John Lundstram

Lundstrum does the exact role gio and Gerrard were/are asking him to do.

You’d think we had barker in the middle of the park the way folk go on about him.
 
The sooner he's punted back down south the better.

Brought him in for him to think he's world class against such giants in the game as Dunfermline, Livi and Stirling Albion
 
Curious to know what more people wanted from him. He was playing as DM, he had shots on target, assisted a goal, kept the ball moving (in particular he was continuously targeting Sakala on the left) constantly asking for the ball from the CB, never hid, made tackles. So other than that what did you want? Do you think Kamara would of done more than that? Not slating Kamara here either before anyone suggests otherwise. He’s clearly done the job that was asked of him.
 
He was terrible to start. Everyone wrote him off. Then he was our best player. Then the same people that just like to criticise write him off again due to no game time - with no real explanation why. He was good against Aberdeen and was good last night. He’s a very good player and should be starting every week.

Gio has not been playing him as he’s desperate to fit Hagi in the team. Maybe if he’d done what he should have and taken Hagi off for Lundstram against Aberdeen, we would have won..
 
I for one expect and want him to be sh*te all the time so I can be proven to be correct when speaking about him on the internet.

Nah, not really, he was totally fine, dealt with a game we should be managing and did.
 
Looked a bit livelier and more forward thinking tonight, moved the ball swifter than usual., decent performance.
He looked livelier and a little sharper than part time opposition from Scottish League 2.
I remember Kyle Hutton having a few stormers in League 2, wonder if we could get him back?
 
That first 15 minutes he was spraying the ball about wonderfully. That pinpoint pass to Sakala's boot was brilliant.

His problem though is confidence. He played like that the first 15 minutes because he knew this was Stirling Albion. When he plays in the SPFL or in Europe he reverts back to Johnny KeepitSafe.

Take some risks man. Believe in yourself a bit more. He has shown he can make that pass. He showed he can burst into the box. Why not do it all the time?
 
I'd move him on.

Don't think it is the correct fit for either party.

No reason why we can't recoup our investment though. Plenty of teams could use that style of player, just not ones who play a possession based game with pressing.

He is nowhere near terrible, just not the type of midfielder we need.
Agreed. From the first time I saw him - friendly at Tranmere - I thought he just didn't fit. He's too slow - and I don't mean across the ground. He doesn't seem to think fast enough to fit our team and it's like his feet are too slow to play the fast, intricate stuff we show when at our best. Doesn't make him a poor player though. I thought he did fairly well last night for example and in some other games, but its not going to work out unfortunately.

Best we can expect is to move him out on loan this month I think.
 
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He zings the ball about with pace and accuracy when he has time.

Unfortunately this is just a luxury we don’t have in 90% of Premiership games.
 
There’s very few in our squad who at some point haven’t been absolutely slated and people have been saying get rid.
 
Not really true though I could point to an example of one man Katic the forgotten man who personally I do feel sorry for, and maybe his career is not over at Rangers from listening to Gio interview when asked about him, he said he brought back Itten because there was no point in him being in Germany sitting on the bench and brought him back and well done Big fella scores tonight very happy for him, but in relation to katic what was said was he is getting game time so was best to let that continue
Trust me after watching my team for nearly 50 years this is how it works. I'll take you as far back as Alex Miller scoring a peach at Parkhead, up until then he was utility player, not a darling of the crowd, after that goal it bought him respect. I would argue that Katic split the support whether he was good enough. He scored that great goal and was loved by all, this will always buy him a good welcome. Nothing wrong with this by the way but it is a real thing.
 
Do we have any evidence at all for these clams that he's on £35k per week? I genuinely have my doubts that he's on that.
 
He did ok, kept the ball moving from side to side but anytime he tried a pass longer than 10 yds it went astray.

Tonight reinforces to me that our backups are woeful and we are carrying a lot of deadwood.

We need 1 or 2 quality players in before end of the window to ensure we have a good enough squad to win the league.
Don’t think he was great last night but let’s not just make up stuff to act like he was bad. He played numerous long diagonal balls that landed right at sakala’ feet
 
When he is very deep he plays mostly safe passes.
Which I suppose is sensible.
However, occasionally when space opens up, you want a midfield player to carry the ball forward and as yet he seems reluctant to do this.
That said, I do like him around the edge of the opposition penalty box, where suddenly he looks a player with a bit of vision, whether it is for a shot at goal or a smart pass to a colleague.
Maybe we have been playing him too deep?
 
I stand by my belief that he isn't that bad of a player just not worth the wage we are supposedly paying him
I’d agree with this

Decent player, was our best player for a spell nearer start of season

But just isn’t worth the wage he’s supposedly on
 
When he is very deep he plays mostly safe passes.
Which I suppose is sensible.
However, occasionally when space opens up, you want a midfield player to carry the ball forward and as yet he seems reluctant to do this.
That said, I do like him around the edge of the opposition penalty box, where suddenly he looks a player with a bit of vision, whether it is for a shot at goal or a smart pass to a colleague.
Maybe we have been playing him too deep?

