Anfernee Dijksteel

Muttley

Muttley

Well-known member
I like Tommy but I thought that the introduction of Dijksteel at half time gave the big lad a chance to show what he's got.

I think that he is a better RB than Tommy Smith, there I've said it and his combination with Jones is excellent. Good to see both of them back and doing their jobs.

What a time to be a Boro fan!
 
There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If Tommy is injured, AD wil get his chance whatever. My thoughts from another thread:

There's lots I prefer about Dijksteel. He's a better athlete and, for my money, a technically better player than Smith.

Where I think Smith is better is mentally. AD does have the odd lapse; Smith is more consistent and reliable, but I think AD is capable of the higher standard of play.
 
Dijksteel did do well. He deserves a start before the season finishes and make a judgement there on whether he can perform better than Smith.

For what it’s worth I think Carrick will play Smith in the play offs, he’s been massive for him.
 
I've always loved Dijksteel, he was absolutely immense under Warnock.

He's one of those players who, if he stayed fit - he has all the attributes to be a premier league player.

Take nothing away from smith, his leadership/experience/commitment has been invaluable lately - and i hope he's ok for the play offs, but AD is a better player.
 
Muttley said:
I like Tommy but I thought that the introduction of Dijksteel at half time gave the big lad a chance to show what he's got.

I think that he is a better RB than Tommy Smith, there I've said it and his combination with Jones is excellent. Good to see both of them back and doing their jobs.

What a time to be a Boro fan!
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I always felt Jones played his best football when he linked up with Dijksteel and Crooks, they seemed to have a little triangle going and tortured teams.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I always felt Jones played his best football when he linked up with Dijksteel and Crooks, they seemed to have a little triangle going and tortured teams.
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They did, but we started playing terribly remember and it wasn’t working anymore and Mr famous CV didn’t have a plan b.
 
Dijksteel is excellent, until he isnt.

By that i mean he can be the best player on the pitch for 30 minutes and then stand and watch someone run off him at the far post for an easy goal. If he improves his concentration when defending he'd be a guaranteed starter.

He also needs to be a bit nastier for me. Cant remember who mentioned the stat, either warnock or wilder, but think he went a full season without getting booked. Cant be having that from a defender in the championship.
 
MickaelDebevePhenomenal said:
Dijksteel is excellent, until he isnt.

By that i mean he can be the best player on the pitch for 30 minutes and then stand and watch someone run off him at the far post for an easy goal. If he improves his concentration when defending he'd be a guaranteed starter.

He also needs to be a bit nastier for me. Cant remember who mentioned the stat, either warnock or wilder, but think he went a full season without getting booked. Cant be having that from a defender in the championship.
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I think that’s his issue, concentration.

I meant to mention above the TS deserves his place at RB.
 
Frozen Horse said:
There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If Tommy is injured, AD wil get his chance whatever. My thoughts from another thread:

There's lots I prefer about Dijksteel. He's a better athlete and, for my money, a technically better player than Smith.

Where I think Smith is better is mentally. AD does have the odd lapse; Smith is more consistent and reliable, but I think AD is capable of the higher standard of play.
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Yeah this is it for me. Smith is a leader, a talker. That does carry a lot of weight. It is important.

But Dijksteel is a much better footballer. He's had runs of games in the past where he's been very consistent. If he can get back to that he'd be my first choice certainly.

A lot of players looked bad under Wilder. Dijksteel hasn't really had much of a chance under Carrick due to the form of Smith. I've said before on here that never meant Carrick didn't rate him. Was a cracking 45 mins.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
We relied too much on our right hand side at the time and it was easy to stop us playing. Man mark Jones now and it creates space for the others. We seem to have good footballers all over the park that create goals.
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Agree, that’s the joy of playing how we do now under Carrick. We aren’t one trick ponies and all players across the front line are fluid and we have threats from allover the place.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
We relied too much on our right hand side at the time and it was easy to stop us playing. Man mark Jones now and it creates space for the others. We seem to have good footballers all over the park that create goals.
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Bang on, said the same in a Isiah Jones tread. Last night was probably the first time in a season and a half he hasn't been double man-marked. Teams cant afford to leave a gap anywhere as they know we have threats elsewhere to exploit it.
 
Looked very rusty for the first 10 minutes, which was understandable.

But as the match went on, he improved, and some of his marauding runs were great to watch.
 
I get that with Smith you get the experience and the leadership but I do love to watch Big Anf do his stuff, a couple of the runs he made in the second half were just as we remember him and by making those runs he made space for Jones (I guess he would do the same for Forss).

I'd pick Dijksteel but I do understand why Smith has been getting the nod.
 
TS has been great, i believe AD has the potential to be a very good right back but if im picking a team id pick TS all day long purely because of his maturity and concentration. AD going forward is technically better, fitter, quicker etc but as alluded to previously TS has that knack for being in the right place at the right time. I think under Carrick though, AD will improve his game and i hope he stays here next season whatever division we're in because i definitely feel he could be our no1 RB for a number of years going forward.
 
MickaelDebevePhenomenal said:
Bang on, said the same in a Isiah Jones tread. Last night was probably the first time in a season and a half he hasn't been double man-marked. Teams cant afford to leave a gap anywhere as they know we have threats elsewhere to exploit it.
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I think one of the pundits mentioned that it stretched the pitch for us.

Gives sides a dilemma, you can play a high line and try and suffocate our play makers like Hackney, Chuba, Howson, McGree and Ramsey (if playing) but if Jones and Archer are playing it leaves acres in behind for them.

Or you can sit deep but then our ball players have much more time and space and you end up facing a long 90 mins of backs to the wall stuff.

It's a great balance.
 
Frozen Horse said:
There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If Tommy is injured, AD wil get his chance whatever. My thoughts from another thread:

There's lots I prefer about Dijksteel. He's a better athlete and, for my money, a technically better player than Smith.

Where I think Smith is better is mentally. AD does have the odd lapse; Smith is more consistent and reliable, but I think AD is capable of the higher standard of play.
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I think this a big part of some players games. Players like Howson are dependable but not spectacular. You'll get an 8/10 out of him almost every week. Some players are capable of 10s when things are going well and 3s when they aren't. Smith provides that tighter spread of 6-8/10 every week. Dijksteel can be stellar but he also has games where he just makes a lot of mistakes. Some managers prefer the reliability of a Smith, particularly if you already have a load of other players in your team that have that variation.
 
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