Left back

[Baby Ate My Eight Ball]

Hopefully we’re in for one?

[DuncShearer*]

bloody hope so as Ruffels is shit

[turbo2]

This time last season the masses were saying that about turton. On his back every week.

I struggle to see how he can be singled out at the moment. At least he’s putting some effort in. Cos too many are not only playing poorly but seem to be hiding and putting in very little effort

[Baby Ate My Eight Ball]

Aug 16, 2022 22:59:37 GMT 1 turbo2 said:

This time last season the masses were saying that about turton. On his back every week.

I struggle to see how he can be singled out at the moment. At least he’s putting some effort in. Cos too many are not only playing poorly but seem to be hiding and putting in very little effort

He was back up last season and now first choice. We are a player light. Turton started awful but at least we had Pipa to return - the only alternatives to Ruffles are young lads.

Norwich completely overloaded us down our left hand side tonight and we lost the game in the first 15 minutes.

[turbo2]

Aug 16, 2022 23:07:10 GMT 1 Baby Ate My Eight Ball said:

Aug 16, 2022 22:59:37 GMT 1 turbo2 said:

This time last season the masses were saying that about turton. On his back every week.

I struggle to see how he can be singled out at the moment. At least he’s putting some effort in. Cos too many are not only playing poorly but seem to be hiding and putting in very little effort

He was back up last season and now first choice. We are a player light. Turton started awful but at least we had Pipa to return - the only alternatives to Ruffles are young lads.

Norwich completely overloaded us down our left hand side tonight and we lost the game in the first 15 minutes.

When you say we had pipa to come back , I agree that was the idea. But he hardly challenged before Easter. Not saying I don’t think we need more options at left back. But like I’ve said, players putting little effort in is far more worrying for me

[halifaxterrier9]

Aug 16, 2022 22:59:37 GMT 1 turbo2 said:

This time last season the masses were saying that about turton. On his back every week.

I struggle to see how he can be singled out at the moment. At least he’s putting some effort in. Cos too many are not only playing poorly but seem to be hiding and putting in very little effort

Turton hadn’t played at all and needed time to bed in. I was very critical at first, he got better and better.

Ruffels played last season and looked shit. What’s improved now? Nothing at all

[benhomly]

Aug 17, 2022 0:59:51 GMT 1 halifaxterrier9 said:

Aug 16, 2022 22:59:37 GMT 1 turbo2 said:

This time last season the masses were saying that about turton. On his back every week.

I struggle to see how he can be singled out at the moment. At least he’s putting some effort in. Cos too many are not only playing poorly but seem to be hiding and putting in very little effort

Turton hadn’t played at all and needed time to bed in. I was very critical at first, he got better and better.

Ruffels played last season and looked shit. What’s improved now? Nothing at all

Thought he looked decent when he played last season but Town fans need someone to have a pop at don't they. There's a few this season though at the moment; Ruffels, Thomas, Koroma, Holmes, Russell all copping for it.

Just had a look on Ruffels' wiki page to see how many games he's played so far and someone seems to have mixed him up with Ron Jeremy I think

[salfordterrier]

Aug 17, 2022 0:59:51 GMT 1 halifaxterrier9 said:

Aug 16, 2022 22:59:37 GMT 1 turbo2 said:

This time last season the masses were saying that about turton. On his back every week.

I struggle to see how he can be singled out at the moment. At least he’s putting some effort in. Cos too many are not only playing poorly but seem to be hiding and putting in very little effort

Turton hadn’t played at all and needed time to bed in. I was very critical at first, he got better and better.

Ruffels played last season and looked shit. What’s improved now? Nothing at all

He was only poor in one of the eight or so games he played, against Forest in the cup where he wasn’t the only one.

I think some competition would help him this season though.

[Deleted]

We need a centre mid, centre back and left back urgently. Unfortunately we have a chairman who won't support this therefore its just accept bottom half/potential relegation.

[durhamterrier]

We at least need competition for that position . Vibe you get is we will use yuta in left centre back with a wing back of full back outside.

I believe there’s a quality player in Ruffels as he looked solid last season when stepping in , but a pacey left back brought in to challenge would throw down the gauntlet .

[dirtyoldtown]

He's nowhere near Championship level. He's slow, clumsy and doesn't work particularly hard. He's had more than enough time to bed in now and isn't showing any signs of improvement. Really hope we can get something done before the window shuts.

[halifaxterrier9]

Aug 17, 2022 7:49:21 GMT 1 benhomly said:

Aug 17, 2022 0:59:51 GMT 1 halifaxterrier9 said:

Turton hadn’t played at all and needed time to bed in. I was very critical at first, he got better and better.

