Don't be stupid Dazzler of course I wouldn't be doing anything other than giving Parky much deserved plaudits if we go up.
My point is the same as many others on this board that he has made a big, big decision by deciding Dickson is not part of his plans when all the evidence is that at this level Dickson would score 25 goals a season playing for us.
If he does that for Bristol Rovers - who are clearly an inferior team for us - and we miss out on promotion due to lack of goals from McCleod, Burton, McKenzie, Mooney etc. then his judgement will have been proven to be very flawed and he would have to be sacked.
[cite]Posted By: kinveachyaddick[/cite]Don't be stupid Dazzler of course I wouldn't be doing anything other than giving Parky much deserved plaudits if we go up.
[cite]Posted By: Weegie Addick[/cite]Mcleod wasn't without his attitude problems last year either - had a big fall out with both us and Millwall...
The difference is that Mcleod seems to have learned from it and done the hard work in training.
Maybe Dickson wasn't prepared to do the same.
As I've said before Gillingham clearly had no problems with Dicko's attitude or they wouldn't have kicked up such a fuss when they didn't get him. And Lennie clearly has no problem with the guy.
If it is true (and I haven't seen this validated elsewhere) that Dicko was consistently late for training then he should have been fined accordingly. As for training does Parky seriously believe that everyone trains with the same intensity? Forwards are notorious for being lazy and their "talking" comes through goals and what they do on the pitch. On that basis the likes of Berbatov wouldn't get anywhere near our first team - even in the 3rd Division!
Each and every player has his own strength and weaknesses. The trick is to bring out the best in all of them. Not to reduce them to a common denominator where we end up with a team of robots.
Maybe Dickson has put more effort in at Gillingham and Bristol Rovers, maybe it's just something between him and Parkinson.
If Parkinson considers him to be a disruptive influence that could upset the team spirit, that keeping him would in someway undermine his authority or simply that he is a player that he can't work with then imo Parkinson is right to get rid of him.
[cite]Posted By: Barn Door Varney[/cite]If Parkinson considers him to be a disruptive influence that could upset the team spirit, that keeping him would in someway undermine his authority or simply that he is a player that he can't work with then imo Parkinson is right to get rid of him.
As a football manager you have to be very careful about this "I can't work with him" attitude. In a business where you are basically judged on results (ref: Derek Chappell 2008), taking the moral high ground when you are left with ineffective alternatives (such as McLeod imho) is a highly risky strategy.
Fair play to Parkinson if it works out, but you have to be prepared to take a flexible approach and, as others have said, work out how to solve the problem (assuming the player is good enough to merit it) rather than sidestep it by offloading the player. I would do that with Berbatov. Dickson maybe not .... but then I look at McLeod and my mind is made up.
Freezng out players was one of Curbs' favourite tactics - and didn't do him nor us much harm at the time, though I did feel sorry for Jason Euell when he got the treatment.
[cite]Posted By: Weegie Addick[/cite]Freezng out players was one of Curbs' favourite tactics - and didn't do him nor us much harm at the time, though I did feel sorry for Jason Euell when he got the treatment.
As I said, it's a high risk strategy. It can work - especially if your alternatives are OK - but it can also blow up in your face. The skill is knowing when to take the risk.
Parky has guided us to 2nd in the division so far and has deemed that Dickson, for whatever reason, should not be in our squad. Whether this is the right decision will be seen in the post mortem at the end of the season. Dickson has scored goals and this has given ammunition to Dicko fans. However those who trust Parky's judgement could just as easily argue that in the 6 League games prior to his arrival at Bristol Rovers, Rovers accumalated 15 points, but since he's joined them , Rovers have only managed 7 League points in the 6 League games that he has played for them. On this issue, in Parky I trust.
[cite]Posted By: Barn Door Varney[/cite]If Parkinson considers him to be a disruptive influence that could upset the team spirit, that keeping him would in someway undermine his authority or simply that he is a player that he can't work with then imo Parkinson is right to get rid of him.
