Chester wasn't shunted. He played elsewhere because we had no one else available in those positions. When Rosenior was fit, and before the midfield became so **** he had to throw Chester in there to sort it out, he just played Gerrard and Chester and left Hobbs on the bench.
Chester will start against Blackpool regardless of whether we sign Ayala or not. He's been the standout player of our pre-season in defence, if we get Ayala then it needs to be up to him to dis-lodge the 2 occupants of his position, he shouldn't just walk into the team. If Chester or Hobbs make a few mistakes or just play poorly, then Ayala comes in and the player who is dropped needs to wait fo their turn again. This way we have proper competition and whoever gets dropped can have no complaints.
I got the impression Nigel was just waiting for the chance to play Hobbs but didnt want to drop anyone without justifiable reason. Once he could move Chester aside Hobbs was in and was staying put. I said a couple of weeks ago that I expect Hobbs to be captain this season and a few people scoffed, but the comments made by Nigel on Humberside on Friday night only seemed to echo what i said. He's teacher's pet so it'll be Hobbs plus one and i can only see Chester moving aside because of his perceived adaptability. Oh, and Chester really didnt 'sort the midfield out', he was shocking when playing centre mid and if Harper performed anywhere near as bad he'd have been hounded out of the ground. Dont get me wrong, this isnt an anti Chester comment - just that he's clearly a centre back and shouldnt be moved to accomodate others simply because he's prepared to 'have a go' in another position.
Chester's definitely been the pick of our players in pre-season. He's been outstanding. Koren runs him a close second. Cairney, Brady, Dudge, Hobbs and Fryatt looking ace too.
Chester's been the best player, Cairney's got a lot of attention but i think some of that is down to the surprise element (though most of it's because he's deserved the praise!) The others you mentioned have all been great but i feel Rosie deserves a mention there! OK he was injured for the first 2 but i can't help but think we all don't give him enough credit anymore as we're so used to him doing what he does!
Rosie is head and shoulders the best player at the club. As good as Chester is, I think Liam is our only player who could walk into most Premier league teams tomorrow and not look out of place.
Rosie certainly wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League, but as highly as some on here rate Chester, he's not yet at that level. Hence the £200-300k transfer to the Championship. (I think that figure's about right !?!)
My comment about Hobbs dropping out was based on Hobbs being injured, if all fit it will be interesting
Chester has potential, Rosie has it now. How great is it to be debating which of our players would look good at the highest level?
No he's not Prem level yet, he's barely proven at this level yet even though we're all confident he's more than capable of playing in this division. The fee was £300k but i wouldn't take less than treble that now. In fact if Matt Mills is worth £5m i'd say Chester's worth at least £2m [NSFW]I feel silly for putting that last bit, we all know Matt Mills isn't worth £5m! What was i thinking?!?! [/NSFW] EDIT: Just realised Mills was £5.5m (cheers westhulltiger), in that case stick another £250k on Chester's valuation
Well if Ayala is signed up in time then why not play all 3 ? use the Macclesfield game to experiement with a 3 - 5 - 2
I don't see the risk in playing a 3-5-2 its just a formation that in my view we have no need of playing, and a formation that you can't just play for one game and then you have nailed it. Thats daft, a formation like that needs week possibly months to hone and nail on. Nigel all pre-season will have being drilling in the way he wants to play he can't suddenly change that because we have brought in Ayala.
