Donald Love

[Redalert1970]

I know this might upset a few fans but can you please lay off Donald Love

The guy might not be the best player we have ever signed but he's captain and wears the Morecambe shirt

I for one will support the lad while he wears the badge and I'm sure he's trying his best

[black morse]

I might be wrong but the only thing I remember anyone saying is that they prefer Cooney who can cross better than Love. Hardly enough to warrant 'lay off' him surely. The whole idea of this forum is that all can give their opinion as they see it.

[Gone_Shrimping]

I might be wrong but the only thing I remember anyone saying is that they prefer Cooney who can cross better than Love. Hardly enough to warrant 'lay off' him surely. The whole idea of this forum is that all can give their opinion as they see it.

It's mainly on the dreadful Facebook page for MFC that there is a lot of what you can only call hate for Donald Love.

For me he is no worse than Cooney and has had some tough players to mark like Barry Bannon who is just class.

[SEASIDECLARET]

Hi, I don’t follow people on face book, I don’t look at it, and in fact I don’t really understand it. However, I am not sure it is particularly relevant to bring it to the attention of people on shrimps voices who dont really single individuals out for criticism, they are 99% of the time very supportive. I really thing you should address your comments to the face book users, not the good folk of shrimps voices

[Keith]

My criticism of Love is simply that I think defensively, he and Cooney are similar, but Cooney is a better crosser of the ball, so offers more going forwards. I certainly don't have a problem with Love, and he gives 100% commitment, which is all we can ask. If I didn't think he was giving everything he had, then it would be different.

[BerlinWaller]

I might be wrong but the only thing I remember anyone saying is that they prefer Cooney who can cross better than Love. Hardly enough to warrant 'lay off' him surely. The whole idea of this forum is that all can give their opinion as they see it.

It's mainly on the dreadful Facebook page for MFC that there is a lot of what you can only call hate for Donald Love.

For me he is no worse than Cooney and has had some tough players to mark like Barry Bannon who is just class.

Gibbo gets skinned just as much as Love but gets a free ride IMO. Not digging out Gibbo as he is one of our better players but there does seem to be a bit of a frenzy whipped up about Love from a few on social media.

[Keith]

Gibbo gets skinned just as much as Love but gets a free ride IMO. Not digging out Gibbo as he is one of our better players but there does seem to be a bit of a frenzy whipped up about Love from a few on social media.

So you are saying Love is one of our better players?

[BerlinWaller]

Gibbo gets skinned just as much as Love but gets a free ride IMO. Not digging out Gibbo as he is one of our better players but there does seem to be a bit of a frenzy whipped up about Love from a few on social media.

So you are saying Love is one of our better players?

No Keith, clutching at straws there I am afraid. Good try though.

You better start ringing for back up.

[Keith]

Gibbo gets skinned just as much as Love but gets a free ride IMO. Not digging out Gibbo as he is one of our better players but there does seem to be a bit of a frenzy whipped up about Love from a few on social media.

So you are saying Love is one of our better players?

No Keith, clutching at straws there I am afraid. Good try though.

You better start ringing for back up.

So, Gibbo gets skinned as much as Love, and Gibbo is one of the better players, but Love isn't. That's all according to you.

So what does Gibson do, that Love doesn't, that sets them apart?

[BerlinWaller]

I think any full back playing in this league will get skinned often due to high calibre attackers they come up against. That is just football. Love and Gibbo have to attack as well as defend so there will be times where the winger/attacker gets in behind them. Agreed?

I like Love. He is combative and aggressive. He is limited in his attacking play but decent defensively. He made a great last ditch clearence yesterday. Is he captain material, i am not sold on that yet. The system isn't helping him but he goes about his job well. I say Gibbo is one of our better players because he is good on the ball, he is athletic and oozes a bit of class. He can play a number of positions to a good standard. I don't think Left wing back suits him and like I say, he has been skinned a few times. Didn't they hit the post and score from pull backs from our left hand touch line yesterday?

[Little Shrimp]

Love has surprised me. Shrewsbury fans said he was a sturdy reliable defensive full back who got a nosebleed past the halfway line. He's basically been the opposite. He's very good technically and is quite often playing a part in creating what chances we do create, but a big liability at the back. Can't fault his commitment but positionally he can leave a fair bit to be desired, as we've seen with teams very easily getting in down our right. Also disappointing how he sometimes panics with the ball and just hoofs a poor aimless ball forward when he's better than that. Frustrating thing is that he doesn't really fix one of the major problems Cooney had (switching off defensively), and I feel DA has backed himself into a corner making him captain and consequently very hard to drop.

Gibson is defensively very good and his tackling is utterly superb. Also very good with the ball at his feet, which is why DA has been using him at CDM. I think his main issues are athleticism (he's admitted this himself that he's not the most naturally athletic) and just generally not having much of an instinct to get forward. He's a smart player who can generally use his game intelligence to compensate defensively, but doesn't have much drive to get forward which is important as a wing back.

[RapidShrimp]

Gibson is defensively very good and his tackling is utterly superb. Also very good with the ball at his feet, which is why DA has been using him at CDM. I think his main issues are athleticism

There’s absolutely no reason Gibson should be playing in the midfield. He is woeful there. And to make matters worse, Derek used Jacob Bedeau as a left back to cover that flank defensively, yet this is Gibson’s best attribute - playing in a back 4 so there isn’t as much space in behind him! Awful decision-making from Adams.

[Little Shrimp]

Gibson is defensively very good and his tackling is utterly superb. Also very good with the ball at his feet, which is why DA has been using him at CDM. I think his main issues are athleticism

There’s absolutely no reason Gibson should be playing in the midfield. He is woeful there. And to make matters worse, Derek used Jacob Bedeau as a left back to cover that flank defensively, yet this is Gibson’s best attribute - playing in a back 4 so there isn’t as much space in behind him! Awful decision-making from Adams.

I think that's a bit harsh on Gibson. He struggled there initially no doubt, but after getting to grips with the positioning etc a bit more then I think he's done ok there. Has some good attributes for the role in his ability to handle the ball well in tight spaces, good tackling skills, decent in the air and has a good pass on him. I also thought Bedeau did quite well at left back, which wasn't too surprising given his abilities.

All that said, I don't think Gibson CDM and Bedeau LB is exactly ideal. Shaw's injury has made it tricky. The most viable alternative was probably dropping Bedeau/Delaney, having Gibson at LB and brining McLoughlin into midfield alongside Fane. I like McLoughlin and would be happy to see him given a shot, but also I get why DA wanted a more reliable presence on the ball alongside Fane.