Marquis up front on his own..

[RoversAlias]

"Strange, what some folk refuse to see in front of their eyes."

An ironic statement from someone trying to claim they've never seen Marquis dive. He is a regular diver, has been booked for it several times in a Rovers shirt and along with Rowe is well known for being willing to go to ground remarkably easily in attacking positions.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I'm not "trying" to claim anything. I'm only saying what I've seen. Rowe, I'll grant you. I've seen him five in a regular basis and I hate it. As I would if I saw Marquis diving. I don't want to win like that.

[since-1969]

Opinions are the very blood of what makes forums work , Marquis is today’s topic , I’m sure it will be DF again if results go tits up but there like me a Supporter who thinks Marquis IS going through i hope a temporary blip in his finishing and effectiveness over all . But I suppose he can do NO wrong in others eyes ( perhaps spec-savers need to improve their efforts too) .

[Bentley Bullet]

BB

Once again you're being inconsistent. You criticise Marquis for (as you say) not doing "doing his job legitimately". But you've called time and time again for our players to cheat.

Which one is it?

My two pennorth is that I don't see Marquis diving. I can't recall ever seeing that. I do see him drawing fouls and being a little less that straight with his positioning to do so. I thought at first that he'd done that for the first penalty shout on Saturday but watching again, I think he's been badly treated. He had every right to try to shield the ball and he's been flattened as he did so. By the way, those of you who claim that he can't hold the ball, have a look at that move again. Inch-perfect control of a 50 yard pass with a defender 18 inches from him. Immediately onto the attack, riding two challenges and being brought down by a third.  But MFD reckons we'd be better off with the old lass in the row in front of him on inplace of Marquis. Strange, what some folk refuse to see in front of their eyes.

I've never said I like cheating. What I have said is that as long as referee'a are conned by it it will continue, and as long as it continues I don't want my team to be disadvantaged by not continuing to do it also. I actually want no cheating at all, but from all teams, not just mine!

Now, the problem with Marquis cheating is that he's crap at it. Even the most dupable officials don't fall for it. That means that we're actually losing out by cheating, while our opposition gains by it.

[BillyStubbsTears]

You're not being consistent BB. Earlier you were complaint that he used non-legitimate means. Now you're saying that you'd be ok with that but your complaint is that he's not very good at it. I still don't know what you're actual grouse is because it seems to change with every other post.

[Bentley Bullet]

Well, you're certainly consistent, BST, in respect of your forum misinterpretations being on a par with your pitchside observations.

[Beerseller]

BST - I admire and respect most of what you say (there's obviously a "but" coming) but, I suspect what's happening here is that Marquis is guilty of getting some split second decisions wrong - as we ought to expect of someone at this level.

I watched the match on TV on Saturday and I do remember the occasion when Marquis could or should have shot at goal.  Yes, there was a player coming towards him but the shot at goal seemed a much better option - as all 3 of us sat watching it screamed at the TV together.  Instead he passed it - a hospital pass which he seemed to hit from hope rather than intent as there was no-one at all to take advantage of it.  Now maybe he knew he could do no more in that situation so he just passed it hoping there was  a runner and maybe out of the corner of his eye he saw red and white hoops, but it was a shooting chance all day long and in the absence of a definite runner for his pass it was the wrong option.

Is that a reason to slate him as not wanting to shoot in general?  No, clearly not.  But it is a reason to say that this season he's finding that he's having to think more quickly and as a result there will be more instances when he gets it wrong.  All this actually shows is that he's about at the top of his level.

I'm not trying to take anything away from his overall game on Saturday.  He had a thankless task playing alone against a strong and experienced defence - never a scenario where he was going to have half a dozen clear chances at goal.  However, he did make a couple of errors and its possible that one of those errors foiled one of his best goal scoring opportunities.  He's a league one player, he's going to make those kind of errors all his career.  If he was any better, he wouldn't be here.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Beerseller. I pretty much concur with all of that. As you say, of course he doesn't get every decision right. But he doesn't do badly overall, as even a cursory look at the highlights shows, nevermind seeing much more at the match that never makes it onto the videos. I'm genuinely bemused by the level of stick that he's got on here from some people.