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O'Nien at CB

It’s pretty incredible that LoN has gone from a player a lot of people didn’t think was good enough to start regularly in midfield at league 1 level, to now being a regular CB at championship level.

I think thoughts on this probably mirror views on the club more generally. If you are in the camp were a midtable side who’ll win some and lose some then LoN seems ok to me to play. If you think we should be top 6 minimum and ideally pushing top 2 then I think he’s a long way off what we would need.
 

I was a forward and if he was at the same level as me,would target him all day long.Hes not he biggest,not the quickest....he is a 100% er mind....If you get in his ear he will kick/foul you too...from set pieces other teams are realising it unfortunately.......
 
Thing is 09 and Ballard are light years ahead of any other CBs at the club.I have said a million times on here ,that KS needs to stop signing players from abroad on free or near free fees.Our strongest team players are Patto,Hume,09,Ballard,Huggins,Alese,Cirkin,Jobe,Neil,Ekwah,Roberts,Clarke,then you have experienced players like Pritch not included in this squad.Not one of the KS foreign imports are gonna help us at all this season.So I hope in Jan.he has learnt from the last 10 signings.
 
stevo said:
Thing is 09 and Ballard are light years ahead of any other CBs at the club.I have said a million times on here ,that KS needs to stop signing players from abroad on free or near free fees.Our strongest team players are Patto,Hume,09,Ballard,Huggins,Alese,Cirkin,Jobe,Neil,Ekwah,Roberts,Clarke,then you have experienced players like Pritch not included in this squad.Not one of the KS foreign imports are gonna help us at all this season.So I hope in Jan.he has learnt from the last 10 signings.
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The only way they won’t help us if Mowbray continues to not pick them.
 
KGC83 said:
We’ve got the 5th best defensive record in the league. It’s being turned into a much bigger issue than it really is.
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It's just people giving their opinions. I can see both sides of the argument. I think if we really want to push on he's one we have to replace
He's pretty average
 
SAFC11 said:
Clubs have been interested in him and wanted to sign him even when he was under contract. Especially the year we failed in the play offs under Johnson. Comparing him with ballard is pointless as part of the reason he is allegedly attracting interest from higher up is his age and that he is already a good championship player. Seelt and triantis had looked woeful in the reserves when playing together. We have conceded the 5th least in the league just over 1 a game. Less conceded than Ipswich, Southampton, Preston, Cardiff and Hull who are above us. Tactics are more causing issues for our defence than onien alone and the lack of an effective midfield unit in defensive transitions. Most goals we concede are counter attacks. He isn't the best CB and we probably could sign better, but he isn't this issues in this team at the moment, our finishing at the other end is
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You can show me some evidence of all these clubs that were interested in him. The only ones I seen were ones when he was at the end of contract and they weren't particularly attractive clubs at the time.

I've never said he alone is the problem, but he's been at fault for a good few goals this season, struggles with the physical side, and looks to be getting worse with his grappling of players. Both Seelt and Triantis had bigger clubs interested than those after Onien, and Seelt cost a fair bit when compared to our recent transfers, which in theory would suggest he was bought to play in the first team.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree when it comes to the lad. I'd take him out for Seelt myself, but Mowbray won't drop his Captain.
 
Rocky77 said:
It's just people giving their opinions. I can see both sides of the argument. I think if we really want to push on he's one we have to replace
He's pretty average
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I think he’s much better than triantis and seelt at this point and Mowbray likes him to bring it out from the back.
 
Roker Rick said:
Love him to bits, tries his heart out, but he's a liability at CB. He was at fault for the 2nd goal on Sat imo. He still loses his head easily and goes wild, which is not what you want for a CB.

Thoughts and pelters on a postcard.
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Crackin lad but got to be moved out of CD. Seelt can bring the ball out as well as Luke, but he can also win most of his aerial duels, and, he doesn't say no to a 50-50. Change it now mogga
 
KGC83 said:
I think he’s much better than triantis and seelt at this point and Mowbray likes him to bring it out from the back.
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We don't really know if he is though as we haven't seen enough of those 2.
Personally I think we move the ball out from the back far too slowly, not solely O'Niens fault mind admittedly
 
I don’t think O9 is the perfect solution at centre back, but I think he’s a lot better than he gets credit for on this board. He’s cut out the positional mistakes that he was making at the start of the season (watch that come back to haunt me on Wednesday) and is generally solid. His passing ability from centre back is excellent, but his main weakness for me is defending set pieces.
There was a point about a month ago where he’d gone beyond shithousery and was just being reckless out there. He seems to have reined that in. The stupid yellow cards are beyond ridiculous now and we should start fining him for every one of them.
As for playing him in the holding midfield role, I think he’s too rash and doesn’t read the game well enough. There were points in L1 where I was desperate for him to play in that position, but every time he got his chance there he was poor. I think he’s better when the game is in front of him.
 
Andy Reids Pie Shop said:
I don’t think O9 is the perfect solution at centre back, but I think he’s a lot better than he gets credit for on this board. He’s cut out the positional mistakes that he was making at the start of the season (watch that come back to haunt me on Wednesday) and is generally solid. His passing ability from centre back is excellent, but his main weakness for me is defending set pieces.
There was a point about a month ago where he’d gone beyond shithousery and was just being reckless out there. He seems to have reined that in. The stupid yellow cards are beyond ridiculous now and we should start fining him for every one of them.
As for playing him in the holding midfield role, I think he’s too rash and doesn’t read the game well enough. There were points in L1 where I was desperate for him to play in that position, but every time he got his chance there he was poor. I think he’s better when the game is in front of him.
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Aye he isn't a poor centre half and isn't a great one either. He's a player we should be looking to improve on though if we're to progress.

Agreed about midfield, he's a better defender than he is a midfielder
sunderpitt said:
Better as a DM
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He's barely played that position
 
Robanner said:
It’s pretty incredible that LoN has gone from a player a lot of people didn’t think was good enough to start regularly in midfield at league 1 level, to now being a regular CB at championship level.

I think thoughts on this probably mirror views on the club more generally. If you are in the camp were a midtable side who’ll win some and lose some then LoN seems ok to me to play. If you think we should be top 6 minimum and ideally pushing top 2 then I think he’s a long way off what we would need.
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Apart from last season you mean
 
chopsfc007 said:
You don't get championship top six if he's as much of a liability as some make out
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Try telling people who claim Jeff Whitley as being one of the worst central midfielders they've ever seen that.

If we want promoting we should be looking to improve on him. He's not the only reason we are a near playoffs/just outside team but he's certainly part of it. The rest of our defenders look good enough to be up near the top, be nice if we had fullbacks who stayed fit mind
 
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