Reply With QuoteSeen him tonight with some of team inxluding our russ outside mocha lounge in town
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please take your common sense somewhere elseOriginally Posted by olderblue
Seen him tonight with some of team inxluding our russ outside mocha lounge in town
ClassicI know this will be controversial because there are many Whitts lovers. I like him too, and he deserves great credit for what he has done for us in the past (Ever more distant past)
He has to go.
His presence (not his fault) is why we haven't had a midfield in the last 3 years.
Had he not been available, because he is never injured, we would have become a better team.
Now he's too slow to play wide. Until a rule to allow a player to come on to play set-pieces is implemented, he has no position in any top-level Championship team. And his set-pieces have become fairly hopeless.
Give him 20 yards of space and time to think, and he has a nice left foot. That's not enough. It's like playing with 10 men.
Sorry, he's been a great servant of the club and is a good footballer, but he is nowhere near what we need now, and he confuses managers.
PROS
Great vision
Top level set pieces, corners, penalties etc. Worth several points over a season
Never injured. Making his wages more worthwhile
Nice guy and model pro
Settled in the squad
Fans love him
Looks cool when he scores
CONS
You have to build the team around him because of limits to his game. Hence the lopsided 4-4-2 the past year
Slow
Not a good defender
Very inconsistent and can go missing in games often
Can't dribble past players
Conservative and flat movement in most games
Doesn't take games by the scruff of the neck when things aren't going our way
Old now so re-sale value diminishing
Excellent summary.
He's like marmite for most, either as good as Pele or as bad as Andy Kerr depending on which side of the fence you sit.
Truth is he's a very talented player with some glaring weaknesses.
I'd add the positive that he's cool under pressure and the negative that he can be bullied out of the match
He could be our Atletico Madrid Fernando Torres but fans are more interested in saying he's not the same player he was. 6 months til he's been here 10 years and you still can't see his changing value.
Agree with your amendments. I can see it that whenever the time comes that Whitts loses his place in our first eleven, it will be because another player steps up and is able to provide the pros without the cons. If he progresses, Ralls possibly?
Agreed that his set pieces (not direct free kicks any more, sadly) are worth several points over a season.
However, how many points do you think he costs us due to the list of cons you accurately provide? I reckon it's as many as we gain from his set pieces.
At one point last season I suggested that the fact we were reliant on Whitts' delivery from set pieces actually causes us a problem when he doesn't play well. It's fine to score goals from set pieces but if the bloke who takes them is costing the team in open play and we don't look like scoring unless it's from a set piece, then is he worth his place in the side.
Never mind building the team around him, Whitts should be made captain. Head and shoulders the best player at the club and will lead by example.
Controversially.................Whittingham has never been a GREAT player per se, rather a GREAT player for us and there is a big difference. There is no way a GREAT player would have spent most of his career at Cardiff City. Yes he is a loyal lad and its to be applauded but he would have been sold had there ever been enough money on the table, and, depending on where it was to, he would have gone.
He did, for three seasons or so, become a vital cog in the City machine, a free-scoring midfielder in the attacking mould. He has been here coming up to 10 years and has been our best player in a season for maybe 4 of them years, not, as people would have said on here, every year.
Ironically in our promotion year he was dropped because he started to struggle but for me the first signs, real signs of him on the wane were in the playoffs against West Ham where he was completely outlcassed and outran.
We use the word GREAT too often. Peter Whittingham was a great servant to this club but he has never been a GREAT player rather a very good chamopionship level player, albeit inconsistent.
There, i expect a bullet in the post.
This is for everyone - out of interest, how many goals do you think we should see from Whittingham in a season, assuming he plays the vast majority of fixtures?
I think we should be expecting at least 10 goals from him, even if he plays in centre midfield. Some will disagree strongly with me on this, I'm sure, but I have my reasoning.
He's got arguably the best left foot in the Championship. There is arguably no better finisher from outside the penalty area in the division. He can strike a ball with pace and high accuracy. He can deceive the best goalkeepers and has shown in his career he can find the net from ridiculous positions using an array of fantastic techniques and showing great imagination and creativity. We know how legendary his free kicks once were. For me his long range finishing can be put virtually in the same league as the likes of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
Regardless of team instructions, he should be the heartbeat of the side, getting into positions outside the box and looking for shooting opportunities, rather than just another backwards pass. If he's playing in the middle it's all about the energy and desire to get up and down.
I reckon that it is his moments of brilliance and his amazing goals that define Peter Whittingham and while I'm not saying we should expect it week in, week out, it was those moments that carry him from being an average midfielder to one of the best at this level and even the Premier League.
Have you watched him plodding about recently?
Heartbeat? You must be joking.
Have you watched him plodding about recently?
Heartbeat? You must be joking.
No offence to anybody, but why do people say no good anymore, get rid, etc, if we want to build our club then a man like Whitts should be involved in our future, maybe not as a player, but still with our club and playing staff in some capacity. We need to back players like this and show the loyalty that they have.
Very good post.
The problem with a messageboard is that if an opinion is expressed, without hostility (I like Whitts and he is a skilled and loyal Cardiff City player) it becomes, over a few posts, an argument rather than a discussion.
It is simply my opinion that having him on the pitch at this point holds us back.
And I do believe that he confuses managers!
FAO Eric The half a bee
it would be nice to have our forwards score 10 goals a season, so i dont think its fair to expect our midfielders to be shouldering the goal scoring burden
Very good post.
The problem with a messageboard is that if an opinion is expressed, without hostility (I like Whitts and he is a skilled and loyal Cardiff City player) it becomes, over a few posts, an argument rather than a discussion.
It is simply my opinion that having him on the pitch at this point holds us back.
And I do believe that he confuses managers!
I agree Whitts is coming to the end, but rather than ship him out to a "lower" championship or lge 1 club let's have him around to show new and young players the Cardiff way. We don't have a "way" at the moment so let's build it!
I said should!Have you watched him plodding about recently?
Heartbeat? You must be joking. Go
You disagree that players of Whittingham's calibre as a proven midfield goalscorer should be netting a decent number of goals? The number scored by our forwards is irrelevant here. If scoring goals is one of Whittingham's top attributes then it doesn't matter who else scores what.
Agree with this. I believe that Whitts has a great deal still to offer to Cardiff City FC, but as has been said, no longer as a member of the first eleven. Squad player at best but with coaching responsibilities. Could contribute hugely to the development set up with his technical ability.
I agree Whitts is coming to the end, but rather than ship him out to a "lower" championship or lge 1 club let's have him around to show new and young players the Cardiff way. We don't have a "way" at the moment so let's build it!
Keep him at Cardiff, 100%.
Yes let's build a "Cardiff way" Build our club as others have done.
I just hope the Hierarchy at the club see it the same way.
Very good post.
The problem with a messageboard is that if an opinion is expressed, without hostility (I like Whitts and he is a skilled and loyal Cardiff City player) it becomes, over a few posts, an argument rather than a discussion.
It is simply my opinion that having him on the pitch at this point holds us back.
And I do believe that he confused "OUR RUSS"!
FYP
Best post in the thread-no emotion or derogatory comments about differing views.
I believe his effectivness is without doubt diminishing and we should be looking to replace him.He has been a fantastic player for us-one of the best midfielders ever but not anymore.Regretably I agree with the OP.
Confuses managers
What the **** is that all about?!?
Ive seen many sticks being used to beat with Whitts with over the years but this is a new one.
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