As a football manager you have to be very careful about this "I can't work with him" attitude. In a business where you are basically judged on results (ref: Derek Chappell 2008), taking the moral high ground when you are left with ineffective alternatives (such as McLeod imho) is a highly risky strategy.
Fair play to Parkinson if it works out, but you have to be prepared to take a flexible approach and, as others have said, work out how to solve the problem (assuming the player is good enough to merit it) rather than sidestep it by offloading the player. I would do that with Berbatov. Dickson maybe not .... but then I look at McLeod and my mind is made up.
We don't know what has gone on. Maybe Dickson has been hard done by, maybe he has an attitude problem and was taking the piss, who knows?
The assumption seems to be that this was something they could work out but Parkinson isn't stupid and I very much doubt he would have let Dickson go if that was the case.
[cite]Posted By: mart77[/cite]Parky has guided us to 2nd in the division so far and has deemed that Dickson, for whatever reason, should not be in our squad. Whether this is the right decision will be seen in the post mortem at the end of the season. Dickson has scored goals and this has given ammunition to Dicko fans. However those who trust Parky's judgement could just as easily argue that in the 6 League games prior to his arrival at Bristol Rovers, Rovers accumalated 15 points, but since he's joined them , Rovers have only managed 7 League points in the 6 League games that he has played for them. On this issue, in Parky I trust.
That's a great example of How To Lie With Statistics. I could equally point at the points that we've acquired in the games since he's left and claim some kind of causal link [just to be clear I know there's not a link]. Can't believe that Rovers would be blaming a bloke that's scored them 4 goals in his short stint there, for their poor form.
As with most things on this forum, nobody will ever change their mind, so might as well wait to the end of the season. Even if he's netted 50 goals and we get relegated, I'd be unsurprised to find some people claiming that they've heard some vague rumour about a bad attitude. suggesting it's a good thing. Equally if he never scores again and Mooney gets a hatful others won't accept that sending him out was a good move.
[cite]Posted By: mart77[/cite]Parky has guided us to 2nd in the division so far and has deemed that Dickson, for whatever reason, should not be in our squad. Whether this is the right decision will be seen in the post mortem at the end of the season. Dickson has scored goals and this has given ammunition to Dicko fans. However those who trust Parky's judgement could just as easily argue that in the 6 League games prior to his arrival at Bristol Rovers, Rovers accumalated 15 points, but since he's joined them , Rovers have only managed 7 League points in the 6 League games that he has played for them. On this issue, in Parky I trust.
That's a great example of How To Lie With Statistics. I could equally point at the points that we've acquired in the games since he's left and claim some kind of causal link [just to be clear I know there's not a link]. Can't believe that Rovers would be blaming a bloke that's scored them 4 goals in his short stint there, for their poor form.
As with most things on this forum, nobody will ever change their mind, so might as well wait to the end of the season. Even if he's netted 50 goals and we get relegated, I'd be unsurprised to find some people claiming that they've heard some vague rumour about a bad attitude. suggesting it's a good thing. Equally if he never scores again and Mooney gets a hatful others won't accept that sending him out was a good move.
That's spot on McLovin. BUT Dicko hasn't been sold yet AND it's not too late for Parky to see the light. So bring him back Parky, start with a clean slate and let him score 50 goals for us.
Talking about stats Dicko is now only one League goal behind out top goalscorer, Burton. One has started 14 games and the other just 6.
In fact, Dicko has scored his 4 goals and made at least one other in 439 minutes on the pitch. So, roughly speaking, he's averaging either scoring or making a goal once every 90 minutes.
Dicko's goalscoring record for Gillingham/Rovers in League starts in this Division reads:
1-0-1-1-1-0-2-1-0/2-0-1-0-0-1
That's 11 goals in 15 starts and he has scored in 9 of those matches (so no hat tricks to distort the figures) and he has gone no more than 2 matches without scoring.
