn't done much so far to warrant a start tonight.
So far he has looked like a worse version of Chris Lines
Is that what used to be known as a backhanded compliment?
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Rex
Predictions League
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,287
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Post by Rex on Mar 2, 2016 14:26:44 GMT
It was only my second look at Lawrence last night- my first being Morecambe, where he didn't really stand out- but I thought he played really well last night.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2016 14:41:31 GMT
I have seen him play in 3 games,Accrington,Portsmouth and Wycombe,I find it hard to judge anyone on those 3 games as they were poor team performances plus at 2 of the games the ball was in the air a lot of the time. He did make some good passes to Brown in the 2nd half at Wycombe,it would be good to see Rovers playing on the floor again as they did at Oxford,Dagenham,Southend,Mansfield etc as they look much better playing like that and see what Lawrence looks like then.
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Post by p4perlant3rn on Mar 2, 2016 15:25:27 GMT
With Sinclair now out, dare I say it but Lawrence could well be an important player for us over the next few weeks.
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Post by littlestokegas on Mar 2, 2016 18:58:25 GMT
Well I have seen him v Morecambe and Hartlepool last night and he is starting to make things happen in our midfield. he has natural ability but it seems he has been getting his eye in. As for the comment about Linesy, i would love two Chris Lines in our team!
UTG
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Post by Curly Wurly on Mar 2, 2016 22:14:37 GMT
Following a good performance from Liam Lawrence last night, I think we may have found the successor to the Monkhouse-Brown combination that proved fruitful last season. Here's hoping.
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Mar 2, 2016 22:21:03 GMT
An enormous improvement in his performance from the previous 5 games. This is the first game I've seen him making an actual physical effort to cover back in defence and to make a positive addition down the left side in attack. Hoping we see even more of this in succeeding games.
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