Came to us to be a midfielder because he didn’t like being shoehorned into RB by Gobinson at Oxford IIRC.
Ended up playing nearly all his games for us in defence and the majority at RB! He gave of his best and his main strength were the surging runs upfield. As for a weakness, it was a lack of positional sense and concentration at times when defending.
On balance for me though he leaves holding his head high and I wish him all the best in his future career, thanks for the memories Sean.
if he is "coachable" I would liked to have seen him given more time with a decent & experienced coach like (ex RB) Holden to work on the flaws in his game - but who knows maye they didn't get on & the move was good for both parties - I am sorry to see him go though
Good luck to him. Seemed to be well liked around the squad. Never really had a position. Quite liked him on the right side of a back three. But ultimately he wasn’t quite good enough. Probably not good enough to play midfield but better than a Right back - if that makes sense?!?!
I'm not surprised that both Sean Clare and Albie Morgan have got decent contracts from Wigan and Blackpool respectively as they are decent League 1 players. I assume we are going to get better players for our top 6 challenge than Sean and Albie.
A decent squad player but wouldn't have gotten in either Powell or Bowyer's promotion teams. That said hope it works out for him at Wigan and maybe they're having to cut there cloth accordingly for once at this level if he's been given the no 7 shirt.
Of course he wouldn't but Alonso and Marshall wouldn't have got in our, average at best, team last season either.
Hopefully we will have players in our squad that hardly play because the person in front of them nail downs the position and play the majority of the game.
Shows how far we have fallen when Clare is seen as a loss. Came across as a decent fella, but could not defend and had no impact on the occasions he played in midfield. The vast majority of players from the past 2 seasons have to be moved on and we start again
Sorry to see him go. You could tell from the word go he liked to be adventurous and when possible get forward…..he was clearly unhappy at continually playing fullback and it showed. Good luck fella.
I think a lot of the comments on here indicate the way versatility can be used in fans' minds to re-imagine a lot of footballers. It's like a non-injury version of 'we really miss x player, it'll be fine when he gets back'. We thought that about Inniss and Famewo when they both got injured, but when they came back we couldn't recapture the defensive form. We've heard it about Sessegnon all season; because he's right footed people lose their minds about him playing on the left but he'd be Cafu if he was on the right.
With Clare his best position is always the one he's not playing in. We signed him to play as a central midfielder and he was terrible. So bad. He was dropped by Adkins and then Jackson didn't fancy him at all there. In his first two games Jackson brought him on late in central midfield for Elliot Lee to help close down a game we were winning. He came in at RCB against Burton after we had yet another injury crisis; no Lavelle, no Pearce, no Matthews, no Gunter, all of whom were initially ahead of him in the CB spot. More accurately, Matthews and Gunter were the RCBs who were initially tasked with pushing out to RB in possession and pulling narrow out of it. I don't blame Clare for this but part of our stagnation under Jackson came when we stopped doing that shape change well and became rigid in our shape, which arguably was because we were no longer playing a natural RB in that spot.
Clare did well initially and kept his place from there, (though looking back at some of those matches you do have to question if Jackson had lost his mind. We lost 1-0 to Shrewsbury with a back 3 of Purringon, Pearce and Clare, with Souare and CBT at wingback. We had injuries but Jesus Christ, was Jacko ever a slave to the shape!) but the cracks started to show. We conceded so many goals in the channel between Clare and an Adam Matthews who had completely lost interest in playing football. A tough bit to patrol when you've got limited support but it did show Clare's inability to concentrate through a full move and learn from mistakes. He wasn't going to be a centre back.
Garner signed Egbo, who got injured immediately and Clare was our right back. He didn't do badly and it's where he's been most effective for us but it's still clear Clare isn't really a right back and also fairly clear he'd really rather not be there. He's better at RB because he doesn't have to be aware of threats coming from the subs' bench to his right but he still forgets that players move after the first pass or after the corner is struck. So many times an opposition player scores and it's Clare trailing behind him looking annoyed and confused because he had him covered 5 seconds ago and then decided that was job done. Not a right back.
But then you always hear that he'd be alright elsewhere. When he was playing CM for us people pointed out he'd done well at RB for Oxford. When he was at RCB people said the same thing. Now he's had a season there people wanted him to stay as backup at CM or RCB. The fact is if you have Sean Clare for an extended period in any position you're going to be dissatisfied with the result. His greatest strength is that he's managed not to catch the Charlton injury curse, but it also means you'll always see him playing multiple games and it will not be good. He would have done better if you'd played him in the other position though. Or the other one. Or the other one..
You make it sound as if he had an extensive run in midfield. I can only remember a couple of games at most, I bet it was less than 10/ no -5 games at very most of 93. I agree that his best position was never established, but he has a good range of passing, good accuracy of pass, faster pace than most in Div 1, good shot when given the chance, good interplay eg Morgan goal. Yep there were the errors in marking in set pieces. Overall a very talented player-frustrating that we couldn't find the role for him.
