Le Fondre - Come and get me plea

[Hoop Blah]

Was Sidwell I think.

Nooooooooooooo Sidders was the ultimate pro right up until he left. He gave 100% until the end - the likes of Stephen Hunt & Nick Shorey however....

Sidewall was definitely the player who used the 'family to feed' line when rejecting contract offers and leaving Reading for a hardly making the bench at Chelsea but doubling his money at the same time.

As for Le Fondre, well simply he's not been good enough to consistenly hold down a place in the side since we signed him. If he wants to play 90 minutes week in week out then I suggest he looks for a League One or League Two side and then sees how much he'll earn to feed his family.

He's obviously got a great goal scoring instinct and, like players before him such as Cureton, just has that ability to read the game and be in the right place at the right time in the area to get those crucial chances. He misses his fair share, but that instinct is his strength but his all round game just doesn't cut it at this level.

What this incident shows is probably a wider issue in the squad where Adkins hasn't got all the squad behind him at the moment and I'm sure that, plus the ongoing off pitch distractions are really hampering our progress.

Get rid of Le Fondre for as much as we can and as soon as possible IMO.

[sandman]

Was Sidwell I think.

Nooooooooooooo Sidders was the ultimate pro right up until he left. He gave 100% until the end - the likes of Stephen Hunt & Nick Shorey however....

Sidewall was definitely the player who used the 'family to feed' line when rejecting contract offers and leaving Reading for a hardly making the bench at Chelsea but doubling his money at the same time.

As for Le Fondre, well simply he's not been good enough to consistenly hold down a place in the side since we signed him. If he wants to play 90 minutes week in week out then I suggest he looks for a League One or League Two side and then sees how much he'll earn to feed his family.

He's obviously got a great goal scoring instinct and, like players before him such as Cureton, just has that ability to read the game and be in the right place at the right time in the area to get those crucial chances. He misses his fair share, but that instinct is his strength but his all round game just doesn't cut it at this level.

What this incident shows is probably a wider issue in the squad where Adkins hasn't got all the squad behind him at the moment and I'm sure that, plus the ongoing off pitch distractions are really hampering our progress.

Get rid of Le Fondre for as much as we can and as soon as possible IMO.

His record is one in two from starts and he's our leading scorer. Never been his biggest fan but he's ok from the start and easily the equal of Sharp.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I would be sad to see him leave but if he wants out let him go.

No player is bigger than the club.

January is silly season so we might actually get a decent bit of dosh for him. Agree with previous poster - glad he doesn't want to be a bench warmer but for me he hasn't shown enough to start.

Wish him well though.

[Hoop Blah]

Sandman, how does that change anything I wrote?

[marlowuk]

Would rather keep Le Fondre than Sharp tbh.

fair comment, but why?

Room for both? Pog goes injured...then what?

Then .... we are stuffed!!

[download]

I understand Le Fondre's views, but I don't like that he has gone to Dellor for a public moan. He should leave it to his agent to look into finding him opportunities elsewhere, rather than use BBCRB to advertise himself.

[SPARTA]

So, what's he worth then? £1.5m?

Leeds fans seem to think they're getting McCarthy and Le Fondre tonight - and we think our fans are mental! Also some calling for McDermott to go... and they're 8th!

[semtex1871]

Le Fondre....on his way back to league 2 where he deserves to be....

[SCIAG]

Are you Tim Dellor? Take your blinkers off and watch the two players again. Your description of Sharp is quite unbelievable. The great thing about today was that Saint ALF got brought on with plenty of the game left and contributed bugger all.

Yep, Alf was completely anonymous when he came on. But Sharp? Really? He spent 90mins being outpaced by every single defender, not getting on the end of any runs, not winning any balls.

Adkins is stripping all flair out of the team, and all our strikers are suffering for that. But for your best finisher to be sat on the bench in a team struggling for goals is just barking

Rather than blaming Adkins perhaps we should all realise he has very very limited options in CM & this is causing a lot of our issues. He can only play the cards he's dealt. I actually think Guthrie slows the tempo down too much & takes the bite out of the game. Whether that's his own doing or he just doesn't have the right partner yet I'm not sure.

I think it isn't Guthrie's fault (actually I disagree that he's causing a problem at all but then you've probably seen more of him than me), I think the lack of movement amongst the forwards is the bigger issue.

Under Coppell, our midfielders would always have two wide men ready to receive the ball, one striker (Forster, Doyle, Long and NHunt at various times) hitting the channel, and one striker either dropping off (Kitson, Ferdinand) or trying to get in behind (Lita, Doyle). That's four passing options, just going forward. If three of them aren't on then there's still two more.

Adkins' Southampton side was similar- you'd have the right winger hugging the line, Lambert dropping off, two full backs pushing up, and Lallana floating inside, with Sharp ready to offer himself to the next passer or get in a scoring position.