No wonder Lennie was surprised that we allowed him to go on loan to them.
So what, he doesn't play for us. I'm pretty sure that Parkinson would be aware of the stats before he let Dickson go on loan, clearly the problem wasn't his goal scoring record.
I have no idea what went on behind the scenes any more than you do. All we do know is that Dickson (according to Parkinson) was given the chance to fight of his place with us but he turned that down and went on loan. What does that tell you?
[cite]Posted By: Barn Door Varney[/cite]So what, he doesn't play for us. I'm pretty sure that Parkinson would be aware of the stats before he let Dickson go on loan, clearly the problem wasn't his goal scoring record.
I have no idea what went on behind the scenes any more than you do. All we do know is that Dickson (according to Parkinson) was given the chance to fight of his place with us but he turned that down and went on loan. What does that tell you?
According to Parkinson yes. Perhaps Dicko was just fed up with seeing every other "striker" at the Club (including a teenager who Parky has so much confidence in he's given him 7 minutes on the pitch) being in front of him on the bench.
Anyway I'm sure everything will come out in the fullness of time.
Aren't we all missing the point here? Yes many of us think Dicko to be better than Mcleod. But even if you don't do many of us still think our best formation isn't 4-5-1?
Ok so at home sometimes we need to be able to switch and play 4-4-2, but 4-5-1 is still our best formation when our top 11 is fit. We don't play 4-4-2 all the time because there is an inherent weakness in the midfield, and we lack real width. These aren't things that have crept up on us but something Pass It On Pardew gave us with his awful narrow/deep football. I'd rather have had Ollie Holloway as manager, something many others wouldn't I recognise, but equally it's a bloody miracle that Parky has got this squad at the top of the table.
Personally if Parky get's us in the play offs it is a massive achievement with such an unbalanced squad. Sure if we could sign a few in jan we may be OK for automatic. But Dickson and the Gills weren't sitting around for Dickson to sit on the bench. If Dickson had been more positive in his purgatory, right from the off we may have had a player who could have changed things in the winter mud. But we had a player that for many matches does not fit into our best 11, and one that would not be a positive influence waiting for his chance. I wish it were other factors but Dickson has to take on some flak. With his attitude one does wonder if he'll be anything more than a league one striker, as his approach to the game does not get him through fallow periods against good defenders.
Parky has got a very limited pallette to play with, and Dickson in no way should be in the first 11 week in week out.
[cite]Posted By: ColinTat[/cite]Aren't we all missing the point here? Yes many of us think Dicko to be better than Mcleod. But even if you don't do many of us still think our best formation isn't 4-5-1?
Ok so at home sometimes we need to be able to switch and play 4-4-2, but 4-5-1 is still our best formation when our top 11 is fit. We don't play 4-4-2 all the time because there is an inherent weakness in the midfield, and we lack real width. These aren't things that have crept up on us but something Pass It On Pardew gave us with his awful narrow/deep football. I'd rather have had Ollie Holloway as manager, something many others wouldn't I recognise, but equally it's a bloody miracle that Parky has got this squad at the top of the table.
Personally if Parky get's us in the play offs it is a massive achievement with such an unbalanced squad. Sure if we could sign a few in jan we may be OK for automatic. But Dickson and the Gills weren't sitting around for Dickson to sit on the bench. If Dickson had been more positive in his purgatory, right from the off we may have had a player who could have changed things in the winter mud. But we had a player that for many matches does not fit into our best 11, and one that would not be a positive influence waiting for his chance. I wish it were other factors but Dickson has to take on some flak. With his attitude one does wonder if he'll be anything more than a league one striker, as his approach to the game does not get him through fallow periods against good defenders.
Parky has got a very limited pallette to play with, and Dickson in no way should be in the first 11 week in week out.
