Steve Sidwell

[Mackenzie]

The only way Sidwell will improve is with games, unfortunately whilst he is getting rid of the rust we'll have performances like last night. Shame we don't have a reserve team anymore.

 

[Icy Gull]

The only way Sidwell will improve is with games, unfortunately whilst he is getting rid of the rust we'll have performances like last night. Shame we don't have a reserve team anymore.

In the last eight years he has played in a total of 166 games which is not many. Appearing to be happy to be a bench warmer for a large part of that time doesn't inspire me to think he is going to be that committed to us. Certainly didn't appear that bothered last night, to me.

 

[swindonseagull]

Agreed, apart from the Ince bit. Boy did we miss Kayal. Zamora looks increasingly past it too, and Knockaert is hit and miss - when he us good he us fantastic. Tonight he wasn't. Good to keep 4 clean sheets in a row though, well done back 5 - looking like an increasingly solid unit.

Have to agree about Zamora,
Yes I know he has scored some important goals but at the moment ( IMO) he dont look that interested/ fit, I thought he had crocked himself with his first sprint as he was holding his back and hobbling like an old man for a while.

 

[ChazzyBHA]

The thing with Sidwell is he is no longer a 4-4-2 player. He looked good in the first 45 minutes up at Hull when he sat deep with 3 in midfield. He is a very defensive player and always looks lost when he crosses the half way line, but he is good in that deep-lying role. However I just don’t understand bringing him in on loan, I can understand Crofts being frustrated as he is still wants to get into the Wales side for the Euros this summer. Sidwell does come with experience of getting out of this division though and he does suggest that he is a leader, so he may be useful to us off the pitch.

 

[Randsta]

He cant do it on a wet and windy night at Stoke and he cant do it on a wet and windy night in Brighton either

 

[SeagullofMalaysia]

The thing with Sidwell is he is no longer a 4-4-2 player. He looked good in the first 45 minutes up at Hull when he sat deep with 3 in midfield. He is a very defensive player and always looks lost when he crosses the half way line, but he is good in that deep-lying role. However I just don’t understand bringing him in on loan, I can understand Crofts being frustrated as he is still wants to get into the Wales side for the Euros this summer. Sidwell does come with experience of getting out of this division though and he does suggest that he is a leader, so he may be useful to us off the pitch.

This post strikes Sidwell as a Bridcutt-ish defensive midfielder

 

[ChazzyBHA]

This post strikes Sidwell as a Bridcutt-ish defensive midfielder

It just seems to be the way he has developed and changed as a player, in the same sense that Bobby has really. Sidwell used to be this box to box midfielder who could get forward and score goals in a 4-4-2 system, but it appears he hasn't got the legs to do that anymore. When he did play for Stoke, they played him in a deep role, in a 4-3-3 system.

 

[BensGrandad]

we let Ince go and brought in Sidwell

Simply because Sidwell is far better than Ince, who cannot even get on the bench at Fulham, will ever be

 

[Black Rod]

Why let crofts go out on loan. Send this useless waste of space back to Stoke. He has done absolutely nothing in every minute he has played for us. THE worst CM performance this season by a country mile

Did you not see Ince against Preston?

 

[GT49er]

CH hinted somewhere that Towell has been doing well in training. We may see something of him before season is finished I think.

Didn't he say that about Elvis, not that long ago?

 

[Larry]

He is past it we should be playing the young Irish chap also we should be playing Wilson for longer.

 

[BensGrandad]

I think Sidwell is getting unfair criticism as CH set out defensively to not lose and catch Wednesday on the counter when they were going forward. As a result he played in a Bridcutt type holding containing role rather than a marauding forward midfielder, which he did effectively. He was obviously playing to instructions and a team game plan.

 

[BensGrandad]

He is past it we should be playing the young Irish chap also we should be playing Wilson for longer.

Why did he touch the ball when he came on, or must we live on his reputation at United.

 

[glasfryn]

I think Sidwell is getting unfair criticism as CH set out defensively to not lose and catch Wednesday on the counter when they were going forward. As a result he played in a Bridcutt type holding containing role rather than a marauding forward midfielder, which he did effectively. He was obviously playing to instructions and a team game plan.

thats the impression I got from the commentary and he admitted it was not his best game
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

I think Sidwell is getting unfair criticism as CH set out defensively to not lose and catch Wednesday on the counter when they were going forward. As a result he played in a Bridcutt type holding containing role rather than a marauding forward midfielder, which he did effectively. He was obviously playing to instructions and a team game plan.

He made one interception and one tackle all game. If we set up to catch them on the counter attack, why did our defensive line spend most of the game on the half way line? The fact is, he no longer has the attributes to dominate a game at this level (possibly due to the fact that he's played so little football for the last two years), and the drop in quality from Kayal to Sidwell was scary.

I appreciate that you were a big advocate of us signing him based on his performances in his 20s in the Premier League, but he was atrocious. When he admits on radio that he's been rubbish, it's because he hasn't followed instructions!

 

[Triggaaar]

Kayal was on the bench, so if he had a niggle it can't have been much. If CH simply wanted to rotate the squad, he got it wrong and possibly cost us the chance of automatic promotion. I am a big for of Chris's, but no manager is perfect, and I feel he's being too cautious and it's costing us.

 

[BensGrandad]

He made one interception and one tackle all game. If we set up to catch them on the counter attack, why did our defensive line spend most of the game on the half way line? The fact is, he no longer has the attributes to dominate a game at this level (possibly due to the fact that he's played so little football for the last two years), and the drop in quality from Kayal to Sidwell was scary.

I appreciate that you were a big advocate of us signing him based on his performances in his 20s in the Premier League, but he was atrocious. When he admits on radio that he's been rubbish, it's because he hasn't followed instructions!

I think you are being very harsh on him as he was far from atrocious he did the job expected of him as the holding midfielder and perhaps him saying that he thought he had a bad game was because he judged himself on what he knows he is capable of rather than playing to instructions.as he did.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

I think you are being very harsh on him as he was far from atrocious he did the job expected of him as the holding midfielder and perhaps him saying that he thought he had a bad game was because he judged himself on what he knows he is capable of rather than playing to instructions.as he did.

And I think you're protecting him because you advocated his signing when it happened, despite no proof that he was still up to the job. Unsurprisingly, he's not yet proven himself up to the job - and he most certainly didn't prove himself to be adequate last night.

 

[Seasidesage]

I thought he was shocking last night and played most of the later stages of the second half behind the back four. That said it was only his second start in quite some time. He needs games, whether we can afford to give them to him is another question...

Kayal's passing between the lines getting the ball into the strikers was sorely missed last night. We looked pedestrian from start to finish and second half I could only see one winner and it wasn't us. We looked fatigued, the Tues/Sat grind is taking it's toll IMO

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Sidwell looked a shadow of the player he was here first time around. I'm not sure he is 100% fit.