No, Barton's not a defensive midfielder, but whatever shape we play I expect Henry and Barton to continue in the middle, at least for the time being. I did think that the Barton thing might be a bit personal but I didn't really want to being that up just in case! All in all, a strong squad with lots of options.
I totally agree with this. I'm delighted that AJ, Joey and Junior are still with us (wouldn't have thought I'd say that 3 months ago!) Green must be No.1. He's there on merit atm and to drop him would damage team spirit.
Agree with the OP re Barton and Hoillet on what they done this season, and on AJ as we have no new strikers coming in to replace him and BZ. From what I seen of Barton this season he will be first name on the team sheet. We must have a lot of CM's now, won't be surprised if we loan out one or two. We still need a stiker or two, and a quick, astute CB.
It isn't Harry's formation of choice though is it. And one crock, one likely crock, and one who hasn't scored in the League yet, make me think we need another striker regardless of formation. We also have more CM's than we really neeed whatever formation we play.
As I attempted to say in another thread, I get the impression that we will change to 4231. We do still need another striker though.
I think it's clear we were prepared to let AJ go, probably because we had other targets lined up, unfortunately we couldn't get them over the line. But seeing as most of our targets seem to have been loans, maybe we still will bring in one or two forwards. But with the players we have brought in, we've gone from having the strongest squad, to having a squad that signals that others are playing for 2nd place down. Whether it works out like that remains to be seen. But the fact that Barton and Hoilett are still with us shows that we aren't trying to save money and off load anyone.
Swap Henry for Barton and thats my team. -------------------------Green---------------------- Simpson----------Onuoha--------Dunne----------BOE -------------------------Henry ----------------Barton---------Faurlin---------------- Hoilett-----------------------------------------Phillips -----------------------Austin----------------------- That would be my negative/shut up shop side.
He played it at spurs. If we play that then Austin plays all the games, AJ is a sub and thus less likely to get injured and Zamora only plays in an emergency. Play 442 and AJ plays every game, will get injured meaning Zamora has to play and we have zero back up.
--------------------Green (Cesar) ---------------------- Simpson----------Onuoha (Baird*)--------Dunne (Hill)----------Assou Ekotto (Yun) Barton (Henry)---------Kranjcar (Faurlin)------------Carroll (Jenas) Hoilett (O'Neil))---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------M Phillips (SWP) -----------------------Austin (AJ)----------------------- Not listed (but having squad numbers) *Baird not signed but a possible Diakite Traore Ephraim Ehmer Sutherland Zamora Hitchcock Shariff 451 or 4321 with Hoilett and Phillips providing the width/supply from the flanks and attacking support for Austin when we play through the middle. Bracketed players are backups/alternates (though not direct swaps, but do illustrate the depth of the squad... though my concern is it still leaves us a bit light at the back.
Completely false. Truth is Faurlin gets nowhere near the team. the shut up shop team would be Henry, Barton and Jenas in the middle. You'd also take off one of Hoilett or Phillips for O'Neil. Faurlin is behind: Barton, Henry, Jenas, Carroll and Kranjcar fact.
Completely fair comment, Stan. What I would say is that Barton is the type of player who responds well to a strong manager for whom he has respect. And Harry is strong, is clear about his likes and dislikes (aversion to fruitcake etc). Barton is rapidly becoming a favourite and could flourish in that environment.
Same as I feel about AJ, ideally Id want them both gone and replaced but I also realise that getting rid of either and not replacing them would have caused us serious harm and perhaps stopped us going up.
we might go 4-6-0 and have no need for strikers at all, we certainly have the midfielders for it: ---------Green---------- -Simpson--Onuoha--Dunne--BAE --------Barton-------O'Neill----- Hoillett-------------------Phillips -------Carroll--------Krancjar--- -------------------------------- subs: Cesar, Hill, YS-Y, Faurlin, SWP, Henry and one of Austin/AJ/Diakite/Jenas
Wouldn’t get carried away. Could just us easily been 5 draws in a row considering how tight they all were. 4 out of our next 5 games are at home. One player who MUST be dropped is Henry. He works well away from home where a draw is ok but at home onus is on us to attack teams. Continual tight games would see us draw games we should win and lose games we should draw. Loads of options on how we line up now Ahead of that we’ve got so many options. My feeling is that our first choice will become should all be fit. ---------------------Green----------------- Simpson----Onouha---- Dunne----BAE Phillips----Barton—Carroll---Hoilett -------------Austin-----AJ----------------- Maybe Krancjar playing off of Austin instead of AJ as well
