Simon Francis - Carlisle

[Beefy]

So do all of our back four. So did Spinner and Sodje for that matter.

It's not the fact that he makes mistakes it's the fact that his mistakes tend to be so damned sloppy and are generally caused by him just not paying attention.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Francis can defend. That's the frustrating thing about him. He's got all the attributes to de a good defender. In fact as a player he's one of the most talented we've got. Which makes him all the more frustrating.

I think it's concentration. When he was right back earlier in the season he was deservedly dropped because he made mistake after mistake. He actually played better at left back where he had to think about what he was doing rather than playing the game on auto-pilot.

For me, he's a centre-half and a very good one at that. In the middle he's more involved in the game so is less likely to nod off and he's got the ability to play the ball out of defence because he's got a very good range of passing. But as a right back, he's not for me I'm afraid.

Spot on, as per usual, there Beefy. You could compare Francis to Titus Bramble. Both have the attributes to be terrific defenders, but their concentration lets them down. Its not happening as much for Bramble, and hopefully Francis can learn to take this part of his game away. At our level, its a similiar case with Peter Clarke.

Francis adding an attacking threat we have lacked from right back, and Tilson's decision to bring him in was spot on. There are some games that will suit Francis and some will suit Sankofa. Sankofa hasn't done a lot wrong, but with Carlisle looking to take a point, we needed the attacking threat of Francis.

I fully expect Sankofa to return at right back on Friday, with Francis partnering Clarke.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

So do all of our back four. So did Spinner and Sodje for that matter.

It's not the fact that he makes mistakes it's the fact that his mistakes tend to be so damned sloppy and are generally caused by him just not paying attention.

Not to the same extent. Spinner made one mistake every three games, maybe two at most.

If I was an opposition manager I'd target Francis and Clarke and you could almost tell your defenders to try and pick those two out rather than your strikers.

 

[Reg Martin]

Simon Francis reputation always seems to improve when he is out of the team. When he comes back he usually resumes his role as everyone's favourite scapegoat before too long.
If he played to his full potential consistently then he would be an automatic choice but as others have pointed out he does have a bad habit of averaging one major howler per game - as did Peter Clarke earlier in the season though his form has improved immensely.
I don't think Sankofa has done at all badly during his spell in the team - he and Clarke were outstanding at ColEwe. As with most of our current squad he is still very young and will have good spells and bad spells at this stage of his career and, like Francis, needs encouragement rather than people getting on his back.

 

[sufc_tom]

That touch Francis done to control the ball from Clarkeys hoof was just immense, just got the ball to the ground without it bouncing or nothing, pure class that was!! Unlucky with his free-kick though

 

[BlueBeard]

An awful lot of people thought we were completly clueless when we made Francis MOTM on saturday, it would seem that the Sun the NOTW and Chris Phililps are also clueless cos he has been made MOTM by all of us