For me, Cairney should be here as back up for Koren in a 4-1-2-1-2. Koren needs to be in the support role, and he's far better than Cairney at it.
Totally different players. Koren is a driving forward, linking up type of player who gets in the box and joins attacks. Cairney is skillful on the ball but that doesn't necessarily mean he's an attacking player. He rarely goes far beyond the halfway line, he's almost like a holding midfielder in the Gareth Barry or Xabi Alonso mould.
Yep, because he can actually pass a ball people assume he can't tackle or do anything else and is a Geovanni/Koren luxury player that has to play in the hole.
I think rather than being because he can pass people assume he can't tackle because he never seems to actually make a tackle. I don't know why that translates into people assuming he should play in the hole though, he'd be woeful at it. If he's going to play it has to be as a deep lying playmaker alongside a protector. I can't say I've seen Barry play for a while, I think he was still a left back the last time I saw him for more than MOTD highlights, but the Alonso comparison is spot on. I used to use Liverpool's 5 man midfield as the example of how we should use Cairney. Sitting deep they had Mascherano to do the tackling and Alonso to link the play between the defence and the attack, then in front of them they had 2 wingers and Gerrard playing behind a striker. As for him withdrawing from the Scotland squad, bit of a bastard that, with the game taking place 10-15 minutes walk from my flat I was going to go for the rare opportunity of seeing him play.
I agree completely with most of your post, but the Cairney not making a tackle thing isn't true. It's one of those that was established as a thing everyone should say ages ago and he's got miles better at it but people haven't updated their opinions on it yet. He goes flying into some tackles now, he did a pretty hard one in front of the west stand against Rotherham.
Agree with everything there, there was one home game last season when Cairney first got back in the team he made 4 or 5 big tackles in the first 10 minutes. It's just something which has become accepted on here but when you actually watch he makes plenty of tackles!
i agree with all apart from the analogy. he good but he is no Barry or Alonso. i think i know what you mean however
He wouldn't be in my starting 11 if I had the full squad to pick from, and he probably isn't in Bruce's. However, he still has bags of potential and if he can find a lottle bit more consistency he could become a great player for us. I just hope he works on his all round game a bit more.
Cairney certainly tackles more than he used to, but he's no ball winning midfielder, he's great at keeping hold of the ball and can make a well placed pass, he just doesn't seem to get into enough dangerous positions.
cairney continues to develop as a player, and although not the finished article, he has a very good future in the game above division 3 & 4
Think we need to give this kid a chance. He still only young and were on his back already. New manager new start he may kick on from here
