Quote Originally Posted by pekduck View Post
Dunfiled works hard. - Agreed
Dunfield is effective? - NO!
Dunfield should be kept in the team? - YES!
Dunfield as starter? - NO!

Dunfield works really heard and had a few converted chances and scored few big goals (by probability and law of average, he will convert some of the chances, but he shanks more chances as we've seen). He does give it all and is a true warrior (keep in the team). He is disruptive to the opposition (tackles hard, will throw the body into challenges, albeit not nimble, but destructive to the play). Unfortunately, he's also disruption to our game flow. He stifles midfield movement with poor first touch, long reaction time, and lack of movement. It's all about opportunity cost, having Dunfield in the starting 11 may see him score a few goals and make some good plays, but the cost of that is: we could have someone else that has way better with movement, first touch and ball control (Silva, Bekkar, Ephraim, Earnshaw for instance). When the likes of Silva, Bekkar, Ephraim, Ecks takes 1 touch to trap/receive the ball, 1 touch to pass it and making movement before/after receiving pass (All of that takes 1 second combined), we see Dunfield takes 1 heavy touch and have to retain control, then looks up to see what he'll do, then have to either back pass or side pass because he was not in position or not making movement into next position (All of that takes 2-3 seconds, and opposition has closed the gap and has time to challenge him), our possession went from active to passive.
Totally agree. At this level, the least you should expect from a central midfielder is to win balls, run hard for 90 minutes and have distribution skills. He's got none of the latter. At best should be a sub.