"An inherent weakness in the midfield". Any number of Clubs in League 1 would love to have any one from the likes of Semedo, Racon, Shelvey and Bailey. All of these are, at the very least, Championship players.
Width doesn't necessarily come from wingers as evidenced by the fact that we probably have two of the best overlapping Full Backs in this League.
when we play brissle at home i will be seeing dicko i will beg him to come back because regardless whart you lot think he can score goals, i will get the run down on his future and i hope he goes onto good things if with us or else anyother team.
Just read through all these posts from the last 6/7 hours and this is definitely CL at its best. Great debate, well argued from every side with lots of serious points, each of which makes one reconsider the argument afresh.
Sadly, I suspect it's all irrelevant. The first rule of good management - not just in football but any business - is that you build around you a team you can trust. As I think Colin Tat said several hours ago, Parky simply doesn't trust Dickson. So whether he's right or wrong about that, Dickson is out and a Brown/Mandelson type reconciliation is not on the cards, unless our prospects of promotion sink as low as Labour's chances of re-election...
[cite]Posted By: Barn Door Varney[/cite] I have no idea what went on behind the scenes any more than you do. All we do know is that Dickson (according to Parkinson) was given the chance to fight of his place with us but he turned that down and went on loan. What does that tell you?
How long does the guy have to fight for his place for? He's been here since March 2007 FFS and his longest run has been 6 games, 2 of which were upfront on his own, in an abysmal Charlton side. He will always get goals. As for attitude, he's reportedly the dressing room joker and unlikely to be unpopular with anyone but Parky.
Interestingly, Roy Keane has indicated that he is likely to recall Kevin Lisbie from his loan in January, having initially shunned him because of his wish to remain London based. Perhaps PP can have a change of heart if Dicko continues to bang them in while our own strikers misfire.
[cite]Posted By: Barn Door Varney[/cite]I have no idea what went on behind the scenes any more than you do. All we do know is that Dickson (according to Parkinson) was given the chance to fight of his place with us but he turned that down and went on loan. What does that tell you?
How long does the guy have to fight for his place for? He's been here since March 2007 FFS and his longest run has been 6 games, 2 of which were upfront on his own, in an abysmal Charlton side. He will always get goals. As for attitude, he's reportedly the dressing room joker and unlikely to be unpopular with anyone but Parky.
Interestingly, Roy Keane has indicated that he is likely to recall Kevin Lisbie from his loan in January, having initially shunned him because of his wish to remain London based. Perhaps PP can have a change of heart if Dicko continues to bang them in while our own strikers misfire.
"the dressing room joker", scores goals, came late from local Non League football and therefore didn't suffer the indoctrination that comes from going from being in the "system" at a Club from a kid - all makes him "different". Some Managers buy that and work with it whilst others shun it as they perceive it to undermine their authority.
Steve Coppell "bought" it with Ian Wright (the similarities between the players on and off the pitch are there for all to see albeit that Wrighty did it in the top flight) and the rest, as they say, is history.
Whatever way you look at it,whether you like him or not he has scored 4 in 6 games while our lot couldn't hit a barn door from 6 yards .I'm not a particular Dickson fan but I think he has been treated dreadfully by Parky and FFS stop singing McClowns praises and get him back to do the job before our lack of goals sees us sliding down the table. The chances Mc has missed over the last few games (sitters I may add) we would have had at least 4 more points.Still none of that matters because Parky thinks he's great,and thats what counts. This really pi**es me off.
As a Dicko fan, I'm sure he will miss his fair share. More worrying is the lack of chances we are creating recently, although both Izzy and Chris will create their own opportunities.
[cite]Posted By: Sidcuptel[/cite]Whatever way you look at it,whether you like him or not he has scored 4 in 6 games while our lot couldn't hit a barn door from 6 yards .I'm not a particular Dickson fan but I think he has been treated dreadfully by Parky and FFS stop singing McClowns praises and get him back to do the job before our lack of goals sees us sliding down the table.
