2021/22 Lucas Digne

[DOMNOLAN]

The cheer and applause from the crowd when he started warming up was phenomenal, love to see it. Big 2 fingers up to Rafael

 

[MACCA75]

I’m pretty sure Mina will be agitating for a move too, I don’t think the Brands players want much part of this.
No coincidence that Digne had the falling out straight after Brands was booted.

 

[Sona]

I’m certainly not defending the decision to bench him yesterday, but I suppose we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes; could be the case that Digne refused to play in case he gets injured and he can’t get his move.

Remembering back to before Xmas when he withdrew late on with “a cold”.

 

[Harryflashman]

I’m certainly not defending the decision to bench him yesterday, but I suppose we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes; could be the case that Digne refused to play in case he gets injured and he can’t get his move.

Remembering back to before Xmas when he withdrew late on with “a cold”.

If he refused to play then it seems like close to insanity and at the very least extremely poor management to waste a spot and put him on the bench .

 

[Del-boy]

I’m pretty sure Mina will be agitating for a move too, I don’t think the Brands players want much part of this.
No coincidence that Digne had the falling out straight after Brands was booted.

He will be next to go in the summer. And to be fair it makes sense. I think Mina is our best defender by some distance. But we as a club can’t afford one of our highest earners to be sat at home 20+ games of the season.

 

[Kev The Rat]

He will be next to go in the summer. And to be fair it makes sense. I think Mina is our best defender by some distance. But we as a club can’t afford one of our highest earners to be sat at home 20+ games of the season.

to go = loan with option to buy yeah?

 

[Zatara]

It's everything to do with ego. Yes, there's the 'we can't afford him to be injured', but in the here he has a responsibility to manage the team and get results.

In any profession, you have to balance accountability and risk and for most level headed people there's a greater risk from a sustained run of poor results.

There's a greater risk to the club, and his tenure, starting with five defenders at home against Brighton, with Coleman at LB and Mason Holgate still in the team.

Let alone Benitez, the club couldn't afford another poor performance last night, but that's what we've got. We can't say Digne would be the silver bullet...

... but it'd be reduced risk and a better chance of producing a result. Look at how he continued to play Rondon and you start to see a pattern emerging.

Digne should have played yesterday as it was an acceptable risk when you consider all the other factors.

If we need to sell Digne to fund the 2 new signings and have offers on the table.

Why on Earth would it be an acceptable risk to play him?

You cant take that risk.

 

[Caolam]

Sad times when Moyes and West Ham are stealing our better players from us.

If only they were “stealing him”, we have gift wrapped him and are presenting him to whoever wants him.

 

[PhilM]

If we need to sell Digne to fund the 2 new signings and have offers on the table.

Why on Earth would it be an acceptable risk to play him?

You cant take that risk.

Rafael himself has suggested there aren't offers on the table. He even openly mentioned his (Digne's) attitude being why he didn't start rather than his fitness.

I get it, we don't want him injured if we do need to sell him. So why put him on the bench? If you're willing to do that, he should (must) be an option if required.

Playing him for ten or so minutes after he moves Coleman back to left back to help win a really important game is for most I suspect an acceptable risk.

This isn't FM. This isn't is where you can save a game and restart. We're in a rut and the only way of fixing that is points on the board, which we didn't get.

Not playing Digne towards the end of the match was negligent if he was available and on the bench.

 

[Caolam]

If we need to sell Digne to fund the 2 new signings and have offers on the table.

Why on Earth would it be an acceptable risk to play him?

You cant take that risk.

Your analysis would be fine if Benitez had taken him out of the squad as soon as an offer came in but he didn’t, Digne was on the bench so therefore available to play and more importantly he hasn’t played in a while. Offers weren’t coming in for him before Benitez dropped him.
Benitez said in his presser that he only wanted players who wanted to play for the club etc.; I would love a game at Goodson, you wouldn’t get a more committed performer than me, unfortunately I don’t have the fitness or more importantly the skill. You need more than commitment. It is the job of the manager to man manage players, to make them want to play for the club, particularly the good ones, not ostracise them and then sell them to your rivals.
A footnote to this sad debacle is the position of DCL, as a player he has now established himself, he has found his goal scoring touch. DCL has reaped the benefits of Carlo’s management, now he sees Benitez selling one of your main sources of goals . DCL sees us now playing 5 at the back and looking to counter, not playing to your strengths in any way, Does he now consider his position given that other clubs are interested in him. If he does fancy a move all he has to do is tell Benitez he doesn’t like him and he gets dropped and sold.
Benitez may have been able to drop international quality players back in his Liverpool days when he had more international quality to take their place but at our club one of the main jobs as manager is to get the best out of what you have. It would appear, if yesterday is anything to go by, that he is prepared to get the worst out of what we have so that he appears to be strong and in charge.

