Ben Sheaf (data)

[Reesielad]

Here is how important to us Ben Sheaf is, the abuse that this young lad gets from some of our support is ridiculous, He’s one we need to sign permanently imo as he is only going to get better and is constantly one of our better performers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he receives Championship interest come the Summer.

If you look at BA analytics on twitter the comparisons are great

Credit: https://twitter.com/blades_analytic/status/1220624014487572481?s=21


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[jmt23]

I can’t believe some can’t see it, he has just as much potential as Whiteman, and possibly slightly better for the team given he can play in defence also.
I think he has been the better of the two this year, by a long way.
If we could, and have the chance to sign him, we simply have to do it.

[Jonathan]

The fact that he gets any abuse is despicable and embarrassing. He’s a football player trying his best for our club. What gives anyone the right to shout abuse at him from the stands is beyond me!? Aside from which, Ben Sheaf is a good young player learning his trade. Of course he’ll make mistakes as he’s still developing, but he has lots of potential. If he’d come through our own youth programme everyone would be raving about him. We should be looking to sign him on a permanent contract and accelerate his development with us.

[scunny rover]

Good player,

[Filo]

I’m not sure he gets any abuse, what he does get though is critisism for giving the ball away often, cheaply and in dangerous positions. I think abuse is the wrong word entirely

[RoversAlias]

Just to lay out the quote from BA Analytic, who put this data together and is an impartial observer on Sheaf. And somebody employed to do this by a top League One side:

""Siri show me definition of a ball progressor and deep lying playmaker"

This is ridiculous. Passing lots, forwards, with precision, to areas of progression and defensively brilliant too"

The criticism Sheaf gets is absurd to me. Rovers fans just must have a scapegoat at all times and now May is gone, it has fallen on Sheaf. Go back and watch our two goals against Bristol Rovers, without Sheaf we don't score either of them.

He isn't perfect, few 21 year olds are. But he has bags of talent, contributes a lot to our play every week and could be a hell of a player in a few years time when he has a bit more experience.

[IDM]

People notice and comment on any mistake, so on balance the criticism may come over as too much..

Happens all the time with our players, where their overall contributions seem to be missed.

[nortikorner]

Filo
correct

[Metalmicky]

Yep - good young player - one that I would hope Rovers would seek to extend beyond the end of the season or sign.....

... although I have to admit I haven't a clue what that spiders web tells me...

[5 on Tour]

So I have seen no abuse directed towards him but people are entitled to criticise. If someone has a poor game with, for example Passing, we shouldn’t mention it? We shouldn’t say anything negative about it?

So we sign a new striker and he scores a hat-trick on debut. Over the next 5 games he then misses 10 open goals without scoring. We shouldn’t be negative about those misses because he scored that hat-trick? Give it a rest.

If a player has a bad game, either overall or in a specific way, we are all entitled to point it out and discuss it.

If people on here can’t cope with realism about an aspect of poor play then off to knitting they should go!

[Metalmicky]

So I have seen no abuse directed towards him but people are entitled to criticise. If someone has a poor game with, for example Passing, we shouldn’t mention it? We shouldn’t say anything negative about it?

So we sign a new striker and he scores a hat-trick on debut. Over the next 5 games he then misses 10 open goals without scoring. We shouldn’t be negative about those misses because he scored that hat-trick? Give it a rest.

If a player has a bad game, either overall or in a specific way, we are all entitled to point it out and discuss it.

If people on here can’t cope with realism about an aspect of poor play then off to knitting they should go!

What a bizarre post...

You give a hypothetical scenario and then end it with..... Give it a rest   

...........and knitting???

[RoversAlias]

5 on Tour, your post takes it to the extremes. There's justifiable criticism of performances, sure, and as I said in my first post Sheaf is not perfect. He makes the wrong decision too often, sometimes he is caught out where he shouldn't be, but he does a lot of good and for me, just in my observations both at games and online, people are very quick to criticise him for one error, more so than they are most other Rovers players. Nobody would ever jump on Coppinger's misplaced passes like they do Sheaf's, yet they both make the same sorts of errors in that department.