Ruffels played last season and looked shit. What’s improved now? Nothing at all

Thought he looked decent when he played last season but Town fans need someone to have a pop at don't they. There's a few this season though at the moment; Ruffels, Thomas, Koroma, Holmes, Russell all copping for it.

Just had a look on Ruffels' wiki page to see how many games he's played so far and someone seems to have mixed him up with Ron Jeremy I think

I’m not singling him out. JK is shite and has been for over a year and Sorba thinks he’s a bit big time now and has lost it, add Russell in too. A few have left their playing abilities at Wembley

[Frankiesleftpeg]

We need to give Ben Jackson a go at left back. He's played in League 1 with Donny and can't be any worse than Ruffles, who offers very little in either defence or attack.

[Uddersfield]

Aug 17, 2022 10:55:44 GMT 1 Frankiesleftpeg said:

We need to give Ben Jackson a go at left back. He's played in League 1 with Donny and can't be any worse than Ruffles, who offers very little in either defence or attack.

Couldn't have really done much more in pre-season to not be getting a chance.

[terriersyndrome]

100% need a decent LB. If Ruffels has been at the club over 12 months & still can't cut it in the Championship then the club need to seriously think about a competent replacement for Toffolo who can come in & hit the ground running.

[mosher]

Aug 17, 2022 7:49:21 GMT 1 benhomly said:

Aug 17, 2022 0:59:51 GMT 1 halifaxterrier9 said:

Turton hadn’t played at all and needed time to bed in. I was very critical at first, he got better and better.

Ruffels played last season and looked shit. What’s improved now? Nothing at all

Thought he looked decent when he played last season but Town fans need someone to have a pop at don't they. There's a few this season though at the moment; Ruffels, Thomas, Koroma, Holmes, Russell all copping for it.

Just had a look on Ruffels' wiki page to see how many games he's played so far and someone seems to have mixed him up with Ron Jeremy I think

That early life part is fucking wild 

[terriersyndrome]

I don't understand why the club keeps peddling the line that Ruffels just needs to get up to speed with the championship? He's 28 years old, not some kid we're bringing through the ranks. He's been at the club over 12 months & played the equivalent to over 11 games against championship/premier league opposition for us in league & cup. If he's not ready now he never will be.

A new LB needs to be brought in ASAP.

[runner76]

Can we take Toff back on loan?

[alexdire]

After Wembley I spoke to a Town fan and his Oxford United supporting mate. The Oxford fan said nobody could believe we'd bought Ruffels. They said he was nowhere near championship levels.

[Mastercracker]

Aug 17, 2022 16:49:27 GMT 1 alexdire said:

After Wembley I spoke to a Town fan and his Oxford United supporting mate. The Oxford fan said nobody could believe we'd bought Ruffels. They said he was nowhere near championship levels.

He was free, so I suspect that had plenty to do with it.

[King Curtis]

Aug 17, 2022 16:49:27 GMT 1 alexdire said:

After Wembley I spoke to a Town fan and his Oxford United supporting mate. The Oxford fan said nobody could believe we'd bought Ruffels. They said he was nowhere near championship levels.

Did we pay a fee?

We don't normally.

[alexdire]

Aug 17, 2022 20:33:41 GMT 1 King Curtis said:

Aug 17, 2022 16:49:27 GMT 1 alexdire said:

After Wembley I spoke to a Town fan and his Oxford United supporting mate. The Oxford fan said nobody could believe we'd bought Ruffels. They said he was nowhere near championship levels.

Did we pay a fee?

We don't normally.

Ok they couldn't believe we signed him on a free transfer.

The gist is the Oxford fans couldn't understand why we thought he could play in the championship.

[Jimuano]

Aug 17, 2022 16:49:27 GMT 1 alexdire said:

After Wembley I spoke to a Town fan and his Oxford United supporting mate. The Oxford fan said nobody could believe we'd bought Ruffels. They said he was nowhere near championship levels.

My best mate is an Oxford fan, he says Ruffels was used as a midfielder there for the most part rather than a defender/ wingback, and was a solid, no frills league one player/ 3rd choice championship squad player at best.

[King Curtis]

BUT HE WAS FREE...

That's music to Dean Hoyle's ears.

[boooothy]

I might be wrong but i’m sure Sorba Thomas has played left wing back for Wales.

I realise he bang out of form but for me would solve all sorts of problems allowing both Tino and Rudoni to play at the same time in advanced positions.