Today, the only movement we have in attack is when we are on the counter attack, and then our decision making lets us down too often. Pogrebnyak and Sharp are fairly static, McCleary is too predictable (he was better earlier in the season), Williams doesn't make himself available... Blackman's movement was quite good today but he couldn't do it all, and generally I think he plays quite a specialised role (as a wide forward exploiting the channel) rather than a creative player like Little or an unpredictable one like Kebe.

Now usually I'd say that could go on Adkins' plate, but due to injuries and suspensions we've struggled to field a consistent side, so the players aren't getting to know each other, particularly the midfield.

[marlowuk]

He's obviously got a great goal scoring instinct and, like players before him such as Cureton, just has that ability to read the game and be in the right place at the right time in the area to get those crucial chances. He misses his fair share,

Those with a great goal-scoring instinct don't miss their 'fair share' of chances. Which means I agree with your main point that we won't really miss him if he goes. Although - he and Sharp are similar players and I would probably (and marginally) be happier to send Sharp back to Saints as Alf seems to 'get involved' more in games generally.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

So, what's he worth then? £1.5m?

Leeds fans seem to think they're getting McCarthy and Le Fondre tonight - and we think our fans are mental! Also some calling for McDermott to go... and they're 8th!

LOL - like Alf would go there to warm another bench. And as for McCarthy....he will only be leaving us for a bumper PL deal.

I suspect most fans are behind him Sparta. Every single forum in the country will have a "Insert Manager's Name Here Out" thread.

[Hoop Blah]

He's obviously got a great goal scoring instinct and, like players before him such as Cureton, just has that ability to read the game and be in the right place at the right time in the area to get those crucial chances. He misses his fair share,

Those with a great goal-scoring instinct don't miss their 'fair share' of chances. Which means I agree with your main point that we won't really miss him if he goes. Although - he and Sharp are similar players and I would probably (and marginally) be happier to send Sharp back to Saints as Alf seems to 'get involved' more in games generally.

Of course they miss chances, all forwards do. The better ones misss less but that doesn't diminish the instinct of a goalscorer to be in the position to get the chance in the first place.

Sharp looks much better at getting involved and making the right decisions more often than Le Fondre, IMO, and its Le Fondres weaknesses, not the lack of quality to his strengths, that stopped both McDermott and now Adkins playing him in a more regular basis.

[3points]

Could have been Sharp's last game today - think his loan spell has now ended. I thought Sharp was really poor today. He looked incredibly slow too. At one point in the first half, he was chasing Lascelles in the box right in front of my section of the North Stand and Lascelles, dribbling with the ball, was actually accelerating away from Sharp. I also agree that ALF did very little after coming on - he had 30 minutes today but was pretty anonymous. Just don;t think the Pog/ALF combination works at all

[andrew1957]

Agree Sharp looked awful today. He had a couple of good games when he came back from injury but is now fast going downhill.

I am beginning to think that we should send him back and look elsewhere. Perhaps even give Ugwu and Samuel a chance. I think both have potential.

[St. Brynjar]

It'd be nice if he stayed but he's one of the most overrated players I've seen and he doesn't deserve to start. I imagine we'll survive without him.

[3points]

I reckon that if he goes it won;t be until deadline day. We'll make sure Pog doesn't go first and assess the options on Sharp (financial constraints) before letting him go anywhere. I'm a little surprised that Samuel hasn't made the match day squad more often this season. During the summer, all the talk on these forums was that he would be our 4th striker.

[SPARTA]

I don't feel a bond with any of these players. I have to be honest and say I couldn't care less who goes this month, or in the summer. I just hope we bring in some players who have the heart and energy we miss, and are used to having here. The more we see of the Jake Taylor's the better!

[paultheroyal]

I don't feel a bond with any of these players. I have to be honest and say I couldn't care less who goes this month, or in the summer. I just hope we bring in some players who have the heart and energy we miss, and are used to having here. The more we see of the Jake Taylor's the better!

The"bond" comment was spoken a lot around us today. Murtt, Doyle, Kitson, Shaka etc....

Compared to a Gunter, Guthrie, Pog....just not there is it!

[SPARTA]

I don't feel a bond with any of these players. I have to be honest and say I couldn't care less who goes this month, or in the summer. I just hope we bring in some players who have the heart and energy we miss, and are used to having here. The more we see of the Jake Taylor's the better!

The"bond" comment was spoken a lot around us today. Murtt, Doyle, Kitson, Shaka etc....

Compared to a Gunter, Guthrie, Pog....just not there is it!

Maybe in the summer we'll see a lot more of Obita, Taylor, Tish, Keown, Sweeney, Ugwu... then there's a core of players that have come through the academy that we feel that with again, but yes, these ego type signings (not so much Gunter) don't care for the club, it's all about money, and it does show.

[LoyalRoyal22]

Offers nothing and encourages an outdated formation. Bye.