Some of those who sit around me in the South Stand jump on him straight away. "Get him off", "he's useless", "he can't do owt right". I hear these things fairly regularly if Sheaf misplaces something, but the same fans are then very reticent to praise him when he does a defence-splitting through ball or drops the ball on Taylor's toe from 50 yards away.

It's unjustified and the stats and analysis back it up.

[IDM]

So I have seen no abuse directed towards him but people are entitled to criticise. If someone has a poor game with, for example Passing, we shouldn’t mention it? We shouldn’t say anything negative about it?

So we sign a new striker and he scores a hat-trick on debut. Over the next 5 games he then misses 10 open goals without scoring. We shouldn’t be negative about those misses because he scored that hat-trick? Give it a rest.

If a player has a bad game, either overall or in a specific way, we are all entitled to point it out and discuss it.

If people on here can’t cope with realism about an aspect of poor play then off to knitting they should go!

No you’re missing the point..

A player can make a couple of mistakes or poor passes in one game, and these can be highlighted afterwards.  But there often isn’t a balance, and the negatives get exaggerated..

[mushRTID]

I’m not sure he gets any abuse, what he does get though is critisism for giving the ball away often, cheaply and in dangerous positions. I think abuse is the wrong word entirely

Totally agree, plenty of our fan base love to exaggerate absolutely everything.

Iv never heard any abuse.

Good player I hope we sign him, I think we will.

[Jonathan]

To be clear (I would’ve thought it was obvious but anyway...) with reference to abuse, I’m not talking about online discussion or evaluation of contribution on an internet forum. I’m talking about the audible shouts from the crowd along the lines of “f**k off Sheaf (or other player name) you useless ****!” That’s what I find unacceptable to a player wearing our shirt. And if you don’t hear it, then you must be in an area of the stadium I’ve not found yet, so fair play to you.

[DonnyOsmond]

And I got called a WUM the other day saying he could replace Whiteman.

I’m not sure he gets any abuse, what he does get though is critisism for giving the ball away often, cheaply and in dangerous positions. I think abuse is the wrong word entirely

You're right in that he loses the ball more than Whiteman. Sheaf 10.41 losses per90, 41.7% in his own half, Whiteman 8.71 per 90, 33.6 in his own half. However that will improve with experience as Whiteman has loads more experience than Sheaf. It has to be noted that Sheaf does win the ball a lot more than Whiteman too, Sheaf makes 21.34 duels a game compared to Whiteman's 12.88. Sheaf also wins on interceptions and recoveries.

Yep - good young player - one that I would hope Rovers would seek to extend beyond the end of the season or sign.....

... although I have to admit I haven't a clue what that spiders web tells me...

He's in the top 10% of players based on his data when it comes to interceptions, winning the ball back and making progressive forward passes. What you'd want from a player in the position he plays.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

There were some shouts of 'f*ck off back to Arsenal" from a couple of blokes when his pass was cut out yet, when he completed another good pass within seconds they said nothing.

I agree, he is a good player and with the same time frame to develop as  Whiteman has had, there's no reason why he couldn't develop in to just as valuable player.

[IDM]

That first para echos what I hear..

Plenty of red-faced alcohol fuelled supporters having a go when they see something going wrong, but barely showing any encouragement when something goes well..

[DonnyOsmond]

In the top 3 CMs for most progressive passes per 90 in League One. Whiteman is 1st, Sheaf is 3rd. Walsh from Coventry is 2nd.

[Metalmicky]

There were some shouts of 'f*ck off back to Arsenal" from a couple of blokes when his pass was cut out yet, when he completed another good pass within seconds they said nothing.
 

That will be the gerrit forrad crew...

[DonnyBazR0ver]

It's the same with the nervous ninnies when we pass it across the back line.

Bloke in front “Agghhh, ffs!"
Me" It's alright! “
Bloke "No it isn't!"
Me "We've still got the ball! “

At that point Halliday game zooming past us, laid it off to Taylor who cut inside and got a shot off.

