Following on from Taffy's article about our central defence set up, let's have a few opinions and reasons for them. Based upon what you've seen so far this season and past knowledge of those available to Malky to fill the roles, what do you think?
Hudson/Gerrard for me but I still think Turner could be great signing but really needs game time to get back to the player he's reputed to be, despite Darcy's form for Wales I'm still not sure of his best position at the moment
That's a tough call Sparkey. I've gone for yesterday's pairing as I thought Hudson had his man in his pocket the whole game by getting to the ball first and Turner was quite solid and is getting stronger as his fitness levels improve. We seem to have so much cover at Centre Back with Gerrard, Blake (who does so well for Wales) and Keinan whom I thought played well last year but can't get a look in this season. However we are still leaking too many goals and that leaves Malky with the option of bringing in different faces if we don't improve.
That is such a tough question to answer. I think Keinan is a decent shout for a place, Gezza for his passion which unfortunately overflows into unnescessary cards,Darcy for his flexability and Hudson for his level headed approach to the game and ariel power but on recent form the best pairing is Gezza and Huds even though they were there for the Brighton game.
Surely Hudson & Gerrard...looked solid all season......we've conceded too many since Turners' come in. Also agree with Irish....I thought Keinan was excellent last year ('till the play-offs, anyway)
My vote went to Hudson & Turner. In the early games Gerrard got away with quite a few mistakes and too many silly bookings.
Rhondda! Agree about the bookings m8 especially the stupid push on the ref booking,it's a side of his game he needs to control.
I left Keinon out of the equation to avoid too many choices and he seems to have fallen out of favour with MM anyway. My vote would go to the present pairing of Huds and Turner. It would have been surprising if putting them together for the first time a few games ago hadn't caused a few misunderstandings initially. They need game time together and could prove a solid presence in the middle as the season moves on.
Sparkey. I agree that the two of them could gel well together, given time. Do we have time? Well it depends how far we want to slip behind the trail blazers this season. Results have been kind to us so far. For me Hudson has looked out of sorts this season in comparison with last season. There's no doubt in my mind that Darcy is a better alternative. He has never let us down and I believe that he should slot back into the team asap. Who with? Well I can't make a claim for him and Turner because it is untried. Darcy and Hudson doesn't seem to work too well so my vote goes for Darcy and Gerrard playing together. They've never let us down, as a pairing, in the past have they?
My vote went to Gerard and Blake the main reason we have tried most other combo's and all have had problems. If Blake donât deserver a shot in his current form then he might as well pack his bags now you donât keep Rooney quiet one week then sit on the bench the next.
I went with Gerrard and Blake. Until someone can prove otherwise it's been the most versatile combination. Gerrard / Hudson are solid so long as there's no pace against us and they don't get turned. I think Keinan and Gypes need to be moved on. They've done their bit for the club but don't appear to have a future. We could replace them with TWO WIDE MEN!!! (No more Parkey jokes please)
For me it's yesterday's partnership. Gerrard looked like a sack of spuds to me. However,I feel for Darcy. Gerrard's got to stop playing stupid balls.
Hudson / Turner for me. I think we have had one of those patches where we ship some goals in but we will settle down again. I am not sure that we are off the pace either as mentioned above. The table suggests otherwise. Let Turner settle in and focus on some wide creative players first.
Why not horses for courses? Big strikers = Hudson and Turner, smaller mobile strikers like Leeds will be next weekend then Blake for Turner. Maybe a bit unsettling but the game today is squad based and rotation is the norm at many clubs. Hudson plays well for 85 minutes then seems to switch off briefly and - bang or bang bang as last Saturday and we concede - both goals came from his area. Malky said their 2nd was actually an og after the ball bounced of one of ours. Gezza remains a useful guy to cover for injuries or off the bench and is dependable in the air but his distribution is poor and he can lose his head hence 4 bookings already this season. I think we could see Gezza and Darcy (if fit) v. Burnley tomorrow.
Malky has already talked about Darcy being injured so not getting a fair crack of the whip this season. His Welsh form suggests we could do worse than trust him and Turner. I say Turner because whoever we chose Malky has paid the money and I fully expect this season to be Turner +1. Does Hudson have a decent transfer value? I believe he earns pretty serious money for a centre half. We have plenty of cover maybe he'd be a way of freeing up some cash and bringing in an attacking alternative. I think a fair few Championship clubs would be interested if Hudson became available.
