In my opinion Jamie Mackie is one of those players who has never really found his best position. Now I know this is not the time of the season to be experimenting with players but I would like to see Mackie play in central midfield for a couple of reasons. He has the best engine at the club so would have no problems getting box to box for 90mins he also has a fantastic work rate. He is relatively quick, strong and good in the air. He also has good basic technique Now I know he has not played there before so may struggle positionally but all of the other attributes I have mentioned are the basics for a central midfielder. I would have a look at him in training playing that role and then maybe play him in a reserve game to see how he copes, we are very light in the middle of the park at the moment and its always good to have other options especially with Buz being injury prone, Derry just isnt good enough for this level, Faurlin is out long term, Diakate may need time to adapt and Barton is an accident waiting to happen!! Plus I think JM would make a great QPR captain!! Come on you Rrrrrrr's!!
Not at all I would just like to see us get the best out of the player and improve our options in the middle of the park........Alan Smith made the conversion quite successfully!?
Don't agree with Alan Smith making the change successfully. infact his career went backwards as soon as his position did. I worked with coaches who developed Alan and he is very similar to Mackie in the way he makes up for lack of natural ability with work rate and determination.
His career did go backwards when he went into central midfield but I think it was due to the fact he had terrible luck with injuries rather than the positional change.
"He has good basic technique"!!? Mate..I like him and he works very hard, but he has very limited ability and quite poor technique. He definitely does not have the ability to play central midfield!!
When I have seen him play his technique always looked sound, but if I am honest I probably havent seen him as much as I would need to pass judgement.
Much as I admire the work rate, application and determination of Jamie Mackie, his touch is appalling. He would get badly exposed in the middle. That said he may not look any worse than Barton does at the moment!
It says it all about our lack of depth of quality in the middle. Mackie is a good Championship quality workhorse but is sadly out of his depth at this level and only good for last 20 minute substitutions. To put him in central midfield would be, as Col says, laughable...
Yepp, agree with that. He may get it though, he works so hard he just may! Glad he's in the 25 man sqaud. I don't see him playing CM, but then I hadn't seen Traore playing there either!
Oh dear. Another Mackie hater. Is there anyone that you rate at all who plays for the team you love? If so do share it with us. We're all getting a bit fed up with this negative sniping.
Well said I hope to publish the longest thread of the year at the end of the season when its time to name and shame the fickle ... Jamie Mackie is a fine footballer and regardless of his questionable style ... watch his off the ball positioning, his drive, his anticipation his running off the ball, his chasing back, his tackling, his dribbling skills are outstanding ... a great developing player who worked very hard from a bad injury so he could play for us... we are 1 point better off due to his skills than we would have been at Swansea. Jamie Mackie plays for QPR and therefore he gets my support as I am a supporter. I no longer support Orr as he plays for Blackburn. Footnote to the fickle : Watch Reading go now they have Kasper and Connelly I expect their spirit to grow Never forgiven NW for killing our defence the two of them bonded very well
At this level Mackie's best position is on the bench. Football is a crazy game. It's full of average players who can run all day. I agree that Jamie is full of running, full of energy, full of aggression, can tackle, can head the ball and can hold a wide position. You will notice that most of these attributes are without the ball. He is quite simply not a Prem quality player. We all love the guy, if only others had his energy and effort. But he is NOT Prem quality. Sadly we now find ourselves in the tight position where MH will not be able to take to many chances with the players he has. He will have to play our best players week in and week out. Mackie is NOT one of our best players. Take the emotion and sentiment out of it guys, and even a blind man can see that.
MH will have to play the best TEAM AVAILABLE to him week in and out! Though I agree Mackie will not be in MH's (or my) 1st 11, with injuries and suspensions he is quite likely to get playing time. The attributes you describe, plus that he can play in a number of different positions from Striker to RB, make him a good man to have on the Bench, and in the Squad for the rest of this season at least.
as much as i love him he is average at this level, if there was an end product at the end of the running fine but there 's nothing, he is just like having a puppy throw the ball and he will chase it but not always with any end product,