 

[Zatara]

Your analysis would be fine if Benitez had taken him out of the squad as soon as an offer came in but he didn’t, Digne was on the bench so therefore available to play and more importantly he hasn’t played in a while. Offers weren’t coming in for him before Benitez dropped him.
Benitez said in his presser that he only wanted players who wanted to play for the club etc.; I would love a game at Goodson, you wouldn’t get a more committed performer than me, unfortunately I don’t have the fitness or more importantly the skill. You need more than commitment. It is the job of the manager to man manage players, to make them want to play for the club, particularly the good ones, not ostracise them and then sell them to your rivals.
A footnote to this sad debacle is the position of DCL, as a player he has now established himself, he has found his goal scoring touch. DCL has reaped the benefits of Carlo’s management, now he sees Benitez selling one of your main sources of goals . DCL sees us now playing 5 at the back and looking to counter, not playing to your strengths in any way, Does he now consider his position given that other clubs are interested in him. If he does fancy a move all he has to do is tell Benitez he doesn’t like him and he gets dropped and sold.
Benitez may have been able to drop international quality players back in his Liverpool days when he had more international quality to take their place but at our club one of the main jobs as manager is to get the best out of what you have. It would appear, if yesterday is anything to go by, that he is prepared to get the worst out of what we have so that he appears to be strong and in charge.

Under Ancelotti we had Digne + James to assist.

Soon we may have Mykolenko, Patterson, Gray, Townsend, Gordon to assist.

Btw just because a player is on the bench doesnt mean theyre "available to play". As i said, hes chucked him on the bench in a forlorn attempt to keep his value from plummeting further.

 

[Egil Olsen]

Your analysis would be fine if Benitez had taken him out of the squad as soon as an offer came in but he didn’t, Digne was on the bench so therefore available to play and more importantly he hasn’t played in a while. Offers weren’t coming in for him before Benitez dropped him.
Benitez said in his presser that he only wanted players who wanted to play for the club etc.; I would love a game at Goodson, you wouldn’t get a more committed performer than me, unfortunately I don’t have the fitness or more importantly the skill. You need more than commitment. It is the job of the manager to man manage players, to make them want to play for the club, particularly the good ones, not ostracise them and then sell them to your rivals.
A footnote to this sad debacle is the position of DCL, as a player he has now established himself, he has found his goal scoring touch. DCL has reaped the benefits of Carlo’s management, now he sees Benitez selling one of your main sources of goals . DCL sees us now playing 5 at the back and looking to counter, not playing to your strengths in any way, Does he now consider his position given that other clubs are interested in him. If he does fancy a move all he has to do is tell Benitez he doesn’t like him and he gets dropped and sold.
Benitez may have been able to drop international quality players back in his Liverpool days when he had more international quality to take their place but at our club one of the main jobs as manager is to get the best out of what you have. It would appear, if yesterday is anything to go by, that he is prepared to get the worst out of what we have so that he appears to be strong and in charge.

This is not the kindergarden, but a professional football club. In top sports, you are dependent on all the margins you can find, and if a player does not believe in the vision, or has his head somewhere else, then the performance will drop. It also has a negative impact on teammates, and an unhealthy culture will eventually develop. You just can not accept this as a manager.

Lukaku e.g. was not in the squad in the match against LFC, why do you think? Do you think Tuchel will give long motivational speeches for Lukaku so that he will play for the club? Do you think Tuchel will suddenly play with two strikers, so that Lukaku is happy?

Then I have to remind you how we played most of the season last year under Ancelotti. We had mostly 10 players inside the penalty area, who were defending themselves.

 

[Toffeepot]

I’m certainly not defending the decision to bench him yesterday, but I suppose we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes; could be the case that Digne refused to play in case he gets injured and he can’t get his move.

Remembering back to before Xmas when he withdrew late on with “a cold”.

I was sick at the same time, it happens every week with some teams in the winter..RB just used it as ammo in his power play

 

[Toffeepot]

Your analysis would be fine if Benitez had taken him out of the squad as soon as an offer came in but he didn’t, Digne was on the bench so therefore available to play and more importantly he hasn’t played in a while. Offers weren’t coming in for him before Benitez dropped him.
Benitez said in his presser that he only wanted players who wanted to play for the club etc.; I would love a game at Goodson, you wouldn’t get a more committed performer than me, unfortunately I don’t have the fitness or more importantly the skill. You need more than commitment. It is the job of the manager to man manage players, to make them want to play for the club, particularly the good ones, not ostracise them and then sell them to your rivals.
A footnote to this sad debacle is the position of DCL, as a player he has now established himself, he has found his goal scoring touch. DCL has reaped the benefits of Carlo’s management, now he sees Benitez selling one of your main sources of goals . DCL sees us now playing 5 at the back and looking to counter, not playing to your strengths in any way, Does he now consider his position given that other clubs are interested in him. If he does fancy a move all he has to do is tell Benitez he doesn’t like him and he gets dropped and sold.
Benitez may have been able to drop international quality players back in his Liverpool days when he had more international quality to take their place but at our club one of the main jobs as manager is to get the best out of what you have. It would appear, if yesterday is anything to go by, that he is prepared to get the worst out of what we have so that he appears to be strong and in charge.

He also 'wanted to be at the club' before Benitez too, but RB trying to turn the fans on him with that repetitive phrasing.

 

[Toffeelover]

I’m certainly not defending the decision to bench him yesterday, but I suppose we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes; could be the case that Digne refused to play in case he gets injured and he can’t get his move.

Remembering back to before Xmas when he withdrew late on with “a cold”.

If that is so should not even be on the bench.