For us to play at our best the passing and movement needs to be incisive and with that there's an element of risk but you have to take those risks, and Sheaf all too often is criticised for doing the right thing when a pass is intercepted. In the last game Whiteman played a couple of blind passes that went astray and nobody said owt. OK, Whiteman has credit in the bank, but we should also allow the same tolerance to Sheaf and the other players.

SO'D was big on encouraging players to take responsibility and not to fear making a mistake. I'm sure DM sings from the same hymn sheet so I wish fans would openly encourage that.

We'll see that tonight and hope that the fear factor doesn't outweigh the bravery on and off the ball.

[5 on Tour]

So I have seen no abuse directed towards him but people are entitled to criticise. If someone has a poor game with, for example Passing, we shouldn’t mention it? We shouldn’t say anything negative about it?

So we sign a new striker and he scores a hat-trick on debut. Over the next 5 games he then misses 10 open goals without scoring. We shouldn’t be negative about those misses because he scored that hat-trick? Give it a rest.

If a player has a bad game, either overall or in a specific way, we are all entitled to point it out and discuss it.

If people on here can’t cope with realism about an aspect of poor play then off to knitting they should go!

What a bizarre post...

You give a hypothetical scenario and then end it with..... Give it a rest   

...........and knitting???

Hahahahahahaha. My post is bizarre? This coming from you? Christ.

I get the morse code alphabet out for most of your posts. They’ve got so many dots in them I thought it was a coded message asking for help!

[dickos1]

He’s been much better than whiteman over the last half a dozen games but whiteman gets no criticism

[IDM]

I thought Whiteman got plenty of criticism after the Coventry game..?

Let’s face it, our players aren’t going to be at their very best every game, otherwise they would be playing at a higher level..

[5 on Tour]

I think, certainly on here, the criticism is fairly even. Whiteman and Copps have both had some stick on here recently for bad games.

Big Tom and Dieng are probably the only 2 to have not had much this season. Everyone else has had some.

[RobTheRover]

Filo
correct

Actually, its not correct.  He gets abuse.  Have a look at some of the comments on the facebook page about him.  "Shit" seems to be the word many are happy to throw at him without any consideration of his contribution to our successes.  These fans need to have a good hard look at themselves.

[Metalmicky]

So I have seen no abuse directed towards him but people are entitled to criticise. If someone has a poor game with, for example Passing, we shouldn’t mention it? We shouldn’t say anything negative about it?

So we sign a new striker and he scores a hat-trick on debut. Over the next 5 games he then misses 10 open goals without scoring. We shouldn’t be negative about those misses because he scored that hat-trick? Give it a rest.

If a player has a bad game, either overall or in a specific way, we are all entitled to point it out and discuss it.

If people on here can’t cope with realism about an aspect of poor play then off to knitting they should go!

What a bizarre post...

You give a hypothetical scenario and then end it with..... Give it a rest   

...........and knitting???

Hahahahahahaha. My post is bizarre? This coming from you? Christ.

I get the morse code alphabet out for most of your posts. They’ve got so many dots in them I thought it was a coded message asking for help!

Don't be silly  ...... the morse code for help! would be  .... . .-.. .--. -·-·--   

[Chris Black come back]

He’s been much better than whiteman over the last half a dozen games but whiteman gets no criticism

This is correct.

Whiteman the main man, Captain, on the big bucks, anonymous in most recent games.

[Colin C No.3]

To be clear (I would’ve thought it was obvious but anyway...) with reference to abuse, I’m not talking about online discussion or evaluation of contribution on an internet forum. I’m talking about the audible shouts from the crowd along the lines of “f**k off Sheaf (or other player name) you useless ****!” That’s what I find unacceptable to a player wearing our shirt. And if you don’t hear it, then you must be in an area of the stadium I’ve not found yet, so fair play to you.

Never heard it loud enough it would transmit to the pitch where we sit Jono.

We’re in the West Stand half way between the goal & centre circle near the away end. Mind you, don’t hear much singing there either. In fact it’s like being on the set of ‘Cocoon’!

[steve@dcfd]

If Sheaf and Whiteman have good games tonight they may really put them selves in the shop window.