Will McCleary start a match this season?

[bradyo]

I make no secret of the fact that I believe garath McCleary is our best player, blistering pace and skills that would embarass ronaldo, leaves me pondering why he's only made 7 starts in his whole forest career.
I know a starting place in our midfield is like buying a guarenteed win lottery ticket, but surely his sublime skill warrants a starting place of the (pretty bad today) cohen, against teams that like to play passing football (cardiff/Swansea) we should start the midfield with mccleary/Anderson on the wings and raddy and McKenna in the middle.

 

[deleted]

Yes.

He already has.

Leicester or Doncaster, I think.

 

[Azza]

I wouldn't go far as to rate him as our best player, but I do think that his ability warrants more involvement in the team than he gets. I know people will say he's better as an impact player, but he hasn't had a good run of starts since he's been here so he hasn't been able to make a good impression.

I really rate McCleary, and I reckon he'll be a very important player for us in years to come.

 

[bradyo]

So he has!

Well we won 4-1 then, he should start more often

 

[deleted]

So he has!

Well we won 4-1 then, he should start more often

I think so too. I really like to see him play.

But for the first time in many a year the team doesn't really have any deadwood in it - so he's doing quite well to get a match at all.

 

[leekspin]

I think "If it's not broken, why fix it?" comes in here.


We're on a 16 match unbeaten run so I don't see why we need to make changes, Billy is giving the players who are missing out the chance to impress in matches in later substitutions. I think if we were to lose 1 or 2 and play badly, then he'll probably consider changing the team around and bring Gaz Mac in.

 

[bradyo]

Yeah, but last season and the season before it was rare to see him start a game, and that's when we had lots of deadwood.
I remember seeing him make his debut when we lost on telly to Carlisle, he came on in the 85th minute or something, got the ball straight away, belted down the left wing, did a couple of stepovers, and I thought, "wait, we signed him from BARROW?"

 

[adam09]

I think "If it's not broken, why fix it?" comes in here.


We're on a 16 match unbeaten run so I don't see why we need to make changes, Billy is giving the players who are missing out the chance to impress in matches in later substitutions. I think if we were to lose 1 or 2 and play badly, then he'll probably consider changing the team around and bring Gaz Mac in.

But we have been making changes haven't we.

Why play a disjointed midfield like we did today and risk losing a game? It was painfully obvious we needed another wide player on the pitch instead of 3 CMs which affected all of their performances. We got away with it thanks to a bit of quality, but it could have easily gone the other way. It was probably our worst home performance this season.

 

[leekspin]

He also skilled the Leicester full back as well, leaving him on the ground and nearly setting up Adebola. We have also been rather fortunate with injuries aswell, not many of players in wide positions have been injured this season.

 

[Cooky]

Yeah, but last season and the season before it was rare to see him start a game, and that's when we had lots of deadwood.
I remember seeing him make his debut when we lost on telly to Carlisle, he came on in the 85th minute or something, got the ball straight away, belted down the left wing, did a couple of stepovers, and I thought, "wait, we signed him from BARROW?"

Bromley, but close. Just 300 odd miles from South London to Cumbria!

 

[leekspin]

But we have been making changes haven't we.

Why play a disjointed midfield like we did today and risk losing a game? It was painfully obvious we needed another wide player on the pitch instead of 3 CMs which affected all of their performances. We got away with it thanks to a bit of quality, but it could have easily gone the other way. It was probably our worst home performance this season.

Not to the players starting? We seem to play Adebola and Mcgoldrick in away matches, that's all. Although Tyson started today, it's normally always the same people in midfield.

 

[bradyo]

Bromley, but close. Just 300 odd miles from South London to Cumbria!

I seem to have severely embaressed myself, I've bloody posted that he was from Barrow on another thread .
But still, both are non league clubs that begin with a b, so are basically the same in every single way

 

[adam09]

Not to the players starting? We seem to play Adebola and Mcgoldrick in away matches, that's all. Although Tyson started today, it's normally always the same people in midfield.

But without Anderson today we had no width. Cohen was nowhere and and because of that, Majewski and McKenna played far worse than they have been, Shorey and Gunter were exposed on occasions, Earnie ended up defending down the flanks when he should have been up front, and our attacking play was not as good. It was a very strange system. I doubt we would get away with doing that against Newcastle or WBA.

