I thought we looked as good as we've been since the break and I put a lot of that down to Williams. He can keep hold of the ball and if the opposition touch him he goes down, wins the free kick, slows the game down and stops the opposition building momentum.
Williams can't usually manage more than 60 mins, but he did look full of running. Brentford were not kicking him and weren't about to.
As soon as Lapslie came on for Williams I suspected the game would turn rapidly and it did.
I presume Bowyer knows that if he keeps him on we risk losing him for the last 4 games, so felt he had no choice, but what a predictable outcome.
You could understand it if Brentford were a physical, dirty side but that wasn't the case tonight. He'll get far more kicked in the next 3 matches
If that is someone that is 'unfit' and 'not ready', then we need a lot more unfit players in the squad.
When uninjured, he should play an hour every single game from here on out. Makes us far better as a team.
It's almost as if the reason Williams was able to show as much as he did yesteday was because Bowyer built him up over the return period until he felt he was suitably conditioned to play. Bowyer has signed Williams twice for Charlton, he obviously doesn't dislike him, and there's no way Bowyer would deliberately weaken his team for no reason. The sad fact is, there's a reason that Jonny was a third division player last season and now plays for a team struggling not to get relegated from the second tier; the talent is there but the fitness and conditioning are not. He's regularly injured, he's generally not very fit when he does play, and he's extremely succeptible to aggravating his injuries when thrown in too early, meaning he can't be rushed back. I wish Jonny could play every game, because he's our best player when he's fit, but if he could stay fit enough to do that then he wouldn't be our player at all. This sadly is the trade-off you get with him. I would be shocked if he was fit enough to start against Reading on Saturday, and I have no doubt Bowyer took him off early yesterday to avoid him getting injured after he ran out of puff, and in the hopes he could feature in some capacity for the rest of the remaining games. If you leave Williams on too long and he gets injured, that's him done for the season.
I think a lot of managers (not just in football) have a habit of seeing staff/players in their own image .
As a player LB didn't have many weaknesses..one of his strongest points was his commitment.
I expect he sees JW do all the pretty stuff but knocks him back on tackling, ball retention and work off the ball maybe similar to albie Morgan in that way.
The way we play when we are seeing out results is to sit back. It means we are one pass away from losing the ball and it keeps coming back at us. We defend well, but when it is relentless it is harder to defend. What Williams does for us is getting fouled a lot. It gives us a chance to put the ball down and regroup and release a bit of pressure. It is massive. We really missed that when he went off but I am sure he came off because he was knackered.
The way we play when we are seeing out results is to sit back. It means we are one pass away from losing the ball and it keeps coming back at us. We defend well, but when it is relentless it is harder to defend. What Williams does for us is getting fouled a lot. It gives us a chance to put the ball down and regroup and release a bit of pressure. It is massive. We really missed that when he went off but I am sure he came off because he was knackered.
Is Oztumer injured or just out of favour because of the arrival of McGeady? Not suggesting that he should start but, as a like for like player so far as drawing fouls is concerned, would he not be the obvious sub for Williams?
Real shame that we can't make more use of Williams because he is one of only a couple of players who are capable of opening up the opposition.
But if anyone wants to witness how much playing for us means just take a look at the penalty and his jump in the air when the Birmingham player misses the follow up - and how he is the one that races to Phillips to pat him on the back.
LB didn’t like that baldilocks came back from lockdown so out of condition. Now he’s back playing he doesn’t like how meekly he sometimes surrenders possession. The feintest touch and he goes down, refs won’t always fall for it as we saw last night
Should've stayed on for longer, would've drawn fouls and wasted some time. Even if it ruled him out of the next two games that wouldn't have mattered if we got the win.
LB didn’t like that baldilocks came back from lockdown so out of condition. Now he’s back playing he doesn’t like how meekly he sometimes surrenders possession. The feintest touch and he goes down, refs won’t always fall for it as we saw last night
But he was hauled off before Millwall got their late winner, he was taken off before Brentford scored either of their goals and again was removed before Birmingham's goal yesterday.
In fact, had a game only been of the duration that Williams was actually on the pitch, our record would be for those 27 games:
Won 10 Drawn 10 Lost 7
Williams' presence might just have meant that we weren't forever having to defend in the last 15 minutes of a game.
Agreed, not a fan of taking him off and the other 2 main threats fwiw (Doughty/Mcgready), Williams works hard and always draws fouls in which are crucial (just see the impact he had at Wembley). I can only assume he is worried he doesn't have the legs or injury with his past but we could have done with him staying on, didn't look knackered, Alfie did tbf.
A separate point, i do think he would offer much more behind the strikers in a CAM role or even as a middle 3. Its a bit obvious our main threat was down the left side and that would allow Alfie to play further forward and not have to worry as much about defending.
LB didn’t like that baldilocks came back from lockdown so out of condition. Now he’s back playing he doesn’t like how meekly he sometimes surrenders possession. The feintest touch and he goes down, refs won’t always fall for it as we saw last night
But he was hauled off before Millwall got their late winner, he was taken off before Brentford scored either of their goals and again was removed before Birmingham's goal yesterday.
In fact, had a game only been of the duration that Williams was actually on the pitch, our record would be for those 27 games:
Won 10 Drawn 10 Lost 7
Williams' presence might just have meant that we weren't forever having to defend in the last 15 minutes of a game.
Trouble is JW was blowing out his arse and a passenger inside 60 minutes wasn’t he?
All seems reasonable from LB. If Williams had cramp, then he was also an injury waiting to happen in that last 15 mins.
There are a lot of question marks about next season. One of the more minor questions, is will we see Williams in our squad? I'd like to think so because he offers something different and has obvious qualities. Whether the club will want to commit wages to him rather than someone, probably less talented but more reliable fitness-wise, remains to be seen.
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As a player LB didn't have many weaknesses..one of his strongest points was his commitment.
I expect he sees JW do all the pretty stuff but knocks him back on tackling, ball retention and work off the ball maybe similar to albie Morgan in that way.
But if anyone wants to witness how much playing for us means just take a look at the penalty and his jump in the air when the Birmingham player misses the follow up - and how he is the one that races to Phillips to pat him on the back.
In fact, had a game only been of the duration that Williams was actually on the pitch, our record would be for those 27 games:
Won 10
Drawn 10
Lost 7
Williams' presence might just have meant that we weren't forever having to defend in the last 15 minutes of a game.
A separate point, i do think he would offer much more behind the strikers in a CAM role or even as a middle 3. Its a bit obvious our main threat was down the left side and that would allow Alfie to play further forward and not have to worry as much about defending.
Major injury setback as key Charlton man set to miss rest of the season
http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1039355238?-11197:833
The answer to why LB subbed players
There are a lot of question marks about next season. One of the more minor questions, is will we see Williams in our squad? I'd like to think so because he offers something different and has obvious qualities. Whether the club will want to commit wages to him rather than someone, probably less talented but more reliable fitness-wise, remains to be seen.