Three subs and Francis.

Topfarrier said:
Technically the second var decision wouldn't have happened had Rambo not unnecessary kicked the ball out of play when the score was 0-0......if we hadn't taken that short corner.....if Eddie had taken Smithy off at half time.......wow you know what .... there's literally thousands of scenarios where that second var decision doesn't happen...... incredible stuff.
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All true.... so concentrate on what you can effect.
 
Francis had a bad game, for sure. But he had some very good games previous to this.
What were our options anyway? Both Mepham and Ake injured.
Francis and Cook together does terrify me though. Francis looks a lot better alongside Ake, as does anyone. I would probably have Cook ahead of Francis, but think Cook has looked poor for a while.
 
"Francis kept cook out the team with some great performances, so easy to pick out individual mistakes. Imagine if he'd hand balled at norwich to lose us the game, the abuse he would get!"

He had his 2 little cameos against Watford and Wolves that cost us points.
 
We're always going to make mistakes at the back as being brutally honest, both Francis and Cook are not good enough for this level. Yes they have a few good games but they both have too many brain fart moment that lead to goals. Until they're replaced we're always going to have this discussion about Francis and Cook.
 
...not really the fault of Francis and Cook as if Eddie picks them then they play!

I agree that it doesn't take a genius to spot that we can't defend and the problem is that we don't have good enough defenders, apart from Ake.

Adam Smith, whilst great going forward, always has a rick in him when defending.
Francis is too slow and his tackling can be suspect.
Cook gets stuck in but his control and positioning can be awful
Rico can't organise himself defensively often, although he can tackle.

Now we can't always be spending 20 million on players like Ake! and Stacey, Mepham and Simpson are works in progress...so Howe's hand is somewhat tied he has tried to bolster the midfield with Lerma and Billing defensively but this fix hasn't quite had the effect that I think Eddie wanted...Lerma too card prone and Billing doesn't stamp his authority in the middle consistently enough.

We have to face the truth that our time is running out, and by now we should have a 20k stadium and more income to invest in the squad...but alas we will go down as we came up as a League One structured unit and for me THAT is the biggest disappointment. We probably have wasted our time in the last five seasons!
 
We can't afford to field players who have off days, it has cost us far too much in lost points this season. When Francis came on at Palace, Palace picked up the pace and scored their winner (despite having 10 men) taking complete advantage of Francis lack of pace
I have said on here that Francis is out of his depth and can be depended upon to get sent off once a season. Compare that record to Steve Cook whose only sending off for us came against Norwich. If people on here are suggesting that Francis is comparable with Cook, then I am really at a loss for words.
 
The Flying Picket said:
We can't afford to field players who have off days, it has cost us far too much in lost points this season. When Francis came on at Palace, Palace picked up the pace and scored their winner (despite having 10 men) taking complete advantage of Francis lack of pace
I have said on here that Francis is out of his depth and can be depended upon to get sent off once a season. Compare that record to Steve Cook whose only sending off for us came against Norwich. If people on here are suggesting that Francis is comparable with Cook, then I am really at a loss for words.
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...just saying that we don't have enough defensive quality to prevent teams scoring against us...whether it is Francis...Cook...Smith....Rico....Mepham...Simpson....it doesn't matter the facts speak for themselves!...probably only thanks to Rambo and Ake that we are not bottom!
 
wimborne cherries said:
I’m not a huge Francis fan but am curious to who those slating him would have played CB Saturday?
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...and that is the problem we don't have much as an alternative most of the time...if only we had spent more of our transfer strategy on defenders and not spunked up millions on lacklustre wingers and striking options!
 
do you think the problem is more to do with not having Lerma in there as protection? I feel like any CB pairing is gonna look bad when they don't have a strong defensive-minded midfielder in front of them
 
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