 

[winnits]

If Billy thinks he's good enough or it's appropriate, then yes, he'll start another match or two.

If not, he won't.

Billy is our king.

 

[Kier]

I thought there was a decent chance he would start yesterday.

I don't see him starting many though before the end of the season, unless we pick up injuries to wide players. He is best used as an impact player.

 

[zigga-zagga]

If he starts a game his season it will indicate that one or more of the following catastrophies has befallen us:

a) Billy Davies has lost the plot

b) We have so many injuries that we have no chance of maintaining a serious challenge for the play-offs.

c) We have suffered from such a loss in form that we cannot gain a play-off spot and have decided to give fringe players an outing

d) We have already won promotion and have decided to give fringe players an outing

Please God let it be d)!

 

[adam09]

Well there's an unbiased opinion

 

[zigga-zagga]

Well there's an unbiased opinion

As someone much wiser than you or I once said - I don't agree with your opinion but I will fight for the right for you to express it. (OK perhaps not word perfect but the sentiment is there)

 

[adam09]

You may have being slightly flippant, but considering McCleary has changed games and helped earn us points this season (and last season), some of the things you've said are harsh to say the least, and slightly unprofound. It's clear to everybody that McCleary is far, far better than you ever given him credit for.

Going by your logic, if he was that crap, Billy would have loaned or sold him.

 

[RedMark]

I make no secret of the fact that I believe garath McCleary is our best player, blistering pace and skills that would embarass ronaldo, leaves me pondering why he's only made 7 starts in his whole forest career.
I know a starting place in our midfield is like buying a guarenteed win lottery ticket, but surely his sublime skill warrants a starting place of the (pretty bad today) cohen, against teams that like to play passing football (cardiff/Swansea) we should start the midfield with mccleary/Anderson on the wings and raddy and McKenna in the middle.

Is your surname McCleary or are you related to him ?

I wouldn't class him anywhere near our best player and certainly not in the same breath as Ronaldo on any scale.
He is a decent enough player at this level but isn't consistant enough in producing the final ball and some of his decision making isn't the best either. He will hold onto the ball a little too long or like yesterday he turned a man, raced down the line and crossed it, met by . . . . . nobody because he sprinted clear of his own players !!

Good player anyway, and he will get a little run at some point but I think it could be on loan somewhere else

 

[Davie]

I must admit, I thought he was fantastic when he came on yesterday. He clearly has some quality about him.

 

[thetfordred]

mccleary is a quality player and has to rank as one of our best buys considering what we paid for him (£10,000 was it?) , i'd like to see him get more starts but have to admit he is probably at his best in the last half hour of games when the game is a bit more stretched , he played a magnificent crossfield ball yesterday (not sure who to ) and i rate him highly.

 

[adam09]

He is a decent enough player at this level but isn't consistant enough in producing the final ball and some of his decision making isn't the best either. He will hold onto the ball a little too long or like yesterday he turned a man, raced down the line and crossed it, met by . . . . . nobody because he sprinted clear of his own players !!

Good player anyway, and he will get a little run at some point but I think it could be on loan somewhere else

How is that his fault? :wacko: That's why you have 2 forwards on the pitch, as well as attacking CMs. There is little to no excuse for not having somebody in the box.

He hasn't had a chance to be consistant, because he usually only plays bit parts. He is consistant in that, whenever he does play, he plays well and has an impact pretty much every single time.

And it's hardly as if our regular midfielders are prolific in setting up goals either. Look at our assists charts and then the league stats - we rely on our strikers a lot more than other teams. Though, if we go up and want to improve our team, we could do worse than picking up one of the players at the top of those lists from teams that might not get promoted - McAnuff, Boyd, Routledge, Burke, Whittingham to name a few. Or maybe Matt Jarvis.

 

[donny]

mccleary is a quality player and has to rank as one of our best buys considering what we paid for him (£10,000 was it?) , i'd like to see him get more starts but have to admit he is probably at his best in the last half hour of games when the game is a bit more stretched , he played a magnificent crossfield ball yesterday (not sure who to ) and i rate him highly.

Was across to Cohen, who then played a cracking ball for McGoogle...

 

[thetfordred]

Was across to Cohen, who then played a cracking ball for McGoogle...

that's it , i thought lewis was nailed on to score then as i thought he'd have one touch and finish but he tried to cut in on his left , would have been a fantastic move if he'd finished.