Sad to see him go. Thought he was more than ok & attacked just as well as he defended. Quite often he was the catalyst for our wins, especially at home. Moved quickly upfield with the ball & helped out JRS no end. One game near the end of the season (might have been the last home game) he brought us to life in the 2nd half & was unlucky not to score.
Could do worse at right back....esp if we dont spend any money. Remember, there are plenty of Matt Penny's around when you go for a freebie.
Will be forever remembered for his piledriver at the JS end. Wish him well.
Forgot how good he was at Old Trafford. One of his best games for us
Yes he was sat on his derriere by the winger in the first 10 mins! That was a laugh, but the issue is more whether he could help us out of Div 1, playing against the lowly teams, not whether he was international standard (which the answer is ...no)
Attepted the 5th most tackles lol. How desperate can you get? I'm waiting for the stat that he got skinned or dozed off more often than 75% of L1 defenders.
Would love to understand how WhoScored define “concentration”…
I liked Sean a good player at our level and it seems a club who played a level higher would agree.
He made mistakes in games but so does virtually all other players especially when you play in league 3.
Good luck to him, likeable player who may not of got what he wanted at our club.
Im sure we have a replacement lined up, maybe not.
We did, Dabo was going to sign but appears he failed his medical.
Can anyone ITK on CL confirm this ?
Fankaty Dabo was fit enough to play 116 League games in the last four seasons. As we all know he played in their play-off game at Wembley where after the penalty miss he has been sent to Coventry 🤦🏻♂️
Cafc have had players pass who have limped into the medical. When Chuks Aneke can pass a medical with various issues not once but twice when signing for Cafc then it's difficult to understand the criterion for a Yes or No.
I thought the bar was set so low for Cafc medicals that a limbo dancer would struggle to get under !
Dabo will sign for a club soon after passing a medical, that you can be sure of. May have to be a caveat for insurance purposes.
I liked Sean a good player at our level and it seems a club who played a level higher would agree.
He made mistakes in games but so does virtually all other players especially when you play in league 3.
Good luck to him, likeable player who may not of got what he wanted at our club.
Im sure we have a replacement lined up, maybe not.
We did, Dabo was going to sign but appears he failed his medical.
Can anyone ITK on CL confirm this ?
Fankaty Dabo was fit enough to play 116 League games in the last four seasons. As we all know he played in their play-off game at Wembley where after the penalty miss he has been sent to Coventry 🤦🏻♂️
Cafc have had players pass who have limped into the medical. When Chuks Aneke can pass a medical with various issues not once but twice when signing for Cafc then it's difficult to understand the criterion for a Yes or No.
I thought the bar was set so low for Cafc medicals that a limbo dancer would struggle to get under !
Dabo will sign for a club soon after passing a medical, that you can be sure of. May have to be a caveat for insurance purposes.
Doctor, Doctor, I want a second opinion 🤷🏻♂️
Medicals aren’t really pass/fail, they are an assessment of the medical risk. Then it is still up to the club to decide whether that risk is worth the fee/wages. Could just be that with Egbo already quite injury prone, we had a look at the medical and there was enough doubt to think we’d be better off signing someone who is more robust. Dabo could pass another clubs medical with exactly the same results as ours, they’d just be happier with the risk involved
Dabo was robust enough to play 116 league matches in the last 4 seasons yet Egbo is signed and at 25 years old has played just 62 games in Men's 1st team football. Mainly in the states. The most games Mandela has played in adult football was 83 for Borussia Mönchengladbach's II (second team) Egbo looks decent but definitely doesn't appear too robust.
I agree Nabster that it's an assessment of the medical risk on that given day but it varies from club to club, hence why player's get the red light at one club and a green light just days later at another.
Daughter's Wendy boyfriend always referred to him as "Sean Flair" after his time at Hillsborough. Not sure if Sean thought up that moniker or the fans, but he had really good flashes of pace, skill and effort, interspersed with mediocrity. That said he seemed to me to put in a shift and was available to be picked. Enjoy the Northern Soul clubs.
I think a lot of the comments on here indicate the way versatility can be used in fans' minds to re-imagine a lot of footballers. It's like a non-injury version of 'we really miss x player, it'll be fine when he gets back'. We thought that about Inniss and Famewo when they both got injured, but when they came back we couldn't recapture the defensive form. We've heard it about Sessegnon all season; because he's right footed people lose their minds about him playing on the left but he'd be Cafu if he was on the right.
With Clare his best position is always the one he's not playing in. We signed him to play as a central midfielder and he was terrible. So bad. He was dropped by Adkins and then Jackson didn't fancy him at all there. In his first two games Jackson brought him on late in central midfield for Elliot Lee to help close down a game we were winning. He came in at RCB against Burton after we had yet another injury crisis; no Lavelle, no Pearce, no Matthews, no Gunter, all of whom were initially ahead of him in the CB spot. More accurately, Matthews and Gunter were the RCBs who were initially tasked with pushing out to RB in possession and pulling narrow out of it. I don't blame Clare for this but part of our stagnation under Jackson came when we stopped doing that shape change well and became rigid in our shape, which arguably was because we were no longer playing a natural RB in that spot.
