Newtonlee - I see you are still harping on about Jack Colback day in day out, with predictable monotony, like he is the only problem? He isn’t by the way! Are you a Militant Gingerist?
For me Colback is one of the best young prospects to come out if the Academy if not the best. I rate him up there with some of the best young English CM players in the Premiership, he can tackle, has great vision, great on the ball and is very similar to Cattermole but more technically gifted. They offer a solid pairing and are part of the reason we are proving difficult to beat. To lay the blame or pick fault in him when our creativity In Sess, McLean and JOhnson are not providing yet is a disservice to Colback when they are all fully fit and get their shooting boots on we can compete for a top 6 place. That said I respect the OP point but think Colback will become a target for the big players come transfer window time
It's the central midfield mix that is the problem. Colbeck and catts together means that we concede control of the game because we lose the ability to pass the ball in the middle of the park
exactly Cattermole is great at breaking up the play so generally should be in midfield. Colback for just does nothing there Re Cest's comments....I think we need some perspective on Colback. I'm sick of everyone saying he's 'outstanding' when he does literally nothing!!
It's all about opinions I suppose, and although I agree that Catts and Colback do not play well together, it is my opinion that Colback is by far the better of the two in that position as Catts just gives away possession too easily. If Catts passing ability was as good as his workrate he would be a cracking player.
Gotta say 3 weeks ago I'd have had Jack before Catts every time, but 3 games in a row now Cattermole has been different class, yeah, he's limited going forward, but he's up there with the leagues best at he minute at breaking up the play, and it strikes me he's really worked on his relationships with refs. Several times v Liverpool he was in convo with the ref, both smiling, and he got Titus off with a blatant yellow on Sat, by having a bit craic with the ref, hopefully the lad is really maturing now into a proper holding midfielder and captain, but we must have a ball player alongside him. Colback can pick a pass, but only when in space, we need a '2 steps ahead' CM to play on the break effectively. Did Catts sign a new deal, I can't remember?
Yet Colback looks lost without Cattermole there - When we miss Catts - eve with JC in CM, we concede so much of a game - look at Swansea - When Catts was on we looked good - he picked up a knock and came off and we gave the ball away all the time and had nothing at all. Catts is a better player than Colback without any shadow of a doubt IMO (I like Colback but he simply isn't ready yet to lead that central midfield)
Marcus: Regarding Swansea, we may have looked better defensively whilst Catts was still on the pitch, but we had not and had not really looked like scoring either. Newtonlee: Wonders never cease eh!!!
colback again terrible, he was pushed all over the place and gave the ball away numerous times. O'Neill needs to realise he's not a central midfielder as it's like playing with a man down playing him!
"To quote their manager, Sunderland were "a bit frayed" but, significantly, the only weak point in their spine was central midfield" quote from Louise Taylor the Guardian.
Think she was referring to Sebastian Larsson who was out of position constantly which meant wigan could play straight balls through the centre. Colback wasn't great but he was fairly solid imo
At best Colback is a decent Championship player, he wouldnt get into too many, if any Premier League teams in CM, thats for sure. Catts is the better player, but we need a playmaker next to him to set up our forward play. We wont improve this season until we upgrade this area.
Yet again my original post proven right CENTRE MID IS OUR WEAKEST AREA AND MUST BE STRENGTHENED IN JANUARY!!!
Can't understand why you single Colback for criticism, every player makes mistakes and there was plenty of that today. At least he was moving into space, which was not the case with other midfielders, and some of his passing was a ball to nothing caused by lack of movement. Can see more merit in swapping roles for him and Rose.