The chances Mc has missed over the last few games (sitters I may add) we would have had at least 4 more points.Still none of that matters because Parky thinks he's great,and thats what counts. This really pi**es me off.
We don't know that he has been treated dreadfully, just as we don't know if he has a bad attitude. Clearly he can score goals in League One, Parky knows that, so obviously things have happened off the pitch, and/or on the pitch Dickson isn't good enough in other areas of his game. Remember last season when he came on as a sub one game, should have been really trying his best, but Kinsella had to shout at him to close down the centre backs. That's a very basic thing he should be doing and perhaps it's small things like that which stopped him from getting more starts last season and in pre-season.
[cite]Posted By: Sidcuptel[/cite]Still none of that matters because Parky thinks he's great,and thats what counts. This really pi**es me off.
Parky doesn't think McLeod is great. He's trying to get the best out of a player who although is limited, always helps the team in some way when it comes to creating chances. He's done that almost every time he's come on as a sub this season. Coming out and saying he's got no first touch and should stop diving isn't something he can say is it?
[cite]Posted By: Addickson's God[/cite]As a Dicko fan, I'm sure he will miss his fair share. More worrying is the lack of chances we are creating recently, although both Izzy and Chris will create their own opportunities.
We have stopped creating opportunities over the last few games when shelvey was knackered and now especially as we dont have him!
So I ask you is Dicko or Shelvey the answer?
I think bring Jonjo back first then Dicko to replace JJ toward the end of games or visa versa!
I don't see what harm it can do to bring Dicko back, give him a clean slate and see what he can add to the team. He may not be the best all round player yet surely this will improve with games and imho playing alongside someone like Burton who is a very intelligent footballer will help improve Dickos game. The fact he has only played 6 games in a row for us shows that he has not been given a fair crack, especially when you think of the form we were in last season and he played on his own in 2 of those games. His best game was alongside Kandol against Plymouth so surely Dickson alongside Burton could work eqallu well. If he does not improve the side or add goals then we can offload him, but I am sure most of us agree here that compared to McLeod, Dickson is looked upon more favourably.
[cite]Posted By: Addickson's God[/cite]As a Dicko fan, I'm sure he will miss his fair share. More worrying is the lack of chances we are creating recently, although both Izzy and Chris will create their own opportunities.
Only last week, in a newspaper article, Dicko was berating himself for missing 3 clear cut chances as his team lost.
Dicko can miss chances too.
One thing, because we lack penetration going forward, we don't create too many clear cut chances - so the pressure is on our players to make every single chance count. And some players, like McLeod for instance, don't handle that pressure too well.
[cite]Posted By: Addickson's God[/cite]As a Dicko fan, I'm sure he will miss his fair share. More worrying is the lack of chances we are creating recently, although both Izzy and Chris will create their own opportunities.
Only last week, in a newspaper article, Dicko was berating himself for missing 3 clear cut chances as his team lost.
Dicko can miss chances too.
One thing, because we lack penetration going forward, we don't create too many clear cut chances - so the pressure is on our players to make every single chance count. And some players, like McLeod for instance, don't handle that pressure too well.
And Dicko has that "arrogance" that all good strikers have which is that he recognises the fact that he's missed some good chances publicly but undertakes to do something about it. And promptly scores in the next game.
We'll have it confirmed that Parky has burnt his bridges with Dicko if he allows him to play in Rovers' Cup Tie.
Bring him back. Don't care whether we play him or not (and I've not seen much to impress to be honest) but at the very least he'll NOT be scoring for our flipping rivals for gods sake. Can you imagine Fergie lending Chelsea a player or Wenger giving Benitez a hand? No, niether can I.
[cite]Posted By: Bournemouth Addick[/cite]Bring him back. Don't care whether we play him or not (and I've not seen much to impress to be honest) but at the very least he'll NOT be scoring for our flipping rivals for gods sake. Can you imagine Fergie lending Chelsea a player or Wenger giving Benitez a hand? No, niether can I.