Clare did well initially and kept his place from there, (though looking back at some of those matches you do have to question if Jackson had lost his mind. We lost 1-0 to Shrewsbury with a back 3 of Purringon, Pearce and Clare, with Souare and CBT at wingback. We had injuries but Jesus Christ, was Jacko ever a slave to the shape!) but the cracks started to show. We conceded so many goals in the channel between Clare and an Adam Matthews who had completely lost interest in playing football. A tough bit to patrol when you've got limited support but it did show Clare's inability to concentrate through a full move and learn from mistakes. He wasn't going to be a centre back.
Garner signed Egbo, who got injured immediately and Clare was our right back. He didn't do badly and it's where he's been most effective for us but it's still clear Clare isn't really a right back and also fairly clear he'd really rather not be there. He's better at RB because he doesn't have to be aware of threats coming from the subs' bench to his right but he still forgets that players move after the first pass or after the corner is struck. So many times an opposition player scores and it's Clare trailing behind him looking annoyed and confused because he had him covered 5 seconds ago and then decided that was job done. Not a right back.
But then you always hear that he'd be alright elsewhere. When he was playing CM for us people pointed out he'd done well at RB for Oxford. When he was at RCB people said the same thing. Now he's had a season there people wanted him to stay as backup at CM or RCB. The fact is if you have Sean Clare for an extended period in any position you're going to be dissatisfied with the result. His greatest strength is that he's managed not to catch the Charlton injury curse, but it also means you'll always see him playing multiple games and it will not be good. He would have done better if you'd played him in the other position though. Or the other one. Or the other one..
You make it sound as if he had an extensive run in midfield. I can only remember a couple of games at most, I bet it was less than 10/ no -5 games at very most of 93. I agree that his best position was never established, but he has a good range of passing, good accuracy of pass, faster pace than most in Div 1, good shot when given the chance, good interplay eg Morgan goal. Yep there were the errors in marking in set pieces. Overall a very talented player-frustrating that we couldn't find the role for him.
He got as long a run in midfield as his performances merited. He was terrible against Wednesday (0-0), terrible against Oxford (1-2), terrible against MK Dons (1-2), was dropped for a bit and then was terrible against Bolton (1-4) and terrible against Accrington (2-3). That was long enough for me and it was evidently long enough for Adkins, Jackson, Garner and Holden. With Dobson, who was also terrible up to the point Adkins left, you could see how he might work in another system. With Clare there was absolutely nothing visible there in his appearances. Constantly bypassed, never aware of where his runners were until it was too late, he just didn't know where to be when the ball turned over. That's why he's better further back with the play in front of him. I agree with you, I think there's a lot of talent there but it's absolutely not workable in central midfield. Right of a midfield 4 where his job is to provide balance for an attacking left winger would suit him best I think. I wouldn't really trust him with an overlapping RB behind him though, too much third man running for him to track. He's still relatively young, I think if a good coach can get him to work on his positioning and awareness then he could be a very decent player, I hope that happens for him.
Comments
On balance for me though he leaves holding his head high and I wish him all the best in his future career, thanks for the memories Sean.
he’ll get caught on the ball in midfield
Seemed a decent guy though so wish him well
Good luck at your new club, young man.
The Chuks Aneke affect.
I just hope that Wigan pay their players and staff on time, given their poor recent history - hence their starting the season on minus 8 points.
Who knew they had a Little Black Box at Wigan? Job for Mr Sandgaard Jnr there.
I assume we are going to get better players for our top 6 challenge than Sean and Albie.
Hopefully we will have players in our squad that hardly play because the person in front of them nail downs the position and play the majority of the game.
You could tell from the word go he liked to be adventurous and when possible get forward…..he was clearly unhappy at continually playing fullback and it showed.
Good luck fella.
“Sean Clare played the game of his life against his former team, dominating the mid-field and scoring a brace”!
Can anyone ITK on CL confirm this ?
Fankaty Dabo was fit enough to play 116 League games in the last four seasons.
As we all know he played in their play-off game at Wembley where after the penalty miss he has been sent to Coventry 🤦🏻♂️
Cafc have had players pass who have limped into the medical.
When Chuks Aneke can pass a medical with various issues not once but twice when signing for Cafc then it's difficult to understand the criterion for a Yes or No.
I thought the bar was set so low for Cafc medicals that a limbo dancer would struggle to get under !
Dabo will sign for a club soon after passing a medical, that you can be sure of. May have to be a caveat for insurance purposes.
Doctor, Doctor, I want a second opinion 🤷🏻♂️
The most games Mandela has played in adult football was 83 for Borussia Mönchengladbach's II (second team)
Egbo looks decent but definitely doesn't appear too robust.
I agree Nabster that it's an assessment of the medical risk on that given day but it varies from club to club, hence why player's get the red light at one club and a green light just days later at another.