v Bristol City (a) - 4/11/25

[cesus]

28 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

You have hit the nail on the head with Hedges. The criticism has always been unfair. I’ve seen him be called useless and worthless to have on a pitch. Couldn’t be any further from the truth. You can tell he’s the type of player you would love to have on your side - he isn’t obnoxious, he’s not a trouble maker, he works hard and he’s a tidy player too

One bad injury spell aside, he’s been ever present. Must be approaching his 150 apps for us now - all for less than £200k. In his time at the club he’s been ever present under 4 different coaches. In that time, we’ve been a top half club every season except for 23/24, which coincidentally he was injured most of that season.

In no way saying that was the root cause of our issues that season but it does show his importance to this squad. 

I spoke about his importance during the summer and got shot down, my simplistic view is to not view his attacking capabilities (if a manager did he wouldn't play). He stops a full back being overrun and is always willing to be an outlet for the ball, being an outlet to take and hold the ball is far more of a skill than people think.

[bluebruce]

11 minutes ago, cesus said:

I spoke about his importance during the summer and got shot down, my simplistic view is to not view his attacking capabilities (if a manager did he wouldn't play). He stops a full back being overrun and is always willing to be an outlet for the ball, being an outlet to take and hold the ball is far more of a skill than people think.

In the summer he was being looked at as a winger. So assessing his attacking abilities was very much relevant. A defensive winger can serve a purpose occasionally but mostly you need one that can attack, if you haven't got a dire or highly attacking full back behind him.

He looked much more comfortable last night playing as a wingback.

[Exiled_Rover]

48 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

You have hit the nail on the head with Hedges. The criticism has always been unfair. I’ve seen him be called useless and worthless to have on a pitch. Couldn’t be any further from the truth. You can tell he’s the type of player you would love to have on your side - he isn’t obnoxious, he’s not a trouble maker, he works hard and he’s a tidy player too

One bad injury spell aside, he’s been ever present. Must be approaching his 150 apps for us now - all for less than £200k. In his time at the club he’s been ever present under 4 different coaches. In that time, we’ve been a top half club every season except for 23/24, which coincidentally he was injured most of that season.

In no way saying that was the root cause of our issues that season but it does show his importance to this squad. 

I think it just shows how far our standards have fallen.

[RoversTilliDie]

I was saying last week to a fellow Rovers supporters, we need a bit of momentum, before the international break. You can't ask for more, a hat trick of wins, before the Derby game.

[Hasta]

4 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

You have hit the nail on the head with Hedges. The criticism has always been unfair. I’ve seen him be called useless and worthless to have on a pitch. Couldn’t be any further from the truth. You can tell he’s the type of player you would love to have on your side - he isn’t obnoxious, he’s not a trouble maker, he works hard and he’s a tidy player too

My problem with Hedges was when I thought we were close to a squad capable of top 6, I felt Hedges was one of the players who we should have been able to replace and improve upon. He was one of the weaker links when he started.

Now I feel we have a squad that should be bottom half, Hedges becomes a valuable cog. He's one of the few proven Championship players we have.

At no time has he been as useless as some would have you believe, although if you'd have asked me my opinion on the train back from Preston a couple of years ago I'd have given you a different comment !  I think some people gave up with him that night.