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Ledson a liability

Ledson a liability

PNEJack said:
If Ledson played as many games as Ben did a season he would have 4 or 5 red cards, where are the people calling for his head about his disciplinary record? Nowhere to be found. Hypocrites the lot of you
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Yes, PNEJack, you have a point. I'm unsure hypocrite is the correct word to use; double-standards is the term to describe what you are accusing people of.
Pearson has a bigger problem due to his attitude towards referees, which is needlessly detrimental to his performances and that of his team, rather than the naive and honest work of Ledson, albeit producing, as you say, the same detriment to the team.
Ledson has clearly been told to get-stuck-in by the management - Steve Thompson loved snapping people. I still remember the tackle on John Thomas' leg from Thompson, at Burnden Park in the late 1980s, the noise still haunts me, as does the memory of Thomas' waggling lower leg - and perhaps Ledson is more adept at nicking the ball in a tackle, rather than thundering into them like Sean Gregan. Ledson has a bit of work to do on his pressing game, but he can only be accused of being naive, rather than cynical, and Neil may think he needs him to become a tougher proposition in the midfield, at this level, if he is to compete with the best players.
It is clear that the management want to play a high pressing game. This means that all - not some - of the players need to be invested in the tactics. Sooner or later, the mistake Neil may make is to be too confident that he can turn a skilful player into a workhorse, and vice versa. No matter how hard you push, you can't always fit a square peg into a round hole. For instance, Johnson and Robinson tend to stroll about a bit - in their natural style - but it leaves a lot of work for the other players to do, who are trying to follow team orders.
Neil is all about the overall team-product, and Ledson may have been forced into a style of high intensity midfield-play to which he hasn't been used.
For me, Ledson is a superb passer of the ball, and Neil knows this. Neil is a good manager because he tries to improve the weaknesses in his players but Ledson may not be the Souness-type midfield general he seeks to produce and bookings may be the consequence of this attempt at transformation.
As you say, reckless challenges can't continue to hinder the side even if it is following team orders, and if Ledson simply can't tackle properly, then he will continue to be the liability your post describes, as is Pearson with his attitude.
There is an argument for Neil to sign a genuine combative midfielder - Mark Rankine style - rather than trying to reform ball players into that role.
 
sf said:
Must have missed Nmecha winning the ball back repeatedly yesterday then.

Still think Ledson should be Browne's understudy, not Pearson's.
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And I think Neil has said similar. He doesn't look to be to be a sitting defensive midfielder to me. This is evident by how he charges away from his position to try and win a ball he is never going to win. He's also fairly decent on the ball, as shown by the pass into Robinson for the first vs Ipswich. To see any improvement in him though he needs to be involved more regularly and not just 10 minutes here and there late in games.
 
justinr73 said:
I make it 4 in 167 career appearances for “Ben” and 2 in 137 for “Ledson”.
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I make it 2 in the last 20 appearances for Ledson and 2 in the last 40 for Ben ? Ledson has been playing in a shite league for 100 of his appearances. Excellent manipulation of the statistics though I appreciate it
 
I've not seen the Wigan tackle but the red against Leeds earlier in the season was ludicrous, the very definition of naive, and probably the result of a young player trying too hard to impress.

He's young and hopefully he doesn't have a screw loose and will learn.
 
I can cope with the odd red card as a result of a rash tackle from a defensive midfielder, especially when they're young and inexperienced, it's Pearson's continual bleating at the ref, sometimes even when the ball is still in play, that annoys me. It results in a yellow card for dissent and also I expect referees being harsher on him for other offences. We can all say referees SHOULD stay impartial and I'd agree, but they're human and are always going to be harsher, maybe even subconsciously, on someone whose been giving them shit for the past hour.
 
PNEJack said:
I make it 2 in the last 20 appearances for Ledson and 2 in the last 40 for Ben ? Ledson has been playing in a shite league for 100 of his appearances. Excellent manipulation of the statistics though I appreciate it
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It's actually 2 in 24 for Ledson and 3 in 26 for Pearson btw.
 
Could I suggest people go easy on Ledson. He is a young lad but he has talent and in his few recent games visibly progressed. He will probably take another season to become anything like a regular starter but he will become a major player for us.
 
Both of Ledson's were definite red cards, really not sure about the Sheff Wed one for Pearson.

Either way there isnt a single aspect of his game that Ledson can match Pearson in. (winning a couple of headers aside) Personally think he can play at this level, but it just further highlights how good BP is.
 
I saw the highlights from the MK Dons game this morning on Sky. They were awarded a penalty for an overhead kick by a defender which nearly took a players head off, but no card was given. The challenge was far more dangerous than Ledsons was. I’ve never understood why players don’t get carded for overhead kicks. One of many aspects of refereeing which are just incomprehensible
 
You'd have to hope Ledson will improve with age , he seems to have the right attitude but if he has played 137 games then he is an experienced player and there is the unfortunate possibility that Div 1 football is the ceiling of his ability and there is nothing the player or the club can do about it.
 
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