Harrys not the quickest obviously my concenr is against a nippy forward. If he mistimes one slightly it'll be a straight red with the way he goes in.
Bruce is generally an excellent defender, it's a shame people pre-judge players based on their previous career in lower leagues or whatever, I've seen a lot of our fans mention Quinn as being similarly poor when the reality is he has developed into an very good player
I don't agree that Quinn has developed. He was terrific the day he first played for us and remains terrific in my eyes.
The simple fact is Quinn is one of our best players and certainly our best midfielder and if he had a better name people would be talking about him being a £5m+ player. If we want one of our central midfielders to recycle the ball, keep possession, take the pressure off through finding a teammate and be a focal point for starting attacks then - on form - he is a much better bet than Huddlestone. After Jelavic he's the first name on the teamsheet for me at the minute. So the second name, then.....
I don't think Quinn is a great premier league midfielder. I think he's a very consistent and reliable player who will never let you down when you need him to step in, but he has no cutting edge at this level and the only thing about him that stands out is his endless running and ginger hair. And the beard.
I agree he's not a "great" premier league midfielder, however he's the best we've got. I said I rate him as a £5m plus player, a "great" premier league midfielder would cost £25m plus.
I agree with Kempton and Hattie, he's a very reliable, hard working and confident footballer, but he's more one-footed than Cairney and he rarely actually manages to create anything, he'd maybe be better off playing a more defensive role, he's very tenacious and he rarely loses the ball.
I'd like to see Quinn in that deeper midfield role that THudd keeps playing in. Harries defenders, breaks up play, gives us an option in defence rather hoofing the ball up the field, giving the rest more time to actually create something.
I don't, I think Livermore, Diame, Ramirez and Huddlestone (even if he is off form currently) are all better than him. I also think Meyler can offer more, but he is Quinns opposite in terms of consistency. Nevermind being consistent one game after another, Meyler could pull off a perfectly weighted defence splitting pass on his weak foot one minute, then scuff a 4 yard short pass straight to an enemy player the next.
To clarify, I did mean the best available midfielder we have. My mistake. I agree Diame is potentially better (judging by his fleeting appearances thus far).
Id still rather take livermore and an on-form Huddlestone and meyler. The key there is 'on-form' and we haven't seen an on-form huddlestone all year and only see an on-form meyler once a month. West Brom if we end up with a midfield 3 i'd have meyler, quinn and livermore but i can't see where the chances are coming from.
Maguire was excellent against Arsenal, really impressed me. It's only one game so far though, we can't get carried away. Like Chazz says, there is a risk of red cards eitu the way he goes in. He has a bit to learn on that front. The hard tackles against Arsenal were perfect, but against Everton he made two crazy challenges. Not dangerous but just ridiculously late.
I remember that he made two though I only remember one of them. The one he got booked for was taking one for the team, it was a good call, Barkley (I think it was) was breaking through. Cynical rather than rash.
But at the moment Huddlestone isn't creating chances anyway. I agree with your midfield three because at least you can guarantee that they'll press the ball and pressurise the opposition into making mistakes, and from mistakes come chances. I'd also drop, not rest, Davies for Maguire too. Yes I hear what's been said about the possibility of him making the odd rash challenge that could hand the advantage to the opposition, but then what's worse, rash challenges from a rookie who's still learning or poor/non existent challenges from your captain? Plus, with the odd surging Jobson-esque run out of defence he's also more likely to create goal scoring opportunities than Davies' current instinct of passing it back to his keeper. If we're going to play on the front foot then let's use the players that are capable/most probable of playing in that way.