I agree. I think he slows it down playing deep. Looks a threat around box and his tempo goes up considerably. Looks to have a proper shot on him as well.

It’s clearly not worked for him so far but something in me thinks he will prove a lot of folk wrong. Though his pay packet is always going to be used as a stick to beat him
 
Against who?
He was also MOTM against Hearts and, although it’s not saying much since our entire team were below par that night, our best midfielder on the park against Lyon at home.

If you’re going to be selective, at least acknowledge the good games he’s had against better opposition.

Totally baffling that anyone can fault his performance last night. Who cares who the opposition was, he performed well and got an assist. Do some people expect him to score a bicycle kick and skin their entire team just because it’s League Two opposition and he’s ex-PL?
 
I agree. I think he slows it down playing deep. Looks a threat around box and his tempo goes up considerably. Looks to have a proper shot on him as well.

It’s clearly not worked for him so far but something in me thinks he will prove a lot of folk wrong. Though his pay packet is always going to be used as a stick to beat him
I made a thread the other proposing playing him more advanced with Kamara and Sands (or Jack) behind him and was ridiculed. Good to see others acknowledging also that he’s actually quite effective in advanced areas driving into the box. Aside from Aribo and Kamara he is arguably the best ball carrier out of our midfielders and when he gets into the box he can make an impact as he did with the assist to Itten.
 
In my opinion he's a good player, very good in fact and the fact he has accumulated a fair haters club within his own clubs fan base is very sad.
 
I agree. I think he slows it down playing deep. Looks a threat around box and his tempo goes up considerably. Looks to have a proper shot on him as well.

It’s clearly not worked for him so far but something in me thinks he will prove a lot of folk wrong. Though his pay packet is always going to be used as a stick to beat him
I honestly don't care about his pay, packet that is between him and the club ad he is entitled to ask for as much as he can get.
This is modern football.
I agree with you, he does slow down the game when he plays deep.
I hope you are right about him coming good.
I certainly feel we will benefit more from him playing further up the field where he is less safety-first and uses his skillset in a more productive manner.
I want him to prove all the doubters wrong, including myself.
 
The people who constantly criticise him in every thread about him, who are here again shocker, won’t say anything good about him. It’s a weird obsession some people have.

He wasn’t outstanding, was good, done his job and what was asked of him. He’s never going to be a standout. He’s no where near as bad as some make out, and I’m sure they’ll bring up his wage to have a moan. For the wage he’s supposedly getting that everyone seems to know :)) he’s probably earning too much but he’s a decent midfielder, who’s strong in a challenge. I’d imagine he will be here till the summer so it would be good if some just got behind him rather than the constant negativity.
 
We have Kamara, Davis, Jack and Sands. Just don't see a future for him here
Davis and Jack could well be in their final season, with Jack it depends on his fitness of course but Davis has been largely poor this season.

We will be extremely lucky to keep Kamara next season. I think it’s nailed on he will move to the PL.

Sands remember is on a loan.

Don’t rule out Lundstram being a regular next season.
 
His on the ball work as a DM is good. His off the ball work as a DM I don't think is good enough. Definitely not as good as Kamara, Jack or Davis. That leaves him with a huge mountain to climb to be a regular which leaves him looking to play in a more forward role. Would he be better than Aribo, Arfield, Hagi or even Bacuna at that? I don't think so. Struggling to see where he fits in.
 
The fact these threads pop up when we've beat Dunfermline, Stirlin Albion etc says it all.

Would you see him dominating a game again to them, sheep, Hearts etc?
 
What I will give Lundstrum is that if you play him/Kamara/Jack or Davis in that role for a whole season. Lundstrum would score more than the rest combined.

I don't think he's as bad as made out. I look at Barker and Simpson who won't add anything to our squad. That should our focus of moving on.

Jack I just don't see having an injury free season ever again I think we'll be lucky to get 1/3 of a season out of him every year. Davis will retire and Kamara could be sold in the Summer. Lundstrum and Sands may be our only options start of next season for the DM role.
 
The people who constantly criticise him in every thread about him, who are here again shocker, won’t say anything good about him. It’s a weird obsession some people have.

He wasn’t outstanding, was good, done his job and what was asked of him. He’s never going to be a standout. He’s no where near as bad as some make out, and I’m sure they’ll bring up his wage to have a moan. For the wage he’s supposedly getting that everyone seems to know :)) he’s probably earning too much but he’s a decent midfielder, who’s strong in a challenge. I’d imagine he will be here till the summer so it would be good if some just got behind him rather than the constant negativity.
In the match thread v Aberdeen, one poster (who obsessively posts about how terrible JL is) managed to be negative about Lundstram when he wasn't even on the pitch.

I find it very odd.
 
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