The biggest issue LOB has is he gives the ball up far too easily and too often.These were all features of his game previously, and they showed up at senior level. What also showed up was his inability to nail basic passes under the slightest of perceived pressure.
We've swapped two guys who can kick for a guy who won't attempt difficult kicks unless he's front of goal, and a guy who really needs a lot of work on his kicking.
These are both strange accusations to throw around once you consider Fisher and Newman, particularly Fisher.
I think the biggest issue O'Brien faces is conserving energy in how he attacks and how he commits to helping the team recover after a turnover. I think he cooks himself during games and some stats readily drop away as a result.
Wouldn't expect him to start racking up contested numbers if he fixed that, but I would expect him to be halving and assisting contests. He was our only midfielder really registering in terms of defensive contest stats.
You can't carry blokes like that come finals.
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