... and that's probably the most important point regardless of whether he plays for us or not !
Comments
My point is the same as many others on this board that he has made a big, big decision by deciding Dickson is not part of his plans when all the evidence is that at this level Dickson would score 25 goals a season playing for us.
If he does that for Bristol Rovers - who are clearly an inferior team for us - and we miss out on promotion due to lack of goals from McCleod, Burton, McKenzie, Mooney etc. then his judgement will have been proven to be very flawed and he would have to be sacked.
That's all i wanted to know ;o)
Maybe Dickson has put more effort in at Gillingham and Bristol Rovers, maybe it's just something between him and Parkinson.
If Parkinson considers him to be a disruptive influence that could upset the team spirit, that keeping him would in someway undermine his authority or simply that he is a player that he can't work with then imo Parkinson is right to get rid of him.
As a football manager you have to be very careful about this "I can't work with him" attitude. In a business where you are basically judged on results (ref: Derek Chappell 2008), taking the moral high ground when you are left with ineffective alternatives (such as McLeod imho) is a highly risky strategy.
Fair play to Parkinson if it works out, but you have to be prepared to take a flexible approach and, as others have said, work out how to solve the problem (assuming the player is good enough to merit it) rather than sidestep it by offloading the player. I would do that with Berbatov. Dickson maybe not .... but then I look at McLeod and my mind is made up.
As I said, it's a high risk strategy. It can work - especially if your alternatives are OK - but it can also blow up in your face. The skill is knowing when to take the risk.
We don't know what has gone on. Maybe Dickson has been hard done by, maybe he has an attitude problem and was taking the piss, who knows?
The assumption seems to be that this was something they could work out but Parkinson isn't stupid and I very much doubt he would have let Dickson go if that was the case.
As with most things on this forum, nobody will ever change their mind, so might as well wait to the end of the season. Even if he's netted 50 goals and we get relegated, I'd be unsurprised to find some people claiming that they've heard some vague rumour about a bad attitude. suggesting it's a good thing. Equally if he never scores again and Mooney gets a hatful others won't accept that sending him out was a good move.
That's spot on McLovin. BUT Dicko hasn't been sold yet AND it's not too late for Parky to see the light. So bring him back Parky, start with a clean slate and let him score 50 goals for us.
Then everyone on here would be happy. I think.
In fact, Dicko has scored his 4 goals and made at least one other in 439 minutes on the pitch. So, roughly speaking, he's averaging either scoring or making a goal once every 90 minutes.
Dicko's goalscoring record for Gillingham/Rovers in League starts in this Division reads:
1-0-1-1-1-0-2-1-0/2-0-1-0-0-1
That's 11 goals in 15 starts and he has scored in 9 of those matches (so no hat tricks to distort the figures) and he has gone no more than 2 matches without scoring.
No wonder Lennie was surprised that we allowed him to go on loan to them.
I have no idea what went on behind the scenes any more than you do. All we do know is that Dickson (according to Parkinson) was given the chance to fight of his place with us but he turned that down and went on loan. What does that tell you?
According to Parkinson yes. Perhaps Dicko was just fed up with seeing every other "striker" at the Club (including a teenager who Parky has so much confidence in he's given him 7 minutes on the pitch) being in front of him on the bench.
Anyway I'm sure everything will come out in the fullness of time.
Ok so at home sometimes we need to be able to switch and play 4-4-2, but 4-5-1 is still our best formation when our top 11 is fit. We don't play 4-4-2 all the time because there is an inherent weakness in the midfield, and we lack real width. These aren't things that have crept up on us but something Pass It On Pardew gave us with his awful narrow/deep football. I'd rather have had Ollie Holloway as manager, something many others wouldn't I recognise, but equally it's a bloody miracle that Parky has got this squad at the top of the table.
