Steven Naismith

[Dithering Dougie]

It depends how Martinez wants to play it. One thing is for sure, people can't moan if he starts, like they did when he came on for Besic last week. No one can deny he has earned his place in the starting 11

Oh boy are you in for a surprise..

 

[Haston]

Oh boy are you in for a surprise..

Haha nah it won't be a surprise, I'll rephrase 'people shouldn't moan'

 

[meagher94]

Drop a player?

He came on as sub didn't he?

You just don't leave out a player who's in scoring form like that. That's the best we've ever seen him play, he gets the next game at least. If he's utter crap vs Swansea, then he becomes droppable again.

 

[4737carlin]

Depends if Roberto wants to use the same tactics vs swansea that he did against Chelsea really.

Well some said that about Southampton and the City game but Roberto stuck with the 11 that demolished the saints, so pretty sure he will stick with the side that beat Chelsea, side and not the starting 11.

Besides all this talk about benching him but there isn't a player to start ahead of him anyway, so he will be starting.

 

[Haston]

Love the threadmark, reading the pre-threadmark comments has made me smile

 

[tim cahill]

Well some said that about Southampton and the City game but Roberto stuck with the 11 that demolished the saints, so pretty sure he will stick with the side that beat Chelsea, side and not the starting 11.

Besides all this talk about benching him but there isn't a player to start ahead of him anyway, so he will be starting.

I'm not saying he should be dropped but of course there are players who could start ahead of him. Mirallas, deulofeu and Lennon are all good players who could slot in easily.

 

[4737carlin]

I'm not saying he should be dropped but of course there are players who could start ahead of him. Mirallas, deulofeu and Lennon are all good players who could slot in easily.

Possibly mate, but you only need to have a player slot in when there is a problem with that starter, such as player out because of suspension or injury that type of thing. Thankfully we have three great players on the bench that would walk into a few sides in the Premier League, been a long time since we had that luxury.

 

[davek]

Woe betide us if Naismith is down as a starter now. The common denominator in our better start this season has been Cleverley in, Naismith out.

Last season we struggled with Naismith playing constantly. He's not a player for this system and Martinez did exactly the right thing by benching him until it was needs must. Martinez needs to show some character now and continue with that logic. The three behind Lukaku at the weekend should be chosen from Mirallas, Barkley, Kone and Lennon. With Coleman likely to miss out Lennon is going to need to start and give Stones (probably) some help; the central berth has to go to Barkley and I'd give Mirallas the nod on the left, as he sounds like he's got some appetite back and knows he cant turn it on and off or he'll be out of the team. Naismith comes on in the later stages if we need him.

Three against Chelsea yada yada. There's no room for sentiment. Dont arse around with the system.

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

The comments in here about him being an "average footballer" make me laugh.

I assume people DO know that nobody who plays for us is an "average footballer", right?

 

[tim cahill]

The comments in here about him being an "average footballer" make me laugh.

I assume people DO know that nobody who plays for us is an "average footballer", right?

What they mean is average premiership footballer.

 

[tim cahill]

Possibly mate, but you only need to have a player slot in when there is a problem with that starter, such as player out because of suspension or injury that type of thing. Thankfully we have three great players on the bench that would walk into a few sides in the Premier League, been a long time since we had that luxury.

Or if you want a bit of pace, skill or width.

 

[blue4eva77]

The comments in here about him being an "average footballer" make me laugh.

I assume people DO know that nobody who plays for us is an "average footballer", right?

The comments about him being average make me laugh too mate... agreed

He is below average

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

What they mean is average premiership footballer.

Even if that is true, that's not a reason for us to be "looking to move him on ASAP" and some of the other stuff that gets posted here.

We are not in a position where we can have an entire squad made up of exclusively above average players - there's only a couple of sides in the league who ARE potentially in that situation.


Plus, even if we say he's average in terms of talent, he puts in a far above average shift, and there are times in every season when that is needed.

Not to mention that he has a knack of scoring against the big sides.

Would I want him starting every week? No. Should he be shipped out? No.

Valuable member of the squad.

 

[jazzy]

Woe betide us if Naismith is down as a starter now. The common denominator in our better start this season has been Cleverley in, Naismith out.

Last season we struggled with Naismith playing constantly. He's not a player for this system and Martinez did exactly the right thing by benching him until it was needs must. Martinez needs to show some character now and continue with that logic. The three behind Lukaku at the weekend should be chosen from Mirallas, Barkley, Kone and Lennon. With Coleman likely to miss out Lennon is going to need to start and give Stones (probably) some help; the central berth has to go to Barkley and I'd give Mirallas the nod on the left, as he sounds like he's got some appetite back and knows he cant turn it on and off or he'll be out of the team. Naismith comes on in the later stages if we need him.

Three against Chelsea yada yada. There's no room for sentiment. Dont arse around with the system.

Agree with that but if Coleman doesn't make it I'd play Browning at RB.

Keep JS where he belongs

 

[meagher94]

Woe betide us if Naismith is down as a starter now. The common denominator in our better start this season has been Cleverley in, Naismith out.

Last season we struggled with Naismith playing constantly. He's not a player for this system and Martinez did exactly the right thing by benching him until it was needs must. Martinez needs to show some character now and continue with that logic. The three behind Lukaku at the weekend should be chosen from Mirallas, Barkley, Kone and Lennon. With Coleman likely to miss out Lennon is going to need to start and give Stones (probably) some help; the central berth has to go to Barkley and I'd give Mirallas the nod on the left, as he sounds like he's got some appetite back and knows he cant turn it on and off or he'll be out of the team. Naismith comes on in the later stages if we need him.

Three against Chelsea yada yada. There's no room for sentiment. Dont arse around with the system.

Nobody is saying Naismith is suddenly this amazing footballer but he's primarily a goalscorer and when goalscorers find form you don't drop them, it's just stupid.

Naismith takes Kone's place against Swansea for me. Kone has been much improved but his best work on Saturday was in our own box defending corners, which is great but we don't need that against Swansea as much as we did against Chelsea.