I have to be fair to Bazunu bar the odd hiccup his performances have been improving and his long distribution is really very good, I think people are starting to see it. Having Bednarek and THB in front of him definitely helps though… Current impression of Manning is that he is useful going forward but a bit of a liability defensively, not aided by Martins use of full backs though, KWP gets caught out at the back too.
Yeah same. Edozie was doing great. I think if we'd have got a second goal he'd have come on instead of Fraser. The more I think about it, a front three of Edozie - Sulemana - Adarma would absolutely terrify defences. Behind them Charly - Downes - Stuie
Nah, I really like Charly as a false 9. He's not suited for a midfield role as he's too attack minded and leaves us exposed. But I loved the way he dropped deep last night to pick the ball up and link up midfield and attack. I think Martin has finally found the way of getting him into his team.
Issue is that we miss that central attacker. I agree that I like how he drops into the space and can find the through ball to the wings, but really leaves nothing centrally. Stewart presumably will be starting and playing as the central striker, so it will be interesting to see how we tweak it to play with a striker who presumably won’t drop back into midfield. There is also an argument that at home to Rotherham we won’t need to have the striker dropping deep as we should be attacking far more than when we played Leeds or Stoke
Sure. But the pace of Sulemana at number 9 is a weapon that needs experimenting with again. Was excellent there against Liverpool. Whether that's at the expense of Charly or not is up to Russ. I don't think Smallbone offers a great deal defensively anyway.
He did last night! One great block and he also tracked the runner to prevent him getting a free header on goal at one point. I thought he was great defensively TBH.
Harold Wilson once said that " a week is a long time in politics." Well it seems that three days is an awful long time in football, from being relegation candidates to becoming play-off contenders.
Standard stuff for a midfielder. To be fair Smallbone has had two solid games now I admit. But he's still lightweight and I think Charly would offer just as much at the back. I'm not against Smallbone. Just think Charly is a level above.
Charly doesn't track back though so I'm not sure how you can say that? We don't want Charly defending anyway - that's not his game at all.
Agree. Our best team on paper when all are fit for me is: Stewart Sulemana Alcaraz Edozie Downes Charles Manning Stephens THB KWP Baz But happy with stu in at 10, arma has been good on the right, smallbone been good wherever in midfield, Fraser is good defensively and more to come IMO. We seem to have good options that can fill a variety of roles. If we can just keep being more solid defensively and keep working hard there is the makings of a good championship team.
But Charly is equally wasted as a false 9. As much as he doesn't track back, he isn't going to be doing the things a typical striker does either. There's so much more he could do with an actual 9 in front of him.
Yes - I wonder if Matt Targett is available for loan in January, assuming Larios or Meghoma aren`t fit or ready yet.
Let's get Timo back on loan. Only played 25 minutes in 7 league games for Newcastle so far. And Trippier is practically undroppable at the moment.