Personally if Parky get's us in the play offs it is a massive achievement with such an unbalanced squad. Sure if we could sign a few in jan we may be OK for automatic. But Dickson and the Gills weren't sitting around for Dickson to sit on the bench. If Dickson had been more positive in his purgatory, right from the off we may have had a player who could have changed things in the winter mud. But we had a player that for many matches does not fit into our best 11, and one that would not be a positive influence waiting for his chance. I wish it were other factors but Dickson has to take on some flak. With his attitude one does wonder if he'll be anything more than a league one striker, as his approach to the game does not get him through fallow periods against good defenders.
Parky has got a very limited pallette to play with, and Dickson in no way should be in the first 11 week in week out.
"An inherent weakness in the midfield". Any number of Clubs in League 1 would love to have any one from the likes of Semedo, Racon, Shelvey and Bailey. All of these are, at the very least, Championship players.
Width doesn't necessarily come from wingers as evidenced by the fact that we probably have two of the best overlapping Full Backs in this League.
because i like dicko
Sadly, I suspect it's all irrelevant. The first rule of good management - not just in football but any business - is that you build around you a team you can trust. As I think Colin Tat said several hours ago, Parky simply doesn't trust Dickson. So whether he's right or wrong about that, Dickson is out and a Brown/Mandelson type reconciliation is not on the cards, unless our prospects of promotion sink as low as Labour's chances of re-election...
How long does the guy have to fight for his place for? He's been here since March 2007 FFS and his longest run has been 6 games, 2 of which were upfront on his own, in an abysmal Charlton side. He will always get goals. As for attitude, he's reportedly the dressing room joker and unlikely to be unpopular with anyone but Parky.
Interestingly, Roy Keane has indicated that he is likely to recall Kevin Lisbie from his loan in January, having initially shunned him because of his wish to remain London based. Perhaps PP can have a change of heart if Dicko continues to bang them in while our own strikers misfire.
"the dressing room joker", scores goals, came late from local Non League football and therefore didn't suffer the indoctrination that comes from going from being in the "system" at a Club from a kid - all makes him "different". Some Managers buy that and work with it whilst others shun it as they perceive it to undermine their authority.
Steve Coppell "bought" it with Ian Wright (the similarities between the players on and off the pitch are there for all to see albeit that Wrighty did it in the top flight) and the rest, as they say, is history.
The chances Mc has missed over the last few games (sitters I may add) we would have had at least 4 more points.Still none of that matters because Parky thinks he's great,and thats what counts. This really pi**es me off.
Parky doesn't think McLeod is great. He's trying to get the best out of a player who although is limited, always helps the team in some way when it comes to creating chances. He's done that almost every time he's come on as a sub this season. Coming out and saying he's got no first touch and should stop diving isn't something he can say is it?
So I ask you is Dicko or Shelvey the answer?
I think bring Jonjo back first then Dicko to replace JJ toward the end of games or visa versa!
The fact he has only played 6 games in a row for us shows that he has not been given a fair crack, especially when you think of the form we were in last season and he played on his own in 2 of those games. His best game was alongside Kandol against Plymouth so surely Dickson alongside Burton could work eqallu well.
If he does not improve the side or add goals then we can offload him, but I am sure most of us agree here that compared to McLeod, Dickson is looked upon more favourably.
Only last week, in a newspaper article, Dicko was berating himself for missing 3 clear cut chances as his team lost.
Dicko can miss chances too.
One thing, because we lack penetration going forward, we don't create too many clear cut chances - so the pressure is on our players to make every single chance count. And some players, like McLeod for instance, don't handle that pressure too well.
And Dicko has that "arrogance" that all good strikers have which is that he recognises the fact that he's missed some good chances publicly but undertakes to do something about it. And promptly scores in the next game.
We'll have it confirmed that Parky has burnt his bridges with Dicko if he allows him to play in Rovers' Cup Tie.
... and that's probably the most important point regardless of whether he plays for us or not !