Before the season I felt we had great cover for our wings, with 4 wingers and to backs that can play there if need be, then the Murphy's too! never thought the need be would happen! Can't be many clubs who loose 3 wingers like we did!
My guess would be that we either look to bring in a winger of equal/higher calibre than we currently have, before selling Bennett in the summer, or perhaps look to bring someone in on loan for the rest of the season. Still seems odd to me though as we'll most likely have Snodgrass back by January, Pilks mid-late January, and Bennett perhaps by the end of February. Would still rather we were looking for a Wes replacement, or another box-to-box midfielder, so we could have a midfield three of Howson-Fer-X and whenever two went forward the third could hold back. At the moment I wouldn't trust Johnson to go forwards, or Wes to hold.
Hasn't Bennett just signed a new contract DH? I'dprefer an ACM who can also play on the flanks if needed.
You've got a point there, yes. Someone who could play anywhere in an attacking midfield 3 would be a better option too, agreed.
I think we really need another natural left winger. With regards to Bennett I'd love us to try and convert him to a wing back. Would make us so much more dangerous down the right.
Bennett as a wing back would be good, I think we could use him and Olsson in a 3-5-2, which would let us pair RvW and Hooper, and keep Howson, Fer and Tettey/Johnson/AN Other in midfield.
It would but I doubt we'd ever play it. I'd love to see: ........................Ruddy ..........Martin....R Bennett..Bassong E Bennett......Fer.....Howson.......Olsson .....................Snodgrass ..................RvW....Hooper With plenty of like-for-like subs (Pilks could be any of the front three, Whittaker for E Bennett, etc)
Why? We have enough who can play wide, Pilkington, Murphy, Snodgrass, Redmond, Hoolahan, Snodgrass, Olsson, even dare I say it Bennett is supposedly a wide player of some sort. What we don't have is a genuine attacking central midfielder who can pass. You start saying someone who can play wide as well then you end up watering down the skills we do need.
Simply in terms of cover. I'd definitely want the player to be more comfortable centrally, but being able to cover wide in an emergency would be handy. Howson can't do it, Hoolahan is ineffectual wide.
Well I think you should just allocate so many players to certain positions, doing what you say would not be so bad if we were a passing side, the trouble is the way we play focuses on specialist wide men. If the injuries all happened centrally then we'd be after more central players because there is certainly less cover there than wide.
Carrabuh, I agree with you that we're not exactly light on wide player but we always look better when we can attack down both wings. The issue on the left is we only really have Pilkington go plays there naturally. He also is incapable playing a full season as I've heard he has some chronic issues which he has to play through. I'm sure we're in the market for an upgrade to play on the left. No doubt Bennett will become surplus to requirement over the summer unless he can adapt yo playing as a wing back, which as I've said before, I'd love to see. Murphy is really in need of some time in the championship which I hope he'll get if we bring someone in. I've also heard that we are looking for another CB.
I actually think we look much much better when we attack down the middle and don't use outright wingers at all.
Priority for me is also a centre back. Then a central midfielder, preferably advanced. I'm not sure why Hughton said a winger was the priority, but I think it's probably press speak
I was wondering that. It seems the obvious answer to say we're after a winger when we clearly have an injury crisis in that department. Keeps the media happy, they can now link us to any wide player in Europe, and it doesn't risk annoying any fit members of the squad. Coming out and saying we want an attacking central midfielder isn't going to do Howson or Hoolahan's confidence a lot of good.
I see there is a lot of talk about Steven Taylor being available for loan. Would anyone want him here? Some of us want a new CB and the Newcastle connection could make it easier for Hughton to bring him here, but would he be an improvement on what we have?
I wouldn't necessarily say he's better than what we already have, but I'd possibly take him as cover. There's areas of the team I would rather strengthen though (i.e. AMC and /or a winger if we've still got injury issues).
City are attacking more down the centre in recent games, possibly because Pilks and Snods are missing. Both Fer and Redmond tend to cut in more than go wide and cross, but, IMO, you need both to prevent the opposition from packing the penalty area. I agree that the priority is an ACM, but preferably one who has good movement and is capable of scoring goals as well as making them. Hoolahan has the skills, but not the goals. Howson has both, but needs to work on his through passes, which are essential for strikers like RvW and Hooper.
