Am I the only one who misses Bradley Johnson. IMO we need someone who can tackle and win the ball in midfield. Its all well and good having all the nice touch players i.e Wes, Hows,Surman, etc but we need someone who can win the ball and lay it off to the others. Any thoughts??
I'm a bit surprised we have Fox/Howson/Hoolahan/Surman midfield - to me it looks very short of steel, but it didn't seem too exposed against Fullham (Although poor tracking of midfield runs was a problem in both Fullham's goals). I would rather have Johnson or Crofts in then Hoolahan, but Lambo knows what he is doing.
I think he's had a rough call. I do think Fox and Howson have enough creativity to handle the attacking side of midfield and we need Bennet or Pilkington for width. I just don't think there is room for Hoolahan in that formation unless you are going to play him alongside Holt. Sometimes you just need someone to get it and give it to the others and I think Johnson is that man.
We do miss a battler in midfield - someone who will tackle, chase and break up the play and then feed the ball to the creative players (Fox, Surman, Howson, Hoops) - I thought that we looked more solid with Johnson in the team and I'd like to see him back on Saturday. He lacks a bit of pace but we do miss that bit of grit in the middle that Crofts gave us so succesfully last year. A midfield of Johnson, Fox, Howson and Pilks/Bennett on Saturday will do nicely.
I really thought that Johnson was going to be the man for that job, and I totally agree, we need someone to lead the line out, break up the attacks etc, unfortunately Bradley seems to get caught too far up the field while following the play, then isn't the quickest getting back which leaves us exposed. I suppose it's what he's asked to do, but as DM says I'm sure Lambert knows what he's doing1 ILD OTBC
It's amazing how Lambert has rotated this year, Johnson will be back the minute a performance drops short. Unfortunately for Bradley he's got to compete with Fox, one of our best players, and Howson, who's made a hell of a first impression.
Also, bradley johnson's passing does seem to have been quite slack in his last few appearences! when we play the 2-3-1 he seems to play quite well along side fox but when hes played at the base he hasnt distriputed the ball aswell as he should plus you take away the outlet of fox and one of our best players in fox.
Strongly disagree with what is being said about Hoolahan his not had the best of seasons but he was excellent on Saturday Fox and Howson bossed it too, I agree we need some steel in the midfield but I think Johnson seems too slow and he hesitates on the ball sometimes.
