Greg Docherty

I’m quietly confident Docherty will still be getting games next season. 

He was better last season than in the promotion season. He suits playing in a crap team that doesn’t have the ball much.

I’m sure he realises that technically he is not as good as some other players. I’m sure he also realises that he has attributes that more technically gifted players may not have; namely fitness, willingness to graft and off the ball intellect.
Last year, particularly towards the end of the season those attributes were vital. He strikes me as a very good professional who recognises his place in the squad and the role he has and he’s happy to do whatever benefits the club.

The best role for him is to captain from the bench.  Substitute as a player to bring on when you need defensive grit when protecting a lead.  If he starting regularly then we didn’t upgrade the midfield the way we needed

wmcf123 said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

I’m quietly confident Docherty will still be getting games next season. 

I’m quietly confident that guarantees us bottom 4

I doubt he’s going to start loads of games but he does offer something none of our other midfielders offer and I think Jones will often want him on the bench. I’d be shocked if he’s chopped.

bromleyjohn said:

There have been too many games where he has been anonymous but agree that the last 5-10 games were his best. The problem with that is that next season could be a repeat of this for where he starts playing well for the last 5-10 games. That is not good enough.

No surprise his best performances were when it came to crunch time, and grinding out results he’s definitely shown he’s elite at that side of the game so can easily do a job last 20 mins off the bench to see out a result kind of like Anderson in L1 but definitely not who we need starting if we want to progres

He was our only midfielder who was able to read the game and was able to be in the right place, at the right time, to snuff out danger. He struggles when he tries to be expansive.
He can be the current team's Keith Jones, as long as he has the right players around him to whom he can give the ball to start attacks.

I like Doc immensely as a person. As a footballer, he is fine. His limitations are fairly obvious, but he gives us some of the best off-the-ball work we've seen in a while. Perfect for a game or situation where we are under the pump, and this season that was quite often, but if we are going out with the expectation of dominating teams, he does not give us the impetus we need in possession to properly pressure a defence. In effect, he would become a bit of a passenger.

This said - we are a lower-table side as it stands. And we will be up against more teams that will finish above us than below us - again, as it stands. Doc should absolutely be an important part of our squad, but I want us to make signings that mean we can dominate teams we want to finish below us rather than playing the same low block, counterattack, win second ball stuff that we tend to focus on.