H
horseman
Guest
Whilst i admit i'm saying this with pre thoughts did anyone else notice the bowed head then sheepish look towards the bench after his effort went just past the post? may just be coincidence or indeed a shout of encouragement came from the bench but i felt that Look said a lot.We got lucky that Winnall had to go off because otherwise Agyei would’ve been farmed out onto the left wing where he can’t play, and he wouldn’t have been in the position to get the foul off the keeper, or get on the end of crosses into the box, both in terms of forcing a good save from and then getting the knock down for the equaliser. His presence pinned MK back - he made them drop deep and stopped them pushing forward because they knew there was a threat. Their centre back Harry Darling looked like Maldini all game, and then he spent 15 minutes worrying about Agyei and looked average. The plan was for Winnall to be there and Agyei to be on the wide left, with no idea what to do and not being able to track back because he has no idea how to mark an attacking full back. It was a lucky break, although it occurring at the expense of a player getting injured makes the word ‘lucky’ feel a bit off.
Either way, Winnall coming on and then going pretty much straight off is the only reason we got to see Agyei play his natural game at all, which turned the game. That’s why most of the highlights are from 75 onwards and Agyei is in basically all of the clips. Robinson could’ve brought him on at half time and it wouldn’t have made a difference if he was being sent to wander around the left flank looking lost, and being blamed for their right wing back (who was already having a worldie) having a free run at Ruffels. Which is exactly what would’ve happened, and then he’d have been out of the squad all over again with his poor performance being used as ‘proof’ that he isn’t up to it. Despite the fact that playing Agyei on the wing is the equivalent of playing someone like Brannagan at right back. The more it doesn’t work, the more it becomes the manager’s fault for repeatedly doing something that he knows affects the team negatively. You can only blame players for so long before the question becomes, “So why do you keep doing it?”
At least we’ve finally reached the point where everybody knows once and for all that Agyei can only play centrally. Kinniburgh said the same after the match: “I think that’s the only position he can play.” So let’s hope that any times we do see him again, it’s down the middle. Otherwise it’s a waste of everybody’s time, and would only confirm once and for all that Robinson is the one with the problem by repeatedly doing something he knows doesn’t
I've said all season that he and Taylor could be a lethal pairing if played close together and did seem obvious and worth trying in just a few brief minutes they played together earlier in the season.