Both wing backs would hopefully do very little defending. Turton is really a right back so would offer cover, Yuta is a left sided player so covers on that side. Then just hope Lees sorts himself out in the middle with the likes of Hogg and Russell playing deep when needed.

[arry11]

Aug 17, 2022 21:21:49 GMT 1 King Curtis said:

BUT HE WAS FREE...

That's music to Dean Hoyle's ears.

Think you will find PH was in charge of that signing.

[Tinpot]

Aug 17, 2022 21:56:56 GMT 1 boooothy said:

I might be wrong but i’m sure Sorba Thomas has played left wing back for Wales.

I realise he bang out of form but for me would solve all sorts of problems allowing both Tino and Rudoni to play at the same time in advanced positions.

Both wing backs would hopefully do very little defending. Turton is really a right back so would offer cover, Yuta is a left sided player so covers on that side. Then just hope Lees sorts himself out in the middle with the likes of Hogg and Russell playing deep when needed.

You are correct, he has been assigned the role of left wing back for Wales.

I've watched him play that role. He was fucking terrible.

[Tinpot]

Aug 17, 2022 20:59:26 GMT 1 alexdire said:

Aug 17, 2022 20:33:41 GMT 1 King Curtis said:

Did we pay a fee?

We don't normally.

Ok they couldn't believe we signed him on a free transfer.

The gist is the Oxford fans couldn't understand why we thought he could play in the championship.

TBF, a lot of Blackpool fans said similar about Ollie Turton.

The optimist in me says that Turton needed games to get up to speed, game time that Ruffels hasn't had yet, and he may come good just as his opposite number on the right had.

The pessimist however says that lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice. Also, there was reason for patience with Turton because he was cover for the injured Pipa. We already had a good enough player in that position.

In Ruffels' case, he was perfectly adequate backup for Toffolo, to play the odd game here and there. However, as first choice he's currently an obvious weak link.

If we had two Yuta Nakayamas they would both play, with Boyle and Ruffels acting as understudies for them. And I'd be happy with that. But we don't. Currently the only solutions we have are:

* Put Nakayama at left back. Except that means playing Boyle in the centre, who may be an even weaker link, but even if he's not it's putting the weak link closer to our goal.

* Play Ben Jackson there. Schofield doesn't seem averse to giving youth their chance, but Jackson - for all that he's looked good in preseason friendlies and B Team games - didn't by all accounts pull up any trees either at Bolton or Doncaster. Also as we saw with Schofield 18 months ago, young players often need introducing gradually and then pulling out of the firing line. We didn't have a viable alternative to Schofield and so he had to stay in when he desperately needed the break. I'm not saying Ruffels is as bad an alternative as Pereira was (far from it!), but the principle is there, that you need a strong option to shore things up when the youngster needs pulling out of the limelight).

* Aaron Rowe. Defensively he gives me the heebie-jeebies and I'd rather see him higher up the pitch (notwithstanding the fact that we have other options there), but he has played at wing back and would be a decent attacking option. It's still a makeshift alternative though, and wasn't considered a viable option on the right - where he's arguably stronger.

Given the squad we have, Ruffels is our best option IMO. We need either a new left back or a new left sided centre back so we can move YN to left back. I'd prefer the former.

Ruffels may yet come good, just as Turton did, but we're relying on a lot of gambles all being successful this season and this one seems like an unnecessary one.

[boooothy]

Can you imagine if Danny Cowley was still manager and we kept signing the likes of Ruffels, Turton, Boyle, Mahoney just because they were free and crossing our fingers they’d be good enough.

Them cliche filled interviews about men and processes would have been comedy gold. Then he’d eventually gat sacked for chinning Bromby for signing unwanted freebies that no other Championship club even considered.

[incognito]

Aug 17, 2022 21:17:48 GMT 1 Jimuano said:

Aug 17, 2022 16:49:27 GMT 1 alexdire said:

After Wembley I spoke to a Town fan and his Oxford United supporting mate. The Oxford fan said nobody could believe we'd bought Ruffels. They said he was nowhere near championship levels.

My best mate is an Oxford fan, he says Ruffels was used as a midfielder there for the most part rather than a defender/ wingback, and was a solid, no frills league one player/ 3rd choice championship squad player at best.

He did start out as a midfielder, but he played 135 games at left back over his last three seasons there.

We brought him in as an inexpensive senior professional to provide squad depth until Jackson / Headley are ready. With Toffolo leaving he is now getting an opportunity to show whether or not he merits extending beyond the end of his contract next summer. He's not got off to the best of starts, but he also hasn't had anything like the assistance from Lewis O'Brien (or Sinani further ahead of him) that his predecessor enjoyed.